I'll be reading from verse 14 through 24. So beloved, this is God's Word. So these three men ceased to answer Job because he was righteous in his own eyes. Then Elihu, the son of Berechel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, burned with anger. He burned with the anger at Job, because he justified himself rather than God. He burned with the anger at Job's three friends, because they had found no answer, although they had declared Job to be in the wrong. Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job, because they were older than he was. And when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, he burned with anger. And Elihu, the son of Berechel, the Buzite, answered and said, I am young in years, and you are aging. Therefore I was timid and afraid to declare my opinion to you. I said, let the days speak, and many years teach wisdom. But it is in the spirit of man, the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand. It is not the old who are wise, nor the aged who understand what is right. Therefore I say, listen to me, let me also declare my opinion." Job 37, beginning in verse 14. Hear this, O Job, stop and consider the wondrous works of God. Do you know how God lays His command upon them, and causes the lightning of His cloud to shine? Do you know the balancings of the clouds, the wonders works of Him who is perfect in knowledge? You whose garments are hot when the sun is still because of the south wind. Can you, like Him, spread out the skies, hard as cast metal in a mirror? Teach us what we shall say to him. We cannot draw upon our case because of darkness. Shall it be told to him that I would speak? Did a man ever wish that he would be swallowed up? And now no one looks on the light when it is bright in the skies, when the wind has passed and has cleared them. Out of the north comes the golden splendor. God is clothed in awesome majesty. The Almighty, we cannot find Him. He is great in power, justice, and abundant righteousness He will not violate. Therefore men fear Him. He does not regard any who are wise in their own conceit. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, our lives are Yours, and we are oftentimes guilty of being wise in our own eyes, wise in our own hearts. May we not be those that would speak foolishness, and that You would ignore. So, Father, I pray that You would place Your hand upon us, that You would guide our thoughts, our words, and all of our actions. that they might glorify you in your name, that you would be praised and proclaimed. Father, I pray that through these words you would build up the faith of your own, that you would challenge those who are sinning and encourage those who are seeking to pursue righteousness. I pray that if there are those here who do not know you, you would call them to faith. And I pray that you would do all of these things either through me or in spite of me. And I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. When I was growing up, one of those commercial catchphrases that was popular was, quote, when EF Hutton talks, people listen. Now, I guess you don't hear that too much anymore. I don't know whether or not enough people were listening to them in the first place or, well, perhaps we're just not as used to or intensive in our listening as we used to be. But that being said, I can show, I suppose, both my age and my gender by commenting that we have oftentimes become, in our culture today that is busy, become prone to listening to way too many voices trying to talk to us all at the same time. You can talk about the trend of doing homework with the TV on while talking on the telephone or really trying to do any other thing regardless of the matter and regardless of the fact that I don't think that's a particularly healthy thing. That's really not my point and intent this morning. Well, at least not exactly so. Our text this morning introduces us to a new person in the discussions that have been taking place. We've already met Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, and we've heard these three friends of Job speak in pagan half-truths making very many assumptions. We've also seen two full cycles with them going on and Job responding to them and then kind of working through this. And at the end of this really being a third cycle, we find a new man coming really almost out of nowhere, kind of interjecting, not even allowing Zophar to get his last set of words in, his last set of pontifications before Job, but he just takes the stage, and he commands it, and he speaks, and he speaks for a number of chapters in a row. Now, all we're told, all we really know about Zophar is really what we're told here in these first few verses. He's the son of Barakel the Buzite, which gives us a little bit of a clue. You see, Abraham had a brother named Nahor. And Nahor, as we find at the end of Genesis 22, we find a list of sons named to Nahor, one of which is a man by the name of Buz. That makes Buz the uncle of Rebekah, who would marry Isaac, and those who followed or were descendants of Buz would be called Buzites. So it seems to be that this man, Lee, who probably descends from this line of people, loosely related to, but not in the covenantal line necessarily, of Abraham. We're also told that he is of the family. Now, probably a better translation of this or rendering this would be of the clan of Ram. Now, this is one of those spots where we need to slow down just a little bit. Because as we kind of go through our names from the Bible, Ram is one of those names that probably ought to stand out to us a little bit. Because Ram is found in the genealogy of both King David and Jesus himself. And our temptation might be to say, Aha! Here's the connection of Elihu to the New Covenant story. And if we did that, if we jumped to that conclusion, we would probably be very wrong. You see, there are several rams that are listed in genealogies. One is actually the ram that's in the genealogy of Jesus' own nephew, who is named in honor of his prestigious uncle. there might be a connection, but there really probably isn't. To kind of make an assumption like this would be to be like assuming that when you go through my personal library and you're looking for a nice commentary on Isaiah, and that nice three-volume commentary that's kind of sitting there that is written by the biblical scholar Edward Young, and to see that and go, Aha! That must be the Ed Young that we know in church. be like making about that same conclusion. Or perhaps finding in the Bible bookstore the literal translation of the Bible, translated by Robert Young. Marcella, did you realize you were married to such a wonderfully respected and renowned biblical translator? there are names that will sound familiar to us, that will pop up in our lives. As you go through the life of theology, you're going to find Zahns, and you're going to find Rams, and you're going to find Alans, and you're going to find many names that are familiar to us. But if we jump to many conclusions, assuming that there's a connection between one and the other, There may be. But you have to do some homework and research to figure that out. And scripture doesn't give us enough of those kinds of connections to draw too many conclusions about Elihu beyond that he is a Buzite and is coming at least from these common names that show up as well in other spots. Elihu's name himself even shows up in several places with at least two different, probably three different people that are connected to that particular name. A name which, by the way, means, He is my God. Now, Elihu, in light of his name, or reflecting his name, does come into the equation with the first bits of wisdom. that really Job has been hearing from those who are around him. So he's come into this equation and basically shows up saying, well look, now I haven't been wanting to say much just yet. You guys are older than me. And you know what? I wanted to let wisdom of the years speak and give you deference, give you that respect. But as I've been listening to you speak, I've begun to burn with anger." Now, the Hebrew is fun when it comes to figures of speech because it uses a lot of body images to describe different emotions that we might have. And the one that is typically used to describe anger is that of a burning nose. He basically literally says, my nose burned against you. It's kind of this image of a bull that's snorting fire and smoke out of its nostrils, and is raging and kind of pawing at the ground, getting ready to charge, like you would see in a cartoon or something along those lines. That's the biblical image here that is being used here. My nose is burning. and what it is that you were saying. And he tells us there's basically two reasons that he has become very angry. The first is that Job's focus, Job in all of his language is focused upon justifying himself and not on justifying God in light of these things that are taking place around him. And the second thing is that Job's three friends could not provide any real wisdom to Job, not just even to comfort him, but to see and give him direction. He basically says, I gave honor and respect as far as I could give it, but now it's time for me to rebuke my elders. I want to take just a pause for a moment here on this principle here and just talk a little bit about an old English word that really has gone out of vogue, I think, in terms of usage, but it is so important to us as Christians. And that's the word prudence. It's the idea of showing discernment, showing discretion before one acts. Or that of keeping in mind the ramifications, the future things that will happen as a result of my action and weighing those things out before. I act. Our society, I think, today has embraced the idea of action. Not words, action! To the extent that we oftentimes are reckless in the way that we pursue things. We don't celebrate prudence like we ought to celebrate prudence. Because sometimes prudence is seen to be kind of a form of inaction, rather than acting upon what's before us. Holding the tongue is an important part of what it means to be prudent. Letting others, because of their gray hairs, if you will, begin the speaking. But there does come that time, after you've listened to those who are your elders, where when people have gone astray, it's time to speak. And that's the other part of prudence, is knowing the difference between what is a rash action and what is an action that is being taken with wisdom. And that's exactly what Elihu does. He realizes that Job is basically preoccupied with this situation, and because he's so preoccupied with himself and his suffering and his hurt, he can't see beyond that. and that his friends are just downright wrong in the things that they're trying to say. Thus, Elihu explains his intention. We find this in verse 7 here. He says, I sought to let days speak, those who have many years let their wisdom be made known. But verse 8 and 9 really contains the heart of his rebuke. He says, however, it is the Spirit of Him, He's speaking about God, that's the hymn, in man. The breath of the Shaddai, this is a shortened version of the name for God, El Shaddai, the mighty, almighty God is typically the way we translate it in our Bibles. God of the mountain would be a literal reference. And He says that it's His breath. that causes him or makes him to understand. This, beloved, is why our church constitution speaks of every church office, including the office of trustee, as a spiritual office, because genuine understanding Not just in life, and especially in church matters, but genuine understanding must come first, or must be a result of being indwelt by the Holy Spirit. It applies to every area of life. And He's basically calling the so-called wisdom of the world onto the carpet. And saying, this is what it is. It is self-serving, and it is not God-serving. And then He continues in verse 9. It is not the many who are wise. Often we translate this as the old who are wise. But it literally just says many. And I think we should probably just leave it as the Hebrew states it there. It's not the many who are wise. Not surrounding yourself by lots of people who want to give you a lot of foolish ideas. It doesn't take looking too far back in history to find lots of examples of people surrounding themselves with many counselors and still doing really foolish things. We find that in business, we find that in politics, we find that in military campaigns, we find it all over the place. Not the many who are wise, but those who then are indwelt by the power of the Holy Spirit. C.S. Lewis used to say that the next best thing to being wise yourself was to surround yourself with those who are wise. The key is understanding where that wisdom comes from. Understanding that wisdom comes and begins with the fear of the Lord. And without that fear, You're in the presence of fools. And foolish counsel simply multiplies foolishness. And you go back and forth in that cycle that it goes downwards. And thus Elihu is following up and basically spends the next several chapters explaining this point, explaining what it is that is so wrong about this. He basically begins by talking to Job and says, Look, you're saying here that I'm pure and without transgression and God has counted me as your enemy. But then he goes on and says, Job, you are so far off base. Don't you realize that God communicates with men in more than one way? Sometimes these bad things that are happening to you, he says in chapter 33, He said, sometimes these bad things that are happening to you may be God's way of turning you aside from folly, of hiding pride from your midst and from your sights. You know, when everything is going easy and smooth, it's really hard sometimes to remain humble. Paul talks about the same thing when he talks about the thorn that is in his side to keep him from being proud in himself and in his experiences. Part of what Elihu is saying here is that this is maybe God's hand upon your life to keep you from falling into the pride that comes from everything going your way like it was prior to these events. Trust me, when you go through this kind of trial, you don't come out on the other side the same. You come out changed men and women. As we go through chapter 33, I just want to highlight, in 23 and following, we get a little taste, a little foretaste of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He goes on to say that if there is a mediator for man, one who will intercede, one who will stand in, who will make ransom, he uses the words, And man accepts this mediator's gifts. Man will say, he's redeemed my soul. I sinned and it was not repaid to me. My life shall see the light. God does these things to bring man's soul back from the pit. Not man does these things, but God does these things so that he may have the light of life. Sounds a lot like the Gospel, doesn't it? Sounds a lot like the New Testament, doesn't it? We have kind of a running joke sometimes. Several of the councilmen at different times say, Boy, Wynne loves the Old Testament. And I do! I love the Old Testament. Because it reminds me so much of the New Testament. And the New Testament reminds me of the Old Testament. I mean, it's one book. God's given that to us. And we shouldn't be surprised when we see these connections between one and the other. And he goes on and says, ultimately, guys, you need to be silent and listen. Because that is where wisdom will be learned. If everybody's talking at the same time, especially if they're talking gibberish, nobody's going to hear or understand anything. Silence before God is how true wisdom is learned. And he turns to his comforters and says, look, you have gone down this road. He says, you have allowed Job to accuse God of wrongdoing? God's the Creator of all things. Everything that is, exists, and has its existence based upon God Himself. In philosophical circles, we say that God is a non-contingent being. That's a mouthful. But what that means is that everything else has and bases its existence on the existence of God. Everything else is contingent. But God's existence isn't. You can take away the world, the universe, the cosmos, to borrow Carl Sagan and that kind of language. You can take away all of those things and God will still be. But if you take away God, you lose everything else. Everything else is gone. When we talk about origins, the atheist will always be saying, well, that nature is that non-contingent being. But that's nonsense, folks. It makes zero sense at all, logically. Because it's presuming that a world that exhibits rationality and order can come from that which is non-thinking, irrational, and without any order unto itself. This gets back to Elihu's statement about understanding coming from the Spirit of God. Guys, you need to hear this, especially those who are students in school, whether high school, college, middle school. You're being bombarded with secular humanism. You're being bombarded with atheistic ideas, particularly surrounding the question of origins. The very reason that we can do science in the first place, that chemistry or physics experiments works, that they're predictable and can give you predictable conclusion is based on the presumption that we live in an orderly universe. And folks, order does not come from disorder. Rationality does not come from irrationality. And an orderly structure of things does demand a designer. God is the first mover. He is the author of creation. Who are we, Elihu says, to challenge His ways? You know, God's going to make a similar appeal when God confronts Job himself, but that's getting a little bit ahead of ourselves right now. Chapter 35, Elihu goes on to make what I think is a very interesting statement. He says, look at all of this and all of these things that are around you. What does your complaining help? Now, I want you to understand something. This is not Elihu kind of presenting some kind of a stoic or a fatalistic argument. This is not what he's getting at. But what he's saying is, look, if you're guilty of sin and God's dealing with you, then He's dealing with you. But if you're not guilty of sin and God's doing something else in your life, You know, your complaining isn't going to change anything, Joe. Your complaining is not going to make things come to an end. Let me approach this this way. You guys are human beings, right? We live in a fallen world, and I expect that everybody, at least from the point where, well, they're more than just an infant just out of the womb, has at some point in their life had to do something or was expected to do something that they didn't particularly want to do. Doesn't matter whether those are chores, doesn't matter whether those are something to do that's expected of you in school, or in your vocation, or at home, or at church, wherever, in the community. I expect that it's safe to say that everybody shares this common experience of being expected to do something that frankly I did not want to do. When we face that, you've got two choices. You can whine and complain and go, install it as long as you can. But does that change the fact that you've got to do it? Not at all. We are much better off just saying, I'm going to bite the bullet and do whatever it is that's before me that I need to do and get it done with and move on from there. It doesn't matter what that thing happens to be. Probably the least pleasurable job I've ever had to do is for about six months, maybe a little bit less, I worked at night cleaning offices. And frankly, when people know there's somebody cleaning up after them, they oftentimes live like slobs. And that was my experience with that. I needed to do it. I needed to get out of the hole. I did it and was done with it. And by the way, particularly this is to the Strobels, I'm not seeing where you are at the moment, but my respect and my hat is off to everybody who does that kind of work, because it can be miserable, miserable work. But you know what? You've got to do it. Just do it and get it on with. And that's what he's saying to Job. Your whining and complaining isn't helping the process. If you genuinely are not being dealt with because of sin, then seek out God's face and figure out what it is that God is doing in you to conform you into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ. I said earlier when we began discussing this that there is not a one-to-one relationship between the bad things that happen in our life and the sins that we happen to have. I mean, that's Jesus talking about the man who was born blind. Sometimes there's a connection, but not always. It's not a one-to-one relationship. And when these bad things happen in your life, the first question that you ought to be asking yourself is, Lord, Show me unrepentant sin that I need to let go of. Put that to death in my life. But if God doesn't show you those things, the next question you should be asking is, what do I learn from this? How are you using this God to shape me into the image of your Son, Jesus? That's what Lee, who's trying to get Job to understand. That's what we need to understand. And the beauty of it is that experience will tell you when you're trusting God through those times, those difficult times, where God is not trying to break you of sin, but that He is stretching you like a rubber band. The beauty of those times is that you find when that rubber band gets to that point where it's about to break, or at least you feel it's about to break, that God's Holy Spirit is there holding you every step of the way. That even if you were to break under your own strength, that God's not going to let the band fall. That He has you held neatly and carefully in your hand. When you get to the end of yourself, you will discover that God is and has always been there. and that He will continue to use that to shape you in a wonderful way. Elihu ends his monologue here with a very wonderful word picture. He says, look, no one looks at the light. He's talking about the light of the sun. You know, once the clouds have been blown out and it's nice and clear on a clear day, nobody looks directly at the light. Why? Because you'd hurt yourself. We need the light to see those things that are true and real in the world around us, but we can't look directly at it. We have to receive it kind of in an indirect way. And he says this is the same way with the glory and the majesty of God. We can't look directly upon it, but we need it. We can't see truth apart from God's glory and His light shining into the world around us. He says, this is that analogy. You're not going to look upon God to find all of your answers, but look at the way God is answering them in the world around you. He says, there is one thing that you can then know without a doubt. That God is just, and that He is righteous, and that God will not violate His own character. Folks, that is really good news. because the covenant He makes with us is made. He will not take away, there's no point where He'll get and say, ah, you know, this whole Jesus people, I'm tired of them, let's get rid of them for a while. He's not gonna say, ah, you know, I was given grace for a season, now it's time for me to take away that grace and not offer it and make you work for your salvation. God's character will not change. It is the same yesterday, today, and it will be the same tomorrow. He is just and He is righteous, and no matter how unpleasant the situation He may place us in, and He'll place us in unpleasant situations, but no matter how pleasant it is, He is just and righteous and is using these things for just and righteous purposes. And that is why men fear Him, Elihu says. Men are fickle. They change. It's easy to bribe a human being. You can't bribe God. And men recognize that. And they fear Him. Literally, Elihu says, God doesn't pay attention to those who are wise in their own hearts. The shame is, Elihu, why didn't you speak a little bit earlier? You could have saved Joe, perhaps. A lot of bad idea and some grief. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we come before You knowing that we are not our own, and knowing that You work in our lives sometimes in ways that make us very, very uncomfortable. But Father, we ask for Your grace. We pray that you would give us humility and we pray that you would give us peace during those times. And we pray that once everything is said and done at the end of the day, we see your hand at work in our lives. We pray to you, Father. We pray that as you work in us, that work also would be visible to those whose lives we touch. that we might point those lives to you as well. These things we pray in Jesus name, amen.