I'm going to read the first 16
verses of this and then, God willing, try to deal with them.
It's been a couple of weeks since we looked at Job. Call now, if there be any, that
will answer thee, and to which of the saints wilt thou turn?
For wrath killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the silly
one. I have seen the foolish taking
root, but suddenly I cursed his habitation. His children are
far from safety, they are crushed in the gate, neither is there
any to deliver them. whose harvest the hungry eateth
up, and taketh it even out of the thorns, and the robber swalloweth
up their substance. Although affliction cometh not
forth of the dust, neither doeth trouble spring out of the ground.
Yet man is born under trouble as the sparks fly upward. I would
seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause. which doeth
great things and unsearchable, marvelous things without number,
who giveth rain upon the earth and sendeth waters upon the fields,
to set upon high those that be low, that those which mourn may
be exalted to safety. He disappointeth the devices
of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise. He taketh the wise in their own
craftiness, and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong.
They meet with darkness in the daytime, and grope in the noonday
as in the night. But he saveth the poor from the
sword, their mouth from the hand of the mighty, so the poor hath
hope, and iniquity stoppeth her mouth. I want to talk this evening,
by God's grace, about Eliaphaz. He's still talking. Job, you
remember, he complained and wished he had never been born. You know,
he had such grief, such sorrow, he lost everything that he had,
including his health. And Eliaphaz began to chide him,
began to chide him very much, and told him, you know, you must
have done something really, really sinful for God to treat you this
way. So here we have Eliaphaz, He's
still talking, his view of sin and his view of God. He dwelt
upon the sinfulness of Job for complaining of God's providence,
how God worked his life out for him. And Job, if he continued
murmuring and complaining the way he thought he was, he'd run
out of his friendship. and lose all the respect of his
friends if he continues to murmur and complain about living. And so, Alethias here gives his
view of sin, gives his view of suffering, gives his view of
the God in his sovereignty. Now, he believed the fact that
Job suffered. And because Job suffered, that
proved that he wasn't innocent, that he wasn't righteous, that
his guilt was great, And so let's go down through these things
and look at his views. You want me all to turn the heat
up a little bit, y'all? Everybody, I see people got coat
on, so I can turn that. You know, we got, we paid the
bill, I can turn it up. Y'all cold? Well, here's the first thing
he deals with with sin. He deals with sin and no sympathy
for sin. He says, call now. Talking to
Job, he's still talking to Job. And these other friends of his
call now, if there be any that will answer thee. Who would answer
you, Job? You're so sinful, who in the
world could possibly answer you? And to which of the saints will
you turn? And what he said is, who in the
world will you turn to? Who in the world will sympathize
with you? What saint would justify you
and your opinions as a sinner. And that's what he's saying.
Who will side against you with me and my view of you? And whoever suffered as you suffered,
God has never dealt with anybody that loved his name as he has
you. You can't possibly, possibly
be one of his. And what he's saying is all the
saints agree with me. Who in the world could, who could
you turn to, Job? that would agree with you. Who
could you turn to and say that I'm a righteous man, and that
God has declared me a righteous man, and that what happened to
me was not my fault, but it was God's the first cause of everything.
And he says, now Job, who you gonna turn to that's gonna stand
up and defend you? I'm not gonna do it. There's
not a saint that's gonna do it. And everybody agrees with me.
And so I tell you, beloved, I know this, I know this, that I'm not
gonna return to no saint for anything, for no help. I mean,
we're all saints, and he's talking about a saint in a special way,
but we're all saints. And as saints, we help one another,
we encourage one another. But he says, who in the world
can you turn to, Job, that will justify you and hold you up in
your sinfulness? That's what he's saying. And
then he talks about how sin destroys those who commit it. Look what
he said in verse two. For wrath killeth the foolish
man and envy slayeth the silliest one. And when he talks here about
wrath and envy, he's talking about man's own wrath. The wrath
of man does not work the righteousness of God. He's not talking about
the wrath of God here. Man's own anger, man's own wrath
will destroy him. It'll bring him to nothing. And
his own envy, his own envy, and there's no envy in God. There's
no envy in God, so we know he's not talking about God here. No
feeling like this is in God. So he says, man's own wrath will
destroy him. His envy will destroy him. His jealousy and envy will destroy
him. The scriptures tells us that
envy is as rottenness to the bones. Now let me show you something.
You keep Job here and look with me over in James. James, that
little book right after the book of Hebrews. Look in James chapter
one with me and start at verse 14. You know, man ruins himself. All's God gotta do, I ruin myself,
and God undoing my ruining. But man will ruin himself. God
don't have to do a thing in the world to a man, just let him
alone. Just let him alone. He'll destroy
himself. He'll ruin himself. He'll ruin
himself. And that's what James is saying
here when he talks about wrath kills the foolish man and envy
slayeth the silly one. His envy, and I tell you, he's
silly and furnished to be angry. But look what he said here in
verse 14. Excuse me, verse 13. Let no man say when he is tempted,
I am tempted of God. For God cannot be tempted with
evil, neither tempteth he any man. But here's what man's problem
is. Every man is tempted when he's
drawn away of his own lust, and there's an enticement after him.
Then when lust hath conceived, it brings forth sin, and sin,
when it is finished, brings forth death. And that's what he said
here about a man. He said he'll destroy himself.
His wrath will destroy him and his envy will destroy him. He's
silly to be envious. He's foolish to be angry. And
that's what he's telling Job here. He said, oh, my beast.
He says, Job, your anger and quarrel with God, your envy and
our prosperity will end up in your ruin. That's what he's saying.
Job, you're a foolish man. You're a silly man. And being
envious of us, he said, it's going to destroy you. And look
what he goes on to say here in chapter, verses three through
five. He said, I've seen the foolish taken root, but suddenly
I cursed his habitation. His children are far from safety
and they are crushed in the gate, neither is there any to deliver
them. Whose harvest the hungry eateth up and taketh it even
out of the thorns and the robber swallows up the substance thereof.
And what he's saying is that men, when we talk about men like
this here, he said, I've seen the foolish even take root. I've seen them. I've seen the
wicked men prosper as you have prospered. And he's saying, Job,
you prospered. And I've seen them fall just
like you've fallen. That's why I never envy them.
That's what he says. And this is, and he says this,
he says, They take root. They take root. This foolish
man does. And then all of a sudden, his
habitation's cut off. Job, you took root and God cut
you off. God cut you off. That's why I
tell you, you know, this idea, this idea that God does good
to them who do good and does bad to them who do bad, That's
as foreign to the scriptures as it could possibly be. God
caused the rain to fall on the just and the unjust. He's good
to the evil and he's good to the righteous. I'll tell you,
the rain, there's no telling how much food is put on our tables
that we buy and put on our table that some wicked man raised it.
Cussing God while he was out working in his field. And that's what he's talking
about here. He said, oh listen, he said, he'll take root and
then destroy his habitation, be cut off. And then he, look
what he says, and oh listen, they take root, their hearts
are set on the world, his children are firm from safety. And oh
my, they're crushed in the gate, and there's nobody to save them,
nobody to deliver them. And he's telling Job, he said,
Job, your prosperity, your prosperity came to an end. Your heart was
set in the world, and your prosperity will come to an end. It's only
temporary, because your children will even be destroyed. And then
look what he says there in verse 5. He says, you know, you're
going to have a big harvest. but you're not going to get to
eat it. You're going to labor for it, but you're not going
to get to eat it, Joe. And there's a lot of people, that's the way
they are in this world. They laborers like that rich
man who said, I've got so many goods, I'm going to tear down
my barns, I'm going to build some more. And he says, you fool,
this night thy soul shall be part of thee. And he says, listen,
you put out a harvest, but you're not going to get to eat it. Hungry
people are going to go in and eat it. And they'll even go among
the thorns and get what's left there. And then the robber, whatever's
left, he's gonna come and take what you got. And that's the
way men are in this world. They don't care how wealthy they
get, how prosperous they get. I mean, whatever they have is
temporary. It's temporary. Ain't nothing
we got that's gonna last. Nothing we got's gonna last.
Our habitation's gonna be gone. We take root for a while, and
then we're going to be gone. And sin ruins everything. And
it ruins everything connected with the sinner. It ruins his
soul, it ruins his body, it ruins his family, it ruins his property.
And that's what he's saying here, Job. That's the way you are.
You ruin everything. But here's one thing, and that is true about
sin. It'll ruin everything. It will ruin everything. Sin
was so bad, Sin was so awful, sin was so black, sin was so
deep, sin was so prevalent that the only way in the world God
himself could deal with it was to give his only begotten son
and make him to be what we are that we could be made what he
is. That it took the son of God himself to bear our sins, to
put it away. People say, put your sin away.
You can't do it. You can't do it. You can't do
it. And sin produces misery wherever
it exists. Look what he goes on to say now.
There in verse six. Although affliction does not
come out of the dust, neither does trouble spring out of the
ground. And what he's saying is, Job, the trouble that you're
going through and any trouble that we go through, it don't
come by chance. It don't come by luck. It don't
come by fate. It don't come because you dealt
a bad hand of cards. Sin don't come out of the dust.
Trouble don't come out of the ground. Trouble comes from God. You remember what Satan was going
to and fro, and God said to him, where are you going, Satan? He
said, I'm going to and fro, just looking for somebody to devour.
He said, look at my servant Job. You ever thought about him? A
perfect and an upright man. God was the first cause. Satan
was the second cause to come in and do what did to Job. Men
can't blame second causes. Trouble don't come by chance,
by luck, and by fate. Oh no, no. The eternal God decrees,
and He's decreed this now, I'm telling you, that misery follows
sin, just as sure as daylight follows dark. You know, sin comes
from us, sins of our human nature, and that's what He said in the
next verse. Yet man is born into trouble as the sparks fly up.
And he said it another way over in Job 14. Man that's born of
a woman is a few days and full of trouble. Just a few days. And let me ask you something.
You know, how much trouble have you had in your lifetime from
the time you was a child? How much sickness, how much pain,
how much grief, how much sorrow, how many tears? How many funerals,
how many gravesides? How many times you've been on
your sick bed and somebody had to take care of you? How many
times in the hospital? How many times God saved you
off your deathbed? So that's what I'm talking about.
Man is born to trouble. Scott said it and he is right.
Me and Bruce talked about that. A man's in one of three places.
A believer's one of three places all the time. He's either in
trouble, coming out of trouble, or going into trouble. And if
he don't have no trouble anywhere else, you know where he'll have
trouble at? Have trouble with himself. I have more trouble
with me than I do with anybody. I really do. And I'll tell you,
Sparks, and I'll tell you what, when we got born, I'll tell you,
Sparks started flying. They flied when our mamas and
daddies told us to be quiet. Gotta keep on talking. Be still,
we gotta move. Behave in school, we can't! Stay out of that. Don't get in
that. Just stay out of that right there. I don't want you in it.
I've got to get in it. We've got to do just exactly
what they tell us not to. That's why these sparks start
flying. There's sparks that go from us, from sin that's in us,
go sparks. That's what he's talking about.
Just like a fire going upward. And all the sparks come off of
a fire. When you throw a stick of wood
on it, fire. And he said that's what he's talking about here.
They fly upward. Fly upward. Oh my, listen to
him now. Oh my. And I tell you, sinful
man, I tell you what, he's born under trouble. He's born under
labor. Born under labor. Oh my. I've seen, oh. And I tell you what, look what
he tells Job to do now. And he tells us to do this, listen.
Now in verse eight. He said, this is what I'm gonna
do, and it's what you ought to do, Job. I'd seek unto God. I
would seek unto God. And unto God would I commit my
cause. That's some awful good advice
for everybody. Seek the Lord while he may be
found. Call upon him while he's near. Oh, don't listen. Listen, I'll seek the Lord and
commit your cause unto him. And old Job had done this, and
he's good at doing it. But wait a minute, let me tell
you. There's two men in the Scriptures that I'll just use as an illustration.
Eli. Commit your cause unto the Lord.
God told through Samuel, told Eli. He said, Eli, what did God
tell you? Eli asked Samuel. He said, well,
I don't want to tell you this, but tell me, tell me what the
Lord said. He said that God was going to come. and kill your
two sons, go kill them both, because they are blasphemous,
they're wicked men. And you know what Eli said? He
committed his cause unto the Lord, said, it is the Lord, it
is the Lord, let him do what seemeth good. And then Aaron
had two sons, Hophni and Phinehas. No, yeah, Hophni and Phinehas,
he had two sons. No, not grabbing the bayou, finished
and it was over. But they grabbed the bayou. They
offered strange fire. And God came and said, Moses,
I'm going to kill them two boys. And told Aaron, I'm going to
kill your two sons. They offered strange fire to
me. And you know what Aaron did? Committed his cause unto the
Lord and said, And he held his peace. He never said anything
against God. And that's what we're talking about. Seek the
Lord and commit your cause to Him. Whatever your cause may
be, whatever it may be, you gotta do it. If it's health, if it's
sickness, if it's dying, whatever it is, if it's bad news, good
news, any kind of, say, Lord, this is your cause and I'm gonna
give it to you. I can't carry this. I can't deal with this. I don't
have the ability to do it. So Lord, I'm gonna seek you and
whatever my cause is, I'm gonna give it over into your hands.
I'm gonna give it over into your hands. And I tell you, you're
talking about, cast your care upon him for he cares for you.
Ah, this is what man should do. God can be trusted. He's faithful. Oh my. And your cause don't even
have to, You know, people say, well, if your cause is right,
God will take it up. If your cause is just, God will
take it up. It don't say that. It don't say that. Pour out,
he said in Psalm 62, pour out your heart, people, unto the
Lord, and trust him. Pour out your heart, all you
people. Pour it out. And I tell you what, he's, oh,
listen, seek the Lord. That's good advice from anybody.
And then look what he says, and this is why we seek the Lord.
He said in verse nine, he is almighty, he's sovereign in his
power and in his dominion. He said, oh, listen, we should
do with great things and unsearchable. Oh my, great things and unsearchable. How are you gonna search it out?
There are more of them can be numbered. And all marvelous things
has he done. They're without number. You can't
search out the works of God. You can't search out the dang
things that God's done. How can you number them up? You
can't, you know, the scripture says that he put all the stars
in space and calls them all by name. Astrologists and astronomers
can't even count them. But God knows everyone of them
and calls them by name. That's a wonderful work, isn't it? Uh-huh. That's a wonderful work. I'll
tell you another wonderful work he done, marvelous work. He saved
a multitude that no man can number. He said he done more than can
be numbered. He saved a multitude that no man can number. He said,
a multitude that no man can heal. He said, oh, they're without
number. The people that he saves by his grace, he says, they're
without number. They're without number. We can,
I can number, we all can, we can be numbered in this. I can
go one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. You
can number the people in here tonight. No problem. I bet I
can't number your sins. God can. I can't number the hairs
of your head. God can. I can't number how many
people the Lord saved, but God can. That's what he said. Marvelous
things without number. Without number. Oh, listen. And I tell you, if he ain't gone
and left the world to govern itself, he does great things,
unsearchable things, marvelous without number. And then look
what he says. Oh, my. You know, he does marvelous
things in creation. Marvelous things in creation.
You just take the weather the last two days, last three days. It goes from way up in the 70s,
up in the 70s, down to nothing, snow, cold, get up to 10 degrees
in the morning, by the afternoon it's 50. Who can do that but God? Ain't you glad he does that?
Oh my. He could put us in the deep freeze
and leave us there. Or he could turn up the heat
and burn us up. But oh, he's, listen, he's in
creation. And oh, he's governed his providence
for us. How gracious is his providence.
Oh, how he's provided for us. He provided us our health. He's
provided us our wealth. He's provided us our home. He
gets us way, way out somewhere and brings us way, way back.
Get up in the morning. He keeps us doing the day of
His providence. Go to bed, get up, go another
day. And God watches over us and protects us every day. You
can go way off. We went out to Montana. Brought
us all the way back. Oh, I tell you, he's... You know, I'm gonna say something.
You know why God made trains and airplanes? And invented some
of the medicines been invented? So his preachers and his people
could get some a lot faster, get places faster. The world
enjoys God's blessings, but he made airplanes. You know, Mr. Spurgeon said one time he had
a great big nice carriage and had a fella that drove him around.
Had beautiful horses, you know, and they drove them around. And
there's making fun of him, said, boy, Mr. Spurgeon goes in high
fashion, goes in high style. He said, you know, he said, we
have to, he said, you ought not do that. And he said, well, you
ought to take care of yourself. He said, God's gonna take care
of God's preachers, and this way God's gonna take care of
me. I said, he takes care of his preachers. But I tell you,
God, he created airplanes. to get his people from one place
to another fast. And then the world gets to fly
on them. He made trains so people could get somewhere fast. He
made penicillin for his people and the world enjoys it. I'm telling you, everything that's
good in this world, God created it first and foremost for his
elect and the world gets to enjoy it. Gets to benefit from it. And you know, I don't know if
you agree with me or not, but I'm telling you. But that's the
way it is. He does what he does for his
elect people, and the world gets to enjoy the blessings of it. Ain't that right? Yeah, I tell
you. And then, oh my, he's so sovereign
in salvation. You know who he saves? Whom He
will. You know who He shows mercy to?
Whom He will. You know who He shows compassion
to? Whom He will. And oh, listen. He does great
things in this earth. Look what He does now. Look what
it says here now. He's sovereign over the earth
too. He gives rain upon the earth. Boy, I tell you what, and He's
talking about this, giving rain right when it's needed. And he
sendeth waters upon the fields. The fields need water on them
to cause them to grow, and he sends water on them fields. Huh? And then look what else he does.
What a blessed thing this is. You know, look what he says here
now. He takes those that are set up
on high, those that are low, those that be low he brings them.
and sets upon on high. You know what he said over in
Samuel? He said he lifts the beggar off the dunghill and sets
him among princes. Here we are, we're down here,
and God takes us and sets us high, sets us among his people,
sets us with his server, sets us with his son, sets us even
in the throne with his own son. And then look what he says now.
And those that mourn, Those that mourn, blessed are they that
mourn, they shall be comforted. He said, oh, those that mourn,
and Job mourned, oh, how he mourned. They're gonna be brought up and
exalted to a place where they're safe. He said, I've just mourned
some, I'm gonna put them someplace where they're safe. And boy,
oh, these people that's got all the answers, these people that's
wise, these people that know everything, know everything. I've met a few of them people.
I really have. I've met some folks that I tell
you what, no matter what you said, they know something about
it. Bill told me about a fella that
he knows that every time they'd mention doing something, he said,
I've been doing that for 25 years. I know how to do that. And then
he told me, he said, if he'd been doing that 25 years, he'd
be 150 years old. Because everything he'd done,
he'd done for years. And that's what they are, he
said. He disappoints the divisors of the crafty. Oh boy, I know
how to get this. I know how to work this out.
I know how to deal with this. I'll figure this one out, you
know, and all that. God, he said, I'm going to disappoint
him. Their hands, they said, well, I'm going to do this and
I'm going to do that. And God says, your hands ain't going
to do nothing. I'm not going to let your hands perform nothing.
And then this, Paul preached and mentioned this in 1st Corinthians.
He takes the wise in their own craftiness. Takes the wise in
their own craftiness. A wise man thinks, boy, I've
got it made. I've got it figured out. I know
every in and out. I know everything to do. I know
how to deal with this thing. I know how to, my uncle told
me one time, if you're going to be a thief, learn how to steal
with a pencil. He said, don't take a gun and go into a bank
and rob it. If you're going to steal something,
go to school and get you a pencil and learn how to steal from people
with a pencil. And they said, that's what this fellow does.
He said, he's wise, he's crafty. And he says this, God takes them
in their own craftiness. You think you're crafty? You
think you've got no what's going on? And that friar word means
perverse. And the counsel of the perverse,
he says he carries it headlong, just headlong with him. And here's
how these crafty people, and these people that figure they got all the answers,
know what they're doing in this world. Oh, my mother was that
way. My dad was that way. My brother,
I had a couple brothers that way. I had uncles that way. I
mean, they knew everything. I tell you boy, I tell you, if
you just pay attention to me, I'll get you out of this, you
know, and all that. But he says, he takes the wise
in their own craftiness, and you know what he says? He said,
they think they're going to get in the light, but what they do
is they actually meet darkness. They come headlong into darkness,
right in the middle of the day. He said, I'm gonna make their
eyes so they can't see. And he said, they'll grow up
in the noonday just like us in the middle of the night. Oh my,
but look what he does here now. God's sovereign over man. Sovereign
over creation, man, and what he does. But look what he said
in verse 15. Oh, bless his name. But he saved
us the poor. Who's poor? Poor in spirit, blessed
are the poor in spirit, but he saveth the poor from the sword,
from them that would hurt him, from their mouth and from the
hand of the mighty. He saves the poor from men that
would hurt him, from the words of men that would hurt the poor,
and from the hand of the mighty that would hurt the poor. And
he confines the wise in their own eyes. How many of y'all read
out of Esther, where there's a man named Haman. And I'll tell
you, he got close to the king and really thought he was somebody.
And he hated this man named Mordecai. Mordecai was a Jew. He hated
the Jews. He hated Mordecai. And oh, his
wife said, go build you a gala and build it 50 foot high. And hang on Mordecai on it. Well,
Mordecai had some information he went and told the king. And
the king said, then Haman came in and
he said, what would you do to the man that come in and saved
the king's life and told him about a plot to kill the king? What would you do? He said, I'd
put him on the king's horse, I'd put the king's ring on him,
and I'd put the king's robe on him, and I'd have The man who
was planning it to lead him, well, he said, listen, get my
horse, get my robe, get my ring, and set Mordecai on it. And you take him out there, and
the man that does that, see them gallows up there, I want him
hung on that. So Haman was hung on his own gallows. He has took
it in his own craftiness, took in his own wisdom, and he is
hung on his own gallows. Joseph's brethren. Oh boy, we know how to get rid
of this dreamer. Oh, this dreamer. We're wise. We know how to do this. I'll
tell you what we'll do. His dad loves him more than the
rest of us. We'll kill a goat, dip it in
blood, take it back to daddy and say, Daddy, he's dead. He's
gone. Wild beast got him. They sold
him. But you know what? One day they
had to come down to Egypt. Who'd they have to get bread
from? Joseph. Who'd they have to stand in front
of? Joseph. And you know what the first thing
they said? He's going to kill us for sure now. God takes the
wise in their own craftiness. Oh my. And then I'll tell you what,
in the last verse there, verse 16. So the poor hath hope. He's talking
about poor people, poor in spirit, poor before God. We got poor
through our father Adam. The only wealth we have is what
God gave us, spiritual riches. So the poor hath hope. Oh, he's
got hope. And listen to this now. And iniquity
stops her mouth. When Christ came and saved the
poor, the poor in spirit, iniquity cannot say anything against us. There's therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ. When he saves a man, no matter
how poor in spirit he is, and how poor in spirit he is at any
given time, he says, stop. Iniquity, you can't touch this
man. He's mine. And oh, what a blessed hope we
have. Oh, what a hope we have. What a hope we have. Our Father, in the blessed, blessed
name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we bless you and praise you for
your grace and your mercy given us in him before the world ever
began. We thank you for allowing us to meet here tonight Thank
you for your word. Lord, there's more, more than
I could possibly ever get out of it. It's full of silver and
gold and diamonds and precious things. Lord, such a sorry miner,
such a sorry, sorry searcher. But oh Lord, take what's been
said, use it to your glory and the good of your people, as seemeth
good in your sight. We ask these things in Christ's
name, amen, amen. He's the Savior of my soul. Jesus, my Jesus, He's the Savior
of my soul. He's the Savior my soul. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. He's the Savior of my soul. He's the Savior of my soul. Well, good night. God bless you.