The first two chapters of Job and the last part of Job are easier to deal with. We're going to start in Job chapter 3 and we're going to go through chapter 31, which are Job and his three friends. And the best way I could describe this portion of scripture is a heavyweight fight that ends with a draw. We have Job in one corner and his three friends in the other, and they just tee off on each other. for 28 chapters. And Job is unwilling to conform to what their view of him is, and we'll look at that today, that their view of Job and where Job is at is predetermined before they ever show up, which is not a good thing. And they are unwilling to listen to what Job has to say. So it ends up as a draw. But this portion of Scripture is good for us because we get to see a level of one of God's own struggling with things that we don't often talk about, like depression and being downcast and being cast down, oh my soul. Those aren't the right spiritual clothes to wear when we are talking with one another. So we like to put on the right face, the right look, the right tie, and talking about things like being depressed and struggling with God's will in your life, it's just not popular. So there's a large chunk of this particular scripture that we would have to leave on the cutting room floor, starting with where we're going to start this morning, which is in Job chapter 3. So let's go there. Let's go to Job chapter 3. We're going to read it. And as we read it, remember where we left Job? He's at the dump. He is in a level of pain that his best option was to go to the dump, find a broken piece of pottery, and use it to scrape the boils off his skin. That is a level of pain I think that we need to reconcile in our mind. So he's not in a good position. He's got ashes on the area that he scraped to try to alleviate this pain. And his friends come to show him sympathy and comfort, which is ironic, but we'll get into that. And they set for seven days. and say nothing, just a respect of silence that shows the weight of what Job's going through. So Job opens his mouth in Job chapter three, and let's go there together. We'll read this whole chapter. Let the day perish. on which I was born, and the night that said a man is conceived. Let that day be darkness. May God above not seek it, nor light shine upon it. Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds dwell upon it. Let the blackness of the day terrify it. That night, let thick darkness seize it. Let it not rejoice among the days of the year. Let it not come into the number of the months. Behold, let that night be barren. Let no joyful cry enter it. Let those who curse, curse the day, who are ready to rouse up Leviathan. Let the stars of the dawn be dark. Let it hope for light, but have none. nor see the eyelids of the morning because it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb, nor hide trouble from my eyes. Why did I not die at my birth, come out of the womb and expire? Why did the knees receive me? Why the breast that I should nurse? For then I would have lain down and been quiet. I would have slept, then I would have been at rest. with kings and counselors of the earth who rebuild ruins for themselves, or with princes who had gold who filled their houses with silver. Why was I not a hidden, stillborn child, as infants who never see the light? There the wicked cease from trembling, and there the weary are at rest. The prisoners are at ease together. They hear not the voice of the taskmaster. The small and the great are there, and the slave is free from his master. Why is light given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul, who long for death, but it comes not, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures, who rejoice exceedingly and are glad when they find the grave? Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden from God and God has hedged in? For my sighing comes instead of my bread. My groanings are poured out like water. For the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me. I am not at ease, nor am I quiet. I have no rest, but trouble comes. Where is Job? He's in the depths of despair, isn't he? It's safe to say that Job is not in a happy place. Job has come to the beginning of the end of himself, and it gets a little worse than what we're reading here today. But we can see that he desires to lay down, to be quiet, to sleep, and to be at rest. And none of that is there for him. I think it gives us an insight to the level of pain that Job's going through. Because what God said about Job in Job 1.8, that has not changed. And what did God say about him? Just flip back and look. Have you considered, and we looked at this last time, my servant Job? There is none like him on the earth, a blameless and an upright man. who fears God and turns away from evil. This isn't a different Job. This is the same Job, but the same Job in a level of pain and suffering that has brought him to this place. So what do we do with this? Is it unique? And I would submit that it's not. If we look at scripture, we find Elijah, O Lord, take away my life, for I am not better than my father's, this coming on the heels of his great victory on the mount. But now Jezebel is after him. He just spent time in Jonah. Jonah says, O Lord, I beseech thee, take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live. We find Jeremiah in the 20th chapter at the lowest point of his ministry saying, curse the day on which I was born, the day when my mother bore me, let it not be blessed. Curse be the man who brought the news to my father, a son is born to you making him very glad. Let that man be like the cities that the Lord overthrew without pity. Let him hear a cry in the morning and alarm at noon. because he did not kill me in the womb so my mother would have been my grave and her womb forever great. Why did I come out of the womb to see toil and sorrow and spend my days in shame? And then we have us. We all have been here. We all have struggled with the will of God in our lives and what he is doing. But what I love about Job is the extremes. Remember Job's extremely bad day in chapter one? And in chapter two, we have Job's extreme pain. And now in chapter three, we have a picture of Job's extreme depression. How far back does Job go with the what ifs, the questioning why? You know, when we're struggling, when we're going through something that's difficult, we generally go back to the point in history when it was good and say, gosh, I wish I had not done this thing. I wish we could go back to last year and make this decision different. But how far back does Job go? He goes all the way back. Has Job's life to this point been worthless? God blessed him greatly. He had seven children. He had amassed wealth that we can't even comprehend. He was viewed as the leader in the community. He was a patriarch. He loved his family. His family loved him. But he doesn't go back to whatever the point in time is when that extreme day came on him and say, I wish this day had never happened. He goes all the way back and says, I wish I was never born. And he does it in such a way that it leaves no doubt that he just would prefer to have that day erased from the calendar if it were possible. And since that is not possible, he laments that he wishes that he would never been born. And he starts questioning, why? Why, God? Why? Why is this happening? Can we relate with that? We can, can't we? And yet, Job's still here and he's going to be here for many more chapters. God doesn't do with him what we would do with impatience and saying, what are you doing, Job? What are you talking about? Have you completely discounted all the blessings I brought in your life? But God deals, and we'll see this as we go through this, God deals with Job with patience. But He doesn't just strike him down right here. And we'll see quite the different contrast of how Eliphaz deals with Job when he starts to talk in chapter four. But one of the key things that we pull out of the book of Job is what? It's the sovereignty of God. That's why this book is so rich and so good, because it gives us a right view of the sovereignty of God. And when I say a right view, I don't mean this kind of sovereignty. God's doing something in my life. Dang it. I mean the kind of sovereignty of God that's hooked to the promises of God. That this is not our final resting place. And when we're going through struggles and trials and tribulations and extreme pain, this isn't it for us. That we look forward to a hope that's not bound up here. Those are the promises that we look at. And that's the sovereignty of God that we need to anchor ourselves in. How does Paul say Something ridiculous like light momentary afflictions. How does he say that? Just do a little history of Paul's life in the book of Acts and you say what? Light momentary afflictions? Where does the snake fit into that? And the shipwreck? And the beatings? And being left to die on the rubbish heap? and then pulling yourself back up and going back in to finish preaching. Where's that line up in light momentary afflictions? And yet God condescends to give us Job who's struggling with this. And he's struggling with it in such a way that we won't, we will not struggle to the extreme that Job's struggling. It's like he gives us the, we like extreme things, right? You know, extreme homo makeover edition all the extreme sports. Well, we have extreme Job. Extremely bad day. Extreme pain. Extreme depression. And we won't have the type of days and the type of struggles that Job's having. And yet at the end of Job, he's still there. And he knows God at a level that he didn't know Him before. And it reminds us of the faithfulness of God. That when he says he sets his loving-kindness on us, and his steadfast love doesn't change, that's exactly what he means. In spite of ourselves, he doesn't waver. He's faithful. Is there any questions on where Job's at right now? Because I'm going to go and we're going to leave Job for a minute. Is it fair to say that we struggle with this more than we'd like to say? And yet, we can still take joy. That as God deals with Job, He deals with us. And that we were, we gotta remember, we were dead. We were dead in our trespasses and sins. We wanted nothing to do with God. And yet, He loved us. Because He set His affection upon us. No other reason. And when we struggle, the reality of that truth makes our struggle even deeper. And let me explain that. Job has experienced the heights of God and the sweetness of who he is. And would you say in chapter 3 that Job is connected with God right now? Or is he... God is pretty far from his mind? And when we're struggling, is God pretty far from our mind? So, the depth of how far we can go when we remove God from our thinking, by contrast, here's the glory of who God is. And when we remove God from our thinking, we can get pretty low, can't we? We can get into the pit of despair. And the gap is huge. If God had not set his love and his affection and his steadfast love upon us, the gap shortens up. Because all we could then relate to is what this world has to offer. And those, the sweetness of that, cannot equal the sweetness of God. So we can see, we can start to get a picture of how low Job is. And when we're struggling with this, we can get a picture of how low I am, or you are, when we're struggling with this despair, despairing in our souls. And the answer is the same, we'll see it later on in chapter 32, that Job has removed his view from the heavenly, and he's put it in the here and now. He's put it in the temple. He's put it in the struggles that he's going through, the pain that he's in. And this is where it brings him to. So how do we deal with someone like Job? If it isn't us, and we're brought, someone in our life is brought in front of us that's struggling with depression, maybe they're in pain, maybe they're going through some trial or tribulation, How do we deal with that? How do we reconcile that? How do we be a mouthpiece for God? In Job chapter four, Eliphaz starts to speak. And just in case you're wondering, we would do the opposite of what Eliphaz is going to do. But I want to point out a few things about Eliphaz in chapter four and chapter five that are helpful. First of all, Eliphaz the Timonite, he's probably the leader of the group. He's most likely the oldest one, the one that's respected. His responses have the most words. They're like little mini dissertations. And I think he likes to hear himself talk. And he listens very little. And we'll see that. So that would be one of our first clues. Talk less, listen more. But Eliphaz brings things in front of Job, which he holds our wisdom. And he gives us the sources, which is helpful for us to try to start to unwind what he's going to say. look in scripture, and look at 4.8. And here's his first clue of where he's pulling his information. 4.8, as I have seen. So he's doing it from what he has observed. And we see it again in 5.3, as I have seen, what I have observed. Look at 4.12 through 4.16. This is very interesting. Now a word was brought to me how? It's almost giving a picture of like a, I have a secret knowledge Job that you don't have. And my ear received a whisper of it. Amid thoughts from visions of the night, when a deep sleep falls on a man, dread came upon me in trembling, which made my bones shake. This message I received, Job, you probably couldn't have handled it. A spirit glided past my face, then my hair of my flesh stood up. It stood still. I could not discern its appearance, but a form was there before my eyes, and then there was silence, and then I heard a voice. So Eliphaz is It's going to enlighten Job. It's going to bring him up to speed on wisdom. And the sources of his wisdom are what I have seen and this secret vision that probably I'm the only one that could have handled to play back on it. And he's going to bring two main points up to Job. that this wisdom comes from that he will continue to pound on for the next 28 chapters. And the first one is in verse 7. And before we get to that, let's look what he does to Job in the first couple of verses. And we use this tactic often. We like to put somebody at ease, throw a few softballs of niceties at them, and then we drop in the word that everybody's real familiar with. What's the word? But. So that didn't come anywhere new. All right, let's look at Eliphaz in the first few verses. Starting at verse two, running through six. If one ventures a word with you, will you be impatient? Yet who can keep you from speaking? Behold, you have instructed many, and you have strengthened the weak hands. Your words have upheld him who was stumbling. You have made firm the feeble knees." So that's it for sympathy and comfort. But now it has come to you and you are impatient. It touches you and you are dismayed. Is not your fear of God your confidence and the integrity of your ways your hope?" Is that helpful right now for Job to hear? If you know you're in the pits of despair and someone comes up alongside you and says, hey, what are you doing? You're in the pits of despair, you loser. Is that helpful? But here's Eliphaz, and he's opening his mouth, and I would say that Job is not the one who's impatient at this point. It's Eliphaz. Eliphaz has a level of impatience with Job already, and he hasn't even, this is the first course of conversation. They've made the appointment, they've made the journey, they're sitting down for seven days in silence, and Job pours out his soul. chapter 3, and he's not in a good place. He's struggling. He's struggling with the pain that he's going through, with the loss that he's suffered, and he's in despair. And here's Eliphaz right out of the gate saying, you're impatient, Job. Let me enlighten you. Let me tell you what I've observed. Let me tell you about this vision that I received. And so the two areas that he brings in front of Job is verse 7. Remember who that was innocent ever perished. Or where were the upright ever cut off. Now this one's fairly easy to deal with in scripture. There's a lot of examples of the innocent perishing and the upright being cut off. We can go to Luke chapter 13 verses 1 through 5. And there we have the Lord Jesus Christ. And they told him about some Galileans who Pilate, the blood Pilate, had mingled with their sacrifice. And Jesus answered, do you think these Galileans are worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? No, I tell you, unless you repent, you shall all likewise perish. And then he ups the ante. In verse four, what about the 18 of whom the tower of Siloam fell and killed them? Do you think they were any worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you, but unless you repent, you will likewise perish. In Luke chapter 16, we have the picture of Lazarus. In John chapter nine, we have the man that was born blind from birth. This is a man that had lived many years being excommunicated from the society that he lived in because he was worthless in their eyes. He couldn't hold down a job. He couldn't bring in for the family income. He was like a money drain on the family. And blindness was a picture of God's judgment because it was darkness. So God has shown your sin because you're in darkness all the time. And you can see that this was the understanding of it because of the question the disciples asked Jesus. In John 9, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? And Jesus said, it is not that this man sinned or the parents sinned, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can lurk. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. And having said these things, he spat on the ground and made mud with saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with mud and said to him, go wash in the pool of Siloam, which meant sin. And so he went, and he washed, and he came back seeing." This is one who the Jews would look upon and say, this man must have some deep sin, or his parents. because he was born into darkness, and they equated physical darkness with spiritual darkness. And Jesus says, no. This man was born blind so that the glory of God could be displayed. So we can see back in Job chapter 4 that Eliphaz's first statement that he gives, and he gives it as fact. This is true, Job. And then in verse 17, he gives another one. He puts them as questions, but they're really rhetorical questions. Can mortal man be in the right place before God? Can a man be pure before his maker? Even in his servants, he puts no trust. And in his angels, he charges with error. How much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like a moth. Between morning and evening, they are beaten to pieces. They perish forever without anyone regarding it. And we'll deal with this more as we go on. But let me just point something out here. Where has Eliphaz put the entire human race? None of them can be right before God, right? There's not one of them that can escape a charge of error, and God has put no trust in any of them. So why aren't Job and his three friends all setting with boils on their skin, scraping themselves with pottery, and enduring the depression and the loss and the physical suffering that Job is going through? In Eliphaz's logic, he shouldn't even be there. He should be wiped out from the face of the earth along with the rest of mankind. But can you see where he's putting himself positionally? Where's Job spiritually in Eliphaz's mind? He's down here. And where's Eliphaz? I'm up here. I think the plank in the eye is coming into my mind here. First, remove the plank from your eye so you can remove the speck from your brother's eye. And we can even see this in 5.8. Look what he says in 5.8. As for me, Job, even though he doesn't use his name, as for me, I would see God, and to God would I commit my cause. who does great things and unsearchable marvelous things without number. Job, you want to answer for your ailment? You should probably seek God. Stop being impatient. Listen to me. I've got a level of wisdom that you've just heard about. Eliphaz, good comforter, building Job up. Do you know that he had predetermined to say these things before they even showed up? There was apparently some kind of a meeting, and Eliphaz and Bildad sat down with Zophar, and they lined out the course of action. They lined out what they thought they knew. about God, about Job specifically, they haven't even seen him. They haven't connected with the amount of pain that Job's going through. They haven't connected with the level of loss that Job's going through. And they haven't connected with the level of depression that he's struggling with. But before they even come on the scene, they've already searched out these truths. They've already laid the groundwork. And now, they just need to conform Job to what they've seen, so that Job will be lined up with reality. In 517, Eliphaz continues on, Behold, blessed are the one whom God reproves, therefore despise not the discipline of the Almighty. For he wounds, but he binds up. He shatters, but his hands heal. He will deliver you from six troubles and seven. No evil shall touch you. In famine, he will redeem you from death. And in war, from the power of the sword. You shall be hidden from the lash of the tongue. You shall not fear destruction when it comes. At destruction and famine, you shall laugh. You shall not fear the beasts of the earth, for you shall be in league with the stones of the field. And the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you. You shall know that your tent is at peace. You shall inspect your fold and miss nothing. You shall know also that your offspring shall be many, and your descendants as the grass of the earth. You shall come to your grave in a ripe old age like a sheaf gathered up for its season. Eliphaz is dangerous because he mixes some truth with some lie. Is any truth mixed with lie truth? It isn't. But he goes through and he makes a concoction to bring Joe up to speed. And what's missing from four and five? Who's he talking to? If you just took four and five out of context, would you have any idea who Eliphaz is talking to? Is there a man on the other side of this? I don't see Job's name in there anywhere. He could be enlightening a dog for all we know. There's a man on the other side of this. There's a man who's lost everything. There's a man who is in deep physical pain. Yeah. Yeah, I think he's convinced of his knowledge. I think he's just trying to convince Job of his knowledge. But he likes to hear himself talk. And did you see verse 27? 527. Behold, this we have searched out. It is true. Hear it and know it for your good. They should have just sent him a letter. They didn't need a connection with him. They didn't need to see it with their eyes. As a matter of fact, seeing it with their eyes didn't change the reality of what they're going to tell Job. even though when they came upon him, they didn't even recognize him. In 2.12, they saw him from the distance, they didn't recognize him. They raised their voices, they wept, they tore their robes, they sprinkled dust on their head, and they enacted the plan they had already hatched. Is that dangerous? You know, we come across in our life brothers and sisters in Christ who are where Job's at and have gone through not even close to what Job has gone through to bring him here. But God gives us that so we can see it, so that we can understand what it means to have a sympathetic ear, what it means to share in the pain of one of our brothers and sisters in Christ who's going through a tough time. And when we put ourselves on a spiritual pedestal and preach to our minions, it doesn't strengthen them. It doesn't bind them up. It doesn't encourage them. And yet, that's what we do. That's what Eliphaz is doing. And we'll sprinkle a little bit of truths about God in the middle of that, just like Eliphaz is doing. But at the same time, we hit him with a Mack truck, just like Eliphaz is doing. So I think it's helpful for us to see this. This is not an easy area of scripture to labor through. Because it's not easy seeing Job's depression. And yet we see it in our own lives, and we see it in the lives of the faithful ones that have gone before us. I remember reading the memoirs of David Brainerd. And the first time I read through it, I thought, this guy is depressing me. I mean, his lows are just unbelievable. And you could tell where my spiritual pedestal was at the first time I read through it, because that's all I came away with. And then I recently picked it up again and started reading back through it. His highs are unbelievable. The depths of the views he has on God just make me say, wow, I must not have the same Bible or something. Because this man sees God in a way that I don't see him. And yet, in the same diary are the lows that I remember. the struggles he had. And it's the same with Job. Job hasn't changed. Sure, Job's eyes are no longer on his Savior. And is that such a unique position? But yet his Savior doesn't change. So I would just encourage you that these next A few chapters are going to be rough. Because we're looking into the soul of man. And most of the time, it's not Disneyland. Most of the time it's rough. It's ugly. But it's not this that we're going to come away with. It's the faithfulness of our God that we're going to come away with. then we're gonna look and see, wow, when I'm at my depths of despair and my focus is so far away from Christ, He still loves me. If He loved me when I was dead and I was His enemy and I hated Him, is that love gonna change after He creates me new and yet I struggle? And the answer is it's not. And it's lined out right here for us to read and see and understand and love God more. Just like Job. Let's pray and then we'll be done. Father, we thank you, Lord. Lord, these words that are in front of us, they're tough, and I pray that you would just be gracious to us, we who cannot know the mind of God. We can't wrap our arms around it without the power of your Spirit coupled with the truth of your Word. Lord, I pray you would drive whatever verse that may have come out of this morning's session into our minds that it might affect change. That conformity, Lord, conforming us to the image of Christ, which is amazingly painful and yet amazingly glorious. We pray that you would do that work in us, that we might be useful to you. Through the name of Christ, Amen.