Job 5 "Sinking Despair"

I absolutely love watching the little ones answer those questions. One of the reasons that Rick and I enjoy and want to promote this kind of thing is that it's not just asking a kid this in private in a classroom, right?

They're answering this in front of the congregation of God. They're answering these questions in front of you. And so that's publicly a proclamation of what these families are trying to promote with these little ones in these things.

So it's a blessing to see that being done. We're going to be in Job 5 this morning. So please turn with me to Job 5 for our text that we will be examining for this morning. So let us first start off with a word of prayer as you are making your way there.

Lord God, I would ask, Lord, today that as we look here at Job 5, Lord, that you would open ears, that the heart would be changed, that our mind, our thinking would be attentive to what is to be revealed to us through this means of your Word, Lord.

God, I would ask that even this lowly pastor would speak the Word of God this morning. That it would go forth and encourage those that are needing encouragement this week, Lord. God, be glorified, be known, Lord.

I would ask that our minds would not wander into areas that this text is not permitting for us to go to. That our attention would be solely focused upon even the resurrection, Lord. And that we would consider what this catechism was used to even ask, Lord, let us recognize you as our king here in Job chapter 5, this peculiar text, Lord.

God, I ask this in the name of our prophet, priest, and king, Jesus our Messiah. Amen. Job chapter 5. Again, this is a peculiar text, and I hope we can remember from last week, those who were with us from last week, we saw a very interesting thing take place in Job chapter 4.

First of all, let's think about what the context of this chapter is again. Job has lost his whole family, his seven sons, his three daughters, his cattle, and all of his servants. They're all gone, right?

And so he is sitting in his wallowing filth while being covered from head to toe in boils, just soaked in the ash that these clay pots were holding. He's scratching himself. Seven days have gone by while he's in this state of misery.

And his three friends, after these seven days, have heard the exhortation, the message that Job says to us in Job chapter 3, which is essentially him saying, I wish that I would have died at a very young age.

I wish none of this would have ever came to pass. Which implies to us that he wishes that the despair and the anger, the vexation, as we would see here in a future text, this vexing that he has on his soul is so severe that it is beyond the joy that he experienced when he had his family.

And so he's saying, I wish I would have died and my family would have never been born because this is too much for me to bear. That's what Job has said. And so Eliaphus in chapter 4 responds to his friend.

Now, the reason I want to remind us of chapter 3 is this is going to be the mindset that we have to remember as we go through the entire book of Job. This morning, I came to do a little highlighting on my Bible with a pencil, and the tip of it broke.

And I found myself in despair and hardship because I couldn't mark the Bible verse. That is not the same type of despair that Job is going through. Job has suffered something that even many of us, we might have only felt in a degree, in just a slight amount, than what Job is, right?

And that's not me lessening what any of us in this room has gone through. But to lose a child is very severe, let alone seven sons, let alone three daughters. And not only is it that he lost it in a time frame of a year or years, he lost them all in the same day, right?

And so this is tremendous, okay? We have to remember that context as we go through this. And I think the reason that we have to remind ourselves of this is when Eliaphus speaks to Job and in the ways that he is an heir speaking to Job, it's one thing to stab somebody in the back, right?

It's another thing then to twist the knife, right, as it's in their back. That's what we see is going on is Job has this knife, this severe pain, and it's almost as if the friend is starting to twist it here.

And you can feel that distress in this text when we read through it. So in Job chapter 4, what was the peculiar text that I'm speaking of? I want to first read for us from chapter 4 of what the peculiarness that is going on here.

Let's look at verse 12 because, again, from last week, we talked about the three different opinions that people have when we read this text, and I think it's very clear for us of those three opinions which one is the correct one.

Let's read Job 4, 12, and on just to see this. Now, this is Eliaphus speaking to Job. He says, Now a word was brought to me stealthily in my ear, it received a whisper of it amid disquieting thoughts from the vision of the night.

When deep sleep falls on men, dread came upon me and trembling, and I made the multitude of my bones shake in dread. Then a spirit swept by my face, the hair of my flesh bristled up. It stood still, but I could not recognize its appearance.

A form was before my eyes, there was silence. Then I heard a voice. I want to pause here, and we talked about the three different commentators' opinions on this, that either it's God that's speaking in this text, that this Eliaphus, this friend, has seen a vision from the divine, or it's Eliaphus just making this up willy-nilly, or Eliaphus is seeing a demonic presence of some kind.

I would be on the ladder of those persuasions. Why we spoke about this last week. Do we take seriously any claim from somebody, whether it's somebody that's to us a mighty, lifted-up friend, or somebody that is an employer that says this, God spoke to me last night.

You would laugh at me if I said that this morning. God spoke to me. He revealed to me in a vision in the middle of the night something about your life. We would all think that that is blasphemy. And not only that, but the contextual keys that we see in here, that this demonic presence, in my opinion, is speaking in this text.

Listen to what he says. Can a mankind be made right before God? This is making Job doubt his salvation he has in Yahweh. It's making Job doubt the righteousness that he has, that God has already proclaimed he has.

In Job 1, he says, this is an upright and blameless man who fears Yahweh.

He fears the Lord.

So is this text encouraging Job, or is this one making him question what he has already been pronounced as having? Probably making him start to question things. This does not sound like it is being revealed from God, but rather a demonic influence that's trying to take Job's eyes away from God and hopefully will result in this demonic influence.

It's hopefully going to make him result in cursing God, is what it seems to want to result in. Can mankind be made right before God? Can a man be pure before his Maker? We talked about this last week.

No, we cannot on our own, but yes, we can through Christ. Through being covered in righteousness and the blood shed on our behalf, the second person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ. Yes, we can be made right before God.

Yes, we can be made pure before our Maker. It goes on to say in this text, again, look here at verse 19 here. How much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are cursed before the moth, between morning and evening they are broken in pieces, unobserved they perish forever.

What is this being saying to Eliaphus? And now Eliaphus is relaying these words to Job. Where did the sons and the daughters die at? They died in the house, whose foundation is laying there in desolation now.

What did this entity say to Eliaphus? How much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is dust, who are crushed before the moth. This seems like tormenting of words being uttered by Eliaphus to Job.

Job is having that knife twisted in his back. It's not an encouraging word. Now, look at verses 1 -7. So this is where the difficulty of any of these understandings of this text run into because in chapter 5, namely that in verse 17, we'll get to this as we read through this text, but verse 17 is quoted for us in the New Testament as a way of encouraging the saints.

And so if we say that all of this text is spoken by a demonic influence, you might have some troubles reconciling these things together, and there's a couple different ways to reconcile those. I would argue that this demonic entity stopped speaking in verse 7 because it seems that it turns back to now Eliaphus talking in verse 8 and on.

And again, we could look at this and say when the inspired author of the book of Hebrews said this, is he applying that truth of verse 17 in a proper way?

Yes, he is.

That's why it's quoted for us in Hebrews chapter 12, I believe it is. We'll look at it here in a moment. It has to be that it was done in the right way because that book is inspired as well, and it's being done in the proper way, whereas Eliaphus is applying this truth in a wrong way because he gets rebuked at the end of this book.

He's not doing this correctly. So let's look here all the way through Job 5, and we will make some notes as we go through this.

Job 5.

Call now, is there anyone who will answer you? To which of the holy ones will you turn? Now, I want to pause here and make us think on this. Some might think that this is maybe Job being told that you should call out to gods, to holy ones, to angelic beings of some kind.

I don't think that that's what's going on in this text. What was the prior text about? Those who dwell in houses of clay who have been crushed. He's talking this demonic entity that's talking to Eliaphus, and Eliaphus is relaying this to Job.

Eliaphus is continuing this thought. We don't have a chapter break in the original writing of this. So he's saying call out to those who have been crushed in the house. Call out to those who have died.

Call now, Job, call now to those sons and daughters of yours who are laying dead in that house of wonderful joy that they used to have. Call now, is there anyone who will answer you? Which one of the holy ones?

This holy ones in this text, it can be translated and understood in a couple different ways, and context always directs our thoughts on its correct interpretation. Holy ones in this text seems to be the saints, those that believe in Yahweh, those children of yours, Job, that you would offer sacrifices for and on behalf of, those saints of Yahweh.

Which one of them will turn to you? Which one of them will respond back to you, Job? None. Why? Because they're dead, Job. You can feel that knife just being twisted in the back of Job. For vexation kills the ignorant fool.

That's this word for severe anger. Kills the ignorant fool and jealously puts to death the simple. I've seen the ignorant fool taking roots, and I curse his abode suddenly. Again, who is speaking in this text?

Who's the one that was able to bring these destructions to Job?

It was Satan.

So what does it say in this? I've seen this ignorant fool. He's talking about Job. I have cursed his abode suddenly. Did it come about in a year's time, or was it immediately when this took place? It was immediately that these winds came, crushed the house, killed the seven sons and the three daughters.

Again, this is why I have to say that in chapter 4, when he talks about this appearance of this vision that he has before him, it has to be a demonic force of some kind, whether it's Satan himself or it's one of his angels.

It's hard to say, but it has to be something demonic because of what the context has already told us. His sons are far from salvation. Again, this word salvation is meaning a place of refuge. His sons are far from a place of refuge.

So this is the demonic entity talking to Elias. His sons are far from a safe refuge.

Why?

Because they've died in that house of clay. The foundation is now dust. They've been crushed. They are even crushed in the gate. They ran for the door as the house fell, and they died there. And there is no deliverer.

There is no one that can bring them back, is what this demonic entity is telling Elias. His harvest, the hungry, the fowler, and take it to the place of thorns, meaning all the work that Job has done is being taken away.

And the shemir plants have after their wealth, for wickedness does not come from the dust, nor does trouble sprout from the ground, for man is born from trouble as sparks fly upward. This demonic entity that's talking to Elias is saying that Job has received all these things because he obviously has to be a wicked man of some kind.

What could we look at this text and see that it's doing to Job? Well, first of all, Job is in this place of perpetual despair. It would seem that it wasn't enough for him just to lose his seven sons and his three daughters.

Now he's been afflicted with boils, and that wasn't even enough. Now his friends are giving him some very terrible words. He's sinking further and further and further into the pits. He's sinking further in despair.

Job is in depression that you and I have never felt. His friends, who you would think should be offering him some sort of wisdom to help lift him up, are actually giving him counsel that's coming from the devil himself, and that is causing Job to question things even more.

What kind of application could we take from this for ourselves? Brothers and sisters, it's so easy for us in our times. Well, two things, two ways that we can be influenced by the ruler of the power of this heir, the prince of the power of this heir, who is Satan.

There's two ways that we can be influenced by him quite regularly, I would argue. One, who is the first one that's being talked to by this demon? Eliaphus. This friend Eliaphus, who's already talked to Job, has demonstrated ways and thoughts of pride.

Has he not? He said in the prior chapter that, essentially, that Job, you have obviously sown wickedness, and God doesn't punish those that are righteous or those that are innocent. Obviously, Job, I stand here as a man that doesn't have any issues of my flesh being covered in boils.

You are deserving of this, Job. He's come to Job in this place of pride. Satan influences men and women who are in positions of pride, those that think that they are higher than they ought to think of themselves.

Secondly, I think I could attest to this in many situations I've seen, but it seems that the influences of Satan grasp around those that are in despair. And that's what we would see that Job is being afflicted by his friend in.

This is that twisting of the knife. There are no words to be put upon how Job must be feeling in his text after hearing this from his friend. Eliaphus, you're telling me that you had this vision, and in this vision it talks about, I can't even call out to my sons and my daughters anymore because they got killed in this house.

And you're telling me that, obviously, this wickedness I did is what brought about this. That's essentially what Eliaphus is telling Job. Brothers and sisters, please, when you see a saint suffering, do not go to them and say, you're suffering because you had hidden sin, obviously.

Is it true that we are all sinners and none of us are innocent? Yes, it is true. None of us are innocent. It is true that God sometimes punishes us, disciplines us, to raise us up to be a better bearer of the image of Christ.

Yes, this is true. You can almost, there is a sense of heartlessness to say such a thing to somebody who is suffering. That's not wise ways to apply this kind of a text. I would almost think even about the days of Jesus when Mary and Martha come to Him in despair about their brother dying and Jesus saying to them, ah, he was obviously a sinner and that's why he's dead.

No, he doesn't say those things to them. He says, believe in me and you'll never taste death. He gives them words of advice that will lift them out of their place of mourning rather than cutting them down even further in despair.

Let's look at verse 8 now. It says,. But as for me, so this is where I think the transition takes place of Elias relaying the words of this demonic being. He now switches to saying, but as for me. So he's saying, look, this is what this demon has said to me.

This is what this spiritual being has said to me. But as for me, now he's switching the contextual key for us to understand now verse 8 and on to verse 27. It's coming from Elias. But as for me, I would seek God and I would set my cause before Him.

Again, what do we see here coming from Elias, the friend?

This is pride.

Is it a good thing to tell somebody to seek God? Yes, but when it's phrased, I would seek God in your situation, it's implying that Job has not done that. Is it a good thing for us to confess our sins?

Absolutely, but Elias is not employing that principle, that doctrine of seeking God in the way that is actually helpful to Job. Again, I urge you to listen to the true statements that Elias is talking about to Job in here, but it's not in ways that are beneficial for Job.

But as for me, I would seek God and I would set my cause before God. Who does great and unsearchable things, wonders without numbers. Is that true, church? Yes, that's true. He gives rain on the earth and sends water out on the fields outside so that He sets on highs those who are lowly and those who mourn are lifted to salvation.

Is that true?

Yes, this is a true statement that Elias is telling Job. He frustrates the thoughts of the crafty so that their hands cannot attain success of sound wisdom. He catches the wise by their own craftiness and the counsel of the twisted is quickly thwarted.

By day they meet with darkness and grope at noon as in the night. But He saves from the sword of their mouth and the needy from the hand of the strong.

So the poor has hope.

And the unrighteous must shut its mouth. Again, is God able to do these things? When we think through this, does God give rain to the earth?

Yes, absolutely.

Does He send water to the fields outside?

Yes, absolutely.

Can He take those who are lowly and set them upon high?

Yes.

Can He save and bring refuge to those that are mourning? Can He frustrate the thoughts of the crafty? Can He catch the wise who think.

That they are higher and mightier.

Than our all-knowing God and frustrate them? Yes, He can do these things. But again, how is Elias using this to try to encourage Job? I don't see it in this. I see it as more of a place of him saying, look how great I am and how low you are, Job.

It's not a place of humility and love that this friend is trying to utter these words to Job with. Are these verses true? Yes, they are. It just does not appear that this friend is using them in a way that is uplifting to Job.

Let's look here at verse 17 now.

It says,.

Behold, how blessed is the man whom God reproves, so do not reject the discipline of the Almighty. This is the quotation that we find in the book of Hebrews. Let's turn to Hebrews 12, verses 5 -12. Let's turn there and look at this.

Hebrews 12, verses 5 -10. Again, it helps so much when we remember the context of each one of these books that we ever examine. The book of Hebrews is written to the Jews that have come to have faith in the Christ and profess Jesus dying for their sins.

And because of that, they have come under great persecution. They have been cast out of their cities. They are wandering now. And many of them are thinking to themselves, man, when I didn't believe in Christ, when I was just under this Jewish type of lifestyle in the city of Jerusalem, man, I was welcomed.

But now that I've come to have faith in Christ, I have severe persecution. Why? Maybe I should go back. That's what the thoughts are going through these Jewish people that Paul is writing to.

Here in the book of Hebrews, all throughout the book of Hebrews.

And so all throughout the book of Hebrews, Paul, this author of Hebrews, is encouraging the Jew that is under severe persecution for having faith in Christ. And so he's saying Christ is better. So even your suffering, it's all meant for something because Christ, the true tabernacle, the true temple, the better builder, the better mediator, the one that has brought the better covenant, the covenant of grace, it's better.

Trust me, it's sweeter is what Paul is arguing for in this text. And so look at what the encouragement is that he says in here.

Verse 5,.

And you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons. My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him. And for those whom the Lord loves, He disciplines, and He flogs every son who receives Him.

It is for discipline that you endured. God deals with you as with sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are an illegitimate children and not sons.

Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them. Shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them.

But He disciplines us for our benefit so that we may share His holiness. What do we see in the life of Job? We see a man that fears Yahweh, and I would argue, therefore, is a son of God. And he has received discipline from the Father, our Heavenly Father.

And the end of this book shares in far more holiness than he did even at the beginning of this book. So again, it's not a bad thing when somebody receives discipline. I even think that we read about it in chapter 5 of Divine Providence in 1689 that we looked through in Bible study.

And we see that God does these things. He's decreed these things so that we can be built up more in Him and we can look to Him for a more sure way. Again, what is at the end of this book.

That Job does?

He says, I repent in dust and ashes. I cover my mouth. I spoke of things that were too holy, too high for me to even know about. Again, Job is a man, a believer in Yahweh, who is being sanctified even in this text.

And so we see that wrestling. We see that gripping taking place even in this text. So verse 17 of Job 5, is it a true statement? Yes, it is. Yes, it is. We have to remember this friend gets rebuked because he's applying it in a way that is not correct and is not building Job up.

Verse 18, let's look. For he inflicts pain and grieves relief. He wounds and his hands also heal. From six distresses he will deliver you. Even in seven evil will not touch you. In famine he will redeem you from death.

And in war from his hands with swords. You will be hidden from the scourge of the tongue. Which I want to pause there and just say that's a very interesting thing that his friend is saying because it seems that he just contradicted himself.

He's saying you'll find relief from those that are speaking evil against you when in my same sentence, in the same breath that I'm speaking to you Job, I've spoken evil against you. I've spoken this scourge of the tongue, this thing that has not brought about peace in your life.

Job, you'll be delivered from it. And you will not be afraid of devastation when it comes. You will laugh at devastation and starvation. And you will not be afraid of the beasts of the earth for your covenant will be with the stones of the field.

And the beasts of the field will be at peace with you.

Again, I want to pause here. What has happened to Job? He's lost all the beasts of the field of his. He's lost all his cattle. So again, what is this friend saying? Devastation, starvation. Even Job in this next chapter will go on to say that the yolk of the egg, the whites of the egg, they make me sick to even look at.

And so this friend is seeing this and he's saying, starvation, you'll laugh at it one day. You will know that your tent is at peace for you will visit your abode and fear no loss. You will know also that your seed will be many and your offspring as the vegetation of the land.

You will come to the grave in full vigor like the stacking of grain in its season. Behold this, we have investigated it and so it is, hear it and know for yourself. The question has to be posed, is this happened for every believer?

We know in the book of Job that all his misfortune, all his loss is returned to him. He ends up having seven more sons and three more daughters and he receives back all the cattle that he had lost in the same numbers and more numbers actually.

Does that happen to us all the time when we suffer loss? No, it doesn't. It doesn't. Can the Lord return these things to us? Yes, He can. But sometimes that doesn't happen. Sometimes we live our life in a sinking despair and utter havo as we would see in the book of Ecclesiastes that our life is nothing but a vapor.

However, let's think through this for a moment. In this life, in this age, we might not receive back those things. We might live the rest of our lives. We might die next week. We might die many years from now and we might live all those years in persecution and chaos and trial and hardship.

However, what is promised to us in the life to come, in the age to come? Exactly what we have just seen in this. It would seem that this friend is saying to Job,.

You won't mourn any longer.

Brothers and sisters, when we have faith in Christ and we've been born again, as we have read today for our call to worship and as Rick has made mention to these children during catechism, if we've been born again at the coming of our King Christ, He will wipe away all our tears and there will be no longer any mourning.

I would pose to us that we would look at the earth in that state in starvation, which is part of the curse, the part of the fall that we would hunger and toil over trying to plant and plow that of the field because we have fallen.

We are no longer in this garden that we tend to, but we are in this fallen place where we suffer starvation. We'll laugh at it. We'll laugh at that idea one day. Devastation that no longer exists in a time when we reign and are in the presence of Christ.

He has made all things anew. So again, when we look at this text, we can look at it and we can say, this is true for Elias to say such a thing. There is a great hope that the Christian has. Did Elias mean it that way when he said those things to Job?

No, he didn't. No, he didn't.

And that's the whole reason why Elias will get rebuked at the end of this book. It said that you spoke incorrectly about me. Is it true that we will one day come to the grave in full vigor? Even think about that statement right there.

When we think about what Christ will do when He comes again and He casts Hades and Sheol, death itself, into hell, He'll cast those things there. It means that we will no longer fear death.

Why?

Because death has been conquered in Christ. That's a great hope that we have as Christians. That's a great hope that we can look to a friend like Job and say, Job, you have suffered death. You've seen it very presently.

But I have hope and faith in One that will make all things new. And He has defeated death itself.

Let's turn real fast.

This is not a text I was expecting to read, but look with me at 1 Corinthians 15 here. Towards the latter end of that chapter of 1 Corinthians 15, we see what I would argue is going to be one of the sweetest sayings that we will ever utter when we see Christ.

Let's just read verse 51 all the way to 58. Let's just do that. 51, behold, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed. In a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, the trumpet will sound and the dead will raise incorruptible, and we will be changed.

For this corruptible must put on incorruptible, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this corruptible puts on the incorruptible and this mortal puts on immortality, then will come about the word that is written, death is swallowed up in victory.

O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? Now the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. O, if Job had his hands on what we have today. O, what great encouragement could Job have been told if he had the same revelation, the same means that you and I have today, the same ways that we have to access this great hope, if he had that in his day.

Job, turn to 1 Corinthians 15. Job, know that Christ is the victor. That Christ has won. That is the encouragement that Job needed in that day many, many years ago. That's the encouragement that we have to offer to one another even this morning.

Abide in this love. Abide in this hope. Toil not in vain, but toil in the name of the Lord for there is something great coming.

Let us pray.

Lord God, I thank you so much for who you are, Lord. I thank you for giving us your spoken word here that we have in that which is sufficient for us.

To know who you are, Lord.

God, I would ask that we would not look to vain friends, vain world philosophies that are void of your word, Lord, the things that will not bring about a sure foundation, a sure understanding, a sure hope of what is to come, Lord, but that we would grasp to that which is not vanity, that we would grasp to those things that are encouraging, those philosophies that stem from the transcendence of you, Lord, and the revealed word of yours here in the Bible, Lord.

God, I would ask that when we look at this book of Job and we recognize it as one of the oldest stories for us, Lord, one of the oldest historical recorded things that we can look to, Lord, that we would take from it the application in knowing that we should turn only to you for hope, Lord.

That friends, they will fell us often. That the world will tell us whatever it wants to sound like to make it sound good to our ears, Lord. God, I would ask today that if there is vexation upon our souls, if there is despair that we have come here with this morning, Lord, that we would lay those things there upon the hill of Calvary before your feet, Lord.

That we would recognize that you are disciplining even us in our trials and persecutions, not for a way to bring us low, but in a way that would actually make us more like you, Lord. That we would share in your holiness.

So even in our bringing low, we would exalt the name of Christ. Lord, I ask this today in that one who deserved all praise but was made low on our behalf, and that is Jesus the Christ who rose again from the grave and has been the victor and the winner over the enemy, which is death.

Lord, I ask this in his name, Jesus Christ. Amen. Brothers and sisters, please stand with me.