Job 6:21-30

Sovereign Grace Family Church

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July 3, 2023

00:00: Verse 21 of chapter 6 through the end of the 6th chapter, and as I said, just make a couple comments and then we'll go from there into chapter 7 as we have time.
00:11: So remember now where we are, Eliphaz is the first of the friends that comes to Job and starts out real good and maybe with a sincere desire, but it quickly goes downhill and he begins to make the accusations against Job that are really the bulk of the friend's speeches as they come to him and so we work through the first couple of verses.
00:37: So in verse 21, it's Job responding back to Eliphaz for what he has said and he says in verse 21, for now you are nothing.
00:50: You see terror and are afraid.
00:53: Did I ever say bring something to me or offer a bribe to me from your wealth or deliver me from the enemy's hands or redeem me from the hand of the oppressors? Teach me and I will hold my tongue.
01:07: Cause me to understand wherein I have erred and how forceful are right words, but what does your arguing prove? Do you intend to reprove my words and the speeches of a desperate one which are as wind? Yes, you overturn the fatherless and you undermine your friend.
01:26: Now therefore be pleased to look at me for I would never lie to your face.
01:30: Turn now and let there be no injustice.
01:33: Yes, turn again my righteousness shall stand.
01:36: Is there injustice on my tongue? Cannot my taste discern the unsavory? So Job is responding as I said to Eliphaz and as we continue to look through it, basically what he's saying in verse 21 is he's really saying to them, your words are useless.
02:05: Your words are really not doing me any good.
02:08: In matter of fact, not only are your words not doing me good, but they're actually doing me harm and you see terror and you are afraid.
02:16: So remember now the truth that did Job call for his friends? Did he ask his friends to come? No, right? They came voluntarily on their own.
02:30: They counseled together.
02:31: They had heard about the afflictions of Job.
02:33: They had heard about his suffering and his loss and they decided to come to Job to comfort him.
02:40: So Job is not the one who said to them, hey, I'm in a jam, if you will, or I'm in trouble and I need you to come.
02:47: But rather he said to them when they came, in a sense, he was glad that they came until they opened their mouth and it quickly went downhill.
03:01: So I want you to just think about what he's saying in verse 22 and 23 where he says, did I ever say bring me something to me or offer a bribe from me from your wealth or deliver me from the enemy's hands or redeem me from the hands of the oppressors? I believe that they are now so disconcerted by the situation that they find Job in and that they are actually afraid now that they're going to have to give up themselves to Job.
03:37: And so Job says, listen, I didn't call you here to bring me a gift.
03:43: I didn't call you here to give me anything.
03:47: I didn't call you at all.
03:49: You came.
03:50: And so I thought, here's what I thought about.
03:54: As they are afraid that Job maybe wants something from them and it will cost them, here's what I began to think and see if you would agree with me.
04:04: That at times we don't get involved with other people's lives because sometimes I think we're afraid it's going to cost us something.
04:17: In other words, there are times when we might know there's a need or maybe we don't even know there's a need, but we don't get too involved in other people's lives because their life might interfere with our life and we might actually be put out in order to help someone else.
04:39: And I think there's a thought in that that we can all consider.
04:45: Is that a reason why sometimes we hold back? We don't want to get mixed up in other people's lives because other people's lives are entangled in things and again, as I say, it might cost us something.
05:04: What do you think of that? Do you think that has some merit or do you think that's just a crazy thought on my behalf? Okay.
05:16: I'm glad everybody has a thought about that.
05:20: I want us to think about the Good Samaritan for a minute.
05:24: Remember the Good Samaritan? Remember the story of the Good Samaritan? The priest and the Levite and the Samaritan and the man's laying there and he's half dead because he got beat up and mugged and rolled and all that other stuff and the priest walked where? The priest walked on the other side of the street and the Levite pretty much, he didn't look that way.
05:45: It was only the Samaritan.
05:46: And you remember, it cost the Samaritan something, didn't it? As a matter of fact, not only did it cost him something, he was of such a willing heart that he said when he brought him to the inn, remember he brought him to the inn and he says, here's some money to take care of him and by the way, when I come again, if he's cost you any more money, I'll pay you for that.
06:09: And so, do you think I'm wrong? Do you think that's not true? We don't get involved with people's lives because we just don't want to, in that sense, give up something? Absolutely.
06:27: Hallelujah.
06:28: Somebody said something.
06:30: In our society, I mean, the society bleeds off, of course, into the church and in our society, we're so, I'll do my own thing, we'll take care of it and it bleeds off and then so in the church, a lot of the time, you'll see that people do have needs and no one even knew about the need because we're not involved in each other's lives.
06:52: Yeah.
06:53: And we don't want to get involved because we know getting involved sometimes gets messy.
07:01: We don't think we're competent to help them.
07:11: And you know, with that, as you think about it, as they came to Job and they began to comfort him, they really weren't very competent in comforting him, were they? They really weren't very good at first, they thought that they were going to, like I said, they banded together, they traveled to where Job was, they saw his condition, remember, they didn't even recognize him and it must have been a real shock to see Job and yet, for all of that, they weren't very competent to meet the need that was before him.
07:45: So I would agree, sometimes I think it's perhaps fear, perhaps it's inadequacy or felt inadequacy, but I do think there are times and especially what you said, brother, because you look at it in society, nobody wants to get involved with anybody else's life, right? And we use a lot of reasons for it, we'll say, well, you know, you never know what's going to happen and in today's world, it's just not like it used to be.
08:12: That's what people say but listen, there's nothing new under the sun, there've been people that have had needs since the beginning of time and there will be people that have needs till the end of time and yet, when Job basically is saying to them, you don't need to be afraid of me, I didn't ask you to come and since you're here, I don't need anything from you except if you're coming as my comforters, then give me comfort.
08:38: Don't just, if you will, pile, because I think that's what he's thinking, that they're just piling on and I wonder if his friends are sorry they ever came.
08:50: I wonder if their friends, having seen Job in the condition that he was in, having realized that it wasn't what they expected and that's another thing.
09:02: Sometimes we have expectations that aren't, especially in situations where we think we could be of some service to someone else but we have an expectation already in our head of what it's going to mean or what it's going to look like or what might take place.
09:22: And many times that expectation is off the mark and so as his friends come and Job pretty much says, I don't need you guys because I didn't ask for anything and I don't need your help and then in verse 24, he turns it back to them and in that sense, I think they are sorry that they came.
09:45: They don't like what they've seen.
09:47: It's unsettling and so then he says in verse 24, chapter 6, teach me and I will hold my tongue, cause me to understand wherein I have erred and how forceful are right words.
10:00: So here's something about the character of Job.
10:04: Job was not someone who was arrogant, at least I don't believe he was someone who was arrogant.
10:09: He was someone who was greatly troubled and he would have, I would have thought that and I would think that he would have been happy or content or in that sense, thankful if they came and actually said something worth saying and if they actually instructed him.
10:32: Because again, look at the situation that he's in.
10:35: He's lost everything, basically he's an absolute mess and yet he's of such a mind that he's willing to be taught and I wanted us to think about that just for a minute.
10:52: I wanted us to think about this.
10:56: Are we teachable? Are each of us and every one of us teachable? Who makes the best teacher? Why all of a sudden I got five people to respond, that was really cool.
11:17: Who makes the best teacher? The best listener, okay.
11:22: And I believe that the best listener is somebody who's teachable, that really the best teacher is somebody who's teachable.
11:30: And if you think about that and you think about where we find ourselves in situations, do we sometimes not get involved because it actually might have to be a teaching moment for ourselves? And again, we find ourselves in situations where we could be of help and yet we have at times all these preconceived things in our own head.
11:56: It might cost me something, they don't really need my help, I'm incompetent, I don't really know what to do or this might actually teach me something that I don't want to learn.
12:11: And so I think that's important for us to think about and again, in the context of how his friends first came to him to be a comfort and he's saying to them, hey listen, teach me and I'll learn.
12:27: Because what is their big argument? Their big argument with Job is that Job is being what? He's being a hypocrite.
12:38: That he's saying one thing about his relationship with God but there's got to be what? What is the accusation that they're making throughout their speeches? We'll see it even more.
12:49: Sir? That Job is sinning somewhere and God's paying him back.
12:53: Absolutely.
12:54: And so they have come, now they have a presupposition in their mind, it's got to be Job because you have offended God, not like us, because look at us, we're not in your spot, right? And now you're getting what you deserve and again, many times we have all these notions of things.
13:20: Remember what I said last week and I'll just say it once, extraordinary afflictions do not always mean extraordinary sins, right? And that's really Job's situation.
13:34: This is extraordinary.
13:36: None of us want to, does anybody here want to be like Job in chapter 5? Nope.
13:42: Because it seems overboard.
13:46: And yet, his friends, they're becoming real leery and weary about this because of a number of reasons but Job really desires, hey, teach me, and then he says, but your words are nothing in verse 25.
14:06: And then he says in verse 26, what I'm trying to do is finish the chapter before we go to chapter 7.
14:10: He says, do you intend to reprove my words and the speeches of a desperate one, which are his wind? Do you intend to reprove my words? So basically, what are they calling Job? A liar.
14:24: Absolutely.
14:25: They think Job is nothing but a big old liar.
14:30: Bro? I think it's actually interesting, like you said, Job, to, I mean, to, when you have people, when you, to even allow an audience with someone to speak with you for 10 or 15 minutes shows humility in itself.
14:51: A lot of times when we're going through something, we get off to ourselves, we avoid hard conversation, we don't want to talk to anyone.
14:59: Job submitted himself to this audience and was speaking like, hey, you're not hearing anything that I'm saying, you're just calling me a liar.
15:09: Yeah.
15:09: You know what I'm saying? It's like, I allowed you to speak into my life and all you've done is just accuse as opposed to make it.
15:16: Yeah.
15:17: I mean, remember what they did? They sat there for seven days with Job.
15:21: And they didn't say a word.
15:23: It wasn't until Job spoke.
15:26: Job was the one who initiated the conversation, right? They sat there and they would have been better off sitting still and not saying anything than when they started to open their mouth.
15:35: But I do think you're right, brother.
15:37: There is that reality that Job is a humble man.
15:43: I also believe that he's confused.
15:46: I would hope you would agree.
15:48: Because he can't explain what's taking place in his life.
15:52: He remains, they call him a liar and he keeps insisting that he has integrity.
15:59: And again, you and I, we're pretty much in that, I'm going to say we're in that same boat.
16:07: In other words, what I'm saying, what I'm asking.
16:12: All right.
16:13: So, I don't even know how to spell this.
16:16: Indignation? No, no.
16:19: Integrity.
16:19: Oh.
16:20: I'm glad the marker doesn't seem too dark because they can't tell.
16:24: Is that how you spell it, sister? Integrity? I can't see what some of your letters are.
16:28: Okay, good.
16:30: All right, forget about it.
16:31: Don't worry about it.
16:32: Spelling don't count.
16:35: So, let me ask you.
16:36: Do you think this is true of all of us? Yes.
16:39: At the same time? Well.
16:45: There's only 17 markers up here, so.
16:48: Do you think that's true of all of us that at times we really are both of those? Yeah.
16:55: Go ahead.
16:56: If somebody's accusing you of something you know you didn't do, and if you decide to push back the position you're going to come from, it's from that of integrity.
17:06: You're going to defend your integrity.
17:09: Yeah.
17:10: So.
17:14: Yeah.
17:15: And I think we would, even if we're a liar, I think sometimes we would try to defend ourselves.
17:21: I didn't do it.
17:22: But you know, sometimes when you think about integrity, I think it's like the word ignorant.
17:26: Yeah.
17:27: People, when you say you're ignorant, people see that as a bad thing as opposed to saying no.
17:32: Like, for me, my car broke down, and I'm fine with it.
17:39: Yeah.
17:40: I don't have the information.
17:42: I lack the information.
17:43: It's not a bad thing.
17:44: It's not like I can't go get it.
17:47: But it's the same thing with integrity.
17:49: When I sit in this chair, it holds me up because it has integrity.
17:52: Yep.
17:52: So a lot of times when we lack integrity, we don't really notice it, and we get offended when we show, hey, listen, this situation is too big for me.
18:04: This person is telling me this situation is too big for me, and I may be handling it wrong.
18:10: We can get defensive and think, oh, they don't trust me.
18:13: No.
18:14: I'm saying you don't have the strength to hold this up yourself.
18:17: Yeah.
18:17: And you need someone, but you don't need someone to make accusations.
18:21: Right.
18:21: But to show where there's weakness in what you're doing.
18:26: And when you receive that information, you're just building more integrity.
18:31: Yeah.
18:31: It's like you have three legs.
18:32: Let me give you the fourth leg.
18:34: Yeah.
18:35: So you can bear the weight of what it is you're dealing with.
18:38: And so when we think about integrity, I think we just think, like, just questioning the Yeah.
18:45: It's really, it takes all of these things.
18:48: It takes humility, integrity to face being challenged.
18:52: Right? You're going to be challenged.
18:54: And that's another thing.
18:55: Sometimes we don't get involved because we just don't want to be challenged.
19:00: We don't want anybody to tell us we're too dumb to open the hood.
19:04: But as your wife knows that about you, so my wife knows that about me.
19:09: I mean, there used to be a time I could open the hood and change the spark plugs and put a new start on it.
19:13: I mean, seriously.
19:19: So, again, this whole idea of where Job is at now and his friends are not making things any better.
19:29: And that's another thought that we should consider.
19:33: Do our words and our actions with others help or hurt? Do we come to help or do we come to hurt? Now, again, you don't have to raise your hand, but I would think that there is a mixture of that in all of us that we need to drive out.
19:58: Just as much as we need to drive out all other things, we really have to ask ourselves, what's my motive? What am I really trying to accomplish? And, again, I think his friends were sincere in the beginning, but they've got off the main road and they're over the river and through the woods with Job.
20:19: And Job is pushing back because that's exactly what they're calling him.
20:23: They're calling him a liar.
20:25: And then he says in verse 27, he says, yes, you overwhelm the fatherless.
20:30: Remember, Job's fatherless at this point, isn't he? He's lost everything.
20:34: He's got nothing left.
20:36: And, basically, he's saying, all you did when you came to me was make matters worse, and you undermine your friend, in verse 27.
20:46: And I looked that up because I thought that was an interesting way it says it, and really that thought of undermining really has the idea of digging a pit.
20:54: In other words, they've come and they've actually dug a pit to try to bury Job in.
21:04: Just like I think at times when we feel challenged or we feel that we've been wronged, rightfully or wrongfully, sometimes we think people just come to hurt us.
21:19: And, again, all these things that enter, I think many of these things we even do without even thinking through them.
21:25: They just kind of, as we become more and more Christ-like, I mean, think of the Lord Jesus.
21:32: He knew what was in the heart of man, and yet he was allowing, he allowed so many to come to him, and he knew they had wrong intentions, didn't he? And yet he used it as a teaching opportunity to teach others.
21:48: And, again, humility, integrity, all these things that we'll see that Job maintains now.
21:57: That doesn't mean, and we'll see it as we get to chapter seven, that doesn't mean Job thinks he's pure, because Job is not.
22:04: We talked about this earlier in the book, that there are those who believe that they're absolutely sinless, right, and it's called sinless perfectionism, and it's a heresy, it's untrue.
22:17: So Job's not saying that.
22:19: Look at verse 28, he says, Now therefore, please look at me, I would never lie to your face.
22:26: Turn now, let there be no injustice, turn, again, my righteousness shall stand.
22:34: He's defending his position, not necessarily before them, but before God.
22:41: And that's something, again, for you and me to think about.
22:44: We need to be right with God, and being right with God will make us right with men, right? This relationship has to be right before this one is.
22:59: If this one ain't right, this one ain't gonna be, right, brother? You know, we can say that they didn't come out of, but they came, and they're speaking out of ignorance, and when you brought up Jesus, I'm reminded when his mother came to him at the wedding, she wasn't being spiteful, she wasn't being anything, but she did speak out of ignorance, because she didn't understand that it wasn't yet his time, and he still gave in to her, because what she was asking, God above, you know, but she wasn't trying to ruin him or anything, she was just ignorant of the fact that it wasn't his time, and that wasn't just to make him be married.
24:01: Yeah, and again, if you think about it, his friends are pretty ignorant, Job's friends are pretty ignorant, but in a sense, Job is ignorant too.
24:09: Job can't figure this thing out, right? And so they basically, and it's only until we get to the point when God comes in at the end of the book, God's going to clear it all up.
24:20: Just like, if you think about it, many things in our lives, or many things we see in other people's lives are very confusing, and we don't fully understand it.
24:32: Some of it is because we're ignorant, some of it is because it's just not pleased God to reveal it, but one day, someday, and that's one of the things, one day, someday, guess what, there'll be no more ignorance, right? Everything will be clearly seen, clearly understood, right, and that's a wondrous thing to look forward to, to know that one day, because how many times has it been in our own lives where we thought one thing of someone or something, and later on, whether we ever said it out loud or not, we realized that we weren't even close to where we should be, and we do that with people's lives too.
25:24: We make observations, and then we make perceptions, and then we form opinions, right? And sometimes those opinions are based on the wrong facts, but nevertheless, we do it.
25:39: So you and I, again, we need to be careful about not only what we say, but why we say what we say.
25:53: Brother Tim? You know, the beauty of it is, in that sense, to not be ignorant in so many places, because he's given us instructions, he's given us his own spirit, even though there's still blind spots for us, but not like these guys.
26:20: They were totally in the dark with it.
26:23: You know, they just only had almost natural revelation.
26:28: Yeah, so if you think about it, one of the things that we would say is, if you do something like this, and we do this all the time, because I think there's so much to be had in this, that in great sense, this is all what? Shadow.
26:44: And then there's clarity here.
26:48: And yet, even in this, there's shadows, right? All right, so let's just take it out, and if we were to do something like that, and do eternity, there's no, there's not, is there going to be shadows? Or is this going to be, this is going to be crystal clear? Crystal clear.
27:10: So again, just think about where we're at, and I agree with you.
27:15: Those in the Old Testament had a great advantage if you look at it from the standpoint, like, did you ever say to yourself, man, if I could have just seen Jesus turn those loaves into bread, the loaves and feed 5,000, man, that would blow my mind.
27:32: Would it? Did it settle the question? No, because right after he did that, the disciples didn't even believe in him, right? Remember, they sent them out on the water, and their mouths thought they were going to die.
27:47: So when you think about it, our position is one of great advantage, right? And yet, we still look for some time when everything will be made manifest, because again, what does it say? It says all the darkness will be what? Removed, and we'll walk in perfect light.
28:15: But right now, in Job's situation, he is unsure of himself, and they are not really helping.
28:23: Yes, ma'am.
28:39: Yeah.
29:04: What do you think about what Sister Ann said? That true, or should we throw rocks at her? Oh, okay.
29:18: You're safe, Sister.
29:19: But it is true, right? Because again, we all have a number of different options in the way we handle confrontation or being challenged.
29:35: Now, we can just basically say, no, I'm not going to be challenged, and that's your opinion, and I don't have to listen to that, and that's the way you think, and we go on and on and on.
29:49: We all have these sayings in our head.
29:50: They're in alphabetical order, actually, in our heads.
29:55: But what happens when we're confronted with the Word of God? Then what do we do? See, Job is not confronted by God at this point, in that sense.
30:07: Remember when we get to chapter 38? That's when God comes in.
30:09: He says, Job, would you please stand up, because I'm going to ask you questions, and you're going to answer me.
30:15: And then Job is basically doing, I don't know what to say.
30:19: But his friends are shooting these arrows at him, and he's basically shooting arrows back at them.
30:27: You're calling me a liar, and that's why I think he says this.
30:30: He said, I would never lie to your face, because all we really can is believe people's words, unless they prove us wrong or right.
30:41: So again, I notice there's a lot of shadowy stuff in the Book of Job, but there is a lot of principles here.
30:53: And to your point, as you brought up, they didn't have what we had, but guess what? They still had enough to walk right with God, right? Because they certainly did walk right with God.
31:06: So they're at a disadvantage.
31:08: They're in the shadow.
31:08: But they had, again, I don't know about you, but I would be pretty impressed if I walked up to a mountain, and it began to smoke, and I heard a voice.
31:18: That would be pretty impressive.
31:22: But doesn't God still do the same today? Does not God, and I think about it, does not God paint the sky every morning red? And does not the sky turn red every night? And I always thought that that was a picture of the blood of Christ, that God just causes men to see the redness in the morning and the redness at night, because it's all about the sun anyway.
31:45: So, you know, people ask some miracles.
31:49: Well, what if God painted a cross on the sky every, in the morning? Do you think that would change people's opinions of God? Absolutely, right? That didn't work.
32:06: No, go ahead, man.
32:08: The only thing, yeah, because it didn't rain every day.
32:12: So they didn't have the opportunity to see that every day.
32:15: Yeah.
32:15: However, at this point, this being after the flood, there's evidence of God's presence by the rainbow.
32:29: Sure.
32:32: So there are other things, because at that point, it would, because they didn't have anything written, at least the scriptures don't say that.
32:40: So they had the oral traditions, so to speak, from Adam all the way to this point.
32:52: If I know in my own life, if I choose to walk by sight, I'm limited to my senses.
32:59: I'm limited to how I can interpret what I see, feel, hear, taste, and smell.
33:07: When I walk by faith, there's a whole, I can't necessarily see it, but I have to trust what God has already said.
33:19: Yeah, I mean, what you just said, what Paul said, he said, we hope not in the things which are seen, but are unseen.
33:28: And again, good determination for us in our lives.
33:32: Am I going to walk by my senses or am I going to walk by faith? And either way, at times, it's confusing whether you walk by senses.
33:45: I mean, my senses tell me don't stick my hand in the fire, right? So I'm not going to ignore that.
33:51: But also I'm going to believe that God is the God who creates the fire, just like the rainbow.
33:57: I believe in the principles of the chemicals combining.
34:01: I don't know.
34:02: I don't even know how to explain that.
34:04: But I don't deny that, right? I agree with that.
34:08: But I also see the unseen of the one who set that principle in place, right? And that makes the difference.
34:14: That makes all the difference in the world.
34:16: And as you and I walk in our lives, we need to be able to discern his friends as we move on.
34:24: We'll just read chapter seven and maybe start it.
34:27: But his friends are really moving by only the things that are seen.
34:34: And Job's words aren't even enough to settle in their mind.
34:41: Job is defending his own integrity.
34:45: Let me ask you this.
34:46: Doesn't it make you really mad when somebody asks you a question, you give them an answer and they don't believe you? Or they Google you.
34:55: Or they Google you.
34:59: Yeah, in today's world, man.
35:00: I get Googled all the time, man.
35:03: But really, doesn't it get you mad when somebody challenges your words? Or you might express something and they say, no, that's not true.
35:13: It's like, dude, I just said it.
35:14: What do you mean it's not? No, I don't believe you.
35:17: I don't know about you, but then, poof.
35:20: And then they Google you.
35:21: I guess they could Google.
35:24: But yeah, when you think about that, there are so many different things that enter into our lives.
35:29: Some of them, friends, they're like clouds.
35:32: They just float, go through our mind, and then they go away, and then they come back.
35:37: They circle around again.
35:39: I wanted to just finish that in chapter six and just really think about these three guys, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophaz.
35:52: They really want out of this.
35:54: They've seen enough, and they don't want to get any more involved.
35:58: It might cost them something that they're not willing to give, and yet they're willing to continue to shoot arrows at him.
36:06: All right, I have a couple of minutes left, so here's what we'll do.
36:10: We'll read chapter seven, and then we'll just start on it and see how far we get.
36:15: And Job is going to continue his rebuke or his rebuttal towards Eliphaz, and then in chapter eight, the next friend comes in, and he does his thing to Job.
36:29: So let's just read chapter eight.
36:32: Job says this, Is there not a time of hard service for man on earth? Are not his days like the days of a hired man, like a servant who earnestly desires the shade, like a hired man who eagerly looks for his wages? So I have been allotted months of futility.
36:53: Wearisome nights have been appointed to me.
36:55: When I lie down, I say, when will I arise? And the night be ended.
37:00: For I have had my fill of tossing till dawn.
37:03: My flesh is caked with worms and dust.
37:07: My skin is cracked, and it breaks out afresh.
37:10: My days are swifter than the weaver's shuttle and are spent without hope.
37:16: Oh, remember that my life is a breath.
37:18: My eye will never again see good.
37:20: The eye of him who sees me will see me no more.
37:24: While your eyes are upon me, I shall no longer be.
37:27: As the cloud disappears and vanishes away, so he who goes down to the grave does not come up.
37:33: He shall never return to his house, nor shall his place know him anymore.
37:38: Therefore, I will not restrain my mouth.
37:41: I will speak in the anguish of my spirit.
37:43: I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
37:46: Am I a sea or a sea serpent that you set a guard over me? When I say my bed will comfort me, my couch will ease my complaint, and you scare me with dreams, terrify me with visions, so that my soul chooses strangling and death rather than my body.
38:04: I have loathed my life.
38:07: I will not live forever.
38:08: Leave me alone.
38:09: My days are but a breath.
38:11: What is man that you should magnify him, that you should set your heart on him, that you should visit him every morning and test him every moment? How long? Will you not look away from me and leave me alone till I swallow my saliva? Have I sinned? What have I done to you, O watcher of men? Why have you set me as your target so that I am a burden to myself? Why then do you not just pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For now I would lie down in the dust, and you would seek me diligently, but I will no longer be.
38:49: I don't know about you, but there's a lot of emotion.
38:53: There's a lot of different thoughts.
38:55: There's a lot of agitation, and there's a good deal of complaining in this.
39:02: As Job basically summarizes his response to Eliphaz.
39:12: So I want to just ask us to think about a couple of things.
39:15: We only got a few minutes left.
39:16: So let's just take it apart a little bit.
39:19: First one.
39:20: Is there not a hard time for service on man on earth? Are not his days like the days of a hired man? So I want to ask you this.
39:28: Do you think Job has a good understanding of the situation of man? Yes.
39:33: Okay, and in what way? Live in a sinful world.
39:59: Yep.
40:00: Yeah, I think that's spot on.
40:03: I think what Job is saying here, and what Job realizes, is this world is under a curse.
40:11: And this world is under, in that sense, this world is in chaos.
40:17: Remember what Paul says, even in Romans, he talks about the creation itself.
40:22: And he says, even the creation itself is what? Is in bondage.
40:28: Everything is upside down.
40:31: Everything is not what it was purposed to be.
40:35: Sin has really messed it all up, hasn't it? And if you think about it, if you think about Adam before the fall and Adam after the fall, that truth is well understood by Job.
40:49: I'm not so sure it's well understood by his friends.
40:53: But regardless of that, when he says this, is there not a hard service to man on earth? And aren't his days like the days of a hired man? Like a servant who earnestly desires shade? And like a hired man who eagerly seeks his wages? I don't know about you, but one of the things that I so enjoy is coming home to my house and closing the door.
41:23: And one of the reasons for that is when I close the door, in one way, I'm closing out the mess that's outside the door, right? Because it is.
41:33: Everything is not really the way it should be.
41:37: Do you agree with that? You agree that it's not only in the creation, but it's in the creature, right? Um, as I've always said, I don't know why God created fire ants, but I guess someday I'll understand.
41:55: Because they ain't nothing but a mess.
41:58: And they have no mercy either.
42:00: Almost like they all get on you at once and then they blow the trumpet and everybody bites at once, right? But I guess that I have to understand.
42:08: That's part of the problem, isn't it? That there really is no place to hide in this world, to escape the reality that we live in a fallen world.
42:19: And that this fallen world is because of us.
42:26: I mean, it's our fault.
42:30: Just as much as, you know, a society, um, if you listen to people, almost everybody has an answer to what's wrong with societies, right? The one thing that you hardly ever hear is the thing that's wrong with society or the people in the society.
42:51: It was a long time ago.
42:53: I forgot the guy's name.
42:53: But anyway, he was a well-known philosopher and thinker.
42:58: And they asked a group of people to write an essay on what was the problem with the world and how to solve it.
43:06: And this guy submitted it.
43:08: They gave him months to write this big essay.
43:11: And they had great expectations.
43:13: And I forgot the guy's name.
43:14: But anyway, he wrote, and he said, Dear gentlemen, the problem with the world is me.
43:21: Respectfully, and he signed his name.
43:24: And if you and I were to think about it, we are the reason for the situations we're in.
43:31: Sir? Yeah, we got to go outside of ourselves, right? Because man can never solve man's problems.
43:48: Man can never lift himself out of the thing that he's in bondage to.
43:54: Well, we could change the outward appearance as much as we could change the color of our shirt or our shoes or whatever.
43:59: We can make a lot of different things appear.
44:02: The one thing that we can't do, friends, is change.
44:06: Can the Ethiopian change his skin? Can the leopard change his spots? How could you do good that, what, are accustomed to do evil? The prophet says.
44:18: So when Job says this, I think Job has a real good understanding of the depravity of man.
44:24: I've said this before, I think.
44:25: I think Job was a Calvinist.
44:32: And rightfully so.
44:34: But he certainly has an understanding.
44:39: And so he says in verse three, and maybe we'll end it with that.
44:43: He says in verse three, So I've been allotted months of futility.
44:50: And this not only is a timestamp.
44:52: So in other words, Job didn't lose his kids Saturday and his friends come Sunday and God comes Monday.
45:00: Right? This is going to be a long, drawn out process.
45:07: And they're really for us.
45:09: And I'll leave it with that.
45:11: Listen, friends, the situations that we find ourselves in, God doesn't always throw the life preserver out right away.
45:21: And I'll leave you with a quote and we'll pray and then we'll come back to this next week.
45:25: But it's something that I read one too long ago and it basically said, Omnipotence can take its time because omnipotence is sure of success.
45:39: Omnipotence can take its time because omnipotence is sure of success.
45:44: God is in no rush with Job.
45:48: And we should be in no rush to be made more and more like Christ.
45:53: We should desire it.
45:54: Don't get me wrong.
45:56: We shouldn't be in a rush.
45:57: God knows exactly what he's doing with each of us.
46:00: And guess what? We're not going to make God go any faster.
46:05: And we're not making God go any slower because God takes direction from no one.
46:11: So we'll pick it up next week.
46:13: And I want to spend a few minutes opening that up a little bit more so that we really understand that not only is this world a mess, but we're in the middle of a war.
46:26: And we'll pick that up next week.
46:27: So let's pray.
46:29: David, would you close us in prayer? Father, we thank you so much for the Lord Jesus Christ.
46:34: We thank you through spirit.
46:37: Lord, you guide us into all truth.
46:40: We thank you for your can be made wise into salvation.
46:49: Lord, we ask you to ask you to work whatever it is necessary in us for us to trust you and ourselves.
46:58: That's right.
46:59: In Jesus' name, Lord, we lift our worship service and preaching this afternoon or this morning, rather.
47:06: And we ask you, Lord, to receive it.
47:09: We ask you, Lord, to open our hearts and minds, grant us hearing ears, believing hearts, seeing eyes and willing minds so that we will glorify you when we leave this place based on what you've given us in Jesus' name.
47:24: Amen.