We'll read Job 32, verses 15 to 22. Job 32, beginning to read with verse 15. Elihu is speaking and he is speaking now of Job's friends. They are dismayed. They answer no more. Words have failed them. Shall I wait? Because they do not speak? Because they stop and answer no more? I too will answer my share. I also will tell my opinion, for I am full of words. The spirit within me constrains me. Behold, my belly is like unvented wine, like new wineskins. It's about to burst. Let me speak, that I may get relief. Let me open my lips and answer. Let me now be partial to no one. nor flatter any man. For I do not know how to flatter, else my Maker would soon take me away. Thus far, God's holy word. You may be seated. One of the factors essential to all success is the factor of motivation. I'll give you a sports illustration. This year was the year that Clemson football had all the talent to walk away and win the ACC conference, perhaps to go undefeated. And indeed, they have a lot of talent. But one of the problems that's produced to them a mediocre record was the inability of their coach to motivate them. to enable them to have a compulsion to go out and to sacrifice themselves and work together as a team to accomplish their goals. That failure of motivation led to a failure of a very talented group of young men. Now this illustrates, as I've said, the importance of motivation for success in any enterprise. This is particularly true with respect to the spiritual effectiveness of preaching. One of the reasons today for the dismal record of preaching is the lack of proper motivations. And in the text before us this morning, Job 32, 15-22, the Holy Spirit gives us two of the most important motivations necessary for effective preaching. Two things that you have already heard and learned at this seminary, two things I trust that you will always keep, at the forefront of your minds as you go about your preparation and as you enter into the task of being ministers of the gospel. These verses conclude Elihu's prologue to his speech. We saw last week that he was practicing ethos. He was winning his audience over by giving the proper deferment and respect to the elders. Why he had restrained himself up to this point and waited. And yet, he had a message from the Holy Spirit. And having waited his turn, it was now time for him to speak. Having laid that foundation, he concludes the prologue with the text that is before us today with two reasons why he is speaking. Two great gospel motivations. And we learn from these verses that the man of God must be convinced that he speaks God's message for God's approval. The man of God must be convinced that he speaks God's message for God's approval. We'll consider two things. The man of God will speak with compulsion because of his conviction that he speaks God's word. And second, the man of God will not fear men because he speaks for God's approval. First, A man of God will speak with compulsion because he's convinced that he speaks God's Word. In verses 15 through 20, Elihu lays out this doctrine of compulsion. He begins by a contrast between Job's friends and himself with respect to the basic conviction of truth. They are silent. We've already noted that they were silent, they did not respond to Job. It seems that perhaps Elihu here has given them further opportunity to respond, as he has entered into the field and said why he's waited. And they're failures, he exposes. And he says of them that they're dismayed, they've been pushed away. They answer no more. Words have failed them. Shall I wait, because they do not speak, because they stop and answer no more? He has accused them of their inability to respond to Job, of the error that they taught, that they condemned him without having proper biblical grounds. Under that indictment, some of these young men, they do not rise up in some taking umbrage, but they're still silent. And he says their silence is because words have failed them. They have nothing more to say to Job, and they have nothing to say to Elijah. They have no conviction at this point that they can go forward. Use our football analogy. Great people, without conviction, often fail. If a group of linemen suddenly think that they cannot control the line of scrimmage, even if they are across the line, 50 pounds each man, larger than his opponent, they won't keep the line. They'll have no zeal for that task because they are unconvinced about the task that's been given to them. Elihu says that Job's friends and counselors have failed because they were unconvinced. They have no more words. They have no message. But in contrast to them, he is convinced that he has a word from God and that he must speak that word. He has a divine compulsion. He expresses his conviction. In verse 17, I too will answer my share and I also will tell my opinion. He says, I've waited. Why should I wait any longer? I now will bring my contribution. I step onto the stage. Now the word translated opinion is too weak. It's a word that is used only in the book of Job. And it seems, at least most of the times, it expresses its root meaning of knowledge. It's a noun derived from the verb to know in the Hebrew. And what he's saying is, it's not some conjecture. He talks here about opinion. He's talking about a settled conviction. You know, Paul uses a similar language in 1 Corinthians chapter 7, as he's given instructions to the church with respect to marriage and divorce and remarriage. And he says in verse 25, Now concerning virgins, I have no command of the Lord, but I give an opinion. as one who, by the mercy of the Lord, is trustworthy. He says, this is a valid revelation for you in the situation where you are now in Corinth. And so when Elijah says, I have an opinion, he's talking about knowledge. He's already referred to the role of the Holy Spirit in illumining his understanding. He makes a reference to that work of the Spirit in verse 18, I am full of words, the Spirit within me constrains me. A spirit within him could be a reference to the Holy Spirit, paralleling what he has said in verse 8, and thus he is constrained by the Holy Spirit. Or it could be his spirit within him, which still is constrained by the Holy Spirit. He is under a divine compulsion because he is convinced that he has a message from God. And that is where all faithful preaching and teaching must begin. With the subtle conviction that we have a word from God. That this is God's word. and that the Spirit has led and blessed us in our preparation, and we have now God's Word for the congregation. This was the conviction of our Savior. In John chapter 5, verse 24, He spoke the Father's words that were given to Him. It's the conviction of the Apostle Paul. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. Quoting David, I believe, therefore I have spoken. Now he's referring to belief of God's protection and safety, but there must be this basic belief that we have God's word, for that alone enables us to continue in the midst of persecution and unwillingness. It's this conviction that enables us to fulfill Paul's commandment, preach the word in peace and out of season. Be about it. When it is seasonable and easy, when it is unseasonable and difficult, this conviction leads to compulsion. He says, I am full of words. And to illustrate what he means, he uses the figure of a wineskin and new wine. My belly is like unvented wine. Like new wineskins, it's about to burst. Let me speak that I may get relief. Let me open my lips and answer. Wineskins were made from skins of animals. And of course, when you put new wine into a container, it ferments and it expands. And thus, a wineskin that had received new wine had to be vented, had to let out the fumes from the continuing process of fermentation. And he says that his belly, because he's full of God's word, convinced that he has God's message for these people, is like an unvented wineskin. He's about to burst wide open. with this passion, this burning zeal that is in him to teach now what he believes is the biblical answer to Job's quandary and afflictions. The only way, he says in verse 20, that he will get relief is now by speaking. When you're convinced that you have God's message, and you're convinced that those around you need to hear that message and not error, then you will have a compulsion to speak. It will burn like fire in your bones. It will swell like new wine in your belly. Think of all the examples in scripture of such compulsion. Jeremiah, who because of difficulties at times had determined not to speak, says in chapter 20, of verse 9 of his compulsion. But if I say, I will not remember him, or speak any more in his name, then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire, shut up in my bones, and I'm weary of holding it in, and I cannot endure it. The apostles, as they stood before the Sanhedrin, were commanded to be silent, not to speak in the name of Christ, proclaim, for we cannot stop speaking what we have seen and heard. And the Apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians chapter 9, as he deals with why it is that he did not exercise his right to receive remuneration for his gospel preaching, he says, If I preach the gospel, verse 16, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion. For woe is me if I do not preach the gospel. Surely this was the example of our Savior. When the apostles come to him and say in Mark chapter 1, come back, many are waiting to hear you. And he says, no, I must go to the cities and villages of Israel. His indefatigable labors and teaching and preaching and healing, he was consumed with zeal for his father's house. He was broken with compassion for the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And he spent himself under that compassion, under that compulsion. If you're going to be effective as witnesses to the gospel of Christ, and particularly as preachers of that gospel, you must be men who are driven. Men who labor under a compulsion. Men who would preach, whether you were paid to preach, are not paid to preach. This begins with that settled conviction that can only come from prayerful study of the Scriptures. Not only that this is the Word of God, but you have a Word from God for your congregation. You have a Word that they need to hear. And that Word then must burn within your heart. And that can only happen as you first have preached it to yourself. As you first have applied it to your own life. As you, in prayerful meditation, approach the sacred work of the ministry of the Word, there is a fire that begins to grow in your belly. And you don't ever want to go into the pulpit without that fire, without that compassion, that compulsion. that you must, you have a word from God, and you must speak it. These people need to hear it. This is very important, as you will have the privilege of doing pulpit supply. You go out Sunday morning to a congregation of which you know little, you're looking forward to it because you need the money for that work, and it's very easy to approach that work in a very haphazard manner. You've got a job to do. I'll give these people some truth. You must labor in prayer. You must labor to have a heart for those people. You must plead with the Spirit of Christ that He would do something unique in them because you were there in that pulpit. You must pray every time you preach that people will be different. Always different. Then you will preach with a divine urgency. I think one of the greatest indictments of Reformed preaching today is a lack of passion. It's a lack of urgency. It's so matter-of-fact. It's so lecture-in-style. There's no fire. There's no passion. That's why we adopted that motto from that quotation that Dr. Woburn gave us, that preaching is logic under fire. It's to be truth put together so carefully and organized to be convincing and persuasive. But it must have fire. It must come from the furnace of the Spirit of Christ that burns in your own heart and belly. Then, then you will link up with God's people. Then you will unburden yourself with a divine message that is suited for those people. with that fire and compulsion. It comes from the conviction that you have God's Word. The second thing that we see here, the second powerful motivation is that you do not preach in the sphere of men because you preach for God's approval. The last two verses of the text. Let me now be partial to no one, nor flatter any man. Now you think about this, a young man Look at the odds. Here are three of the most distinguished men of the East, esteemed elders, men known for their wisdom and their insight. He's going to have to speak now and contradict them. Will he be able to do so? Or will he falter under fear and give way to temptation of flattery? Here's Job, the most esteemed man in the East, a man noted for piety. Is this young whippersnapper going to have the boldness to speak what Job needs to hear, to correct him? I will he be overcome with the greatness of the man and his titles. And so he expresses a resolve that he will not flatter. He will not speak in a way that avoids the truth because of the fear of men. He will not speak that which is untrue with respect to them because of the fear of men. He has a message. He's convinced this message is God's message for Job. He now must deliver that message without flattery, without succumbing to the temptation of the fear of men. And what is it alone that enables one to teach and preach, to challenge without flattery? What enables us to escape the fear of men? Well, he's quite clear in verse 20. I don't know how to flatter, else my maker would soon take me away. He recognizes that God Almighty, El Shaddai, who made him physically, who has redeemed him, who has made him a man of God, He is the one who takes notice. He is the one that will remove in the chastening of death, a removal from office and responsibility, or at the last day call for an accounting. He says, how can I flatter men when I must answer to God Almighty? The Apostle Paul surely had this in mind when he begins his exhortation about preaching in 2 Timothy chapter 4. I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and His appearance and kingdom, preach the word. He calls him to an accountability. He says you preach the word as a steward under the watchful oversight of the triune God. You preach the word with the awareness that one day you will stand before Christ Jesus. Give an answer for the exercise of your stewardship. Earlier in his ministry, the Apostle Paul gives in greater detail that answer that we shall have to give in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, beginning with verse 10, after having laid the principle that God alone is sovereign and gives increase in the church, that we are only laborers who work under God. He says then in verse 10, according to the grace of God, which was given to me as a wise master builder, I laid a foundation and another is building upon it. But let each man be careful how he builds upon it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Christ Jesus. Now if any man builds upon the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, each man's work will become evident. For the day will show it, because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. If any man's work which he has built upon it remains, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he shall suffer loss. But he himself shall be saved, yet so as through fire." Paul says that there are two ways that one approaches the gospel ministry. With care, with fear of God, building then with proper materials. Gold and silver and precious stones, things that test or withstand the test of God's fiery judgment and scrutiny. Investing in the labor, the prayerful labor in the Word of God, in the bold preaching of the Word of God, in the lives of God's people, seeking to contribute to the building of this holy temple. There'll be others that will build with Wood and hay and stubble. Things that cannot withstand the testing of thorn. Shoddy work. Lack of preparation. Compromises. Unwillingness to challenge. And that work, though the man is a Christian, that work will be consumed. They have nothing to offer to the Savior. Elihu was aware that he exercised his ministry before the eyes of one and one only. We too must be gripped with this conviction. There will be young men in the ministry, most of you, much younger than the average age of your congregation. There will be powerful people, pillars of the Church, generous givers, that will lean on you not to do certain things, not to teach certain truths, not to preach without vocation. And you're young, and there's a natural fear of these people, as well as a proper respect. The only thing that will enable you to chart a correct course is the fear of God, that you labor in the sight of God and for his approval only. This doesn't mean that we are boorish and contentious of social customs. The Bible doesn't dissolve manners. The fifth commandment still applies, as we heard yesterday. You are to treat with respect those who are your elders. Those who are seen in the community, you are to esteem. You're not to treat them in a way that dishonors their person. And nor are we to beat people over the head with the truth. In that same exhortation in 2 Timothy chapter 4, the apostle says to preach the word in seas and out of seas and reprove, rebuke, exhort with all patience and instruction. Or we're in 2 Timothy chapter 2. He lays out the strategy of that patience. When he says in verse 24 to 26, the Lord's prime servant must not be quarrelsome, but kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness, correcting those who are in opposition. If perhaps God may grant them repentance, leading to the knowledge of the truth. And they come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will. with patience, with respect, but we must not hold back the exposition and application of God's truth for fear of men. Surely one of the reasons today that such little proper applicatory preaching taking place in our churches is the fear of men. You must fear God and love men. If you love men, then under this compulsion, you're going to have to speak that which they need to hear. As Joseph, interpreting the dreams for Pharaoh's servants, had to tell the bad news as well as the good news. You, my friends, must do that. As our Savior, who in rebuke the Pharisees and his disciples say, Lord, do you not know that they were offended by what you said? Didn't hold him back. The truth needed to be spoken. It was out of love of men and fear of God that he spoke that truth. It's that that motivated Paul in Antioch to ascend Peter, one who should be esteemed. And you hear it, he had to withstand him face to face because he'd compromised the very basic truths of the gospel. Thus, as long as we preach under the sense of God's watchful eye, with the reality that we're going to give an answer to Him, will we be able to preach boldly as well as passionately. So what are the motivations that the Spirit of Christ sets before us this morning? A conviction that our message is God's Word, thus we must be deliberate of it, and not just deliberate. And a conviction that we must not fear men, but we must fear God alone. It says the man of God is convinced of these two things. that he will be an effective preacher. How do these things work out practically? And he suggests some things should always be in your mind as you enter into the work of preaching. The conviction of your call. Now, for most of you, your call, in a sense, is a work in process. You've got an internal call. Many of you are under care or possession, some are licensed. but become that grand day when the Spirit of Christ confirms that call through calling and ordination. And one of the ways that God uses ordination for us is when we become doubtful, is to remind ourselves, Christ set me aside through the exercise of the court of His church. Remember how Paul uses that with Timothy? Don't be timid! You have office! Be shown on you by Christ Jesus. Unless your ordination will be very important, reflect often on it. Not to make you proud and arrogant, but to sustain you. You've been commissioned by the Lord Jesus Christ. Second, labor always to be certain you have a word from God for your congregation. Carefully search the scriptures. praying for yourself and your illumination, your understanding, praying for the congregation as you move from exegesis to a homiletics, that you want a message for them. And only the Spirit who knows their hearts and works in them can give you such a message. You can outline a passage. You can write an exegesis paper. I've got a sermon. You want to have completed your work with a conviction. You've got a word from God. or that congregation. Third, always keep before your mind in your study and in the exercises of the pulpit that you labor before God. And you're going to give an answer to Him. It doesn't matter what men think. That's a very hard line to get over and to remain on the proper side. We hunger for applause. and approbation and encouragement. Understand there's a crown of righteousness laid up for you. There is a reward coming. And if little comes now, that faithful one who has reserved your labors by grace and faithfulness will indeed reward you. Preach for his approval. Fourth, as you enter the pulpit, do so with the conscious dependence that Christ, by His Spirit alone, can take what you've done in the study and make it now a living word from Christ in the midst of this congregation. And thus you may not depend on what you've studied, for that is idolatry. You must depend upon Him. As it came down with Paul, and consumed Elijah's sacrifice to come down with the fire of his spirit and burn them in and through that, which he's led you to up to this point. But now you must be delivered of it. And that means you go into the pulpit. You go there with a sense, Lord, I have nothing. If you do not come upon me, I have nothing. If you do not speak, I have nothing. Oh, I plead with you, Christ Jesus, now give me the message to be able to speak these words, your words to these people. Spirit, come down upon them, and upon me, and preach in conscious dependence upon the power of Christ, who says He will take the preached word and make it His own living word. Then you will preach with boldness. You'll preach the spiritual. effectiveness, because you will preach with persuasion. Last week we talked about the ethos of persuasion, how Job used the concepts of rhetoric to, in a proper sense, ingratiate himself into the hearts and minds of his heroes. But here, we're reminded of the pathos of persuasion. to which Dabney addresses so much attention. We must move people's emotions. And one of the best ways to move emotions is to have your own emotions moved because there is a sympathy between the speaker and the hearers. And here we see that these two motivations work together to create in you the proper passion to be able to speak to God's people with passion. The Spirit shall move their passions and their emotions, for emotions must be moved if people indeed are going to be persuaded. So may God give us settled convictions, compulsions, to preach His Word for His approval. Amen. Almighty God in heaven, we bless you for this Word, given to us so long ago given to us by your spirit through one who knew in comparison to what we have, little of you. And yet the essential things are here. And we pray that you'll make them the essential things in our lives. In Christ's name, amen.