Job 17

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It's a continuation of what we read last week where Job is responding to Eliphaz who has come back in a sense
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For a second shot at Job And that's pretty much the way the book is going to go till we get to the further chapters that these so -called friends are going to take their turns at Job and Job then responds to them and and what
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I find really interesting as we keep going through the book it does the
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Argumentation of both the friends and Job's back and forth and back foot. It seems to get more and more intense as you go through and Certainly you'll see it in the friends as they continue to get at Job that their accusations become heavier and and stronger against him and and it there's a sense of frustration on their part because Job doesn't seem to want to listen at least that's what they perceive
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Job's not listening to them and then Job is upset because Job feels that his friends aren't listening to him
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And so this kind of back and forth and up and down continues to go on so anyway, we
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Look at chapter 16 where Job responds and so he continues in chapter 17 and he says in verse 1
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My spirit is broken and my days are extinguished and the grave is ready for me
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And are not mockers with me does not my eye dwell on their provocation
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Now put down a pledge for me with yourself. Who is he that will shake hands with me? For you have hidden their heart from understanding
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Therefore you will not exalt them he who speaks flattery to his friends. Even the eyes of his children will fail
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But he has made me a byword of the people and I have become one in whose face men spit
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My eye has also grown dim because of sorrow and all my members are like shadows And upright men are astonished at this and the innocent stirs himself up against a hypocrite
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Yet the righteous will hold his way and he who has clean hands Will be stronger and stronger
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But please come back again all of you for I shall not find one wise man among you My days have passed.
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My purposes are broken off Even the thoughts of my heart they change the night and today and the light is near they say in the face of darkness
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If I wait for the grave as my house I make my bed in the darkness if I say to corruption you are my father and to the worm
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You are my mother and my sister Where then is my hope as of my hope who can see it?
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Will they go down to the gates of shield? Shall we have rest together in the dust?
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And so again As we look at the chapter and we begin to think about some things just keep in mind that that again
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Job is is Responding to the accusations of his friends and and remember what we've been trying to stress that There's misunderstanding on the part of all if you think about it
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There's misunderstanding on the part of his friends because what do they what do they think anyway? They think that Job is getting what?
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what he deserves right and that the reason for that is because he's sinned against God and and and they've even accused him of being a hypocrite and Hiding his sin and and of course they make mention of the fact that you can't hide from God And job keeps coming back at him
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And he keeps on trying to get them to Consider what he's saying and They don't seem to want to consider it.
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And so he basically Remember I said they keep calling each other windbags You're a windbag.
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No, you're no you have empty words. No, you have empty words. And so The frustration on all the all of them seems to get more and more intense and neither of them willing to concede
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And I thought about that a little bit and just ask you to think about that Do you ever get into a discussion with someone and They say one thing you say nothing and Then they say the same thing again.
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And what do you do? You said the same thing again? And it goes back and forth and you get sometimes you get to a point where no one wants to concede, right?
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And what happens at that point? Lots of things happen at that point. You can either say
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I forget I don't want to talk about it no more you could get angry or you can Do a bunch of different things, but but it seems to be going back and forth and and job is frustrated
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They're frustrated and basically as we read it This is taking a toll on job
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So look at the first verse. He says my spirit is broken My days are extinguished.
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The grave is ready for me. I'll just think about that Imagine yourself in job situation where not only is your mind
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Shaky but your body too And I wanted to remind us of that proverb.
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So I'm gonna ask just real quick I'm going to show you this proverb powers in proverbs chapter 18. I want you to see something how
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How interesting it is that God has made us in that Our bodies and our spirit are vitally connected
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You know, we had a conversation and I think it was with that Wednesday night. We were here when we had the dinner and somebody had asked the question about Whether man is made up with body and spirit or body soul and spirit and We had a discussion about that.
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Good morning, man Had this discussion and Basically, I think you know, there's two different views.
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Well at least two different views. There's a dichotomous and a trichotomous than it did not
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Doctors or lawyers or Indian chiefs, but a dichotomous believes that there's basically two parts of man
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There's the body and then there's the spirit and then you have a trichotomous to believes that you can make further division and then have body soul and spirit
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So how many dichotomous are in the room? How many hippopotamuses are in the room
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How many trichotomous are in the room so and again, I My answer was on him
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Wednesday night that dependent on what day of the week you asked me I might be a dichotomous or I might be a trichotomous because to me
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I Simplify it in my mind because it's very hard to comprehend but I basically see it as man is made up of of the visible the tangible the touchable and the invisible or the in that sense the the thing that is
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That's inside of us, right? And it's it's You can't really You can't really put your finger on it, but yet, you know, there's another part of you that lives inside and and and So whether your body soul spirit or body soul, whatever you look at it, but my point is that the two whatever way you want to break it out is vitally connected look in Proverbs chapter 18 and look at verse 14 and And just think about this it says the spirit of a man will sustain him in sickness but Who can bear a broken spirit?
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The spirit of a man will sustain him in sickness, but who can bear a broken spirit?
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I understand that to be saying that if that invisible untouchable in a sense
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Part of us that that's with it. If that is strong it will be able to carry us through the physical
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And that's why I think it says it that way that the spirit of man will sustain him in sickness But then the other part is even more interesting when it says but who can bear a broken spirit
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So when you think about it, how many of us would agree that when you don't feel good?
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if your Spirit is good. It does what? It kind of carries you through your sickness, right?
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But what happens when you have a broken spirit, right? It affects not only your
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That part inside the invisible, but it also affects you your physical do you ever you ever get like that where you might be feeling glum or or depressed or Anxious or whatever it is.
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It does it not affect your body? You Can see it up here Yeah, and sometimes you'll go up to someone and you'll say what what's the matter?
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You just you don't look right and it's not always a physical issue It's sometimes it's the spiritual and to me.
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This is saying that the spiritual part or that invisible part is is the predominant part of us and so when you think about it as long as you have a
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Good feeling or a good sense or a good spirit you work through issues, even if you have physical
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Problems, but it's not as easy In other words, it's you can be feeling good physically and and and you still drooping and you still kind of dragging your feet
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And so when you think about that, that's the situation I think when we consider
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Job and he says my spirit is broken and my days are extinguished and the grave is ready for me
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I mean he's being torn apart both outwardly Because of the maladies, you know, some people believe he had elephant
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Titus What's elephant Titus anyway? No, you know, it's not when you turn into an elephant
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Boils and Yeah, and it's it's yucky Put it that way.
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I don't think any of us desire to have elephant Titus, but Just think about that.
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He has Which which probably leads to the fact that he's not eating. Well Because he does mention that he says look at me.
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I'm like skin and bones And so he's not eating. Well, he's got maladies
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At one point we'll see it. He says No one wants to really look at him
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Matter of fact, he he'll go on to say As we continue on that his wife doesn't even want to get near him
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And and so you think about all of that and then he's got his friends and what are they doing?
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Well, they can't really affect his body as much but they're certainly affecting his spirit and and not only that his perplexity if you will
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In trying to understand the situation that he's in So just just make sure you you kind of try to figure that that that it's coming at job from all angles and so Certainly his friends are really
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In a way doing further damage to someone who is in in a bad way
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And again When he says my days are extinguished and the grave is ready for me,
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I think job thinks he's he's basically coming to an end that his days are just about over that God's gonna take him out and As he has been saying and he will continue to say in a sense.
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He almost desires the grave Because the grave to him is the end of his pain
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Torment misunderstanding You ever hear people say that I Just I wish
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I could die And again, you got to get that that's not the normal response
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Is it we feel we get nervous when people start saying and having thoughts of of those kinds of things?
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Yeah Yeah, and the human will is strong and so even go back to that proverb where it says the spirit of a man will
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Sustain him in his infirmity, but a broken spirit, right? people usually Well, I can't say this with certainty.
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I would think more people commit suicide Because of the invisible part
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Then the then the visible part Like I'm not so certain that just because you have pain because we have come up with a lot of ways to do what
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Heal pain right we can we can kind of subside the torment of physical pain and then
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I guess We try to do that in the spiritual realm or in the in the invisible part, but what do we usually do it with?
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drugs, right and then drugs have their own set of consequences
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Absolutely, you're right and again because the two are vitally connected and that's why
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I say whether we're body soul spirit or body spirit or invisible and Invisible whatever way you want to break it up Job is saying that he basically is at wits ends and Because he had said he said that life was basically remember exactly where it was in the in the previous chapter
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He says that life is like the waves of the ocean that keep hitting the rocks and What happens when the waves hit the rocks?
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Wear them away until you have nothing left but sand and basically I think that's where job is at And not only that but he can't understand
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Why God is doing what he's doing to him and and again his friends have an answer to it
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But it's not the right answer but nevertheless all these things are wearing this wearing this man down and and just tearing him up and and it's going to continue and that's why
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I think it says I know it says in the Ecclesiastes it reminds us to Enjoy the days of our youth
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Remember we read that chapter. Enjoy the days of your youth. Enjoy the wife of you youth Enjoy the children of your youth before the hard days come
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Because guess what the hard days come don't they? I saw this little girl.
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She was across the street. I Was just sitting in my garage and looked at it. She's across the street
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There were two little kids and they she wanted to reach down to the ground and she reached down to the ground
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And she did it so naturally and I mean she was all the way down squatting down looking at and I'm thinking man
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Oh, I it would take me three and a half weeks to get down there And then another two weeks and two people to get me back up About that.
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I thought about how How easy it is for so many When you're young to be able to do those kinds of things.
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Well, we don't even think about that anymore, right? And The world is geared towards them you know, you're not supposed to go up on a ladder as you get older right because you'll fall and break your hip and Whatever, but just think about that.
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And so to job in a sense, he's He just wants it to come to an end so verse two he says are not mockers with we're in job 17
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Are not mockers with me and does not my eye dwell on their provocation again, he's
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Complaining if you will and and pointing out that no matter what he says
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His friends just won't listen to him and that in and of itself friends is rather frustrating when you're trying to convey something and as hard and as Sincere as you are to try to explain your feelings that the person you're explaining to the to They don't get it and and and that comes at any age, right?
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I mean that you don't have to wait to you old to do that I mean it becomes very frustrating you become and there's a lot of emotions that come with that, right?
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whether it be anger or frustration or Sometimes it's just like ah forget about it.
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I'm not even gonna try but he he's his friends are just He thinks they have nothing but mockers and and all they're trying to do is provoke him and they're not really helping him and Joe really thinks that the other side of the veil if you will the other side of life is
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It's something to look forward to and that He realizes that if he closes his eyes and the grave covers them that he won't have to deal with that anymore
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But that doesn't mean that Joe doesn't consider something on the other side of the veil, right because You didn't really want to talk too much about this but Many people take their own lives for that very reason of they think that if they do that It all ceases right, it comes to a screeching halt and In a sense it does right?
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But only from this side of eternity when you think of it from the other side There's a total reality that that needs to be considered.
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I Would hope we would all read it at that ending taking your own life or in that sense having your life ended
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Doesn't alleviate you Because of the fact that God created us what? Now we're not from everlasting to everlasting.
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Are we because what does that mean from everlasting to everlasting? Well from everlasting to everlasting means no beginning no end
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Right. Can we say that no we could say we have a beginning and see that that kind of blows your mind when you think that's why
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God says I am Because God had no beginning and again, you can only take that thought so far and that's because we're creatures of time and space
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So we understand ourselves with as having a beginning but God has created us in that sense to be those who live forever and ever not talking about where we live forever and ever
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But many people will think if they can just shut this life out that everything ceases and some people actually hoping that right they hope in the in the thought of you know, it's really
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Especially in young people this is a this is serious thought right because how many More and more we see that even young people who feel frustrated who feel
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Bullied who feel In a sense they have nowhere to turn they think that just because they ended that releases
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Everything but it really doesn't does again if you believe that there is a
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God and you believe that you're responsible to that God and The Bible clearly teaches us that although we did although we'd not from everlasting to everlasting
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We certainly are going to live forever and ever the real issue is where So anyway,
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Job says that he says That they're nothing but markers now
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I want you to look at verse 3 because I think this changes at this point Because now it says now put down a pledge for me with yourself
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Who is he that will shake hands with me? And I'll read verse 4 for that for you have hidden their heart so now we got to ask ourselves who's in view here
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Who's Job directing his his words to? well, as I understand it in verse 3.
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He's now pleading with God And now he's asking God because again, he's he's fed up with his friends.
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They're not helping him they're tearing him down and although in many ways
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Job Misunderstands God's actions towards him. He now looks to God and and that's why
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I say to you Job's hope on this side of the grave is pretty pretty thin but that doesn't mean that Job doesn't have a hope on the other side of the grave and That Job doesn't see someone on the other side of the grave.
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Just just think about this How do you think it would impact everyone
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If everyone truly believed that this life was not the end all
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Just think about that for a minute How do you think it would impact people if they truly?
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Understood that this life is not the end all of everything.
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I Think it would have a Tremendous effect on people
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Would you disagree? I think you would have a hard time to disagree big because if people really believe that there was more to it and that there was
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Once you add the more to it to it Then there's responsibility that comes with it and then there's okay.
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So what am I gonna be for eternity? Where am I gonna be for eternity? again, it's
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It's it's a lot easier for people to just shorten it down and just say well, it's only this life and Because the end is the end, right?
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Yeah You have to realize this there's something right you have to realize you have
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You have an accountability and then the next thought would be to who? For what right remember what
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Paul says if if if all we cared about was this like if all that really mattered in this life
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Remember what Paul says and he says it very clearly He says eat drink and what be merry for tomorrow we die and many people have that attitude
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I'm just Gonna just enjoy my life and and then when it's over, you know, it's over Yes, brother
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I do remember that song I'm not gonna sing it, but I remember it
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But but this yeah, there's a reality. I just laugh because I know you that was your that was your you and your heyday, right?
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Yeah Yeah a little bit. Well, you're a little bit further on too But yeah that whole thought of Just Seeing things as they as They really are and I agree you have to really believe because most people again in order to escape accountability
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Deceive themselves into thinking what? once it ends It's ending it's over.
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There's no there's nothing after and so of course people come up with those sayings You know heated dies with the most toys what?
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wins And when that the one that why the Kings built those pyramids because what did they do in those pyramids?
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Some of them believed that that it wasn't the end and that they could actually take what they had here and Transfer it there and then they came to find out how to eat the way it works
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Right that naked you came and they could you leave so yeah It is because Yeah There's no hope in that No, and you're right brother, there's no hope in that and yet that's used as a what as a prod to to well sin or do better or enjoy, you know, you read through Ecclesiastes and some people misinterpret that book tremendously because they think that's all that the writer is saying is just Enjoy the work of your labor, of course, there's a lot more to it but Again, you're right.
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A lot of people have that and it's really fatalistic Right, and and it's it's sad because again when you
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I know we're way off track But when you look at the injustice When you look at the imbalance of life this life, would you not agree with me that this life is has great imbalances
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Why does some people have All this and some people have
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Very little what why is that? Well, the world comes up with a bunch of different answers, right?
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Well says it's because this group worked harder than another group. Is that always true? That's not always true.
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No because again, a lot of it is what God has Surrounded each and every one of us with we all have abilities
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And we all have what? disabilities we'll all have things in which we excel and we all have things in which we struggle and Unless you're able to comprehend that right?
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Where does that leave you again? Somebody that wants to be a basketball player and he's only five foot one
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Hey, it ain't working dude Give it up Huh Yeah, I mean you better be a three a good three -point shooter at five -foot walk good
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Otherwise, you're not playing dude And again all those things and it leaves some people to live in a hopeless situation, right?
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So there's a lot of imbalance in life Why is this one this way? Why why can't I be like and so all those things play into it?
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And I think of verse 3 Job is basically saying God You've got to be the one who?
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handles my case Put down a pledge for me with yourself And who is he who will shake hands with me and he's basically saying
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I'm not getting it from my friends Basically, I'm not gonna get it from this world or for any anybody or anything in this world
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Verse 4 is really interesting when you think about it Look what he says and Again, if you believe that he's speaking to God About his situation and the result of his situation
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He says you have hidden their heart from understanding. Who's he throwing rocks at?
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Who's he making an accusation over? His friends his markers the ones who have come against him and it's interesting how
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Job words it He says you have hidden their heart And that brings us to to a lot of we could have a lot of thoughts about that right because Many many people believe that everyone is on the same plateau
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And that all you have to do is apply yourself to Rise higher than others.
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Is that true? Yeah Right because there is an application right?
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It does say grow in wisdom. It does say I mean Does hard work pay off?
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In a lot of things but it's not exclusive. So so hard work just sometimes leads to more hard work
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Right, you talk about people who work hard to try to maintain their family and they do it for their whole life
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And yet there are other people who are almost like the king everything he touches turns to gold
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And so when you think about that, that's that's not always the case But when we look at this verse to me this what he's saying is
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God has kept his friends from being able to discern the truth of His situation and you know what?
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I couldn't help but think about what it says in Isaiah So I'm gonna look in Isaiah chapter 6 a minute.
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Let's just look there. We never get through this chapter today. Anyway That guy who keeps talking he just keeps talking man, you don't want to stop but Look at Isaiah chapter 6 because this is really
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This is astounding when you think about it so and this is where Keith was if you remember when he had the vision of God and he saw
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God high and lifted up and And Then Job says woe is me for I'm a
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I'm looking in Isaiah 6 in verse 5 where Joe I mean Isaiah says woe is me.
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I'm undone. I'm a man of unclean lips I dwell in the midst of people of unclean lips my eyes are see the king the
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Lord of hosts Then one of the seraphim flew to me having in his hand a life called which he had taken with the tongues
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From the altar and he touched my mouth with it and said behold this has touched your lips.
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Your iniquity is taken away and I heard a voice of the Lord saying whom shall
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I send and who will go for us? Then I said here I am send me and he said go and tell this people
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Keep on hearing but do not understand Keep on seeing but do not perceive look what he says to to Isaiah Make the heart of this people dull and their ears heavy and shut their eyes
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Lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and return to be healed
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See what he's saying God is discriminant Isn't he and that's a very troubling truth for so many people
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Again many people think we're all started on the same level and it's all the energy we put in what you put in You know the saying garbage in garbage out
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And so the other one is hard work you put in the work you get you get the benefit of it
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But this is saying and what job is saying is basically God you got it. You've got to Be involved in my situation
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Because you basically have hidden your truth from my friends And I Guarantee you that infuriated his friends now he's basically saying you guys have no idea what you're talking about and the reality was
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This is all by God's decree You know when you when you think about it
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We believe in the sovereignty of God, right? But I think many times we enjoy the sovereignty of God that truth
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We enjoy it when it's pleasant We enjoy it when it's
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When it works for us We I think there's a little different thought.
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It's a much more sobering thought when it has a Negative impact right where unless I'm misunderstanding it one of Isaiah's commissions were to go and actually
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Say the things that God had him say and what's actually gonna have a
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Damaging effect to them remember what Paul says to some we are what a saver of life
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And to others we're a saver of death and and again, that's
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That's not that easy to work through always So all these things are all these things are going on in in in Job's life and in his situation and so he's he does ask
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God to enter in and in that sense to be the mediator and ultimately
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What Job is I believe what he's looking towards and we will see as we go further on in the book
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He's looking for the mediator whom we know now to be who? Christ right and so although he might not have perfect understanding of Jesus Christ in that day because God has
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Revealed it slowly, right? Yet he sees that there has to be
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Someone has to bridge the gap if you will because he sees himself as nothing more than in that in that way a mortal and he sees
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God as the immortal and And so Edie when you do that, you know, that's how a lot of them came up with the demigods
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Hercules and Zeus and all those and Poseidon they were they would they were in in a sense either gods or semi gods and so they stood basically between the two and Of course, that's not the case, but he does
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Ask God to do it because he believes God is hidden it from his then then he says in verse 5 and we're probably gonna have to Cease at that point.
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He says he who speaks flattery to his friends. Even the eyes of his children will fail now that word
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Flattery, you know what every translations has it as but the word really means smooth like like almost
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Cannot in a conniving kind of way That he's saying God you have to come in you have to be the mediator in my situation you have to be the one who sets things straight because my friends and I think that's who he has in mind in verse 5 or all he does is
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Scheme ways and his words and all he's trying to do is is Create further damage to me and even the eye and then he says even the eyes of his children will fail
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I bet you that fired his friends up Basically saying your kids are gonna die
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I'm like, you're they're gonna run into the wall, too So again as we go through these chapters
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When we pick it up next week There is some oh there is some overtones if you will of Christ and I'll just mention that and then we'll close
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He says he has made me a byword to the people. I become one in whose face meant spit Well, guess whose face they spit it right, they spit in Christ's face and All all my members are like shadows and upright men are astonished at me
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Remember, they were astonished as he hung there on the cross He thought he could save the world and he can't even save himself
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And so there's these overtones if you will through the book of Job where we get if you will these little almost thinking like remember
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Was it years I don't know if they do it anymore, but maybe years ago if you went to the movie house they would They had the things that what they call them subliminal cuts
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And they would flash a picture of a hamburger or a flash a picture of popcorn and it was done so fast
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That your mind caught it, but but it really didn't compute and so people would they were trying to induce people
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To go buy popcorn and now they do you walk into some supermarkets and if you walk past the vegetable counter smells like vegetables you know, they actually pump sense in there and all these things that people do to try to get you to To buy whatever it is that they're selling but when you think about there are overtones of Christ through this and We'll have to leave it at that to get to next week, all right, let's just close
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Father again, thank you for your time that you give us Lord and it is your time that you give us you'd lend it to us
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Lord help us to redeem the time help us to be students of the word Help us to love your word
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Lord and help us to understand it Don't hide your understanding from us Lord because unless you give it to us
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We will we will ultimately fail now bless us this morning as we worship you in spirit of truth
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Be your brother Keith Be with us Lord and may we grow in the grace and the knowledge of the one who so loved us that he gave himself for us amen