Back to Job chapter five. The title of this message is Eat the Fish
and Throw Away the Bones. I got this title from Nancy Parks. Sue Thacker was reading a book.
And she was telling Nancy she didn't really care much for it.
And Nancy says, Sue, just eat the fish and throw away the bones.
And I thought that was so good. And as I was reading this over
the last several days and last week, I thought there's a lot
of truth in what Eliphaz says. A lot of it. Actually, if you
took Job out of the picture, I mean, what he's saying is true. He just applied it to the wrong
person. So what I want to do tonight,
the Lord enabling us to, is to glean the truth that is here
and pray that God enable us to apply it properly. Paul, in writing
to Timothy, in 2 Timothy 2.15, said this. I wrote this, study to show thyself
approved unto God, a workman that needeth not be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth. So our responsibility here this
evening is to rightly apply the word of truth. Eliphas is still
on his same subject. That affliction is a sure mark
of sin, shooting at Job, aiming at him. Therefore, Job must have
committed some great sin or that he has been living the life of
a hypocrite. That's the charge. That's the
charge. Now, he says in verse 1, call
and see. if any will side with you?" To which of the saints can you
point to that God has dealt with in such a manner? To which of
the saints will side with you? Has God ever dealt with any of
the saints like this? Eliphas is saying this is the
way God deals with sinners. Well, that's not so. That's not
so. I started to title this true,
but not so. True, but not so. It is the way
God deals with sinners, but it's not so as far as the believer
is concerned. It's not the way he deals with
his people. And it's true that man's sin is his ruin. In verse
two, for wrath kills the foolish man and envy slays the wicked.
You can narrow that down to this. Man's sin is his ruin. We know
that. Sin is our ruin. But Christ is our remedy. Christ
is our remedy, and God deals with every son, every daughter
of his in Christ. And in his dealings with us,
it's not for our ruin. It's to our good. It's to our good. And foolish
here in verse 3, I have seen the foolish taking root, but
suddenly I cursed, or I saw that his habitation was cursed. That's
what he's saying. He didn't say I cursed his habitation,
but I saw that his habitation was cursed. I've seen the foolish
taking root. Well, that's true. That's true. God allows unbelievers to prosper
in this world. If he didn't, We do not have
to run every business. It's where we get our jobs from.
He lets them take care of that. And he employs. I thought about
this today. How many of his sheep are employed
by men that he allows to prosper? But through their prosperity,
you and I have jobs. And they had no idea. They had
absolutely no idea that God is behind all this, taking care
of his sheep. taking care of his people. So
he lets them take root, he lets them prosper in this world, but
their prosperity has a curse in it. It has a curse in it. When men and women die, they
are going to give an account for everything they've ever had,
everything they've ever owned, every penny that's ever passed
through their fingers, they're going to give an account for
it. The scripture says you'll give an account for the thoughts,
for our thoughts. But not so, not so to the believer. This does not apply to the believer. It doesn't apply to Job here.
For there's no curse in our prosperity. Satan said to God, you have blessed. the work of his hands. That's
why Job has what he has. You bless the work of his hands.
There's no curse in it. There was not a curse in what
Job owned. God gave it to him. God gave
it to him. And he says here, this had to
be hard for Job to listen to in verse four. Listen, verse
four. His children are far from safety.
They are crushed in the gate, neither is there any to deliver
them. That is a direct shot at what happened to his children.
All of them were in that house, and that house collapsed and
killed every one of them. And he's saying that, Joe, from what
I can tell, from my experience, the children of the wicked, they're
not in safety. They are crushed in the gate.
And you know, and Joe felt the sting of that. Joe felt the sting
of what he was saying. Well, it's true. All outside
of Christ are not in safety. There is no safety. And let's
keep applying this, make a spiritual application here, we're wasting
our time. But it's true that all outside of Christ are not
in safety. And besides this, you can take
any wealthy person and they can have all the security that they
want. and her children still get kidnapped. Because it comes down to this.
Only God is truly our safety. He only is our true safety. All
outside of Christ are exposed to the wrath of God. But now
listen. It's not so with the children
of God. You're safe. You couldn't be any, I tell you
what, a child of God is not any more safe here than standing
in the middle of a battlefield. You're just as safe. I'm telling
you. If it's the Lord's will for you
to die that way, you're going to get shot. But if it's not
his will for you to die that way, you're coming home. Cecil
Roach flew his first mission. He said he came back. He flew
his first mission over Germany. In World War II. And when he
came back, that plane was riddled with bullets. And not one person
was healed. He said he had one accident.
I think some shell casings fell on one of the guys' foot. But
nobody was killed. And that plane was riddled, he
said, with bullets. You're safe. Safe. I thought that song was safe
in the shepherd's fold. It's true. Their children, the
children of the lost, are not in safety. There is no safety
except in Christ. Except in him. And Job losing
his children was not an act of God's wrath. It was a great trial
of his faith. A great trial. And he says in
verse 5, Whose harvest the hungry eat
up, and they take it even out of the thorns, and the robbers
swallow up their substance? What happened in the first part
of Job? The Chaldeans came and they stole. They stole their
sheep. They stole the livestock, killed
the servants. I mean, here's another shot at
Job. Whose harvest? The hungry eat
up. Well, that's true. One man gathers
and another eats in this world. One man gathers up and then he
dies and who knows who's going to get it? Who knows who's going
to get it? But not so for the believer. Not so. What we have,
what we have in Christ, we can never lose and it can never be
taken away. Our true riches, The true riches
of a believer is what that believer has in Christ, not what he possesses
in this world. It's not what he possesses in
this world. It's true, the harvest, whose harvest the hungry eat
up. That's the way it is with the wicked. They don't know where
it's going after they die. And that's all they have. That's
all they have. When they go to the grave, they
don't take it with them. They don't take a dime with them.
It all goes to somebody else, but I tell you what, what we
have in Christ, my soul, we cannot lose and it goes with us. It
goes with us. And he says in verse six, although
affliction comes not forth of the dust, neither does trouble
spring out of the ground. God's hand is in this, Job. His
hand is in this. Yet man is born into trouble
as the sparks fly upward. Appointed. That's what he's talking
about. He's appointed to trouble. The
cost of sin has a spark fly up, but it's true. Affliction does
not come up the dust, nor trouble spring out of the ground. That's
not where God's hand is in it. And that's what he's saying.
God's hand is in this. Well, you're right, it is. God's
the first cause of all things. He said, is there evil in the
city and I have not done it? The cost of sin, men are afflicted,
men are troubled by God, punished. These things don't happen by
chance. It didn't just spring up out of the ground. But not
so for the believer. Not so. There's a different reason. See, our afflictions come for
a different reason and a different purpose. Don't miss that. Ours has a different reason and
a different purpose. It is for our good in God's glory. That's why it comes. Trouble
and trials come from the loving hand of our Father. He appoints all our affliction.
He appoints their purpose, their lesson, and their end. And it's
for our good and His glory. We know that. But now, he's misapplying this
here. He's applying it to Job. God's
child. God's child. But he gives some good advice
here in verse 8. He says here, although in verse
6, although affliction comes not forth of the dust, neither
doth trouble spring out of the ground, yet man is born to trouble
as the sparks fly upward. Joe, here's what I do. And he's
being serious here. When trouble comes my way, I seek the Lord. That's good
advice, isn't it? You could not give anyone any
better advice than that. I would seek unto God, and unto
God would I commit my cause. This is the first thing we ought
to do when under heavy trial. Seek the Lord. Seek the Lord. Commit our cause unto God. Scripture says, cast all your
care upon him, for he careth for you. Instead of complaining
about it, cast your care upon him. Pray
about it. You know, there's a world of
difference in complaining about it or praying about it. He's the only one who can support
us under such heavy trials. He's the only one who can do
it. And he's the only one who can remove it. Look at Psalm
34. In Psalm 34, look in verse 19. Well, let's see here. Look at
verse 17. The righteous cry, and the Lord
heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles." Now,
that does not mean that he immediately makes it happen right then. Your
trouble's over with. It doesn't mean it's that quick. Sometimes, like Job, it went
on and on and on, but he delivered him out of his troubles. The
righteous cry, And the Lord heareth, he hears them, and he delivereth
them out of their troubles." When the lesson is learned or
when the trial has served its purpose, he delivers them out
of their trouble. The Lord is nice to them that
are of a broken heart and save us such as be of a contrite spirit.
Many are the afflictions of the righteous. These are my favorite
verses, I'm telling you. I remember these. Trouble comes. I remember these scriptures.
I have the Word of God on it. When you can't see anything else
and feel anything else, you've got God's Word on it. And that's
the best. Many are the afflictions of the
righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. All. That's speaking of Christ,
but it's also speaking of all that are in Christ. He's the only one who can support
us in trouble, and He's the only one who can remove the trouble,
deliver us out of it. And then it is a sign of grace
in the heart when affliction runs us to God and not from God, and not from Him. And it runs
us to Him. Here's the evidence of grace.
You say, I want to know that I believe. You sure? You know, that's going to take,
that's painful. That can be painful. You want
to know that you have grace in your soul? That's not going to
be an easy process. One of the very marks of grace
in the soul is trouble runs us to Him and not from Him. That's
one of the very marks of it. Then it gets to more reasons
here. as to why we should apply unto God when trouble comes. He says here, I would seek unto
God, in verse 8, and unto God would I commit my cause, which
doeth great things, and unsearchable, and marvelous things without
number. Think upon His greatness. Think
of the One upon whom you're calling. Think of the One that you have
committed your cause to Him. He has done great things. My
soul, I mean. Look what He did at Calvary.
That's the greatest thing. Redeemed my soul. Put away my
sin. In His life, He honored God's
law. He magnified God's law and made it honorable. Oh, He did
great things. He did great things. You know,
we think about God doing great things, we think of creation.
And that is a great thing. The universe, creation, and the
way that it works in harmony. It's hard to even just get a
little family to work in harmony. God makes all creation work in
harmony. But the great thing is what He
did at Calvary. Oh, He does great things. Marvelous
things. Marvelous thing. Consider His
greatness and the greatness of His works. First of all, in nature. Look in verse 10. Who giveth
rain upon the earth and sendeth waters upon the fields. Does
that ever astound you? Do you ever really stop from
the busyness of life and really look at the greatness of God?
You ever look at the vastness of the universe? Every once in
a while, when I'm dealing with trouble, I mean something that's
really troubling, and you pray about it, you cast your cares
upon the Lord. Every now and then, I look up into the heavens,
and you just see the vastness and the greatness of God. He
hangs the world, the earth, upon nothing but His Word. And all
of a sudden, it just seems like my little problem is not much.
I realize this. It's no challenge to him. He
who sends the rain upon the earth. Why don't you just try and water
Ashland? Why don't you just water your neighborhood? See how difficult that is. But
with God, it's not even difficult to water the earth. He sends rain on the earth. Those
clouds, they get into that jet stream and they go around the
earth and they just drop down water. What a sprinkling system. What a sprinkler system. And
I don't know about you, but that amazes me. I mean, those things
like that I can think about all day long. It's marvelous works. It's marvelous works. He gives
rain upon the earth. He showers this earth with blessings. What power and what care? What care? This earth is totally
dependent on God. Think about that. This earth,
every inch of it is absolutely dependent upon God. And He never
fails to take care of His creation. Man, in all his wretchedness
and all his sinfulness, Been on this earth for 6,000 years.
Still beautiful, isn't it? And it still produces. And there's
one reason why. God takes care of it. It's His. It's His. Now listen, are you
not much more to Him than this earth? You better believe you are. And
look at His providence. Look at His providence. Look
in verse 11. He says here in verse 11, to set up on high those
that be low. We'll deal with this in a minute
spiritually. And that those which mourn may be exalted to safety. He disappoints the devices of
the crafty. They get together and they formulate
a plan on how they're going to do this and how they're going
to do that. It doesn't work. And then the board members get
together and they say, well, that's a stupid idea. And I mean, they do go
through all this process. And I'm telling you, you know
what had happened? God disappointed them. God didn't let it work. That's
what He's saying there. He disappointed the devices of
the crafty so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise.
Well, we're going to build a tower to Babel. Oh, okay. God will let you get it up to
the inch that He purposes, and then He's going to bring it down. We're going to build a tower
of Babylon. He sets up one and he brings
down another. Is that not the way God operates
this earth? He'll raise up... Look at the nations. Look at
the nations that have been powerful and mighty. At one time, Egypt
was one of the greatest. At one time, the Romans were
the greatest. Where are they now? Where are
they now? He sets up one, brings down another.
It's his. It's his. It all belongs to him. He's the one who's ruling and
reigning and doing all things in this world. It's his. Now look at his work in the kingdom
of grace. Go back to verse 11. He says here, to set up on high
those that be low, those who've been cast down,
that those which mourn may be exalted to safety. Those that
mourn over their sins, he exalts them to safety. And there's no
safer place we can be than in Christ. No, no safer place. Look in verse 15. But He saveth the poor. The poor
in spirit. The poor in spirit. Because you
know people who are poor in purse. In my lifetime, I've watched
people that have been poor in purse and they live that way
and they die that way. He's talking about the poor in
spirit. Poor in spirit. He saveth the poor in spirit
from the sword. The sword. The sword of His justice. He saveth the poor from the sword,
from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty. The mighty
hand of the law. He has taken them from the clutch
of the law, and He's put them in safety. He's put them in Christ. Oh, He does this. Salvations
of the Lord. of the Lord. Behold, verse 17,
behold, happy is the man whom the Lord corrects. Only that man that knows Christ. Only that man that knows Christ.
Therefore, despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty. Don't
complain. He's saying here to Job, Job,
don't complain against him. Don't complain against God's
chastening hand. It's almost as if he's softened
up here a little bit. It's as if he's like, you ever
say something and think, well, maybe I've gone too far. But
he's here, he's saying, Job happy is the man whom the Lord corrects,
therefore despise not the chastening of the Almighty. Don't despise
his chastening hand. He makes sore and binds up. I tell you what, if the Lord
is pleased to save us, he's going to have to make sore before he
binds us up. Some years ago, I had appendix,
appendicitis. That's a rupture. And they took
me to the hospital and took me to the operating room and took
it out. And I'm telling you, I was sore. That physician made
me sore. But he had sewed it up. And a
few days afterwards, I was alright. I was alright. It wasn't sore
anymore. It wasn't sore anymore. He makes sore, but he has a purpose
in it. There's healing in it. Really,
there's healing in it. And he binds up. He woundeth.
He wounds the heart. And His hands make it whole.
They make it whole. He wounds. He makes us to know
our sin. He makes us to know our depravity.
But He doesn't leave us there. He doesn't leave us there. He
makes us whole. This is something you can get
a hold of Keep, someday you'll need it. He shall deliver thee
in six troubles. He shall never, ever fail to
deliver thee. That's what he's saying. In seven,
yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee. He shall never
fail to deliver thee, Job, his children. He shall never fail
to deliver thee. In six troubles, whatever troubles may come, Whatever
they may be, he's able to deliver. But I like what he says here.
He doesn't say he's able to deliver. He says he shall. You mark this
down. You mark it down. If his child
is in trouble, he shall be delivered. He or her shall be delivered.
That's a promise. That's a promise. He will always
deliver his sheep. God's child cannot be destroyed. His life is hid with Christ in
God. And his deliverance is perfect
and complete. You know, the number seven is
the number of completions. It's a perfect deliverance. The deliverance we have in Christ.
from sin, from wrath, from Satan, from the law, the curse of the
law, it's perfect. It's a perfect deliverance. Now let me just
quickly look at the rest of these verses in reference to Christ.
In verse 20, in famine he shall redeem thee from death and in
war from the power of the sword. God's wrath shall not rest on
the redeemed." It fell on Christ. It fell on Christ. In famine
He shall redeem thee from death, and in war from the power of
the sword. The battle is not yours. The Lord said the battle
is not yours. It's His. He's redeemed us from
that battle. He set us aside from that battle.
He fought the battle. He fought the battle. Thou shalt
be hid. Isn't that beautiful? Thou shalt
be hid from the scourge of the time, neither shalt thou be afraid
of destruction when it cometh. I thought of this scripture.
Your life, our life is hid with Christ in God. Thou shalt be
hid. Where? In the cleft of the rock. In the cleft of the rock. In
Christ. And destruction and famine thou
shalt last." In other words, you're not afraid of God's wrath.
Are you afraid of God's wrath? Christ took it. It's gone. There's
not any. Not for the believer. And destruction and famine thou
shalt last. Neither shalt thou be afraid
of the beast of the field. We have nothing to fear. If we
have a right fear of God, we have nothing to fear of anything
else. If we do not fear God, I assure you, we fear everything
else. We fear somebody's going to break in the house. We fear
somebody's going to steal something. I mean, it's constant fear. But
if we have a right fear of God, nothing, absolutely nothing is
going to happen if God does not appoint, allow, and control.
to the nth degree. Look at verse 23. For thou shalt
be in league with the stones of the field, and the beasts
of the field shall be at peace with thee. He's saying here in
verse 23, creation. Even creation is on our side.
The creation of God. You know that
all the universe, you look at the stars, the masses, stars
out there that's the billion and billions of stars and the
galaxies and the universe and this earth and all that goes
on. You know, every bit of them is on our side. Every one of
them. Nature groaned, waiting for the
manifestation of the sons of God. It's for us. It's for us. And thou shalt know that thy
tabernacle shall be in peace, and thou shalt visit thy habitation
and shalt not sin. Peace is our lot. Peace is our
lot. Peace with God, Christ who is
our peace, that's the lot of the believer. That's not the
lot of the unbeliever. That's not his lot, but that's
the lot of the believer. And thou shalt know also that
thy seed shall be great, and thine offspring as the grass
of the earth." The Lord's seed is going to be great. His seed
is going to be great. Don't think that heaven is going
to be sparsely populated. Don't think it's going to be
that. It's a multitude without number. When Christ died to redeem sinners,
he redeemed a multitude that no man could number. And look, here's these promises.
These last two verses, or this last verse here, verse 26. Thou
shalt come to thy grave in a full age ripe. Ripe. There's just something beautiful
about that verse. Ripe. Like as a shock of corn
cometh in in his season. Ripe. Delicious. Full. You know, whatever age God takes
a believer home, he's full age. Full age. And he's like a shock of corn.
He's not going to be like a withered plant that's just barely hanging
on. He's like a shock of corn that
cometh in his season. Lo, this, give attention to this. We have searched it. He said,
we've thought about this. We've talked about this. We've
examined it. So it is, hear it and know thou
it for thy good. Or we leave it to you to judge. Job, we leave it to you to judge. So I just say to you, eat the
fish and throw away the bones. Glean the truth out of it. Glean the spiritual blessings
out of it. And even though Eliphas misapplied it, he said a lot
of good things.