Okay. If you would, turn to Job chapter 32. We're still in our series going through the book of Job. A lot has gone on. We're getting closer to the end of the book. We've still got a few chapters to go, but we're getting there. Tonight, we're going to see where Job's three friends have ceased to answer Job anymore. We saw the last time we met on this book, we saw Job spent, let's see, about two, three, let's see, about four or five chapters, four or five, six chapters, giving his final rebuttal to his three friends. Tonight, we're going to see another man who's kind of been in the shadows here with Job and his three friends. Nothing's been mentioned about this man before. It's just all of a sudden, he appears. And I'm not saying magically appears, it's just all of a sudden we begin to hear from him. He waits till Job is done, and he sees that the other three men are done. Their debate, if you will, that they've had all this time is over, or it seems to be over. They've given up the argument, basically. Neither side has, well, the three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, have not come to any conclusions on what has happened with Job or to Job, why it has happened to Job, why God has permitted these things to happen to Job. They've accused Job of all kinds of sins, all kinds of wrongdoing. Job has come back and fought his side and said that he didn't do anything. And it's kind of been left at that. Neither side has come to an agreement. Neither side has really given an answer on why things have happened the way they are. We know the answer. We've read from the beginning. If you've been a Christian very long, you've read the ending. You know how this book ends. God never says that Job did anything wrong, but In Job's discourses that he is given, we do see some things that Elihu will bring out in the next few chapters. That Job, it wasn't so much that Job committed any sin that brought this about, it's just in his rebuttals to his friends, he is not, he has not been convincing. And he has defended himself but he's not been as honor and not glorifying God as much as he should have. And Elihu brings that out. Now one of the things we're going to see about Elihu is that he's a much younger man. He mentions that in his speech. We see that he is, at least in chapter 32, he is a very humble man it appears to be. has honored the fact that he is younger than these other four men, and yet he has his own opinion on things. He has sat back and watched and listened. Oftentimes, even in the ministry today, in Baptist churches included, you see oftentimes, and don't Don't take me wrong here, but oftentimes you see, because what I'm about to say is not necessarily what applies to this story, but you see younger men in the ministry who try to, who have the opinion that they are wiser than the older brethren. That's not always the case. Sometimes it can be. As in Elihu's case, Elihu seems to have, he seems to be a moderate, if you will. He's looking at both sides the same and trying to come up with an answer that satisfies both sides and at the same time he's seeking God's glory in this and not his own and not the glory of the other four men. A little history behind Elihu. Just reading quickly, when I was studying this, most commentators that I've come across really don't know who he was. There's not really any pharma evidence other than Well, let's read the first two verses and we'll talk about that. So these three men ceased to answer Job because he was righteous in his own eyes. Notice it says Job was righteous in his own eyes. We know from the first chapter Job was righteous in God's eyes also, but as time goes by, after Job started going through this trial that we've talked about, losing his family, losing his possessions, his flocks, his herds, his servants. Job, in his examining of himself and in examining his situation and his circumstances, he has come to bring himself to be righteous in his own eyes, it says here. It's almost as though he has become prideful about it. But the Scripture doesn't, other than this wording right here, doesn't really, you don't see God getting on to Joe about being prideful so much but we also know that up until now and really not until let's see chapter chapter 38 we don't really hear anything from the Lord after him and Satan have their conversation in the beginning you don't hear anything from the Lord you know the Lord is there and he's present he's there with Joe His presence is known, although Job doesn't realize it. But Job has made himself righteous in his own eyes. The problem with that is, is none of us are as righteous as we think we are, including Job. Yes, Job, well, before I mess it up again, go back to the first chapter. And God says, there was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God and eschewed evil. He sounds like a pretty righteous man, doesn't he? In God's eyes. What are we told? We are told throughout the Scripture that we're to be humble, we're not to look at ourselves as being righteous. Even though we are, in the eyes of God, That's not something that we should be proclaiming ourselves. Now, in Job's defense, he was trying to answer the accusations his friends brought against him. But doing so, as Elihu will bring out tonight, Job brought more attention to himself than to God in his answers. Now, in verse 2, Then was kindled the wrath of Elihu, the son of Barshel, the Buzite of the kindred of Ram. Against Job was his wrath kindled because he justified himself rather than God. So here's the whole reason for what we're about to read about Elihu. Because Job justified himself rather than God. Job has just finished telling how good a man he was, how he did not do this and he did not do that, and how he did all these righteous things. He helped the poor, he helped the hungry, he helped the sick and the lame, and he was just a good all-around citizen of the country. And he did give God the credit for most of that, but it was more about him, about who he was. And that's what Elihu has become mad about. He's become angry about this. Now it says he's the son of Bartel the Buzzite. There was a city in that part of the world called Buzz. Supposedly it was named after a nephew of Abraham. We know Job lived many years before Moses, so he was not part of the Hebrew people. But this man Elihu came from a city that was named after a nephew, or they believe it was named after a nephew of Abraham's, of Abraham's brother's son. He had a son named Buzz. I believe it was his brother Nahor. Nahor? Nahbor? I can't remember. But anyway, so this city would have been named after him and so essentially the citizens of that city would have been the descendants of Buzz. So they were part of abraham's family the kindred of ram and some there's all kinds of speculation on who this this guy ram was uh... some say he was uh... a son of isaac uh... which uh... i find it hard to believe uh... but uh... there was all kinds of uh... Things about him, obviously, if he's from the city of Buzz and they are descendants of Abraham, somehow, some way, they were able to trace his roots back to either Abraham himself or to Abraham's family, his brother. But notice his wrath is kindled against, his wrath is kindled against Job. Not against Job's three friends. Now it is, we'll see that later, but right now it's against Job. It is also against his three friends was his wrath kindled. So we see there it was, but it's mostly against Job. Because they had found no answer and yet had condemned Job. So the reason he's mad at these three friends of Job's is because they have not found an answer to the problem, to what's happened. And yet, they condemned Job. They don't know why or what Job did, but they've condemned him. There's no evidence of anything that Job has done wrong, but they've condemned him. Now Elihu had waited till Job had spoken, because they were elder than he. So he waits as a good young man who is a child of God should, he waits till his elders are done speaking. All of them. Not just the three friends, but also Job. He waits till they're done speaking because they were older than him. How much older? We don't know. Have no idea. But he was younger. And he says, when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, then his wrath was kindled. At the end of chapter 31, we see the last of Job speaking. Now, there has been no response from his three friends. Always before, when he finished speaking, his three friends would come back one at a time and they would either refute what he had said or they would come back with more accusations. This time, they've just given up. As we saw in verse 1, so these three men ceased to answer Job. They just gave up. because they couldn't convince him. That's why they gave up. When Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, then his wrath was kindled. And Elihu, the son of Barchel the Buzite, answered and said, I am young, and ye are very old. Now by that, we would think that this man is much younger than the other four. Also remember that when we get to the end of the book, Job has more children. So he's not past childbearing years, at least in their day and time, which I don't know what that would have been. You look at Abraham and Sarah, and of course theirs was a miraculous birth, but certainly he's an older, he's very old, he says here. You think about back when you were in your late teens, early 20s as a young man, and people who were 40 years old were very old, weren't they? So we really don't know how old either side was in this. Wherefore I was afraid, and darest not show you mine opinion. So he's got an opinion of what's going on. But out of respect, he says, wherefore I was afraid. It's kind of that afraid is more like the fear of the Lord that we should have. It's not a scary type fear that we think of. It's a reverence. It's a respectful fear. And I believe that's what he's talking about here. He was afraid. He didn't want to give his opinion yet because he wanted to be respectful and hear what all they had to say, which tells us that this guy's no dummy. He's an intelligent guy. He's thought this out. He's heard both sides of the story. And that's the way it should be before we forming an opinion about something in a situation between the brethren, especially, as we see here. I think we've come to the conclusion that Job's three friends were godly men. They just were wrong. And that happens. And we see that today. There are men who get into arguments and disagreements. And if you're standing on the outside looking in, Sometimes you don't know. You listen to one side. Maybe you're better friends with one side than you are with the other. You listen to one side, and you think, well, they've got to be right. But then you hear from the other side, and you're like, oh, wait a minute. Then you've got to sit back, and you need to listen to both sides. And that's good advice, I think. When there's a disagreement between brethren, even those who are outside of our own congregations. We need to sit back and examine both sides, hear both sides speak, and not, don't listen to what others have to say, because, and we say, well, they're a reputable source, but are they? As men, oftentimes we will, if we're good friends with somebody who's in an argument with somebody else, We're going to side with our friend and we're only going to tell what we want to tell, what is apparent to us. It's better to get, as Elihu has done here, he has spent time with these four men and has sat back and listened before he formed an opinion. Oftentimes you see disagreements between brethren and people begin to form opinions before they've heard both sides. Maybe they hear part of both sides, or maybe they hear both sides from other people. They hear it third and fourth hand, as we would say. Second, third, and fourth hand. That's never good. If you can't get it, as the old term goes, if you can't get it from the horse's mouth, be careful. Because oftentimes, the whole truth is not told. In verse 7, I said, days should speak, a multitude of years should teach wisdom. So he's talking about these four men here. Who he is? Again, some say that he was maybe some kind of family of Job's. A cousin, nephew, something. Who knows? We don't know. Some say he was a family of one of the other three men. We don't know. But he has obviously been taught well in the things of the Lord. And one of the things we see here is he says, days should speak and a multitude of years should teach wisdom. In other words, he recognizes that him being younger, himself being younger, that normally he should be able to sit and listen to the older men and get wisdom and receive wisdom from them, from their teaching. And that's what he's talking about here, the elders. And we see that in the Old Testament and the New Testament both. We're taught that we need to honor our elders. Again, there are so many out there today that are not honoring their elders. And I'm not talking about just the elders in their own congregations, but the elders in the faith. And men who are older pastors or preachers or deacons or teachers, we have a generation of men that are seeking their own wisdom and not seeking the wisdom of their forefathers. So we have to be careful about these things. Verse 8, But there is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding. So our understanding comes from the Holy Spirit. He says there is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding. It is the Almighty, the inspiration. Remember, we teach that the Word of God, our Bibles, come from the inspired Word of God. Now, some will argue that the King James Version is inspired. I don't agree with that. If it was, it would be totally perfect, and it's not. There are a few things in our King James Bibles are obviously not inspired by God, that doesn't mean that we don't use it. And I still hold to the fact that it is the best English translation out there. But it is a translation. The translators were not inspired of God. I believe God had a hand in them writing it, but there are places that because of a lack of a better word, They didn't know what else to use, so they used whatever was common in their day, and sometimes it's not correct. That happened. But the originals were inspired. And they got the Bible we use, the King James Version, was translated from the originals as much as possible. So that's why we trust it. There is a Spirit in man. We have a Spirit in us. And this word Spirit is not capitalized here. So I don't believe he is referring to the Holy Spirit necessarily. But our inner being is within us. And the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding. So it is God Himself that gives us understanding. forming opinions on things like what Job has gone through here and Job and his friends. And so that's what Elihu is referring to here. Verse nine, great men are not always wise, neither do the aged understand judgment. There's another true fact, a true, that's not correct, a true, that's another truth is that sometimes the older men are not always correct. Now, we don't like to think of it that way, but sometimes that is the case. Sometimes you go back and you read some of the older writings of men of old, Spurgeon and Gill and some of those men way back hundreds of years ago, And you look at their writings and you compare it with what we know about now, and you're going to be disappointed. If you're following the Scripture, there's going to be places where they were wrong. The same way as it is today, there are men that maybe we grew up under, maybe they weren't always correct in their doctrinal teachings. Maybe, you know, there's In our kind of churches, from what I've seen anyway, there's been a lack of men who were able to counsel sometimes with people in certain situations, whether it was divorce or relationships or with their children even. Things that they should be able to counsel them, but they weren't trained themselves in those things. And that happens. Not every... Pastors are not... They're not God. And we need to get over that. Even though we have respect for them, they're not going to know what to do in every situation. And some people think that they are, and they get disappointed because, well, he doesn't know how to treat this situation, so we're just going to leave and go somewhere else. And they'll wind up going somewhere else. several different churches and they'll find out, well, there's nobody in our kind of churches that can handle this situation. We're gonna go, we'll go to a secular psychiatrist or a secular counselor or we'll go to another so-called church that has a motivational speaker that preaches to them. These people know what to do. Well, that's not the right way to handle it. Yes, I understand that Sometimes we as pastors can't handle every situation, but we should be able to go to the Word of God and point somebody in the right direction. There may be a pastor friend of ours or maybe a a deacon in another congregation, or if it's a woman, it could be a deacon's wife or a pastor's wife in another congregation. That may be a better help than we are, but we should have the wisdom to be able to recognize that and to advise that direction. But here he says, great men, in other words, men of renown, men who are popular, men who are famous, are not always wise. And it doesn't mean they're not wise certain situations, certain situations you're not wise in. Speaking of Job and his three friends, they weren't wise enough to figure out the truth of this matter. That's what Elihu, that's his opinion that he has come up with. You guys have not came up with an answer. You don't know why. You're supposed to be, and I would think that him being the younger man and being, sitting there with these four men this whole time, Elihu has thought, these are the greatest men that I've known. These are men of renown in his day. These were great men of God in his day. But in this situation, in these circumstances, they have no wisdom. And it happens. Sometimes the older generation doesn't always have the wisdom that is sought from them in every situation. That's not saying that they're not a good pastor or a good teacher. It's just that there are certain things that they don't have wisdom in. And God hasn't given them the wisdom in those circumstances sometimes. He says, neither do the aged understand judgment. Sometimes, as in this case, these four men could not make a judgment call either way. They didn't have an answer. I was going to try to get through two chapters tonight, but we're not going to make that. We're running out of time. But verse 10, therefore I said, hearken to me, I also will show mine opinion. So he makes a declaration to these men, I'm going to show you my opinion on this. And so we're going to see verses 34, or chapters 34, 33, 34, 35, 36, I believe all the way to 38. Yeah, through 37. All the way to chapter 38, we're going to see Elihu give his opinion of how things are and what his understanding of these things are. And so we see a younger man who is going to have what seems to be a more wise opinion of what has happened than these older men who have been his mentors and his teacher, men that he has looked up to. Now, there's nothing that says that Elihu is a minister, a priest, or a pastor, or anything like that. And it doesn't say that about any of these other four men. But they have been an influence on this young man. in a godly way. Verse 11, Behold, I waited for your words. I gave ear to your reasons, whilst ye searched out what to say. And remember, most of what we have seen up until this point, these four men, those three friends and Job, they have conversed back and forth. They're throwing ideas back and forth at each other on what could have happened. And it's been a debate, what we would call a debate. They're trying to persuade each other of what they believe, what their opinion is. And what we've seen so far, it seems, if you look at it from our standpoint, it seems like it's been a pretty decent argument, a pretty decent debate, because both sides have made some valid points. but they've not come up with an answer. Verse 12, Yea, I attended unto you, and behold, there was none of you that convinced Job, or that answered his words. They never convinced Job that he was wrong, and that they were right. And they couldn't have, every time Job spoke, he could refute what they had to say, But they couldn't answer what he had to say. They just came up with more accusations every time. They never could prove anything. Lest you should say we have found out wisdom, God thrusteth him down, not man. So what he's saying here is what we've talked about all along. It has not been Job or any other man who has brought all this on Job. It's been God. Elihu, through his wisdom, through his watching and listening to this whole debate between these four men, has come to the conclusion that it is God who has thrust him, thrusteth him down. Not Job himself, but God. And that's what this has all been about. God is the one who permitted all this to happen to Job. Now he hath not directed his words against me, neither will I answer him with your speeches. They were amazed. They answered no more. They left off speaking. In other words, they just gave up. There was no ending to this argument. They couldn't satisfy what they were seeking, and so they gave up. When I had waited, for they spake not, but stood still and answered no more. I said, I will answer also my part. I also will show mine opinion. And this is a wise brother here. This is a wise man. You look at this, and this young man, even though he's young, has learned something. And the thing that he has learned was to be patient and to wait and to listen. He listened to both sides of the story. Now, Sometimes, and it's not the case in this matter, but sometimes you have two sides who have a disagreement, have a contention, maybe it's doctrinal, maybe it's not, maybe it's personal. And you can't get, you're trying you're trying to get answers. You can't get answers either from, sometimes you can't get answers from either side. Sometimes you can't, one side doesn't want to talk about it, or maybe they want to talk about it with certain people, but not with other people. You get one side of the story, but you never get the other side of the story. And so you can't form an opinion. And some will say, well, if they're not willing to talk about it with us, then they've got to be wrong. Well, not necessarily. That's not always the case. A lot of times it is, though. When somebody doesn't want to give their side of the story, sometimes it's because they know they're guilty or because they know they're wrong. Or they might not be sure themselves, and they don't want to tell too much because it could incriminate them. But in this case, Job and his friends have laid everything out. Both sides, we see both sides clearly. And Elihu has been there and listened to all of it. Now that those four men are done talking, the three friends of Job have not answered him, his last speech that he gave. He is stopped speaking. Now that he has stopped and now that he, it appears as though he's waited for some time. We don't know how long. Maybe just a few minutes, maybe hours, maybe a couple of days. We don't know. But for some time he has waited to see if they were going to respond to Job and they have not. He says, I said I will answer also my part. I also will show my opinion. So here's a fourth or a fifth man who's going to throw out his opinion. And we'll get to that in the next few chapters. And he says, For I am full of matter. The Spirit within me constraineth me. In other words, he's held back. The Spirit within him has held him back from giving his opinion so far. He's full. of information now. He's heard both sides. He's ready to give his opinion. He's held back because these men were his elders, but now he's ready. He says, Behold, my belly is as wine which hath no vent. It is ready to burst like new bottles. He's got all this information in him and he's ready to talk about it, he's about to burst, that he's so full of information, so his opinion, he thinks his opinion is so necessary to get out that he can contain it no more. I will speak that I may be refreshed. I will open my lips and answer. Let me not, I pray you, accept any man's person Neither let me give flattering titles unto man. He's just going to speak to them just like they've been speaking to each other. He's not going to, even though these men are his elders and he respects them, he's not going to hold anything back. Just because of who they are. For I know not to give flattering titles. In so doing, my maker would soon take me away. So it's just like you think about if you've ever been to court and you hear the lawyers, the attorneys speak, and sometimes even the defendants, sometimes some of the witnesses, maybe even the jurors at times, you hear from them. They try to flatter the judge or the attorneys. They're given fancy titles. It's the same way here. These men, obviously, as we've talked about before, these were reputable men in their communities. May have even been politicians. We don't know. They were government leaders. And I'm not saying politicians like we know today. These were honest men, apparently. But they had titles. But he's not going to address them that way. He's not going to call them He's not going to be flattering to them. He's not trying to appease them. He's ready to give his opinion. And he's ready to, basically he's ready to tear into them, if you want to get down to it. Because they've all gone about this in the wrong way. In the beginning, in chapter 33, when we get to it next time, he's going to address Job first. Job is the is the one that this is all about. And so he's going to address Job. And he's going to be hard on Job. As well he should be. Because if you remember, Job this whole time has just assumed that God was not there. Because God hasn't, at least he thinks God has not answered his prayers. God has been there with him. We know that. God promises, has promised his people all throughout history that he will never leave them. He's always there with them. But Job has just had it in his mind that God was not there and that he was alone and he was fighting this battle by himself. There's times where he would speak up and say that he knew God was there, but he didn't feel His presence. But you see, even in those instances, you see where God is there because God gives him comfort. And God shows him, Job goes to talking about how faithful God has been, how God has blessed him in multiple ways, even throughout his history, through his life, through his past life. And he doesn't recognize that God is there. And Elihu is going to address these things in the next few chapters. Job, even though he has been innocent in this, He's not been perfect. He's not been as righteous as Job thinks he has been. So, we'll pick up next time with chapter 33.