Eliphaz to Job - Your Children Deserved to Die

Silicon Valley Reformed Baptist Church

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Well, good afternoon Pleasure to be able to again bring God's Word to you and we're going to continue in the book of Job we're in chapter 4 and chapter 4 of Job Elipaz's response to Job's opening dialogue is

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Broken into three parts at least by my reckoning. This is the second and in a couple of weeks I will get you the third and final for just this chapter

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So we're in Elipaz's answer his response to Job's complaint and that's going to go all the way through chapter 5

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Job's reply to Elipaz takes up all of chapter 6 and 7. I'm giving you a quick roadmap here

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Then Bildad is going to speak in chapter 8 and Job's going to respond to Bildad in chapters 9 and 10

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Zopar chimes in in chapter 11 and Job responds to him in chapters 12 through 14 and there we have the first cycle of three discourses and that does not include the monologues that then follow the discourses which is the statement answer mode or pattern and that doesn't include chapters 38 to 42 where God steps in and gives his opinion of all this but just give you an idea of how

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Much there is in Job to go through It's 42 chapters long. So the first set of discourses

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Through the chapter 14 is about one -third of the book We have a ways to go if God should bless a continuance of this series

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So this evening the text will be chapter 4 and verses 7 through 11 our second message on the first response to Job And I pointed out a few weeks ago when we started this that in My estimation the book of Job is not so much about suffering and how to endure suffering though it is in the book but I Think it's more about God's transforming power

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Saints endure the trials of this world and its temptations because it is God who works in you to will and to do for his good pleasure

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I Think Satan only reluctantly took up the challenge to try to break Job to bring such

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Devastation to his life that he would send by cursing God, which of course Job never did he was greatly tempted

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His life was devastated. He was stretched to the breaking point, but he never sinned with his lips

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That's why James cites him by inspiration of the Holy Spirit He cites him as an example for us today of patient suffering during our trials

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So certainly that idea of how we endure how we respond how we look at our trials our suffering

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The troubles the trials the tribulations we face in this world certainly is in the book of Job.

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I Think one of Job's greatest points of suffering is actually in these friends who are being introduced to these three friends who he will later call

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Miserable counselors and I would argue that a miserable counselor is no counselor at all

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And if we keep in mind how no less an authority than God himself Assesses these three

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Do you recall we pointed that out we kind of camped on that a couple of weeks ago What is

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God's assessment of these three that comes later in the book in chapter 42? But is God who speaks and says to Eliphas my anger burns against you and your two friends

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For you have not spoken about me about me. What is right as has my servant Job You may recall

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I'll just say briefly this phrase this particular Hebrew Clause my anger burns is only used three times in Scripture once against the golden calves of Samaria those idols that were

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Put there in place of Yahweh once against the false shepherds of Judah and here so with all that Elpas bill dad and so par provide us a model of how to be true friends to those who are suffering

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I Believe they provide us a model but not a model not an example to follow

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Negative example negative models Negative models whose counsel to Job was so misaligned with the person of God all the while purporting to represent

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God That God burned with anger now

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I try to remind you as often as I Approach this book that that phrase from chapter 42

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God's assessment just colors everything I see in this entire book We know the beginning of the story how this all began with Satan and God and speaking about Job and God turning him loose against Job with constraints

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We know the end of the story that Job will be restored twofold or fourfold

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I forget the exact number but he will be restored beyond what he had in the beginning and we know this end of the story

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That God is extremely displeased with these three the first of whom Eliphas were just being introduced to So our roadmap this afternoon first, we'll go through what

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Eliphas actually said just in these verses 7 through 11 I'll read in just a moment What he actually said and we'll see what he meant

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Then we'll do a bit of biblical theology and we'll compare his premises to what scripture says and third

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We'll look at and see why maybe the Lord is so angry So with that, please stand for the reading of God's Word I'll read through verse 11

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I'll start at verse 1. Just remind us a little bit of the context. I'll stop at 11 Then Eliphas the

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Temanite answered and said if one ventures a word with you, will you be impatient yet? Who can keep from speaking?

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Behold, you have instructed many and you have strengthened the weak hands Your words have upheld he who was stumbling and you and have and you have made

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Firm the feeble knees, but now it has come to you and you are you're impatient. It touches you and you are dismayed

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Is not your fear of God your confidence and the integrity of your ways your hope remember

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Who that was innocent ever perished or where was the upright cut off as I have seen?

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Those who plow iniquity and so trouble reap the same by the breath of God they perish and by the blast of his anger

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They are consumed the roar of the lion the voice of the fierce lion The teeth of the young lions are broken the strong lion perishes for lack of prey and the cubs of the lioness are scattered

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Please be seated. Let's pray briefly I'm now father may the words of my mouth and meditations of my heart be acceptable to you

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May your word father go forth with power from your spirit without which we're just Speaking into the wind the knowing that you are here with us know that we proclaim your word

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We trust that you will make good from it to hear and preach her alike and we ask these things in Jesus name.

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Amen So what does LF has have here in this opening part of his answer to Job?

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Remember who that was innocent ever perished or where was the upright cut off as I have seen those who plow iniquity and so trouble reap the same

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What he's giving here is a principle. He sees a principle at work in the world in general. The principle is in verse 7 and The result of that principle is in verse 8 which ellip has sites from observation not personal experience by the way

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Observation and the cause of it all is in verse 9 So we have a principle we have a result of the principle and we have the cause the agent behind the principle then in verses 10 11 to we will handle separately he's going to Anthropomorphize the whole thing in terms of lions as I just read to you

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So the flow of thought what we're going to do with these first three verses he says basically bad things happen to bad people because They do bad things to others and they deserve these bad things to happen to them

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Who that was innocent ever perished when were the upright cut off they deserve what they get Then he goes on LF has learned this from seeing it happen to others and And finally

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God again the active agent in this So the innocent in L of houses estimation here in his comforting words to Job and I say comforting with those quotes is

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Comforting words to Job they don't perish and the upright are not cut off Experience confirms that bad people reap what they sow and God is the one who causes them to perish and it is he who consumes them

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Now it's interesting to note here We knowing the end of the story that L of house assumes he has seen

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God's anger brought down on those he considers sinners and As the discourses proceed later in the book and we get to the next cycles of discourses

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He will accuse or name Job as one of those sinners who deserves that anger But he assumes he has seen

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God's anger brought down on others those he considers sinners When we knowing the end of the story know that it is he who is going to be the recipient of God's anger

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As I've said so many times his anger burns against L of house But let's look at this and what is he trying to communicate here?

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What is he bringing across and then we're gonna have to understand that before we get to who is he speaking about?

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So first, let's just look at some of the words here. I'm not gonna give you any Hebrew We'll go through it very quickly, but he says here

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Who that was innocent ever perished and there's our first word And he goes on to say

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Excuse me when were the upright cut off Those who plow in equally with the same by the breath of God they perish and then by the blast of his anger.

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They are consumed so Perish cut off consumed.

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Those are the three words. We need to look at very quickly perish is a very strong word Perish does not mean to have a difficult time

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Okay, it means to perish Now one of the clearest uses of that is in the book of Esther when

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Haman as incites the king Ahasuerus to destroy the Jews They were to be destroyed there would be killed and annihilated in that last word

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Translated annihilated is the same word we have here perish Not just die but perish by royal or divine decree

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Now Esther when she was going to go to the king and plead for her people She knew that she could be

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Executed for walking into the court of the king walking and approaching him without having been invited Do you remember that Nestor if he doesn't move the gold scepter towards her?

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She's dead. Anyone's dead But she would have perished not just been killed though.

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You're just as dead but perished Job wished for the day. He was born back in chapter 3 to perish to have never existed

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Speaking of those who ruled over God's people. Isaiah says they are dead. They will not live. They are shades

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They will not arise to that end. You have visited them with destruction and wiped out and there's our word translated wiped out

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Perish made them perish wiped out all remembrance to them There's one more quick example

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When the earth swallowed Cora and his cohorts his family and his co -rebels in the wilderness

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They didn't just die though. They were pretty dead They perished Today we use the parish the word parish in a lot the same way

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Back in December 26 in 2004. Do you remember that tsunami? 230 ,000 people in Sri Lanka and other areas were swept away in that tidal wave that came the tsunami

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We say they perished They perished perishes to die by tragic circumstance beyond our control.

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We don't use that word with a murder victim You don't perish by murder. You're murdered. You're killed. You're executed something like that The victims of the tsunami weren't really killed in that sense they perished so it's a very strong word

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Jesus used that same word when we read in the book of Luke There were some present at that very time who told him about the

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Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices and he answered them Do you think that these

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Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you but unless you repent you will all likewise perish it goes on to speak of the

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The The Tower of Siloam that killed 18 or 19 people is 18 people and he says unless you repent you all likewise perish so he's getting the point across that perish as we have here in Job chapter 4 verse 7 from Elipaz is a strong word

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The other word is Cut off to be cut off means to not be part of the people anymore to be sent away

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Many regulations for Israel if not followed Resulted in someone being cut off from the people of you misapplied the

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Sabbath regulations If you took things wrongly you would be cut off from the people now It's different than being sent out to purify yourself and come back in cut off means no longer part of this people

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You are excluded henceforth you cut off a very strong word And the third word is consumed by the breath of God.

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They are consumed says Elipaz of sinners That means for something to be brought to an end to be fully used up fire from heaven consumed

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Elijah's sacrifice Psalm 73 verse 26 says my flesh and my heart may fail that is they may be consumed.

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They may be brought to an end And we put these three together perish cut off and consume

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We have a picture that is something more something different than just a hard Providence Something more than just difficult circumstance we speak here or Elipaz speaks here of death by divine judgment and decree

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He is speaking of the only people in the story who perished If those words mean what

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I'm putting forth to you these strong words to perish to be cut off to be consumed

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If this means to no longer be alive Because of some act from heaven

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We put these together we have a picture of Something more than just suffering

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Who is he speaking of? We went through these words very quickly To get to this who is

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Elipaz speaking of to Job. I Believe he's speaking of the only people in this whole story who actually perished

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Job seven sons and three daughters They're the ones who perished So Elipaz is comforting word to Job is something like this job your children deserve to die

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They were not innocent because the innocent don't perish. That's what I said, but they did perish

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So the Lord executed him What on earth do you think was happening at those birthday parties that they did so many times a year?

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I can only imagine what must have been going on, but God knew so sorry brother But your prayers your

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Sacrifices all the things that you invested in those children to keep them right with God None of that would stay

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God's hand. It wasn't enough. I Think that that's what's in the message from Elipaz to Job The only people in this story who perished who were cut off were consumed are those ten children

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Now the servants yes those but directly related to Job the ten children Now I have to admit to you that many commentators would disagree with this

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They say that Elipaz's point of comfort here for Job is that he's basically a righteous man And therefore he's ultimately not going to perish

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So it's like chin up Job. You're not going to die because essentially you're a righteous man and the righteous never perish

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Therefore you're gonna get through this. That's the way it's often taken and there's a lot in favor this perspective

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But I take this different route for two reasons First the combination perish cut off and consumed as I mentioned to you they don't leave room in my estimation for the subject of those three terms to be alive as Job was and Second if those really are comforting words to Job telling him he's not going to perish because he's basically righteous

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Well that disagrees was what's gonna come in coming discourses where they say you're not righteous Job. You're a sinner You just need to admit what you did wrong.

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That's going to come later in the discourses But it also a fails to explain That one verse that I keep harping on and presenting to you is coloring this whole book

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God's anger this thrice Repeated type of anger in all of Scripture.

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My anger burns against you because of what you said Elipaz you were representing me.

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You were speaking about me to my servant Job and My anger burns against you because of it.

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So I believe That when he says Who that was innocent ever perished?

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He's referring to Job's children who did perish who were cut off who were consumed by the breath of God so to speak

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Now we need to understand here If Elipaz build out and so pardon you haven't heard from the other two yet but if they give us a negative example of What to do about suffering as we who bring the comfort of God remember blessed be the

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God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ Who comforts us in all our afflictions? Who so that we may comfort those who are in any affliction who need the comfort with which we ourselves have been comforted

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That's his comforting word, which is not very comforting at all there's a world of difference between Comforting someone with the words of God and speaking about God That might sound a little confusing

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I couldn't really work out the prepositions to make this crystal clear But we can assemble many facts of God we can pull verses out of the scripture

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We can even pull points out of our confession. They give us a clear Way to to give the meaning of Scripture we can pull out the facts and speak of God Here's a word about God, but it's really a word of God as a fact.

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I'm giving you and We can bring them to bear on a situation But what we need to remember what we need to keep in mind

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All the while remembering God's anger at these three what we need to remember is that when we tell someone those facts those statements of God True as they may be taken one at a time

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We're actually speaking to that person about God We're doing more than giving facts.

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We're representing our Lord Paul says we're ambassadors of Christ What does an ambassador do who gets raised and promoted to the point of being an actual ambassador?

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It was a prestigious position an ambassador relays more than just the words of his master He gives the tone he gives the inflections

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He raises his voice so his master's anger could show forth He softens his voice so his master's goodwill towards whoever he's speaking to can show he gives the inflection

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He gives the body language the hand motions Whatever it is that accurately and completely

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Relays what the master had sent him for We're ambassadors for Christ We have more than just the words of our master

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Jesus Christ. We have the pathos We have the meaning behind the assembled statements

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You know the old example of misusing the facts of God To say something about God is something like this.

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Okay, Matthew 27 5 here's scripture for you. I'm gonna quote scripture. You ready? Judas hanged himself

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Colossians 3 23, whatever you do do it heartily and then finally from Jesus Christ himself

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Luke 10 37 you go and do likewise Does that make any sense it's a little bit silly but sometimes these things are put together in that way and we come up with some very

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Strange and unbiblical conclusions because we made statements of God these factoids these single verses

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But what we've said about God which in that silly little example is you should go hang yourself

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Well, do you think God would say hey nice way to put that together good biblical theology there.

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Mr Christian, no, I think a fourth time we might hear God's anger burning against someone

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Well, that's what I think Elipaz is guilty of here We need to think about this

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So when we amass these factual verses and present them we are speaking about God We are really being that ambassador so a brother or sister in dire circumstance be a financial ruin be it

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Relationships that blew up be at loss of loved ones. They need to hear about a God who does only what is right?

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That's a fact that's of God. They need to be reminded psalm 124 that God is on their side

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And that's what the psalm says. That's a fact They need to be reminded from Romans chapter 8 that the

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Lord works all things for good For those who love him and are called according to his purpose And Romans 8 also says if God before us who can be against us?

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He gave his only Son who can stand against us Now when you put those facts together those verses together and bring them to someone who's suffering

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Remember this you're speaking about God And so you don't just give them these verses and say

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I've given you a verse You give them these verses and you tell them something like unlike Elipaz did something like this

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God is good This God will see you through this This God does what is right and he gave his only

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Son for you And he will not forsake you or leave you in this hard circumstance This person might look up to you and say well, what's it going to look like?

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What is he going to do to pull me through and You should say as I should say and as I've said as a counselor and as a pastor.

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I Don't know. I don't have the mind of God to that extent.

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I have only what is written and What is written is that he's a good God who gave his son for you.

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He will never leave you or forsake you he is on your side and We can hold hands here

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I can pray with you I can stay with you through this whole process and I'm confident that in the end

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We will see how he pulls you through and he will get the glory and you will get the good

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That's fair has Elipaz done that No, he's nowhere near So that's that first part

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Job Here's your comforting word Job your children deserve to die emphasis mine

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They deserve what they got What does that mean? Stop mourning? Stop grieving.

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Yeah, I can't really give you a solid timeline of where we are in this book But I think it's only been a few weeks since this disaster came upon him.

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He loses his wealth. He loses his family He loses his health pretty quick for that kind of Therapeutic counseling to come on to come to him

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So that's what I think and I think he's talking about his children here. I Think that's the comforting word that they deserve to die.

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I don't think it has anything to do with Job personally not yet But let's move on the roar of the lion the voice of the fierce lion the teeth of the young lions are broken the strong lion perishes flack of Prey and the cubs of the lioness are scattered

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What's all that about? What are lions doing in here? All of a sudden? What is he talking about? I Think it's something like this

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The once proud the once high the once prestigious the once high and mighty if you will

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Has been humbled He's no longer the king of the forest, but as a defanged

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Starving weakling who could no longer provide for his family his scut his cubs are scattered in Job's case

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His children are dead. They perished I think Job was the strong lion now brought low for the same reason his children perished his sin according to Elipas Now we haven't gotten there

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It's way further after this first set of discourses and Job gives answers to them in the second set they get kind of impatient with him

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So it's gonna take us a long time to get there, but trust me. They're going to accuse him of sin and I think this flavors everything from the beginning though with increasing intensity as you go through it

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What's the problem here see Elipas has this linear linear approach to God in his dealings with men

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God's dealing with men It's almost algebraic the way he and his two cohorts work out what God has done and is doing is a plus B equals

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C Therefore C minus B equals a and so on and so on and so on The problem is see he starts with C.

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He starts with the result with the answer He has no idea what B is and from there

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He reasons back to a as something like this a equals God's sovereign freedom of action and God only does what's right?

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That's a B is his judgment of sinners because he only does what is right and C equals the result of that judgment in this life

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And the problem is he starts with C He starts with the judgment with what he sees happen to Job.

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He starts there and reasons backwards and says Here's what happened to you wealth family

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Children health gone. I Don't know B But I know you did something because a says

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God is holy and only does what is right Therefore you must have sinned equal to the bad things that have happened to you

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Jerry Elipas here He warms to his God infuriating comfort for Job Job your sons and your daughters who loved you who you prayed for You interceded for they deserve to die

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They must have deserved to die just as you deserve to see them die now most of the books you read on Job Elipas is found to have said all kinds of right things as Will build that in Zopar and the commentators will say this was correct.

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This was right. This was okay I don't see that. I don't see God parsing it out that way and say hey

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I like that open the opening sentence Elipas that started out pretty good But then you went astray with this or that or the other

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I think it covers the whole things This is very linear tight tight approach to things

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That Elipas has that leads him astray proverb says that disaster pursues sinners, but the righteous are rewarded with good

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Proverbs also says the righteous has enough to satisfy his appetite, but the belly of the wicked suffers want

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This is sort of where Elipas is if you're righteous You have a full table if you're hungry

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You're gonna have enough to eat because you're righteous, but if you're wicked you're gonna suffer want always in a linear solid way and These are true because they're in Scripture.

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These are absolutely true, but they're not laws They're not laws It's a collection of observations general principles

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Proverbs and all the wisdom in the scripture really a guide to wise living but not guarantees

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See if they were guarantees the way Elipas uses this kind of wisdom in what he says to Job if there were guarantees

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Then God is obligated to give the result that is promised

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And that would be a denial of God's sovereign freedom and his grace as a treadmill that we call works

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And this is where Elipas goes astray He's taken what we know to be wise biblical counsel

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And he's applied it without thought to context without considering the weakness the weakened state of his friend

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What does he violate here? Well, first of all, he violates Ephesians 429 Paul says let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths

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But only such as is good for building up as fits the occasion that it may give grace to those who hear

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We need to have according to the proverb a word fitly spoken Which is like an apple of gold in a setting of silver and this is not what

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Elipas is doing And so there's negative example to us on how to counsel rings pretty clear to us

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He presumes to know the mind of God He presumes to look at the result of something and say, okay

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I know the result because I can see it and I've analyzed it rightly and of course, I'm moi Like Lancelot in that move that play

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Same was same wa I'm forced to admit the greatest in the world tis I The greatest analysis you've ever had of your suffering is me

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I see the result and I can tell you what you did to get there That's not a word fitly spoken.

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That's not an apple of gold in setting of silver. That's not what Paul says is Necessary and good for building up as fits the occasion, which is so important That's not

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Romans 12 15 rejoicing with those who rejoice and weeping with those who weep Elipas is more in line with Psalm 41 9

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Even my close friend in whom I trusted because they were friends who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me

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So he asks in his wisdom way whether the innocent ever perish and obviously he's saying that they don't the innocent don't perish

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So those who did perish weren't innocent, of course In Galatians 6 7 says do not be deceived

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God is not mocked for whatever one sows that he will also reap and that's a lap houses point Really?

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The problem is the wooden way he applies it and he applies something that's only meant as a generalization

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It makes a hard and fast rule from an observation Solomon notes in Proverbs chapter 10 verse 3

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The Lord does not let the righteous go hungry But he thwarts the craving of the wicked a slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich So what do we have here?

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I know I spent a lot of time on wisdom literature and the way we apply it and the ways being applied to Job here So we have here the righteous man working diligently and he doesn't lack for food on his table

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Does he mean always No, he means generally he means generally wicked people do not prosper

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Generally lazy people don't have enough food for the table generally But our 73rd

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Psalm we have Asaph bemoaning the good fortune of the wicked that they seem to enjoy They've got plenty of food.

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They're nice and fat. They've got lots on their table. They live in nice houses Everything's good for them. Their conscience is easy

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But they're wicked and yet they have these good lives Solomon tells us train up a child in the way he should go

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Even when he is old, he will not depart from it to which we give you resounding usually usually

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These observations give us by God's Spirit guiding principles on God pleasing wise living

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Living likely to pay dividends in this life. But the only guarantee is that these guiding principles do please

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God They do please God, but they're not contracts. They're not promissory notes

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They don't obligate God to give the result that seems to be promised there There are observations that guide us in wise godly living

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Our part is to please God by doing so his part is His part and we can say no more

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Elipaz had a hard and fast rule about God's justice He had a rigid and unbendable way of seeing it by not accommodating his doctrines to the situation at hand

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He compromised the very doctrines. He said he stood for We ourselves we worry so much that if we adjust ourselves to our time and culture we've given into worldly ways

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But that rigidity is Elipaz's very error. He could not take God's eternal

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Unchanging truth and apply it wisely to the situation at hand Which was to comfort

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Job He couldn't apply it from God's eternal God's eternal truth to the situation

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Like for example, Jesus did when he cited Isaiah against the Jewish Jewish rulers of his rulers of his day remember

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Isaiah was in the 8 mid 8th century BC and They're being castigated for their lack of fealty to the covenant

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Their improper worship all these different things that they're doing and he's saying there's no worship at all

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And here's what Jesus says to them quoting Isaiah This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me in vain

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Do they worship me teaching his doctrines the commandments of men? You see how

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Jesus applies the ancient word to? his context Not playing footloose and fancy -free.

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Of course not He is the Word of God, but the Word of God applies to the situations at hand

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There's principles in the law that we can apply if we're wise Paul when he applied good animal husbandry to the care of pastors.

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You shall not muzzle the ox while it treads the grain wise scriptural application

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Spirit -led application of an ancient text even in his day. It was an ancient text. I Think that's part of the reason why

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God's anger burns against these three beginning with Eliphas Their rules especially

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Eliphas his rules sought to box God in and make him answerable to men Which is what that kind of legalistic rigidity ultimately does

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So what about his question a little biblical theology? What about his question about the innocent not perishing?

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It's more of a statement He's saying the innocent don't perish, but he put it in the form of a question who that was innocent ever perished

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Can we answer that? Can we answer that? We can who that was innocent ever perished we could begin with Abel Innocent Abel perished at the hand of wicked

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Cain It doesn't end there does it innocent Naboth perished at the hand of wicked

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Ahab Jezebel Now no charge was brought against them, but we can add

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Job's ten children to the list They perished but there's no sin anywhere in the scripture listed against them

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Or we make some assumptions about those parties You know scripture doesn't give us any real hints

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Innocent Paul suffered floggings and stonings innocent David was pursued with an engine of his life by mad

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Saul Innocent John was according to tradition dipped into boiling oil which he survived

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Fox's books of Mar book of martyrs is full of centuries of innocent people suffering horrifying tortures and deaths

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Innocent Jesus perished at the hands of sinful men Was he not declared innocent?

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according to Roman law and Did the Sadducees excuse me the

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Sanhedrin Council have? anything of truth in the quote -unquote evidence that they took in against him and Yet called him guilty and brought him back to pilot for execution pilot having said

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I find no guilt in this man He's done nothing wrong. I can't kill him. Of course. He could and he did

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All those innocents that I listed in before Of course, those are sinners who are innocent of specific charges

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Jesus Christ innocent of all Not a sinner innocent of a specific charge.

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No sin would ever attach to him tempted as we are yet without sin God's righteous

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God's perfect God's Holy One guy. He went doing good works amongst all the people as The disciples on the image road described to Jesus not knowing it was

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Jesus. They were speaking to So yes, the innocent do perish Elipaz The innocent do perish

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So I can speak to you of God and tell you that if you're in Christ the promise They will never leave you or forsake you stands forever firm

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Those are words of comfort if I then proceed to tell you why God gave you such a hard Providence Then I'm speaking in this context about him and I think in a way that would make

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God quite angry because we don't know We go beyond what is written when we do that as Elipaz did

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Dear ones in Scripture we have the mind of Christ So we know very much about God Was in pastor

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Connolly's Sermon or in the opening comments from the from the from the catechism.

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I don't recall which We spoke about us having the mind of Christ Have this mind which is yours in Christ Jesus.

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He just said that from here this morning You have that mind. We have the mind of Christ in Scripture Does that mean we know all about God?

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No, it means we have about God that which we need to know that which God and his goodness by his spirit has revealed to us

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We can say that God is good We can say he does what is right that he works all things to his own glory, which is for our good and So in my little and imperfect exercise with prepositions

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To speak of God in a way that brings comfort by rightly speaking about him. We have much we can do that with Elipaz and his friends think to tell

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Job why God did what he did Not only is there no comfort here

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But they speak of that which they could not possibly have known Deuteronomy 29 29

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Tells us the secret things belong to the Lord our God We hope for just a second.

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What's secret? What are God's secret things? It's everything about him that he didn't put in our 66 books of the

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Bible Those are the secret things if we have in the scriptures being revealed to us those

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The things that are revealed belong to us and our children forever that we may do all the words of this law

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Eric Sink bill in his book Cure of souls puts it very well and he writes this

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He says the worst thing we can do Perrin as those trying to bring comfort to someone who suffered tragedy

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Is to try and decipher the meaning of the tragedy as though we were privy to the mind of God No one of us is a soothsayer or a medium

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We never attempt to read the tea leaves or of tragedy and mayhem here in this world to discover the hidden meaning behind them

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We often tell sufferers those who are weeping with whom we wish to weep Those who need the comfort of God with which we ourselves have been comforted

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We often tell them to believe the promise that Christ will never leave them or forsake them, but Christ Restrain us

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Christ restrain us from saying exactly how and what that will look like Because we just don't know

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We do know what we can say with confidence Something nor to be found in the big threes discussion meaning those three friends of Joe something never were found in there

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Is this if Christ before you who or what could be against you? We can say with confidence he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Christ Jesus and those are words of comfort and In the scripture there are words of comfort that apply to any and every situation because the

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Word of God is inspired by the Holy Spirit himself 2nd Timothy 3 16 And it's complete and it's everything we need for training and righteousness

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And we need to bring words of comfort and bring that comfort with which we ourselves have been covered. We have the mind of Christ Can we just throw verses at someone?

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No, we should put it together. We should think it through We should speak those words of God and put it together in something about God that brings them that comfort

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Let's not go beyond what the scripture says Let's not presume to say we know why you're suffering this way.

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Here's the reason here's what you must repent of That's between them and God though. We can guide them in that direction if necessary We can tell them that God will bring them through and many of us have gone through some very hard times

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We know that God does bring us through don't we? But at the time in the suffering during the

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Providence, did we know how no, it's only looking back We can bring words of comfort

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We can bring words about a good God who gave us his son But we must never go further than the faith once for all delivered to us these 66 books of our scripture this mind of Christ The Word of God allows us to go

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So let's be those who take an example on how to comfort others from Elipaz and later bill died as Opar But understand this that we take a negative example

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And we do kind of the opposite of what they did Because God burned with anger against them because they spoke wrongly about him and by the spirits quickening of our spirits

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By the scripture that we have by prayer We can speak rightly about God to those who need know about God when they are in these afflictions like Job's or even worse

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Let us be that people that brings that comfort to others in a way that honors

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Christ and pleases God Amen Grace heavenly father.

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Thank you for this day. Thank you for this church. Thank you for the Word of God that goes forth here and that we hold to Heavenly father help us to always know your word to understand it to obey it and Lord God You'd be pleased to continue to grow us into the image of Christ grow us in holiness and sanctification

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Grow us and understand the power of your spirit. And we may we be that people that more and more grows pleasing to you and Honoring to Christ Jesus our