Amen. Thank you for that. Job chapter 4 this morning please. A few weeks back we began to look at this book. We're going to look at it kind of topically rather than try to look at every specific verse like we did many years ago on Wednesday night. And we'll turn our attention to Job for the next couple of weeks and then of course we'll turn our attention a little bit to the birth of Christ and we'll be away from Job for a while and come back to that. Let's go ahead and stand please. Job chapter 4 and we're going to begin in verse number 1. Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said, If we assay to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved? But who can withhold himself from speaking? Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands. Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees. But now it has come upon thee, and thou faintest. It touches thee, and thou art troubled. Is not this thy fear, thy confidence, thy hope, and the uprightness of thy ways? Remember, I pray thee, whoever perished being innocent, or where were the righteous cut off? Even as I have seen they that plow iniquity and sow wickedness reap the same. By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed. The roaring of the lion and the voice of the fierce lion and the teeth of the young lions are broken. The old lion perisheth for lack of prey and the stout lion's whelps are scattered abroad. And we will stop there for now and let's pray. Father, thank you for your Holy Spirit. who is our guide into the truth of your word. And Father, it is your spirit that convinces us of the truthfulness of the book of Job. We pray furthermore for his ministry to us that we might understand it, that we would extract from it the spiritual nourishment that our souls need. And Father, this is work that you do. You do it in our minds through the proclamation of your word. I pray that you would help us today in Jesus' name, amen. And you may of course be seated. Well, I would remind you again that the book of Job begins by pointing out to us that Job suffers in innocence. That is a central theme of the book, folks. It is one we will never be far from It is one that nobody else in the book really seems to understand, but we do. And then the book tells us that Job suffers in isolation. He suffers alone. Because there is a loneliness to all suffering that no amount of love or commitment or relationship can truly enter into. We each suffer privately in our individual suffering. And this morning we really turn our attention to what constitutes the bulk of the book. And that is that Job suffers in ignorance. Everybody can see that Job is suffering. Many will comment upon Job's suffering. None understand Job's suffering. But again, we do. We have insight that Job did not have, and we will rely upon that for much of the message this morning. Eliphaz is the first man to respond. Of course, we read about what happened to Job, his biography, how God turns him over to Satan, how Satan brings about the destruction of everything except for Job's actual life. And then we come to chapter number three, in which Job laments his very existence Why did I not die and why do I still live? Eliphaz is obviously the senior of Job's three friends. And I think that we should understand that these men are not just friends in the acquaintance sense of the word, but that these men are widely respected in their own world and in their own circles as counselors, the kind of people who are capable and competent in giving advice. I have a pastor friend who's very academic and intellectual about these things and we were just kind of talking and I asked him the question, I said, do you think that the book of Job was spoken in poetry? Or do you think that the men were conversing and then it was written in poetry? He said, I think it was spoken in poetry, that that was the realm of these men, that they were significant, wise men and philosophers and were trained in speaking this way. And this is the way that came to us. We think we know that Eliphaz is the most prominent because he is the first to speak. Because after Eliphaz and Bildad speak, they're recognized as senior. And because in chapter 42 and verse number seven, he is specifically called out by God as kind of the leader. We could think of it this way, leader of the, not the opposition party, but leader of the party that is in error. The most error about all that goes on. And so Eliphaz's first round of speech is in chapter four and five. He will speak again in chapter 15. He will speak again in chapter 22. But nothing that he says in 15 or 22 will undo his basic supposition. And Eliphaz's basic supposition is this. It's very popular and very common to humanity. I think we could all identify with it. It is that you're suffering because you deserve to suffer. It's just very straightforward and very simple. Job, there's no great mystery going on here. Right, the only thing to do, Job, this would be basically the position that all of his friends take, there's nothing, the only thing really to do, Job, is for you to fess up to what you've done and turn your back on it. That's what you need to do. Because you've obviously done something that is wrong. Eliphaz is not an unbeliever, and he does not deny either the existence of Jehovah or the power of Jehovah. In fact, his message, if you wanted to deal with it kind of broadly, would be twofold. Number one, you need to fear God, and number two, you need to put your trust in him. So none of these men, folks, it's really important to understand this, none of these men are endeavoring to lead Job away from the Lord. They're trying to lead Job to the Lord. Their position is that Job is away from the Lord and he needs to come back, not that Job should turn away from the Lord. And I say that because it is not uncommon for Christians in their suffering to have somebody suggest that maybe God is not worth the effort or not worth believing in. or this is a good, and they would maybe not put it that way, but this is a good time to get out of that church or get out of that lifestyle or get away from those kooks. But that is not ever what happens in the life of Job. We're gonna look at chapter four and five this morning and we're gonna put Eliphaz's arguments into four contemporary slogans. I'm gonna, I guess you'll, listen and endure. We read the first one in chapter 4 verses 1 through 11 in which goes like this, you need to take a dose of your own medicine. You need to take a dose of your own medicine. Eliphaz begins by pointing out in verse number 2, please don't be angry with what I'm about to say, but it needs to be said. If we say, if we attempt, if we endeavor to talk with you, will thou be grieved or irritated? Right? We've been sitting here in silence now for a week. You have lamented your existence. If we start to talk, will that be an irritant to you? But there are things that need to be said, and what needs to be said is this, verses three and four. You've given counsel to lots of people in their suffering. People have come to you when their life has taken a left turn, and you've given them advice. You've told them about the faithfulness of God, and you've told them about the necessity of taking right steps before the Lord. But now, verse number five, now it comes to thee, and now you fall apart. Remember, verse number six, is this not thy fear, thy confidence, thy hope, and the uprightness of thy ways? What Eliphaz is getting at is this. This is the counsel that you have given. This has been the foundation of the counsel that you have given. Right? This has been where you have stood. That you get what you deserve. This is what we all believe. We're the wise men of the land. We're the most widely respected counselors. These are like the leading medical men or the leading psychiatrists or the leading life coaches of their day. And their fundamental premise is this. In this life, you get what you deserve. You get it now. And in verses seven through 11, right? Don't undo your teaching. Don't undo your teaching. Remember verse number seven, I pray thee, whoever perished being innocent. That's not how the world works. That's not how the world works. People get what they deserve. Where were the righteous cut off? Verse number seven. Even as I've seen. Verse number eight. They that plow iniquity and sow wickedness reap the same. You get what you deserve. And you get what you deserve from the hand of God. Verse number nine. By the blast of God they perish. By the breath of his nostrils are they consumed. The roaring of the lion, the voice of the fierce lion, the teeth of the young lion are broken. God brings it to them. Don't turn your back on everything you have taught now that it has come upon you. Which again folks, have we not seen? Have we not seen people testify about the grace and faithfulness of God and then something unravels in their life and they turn away. I've seen it, unfortunately I've seen it. So Job verses one through 11, take a dose of your own medicine. Just because it's come to you, doesn't mean it's not true. Fundamental principle. We're gonna build on that. God brings retribution on people. People get what they, they reap what they sow. And this is from the hand of God. And even if you're a Job, this is what you get. That brings us now, let's turn our attention to chapter four, verse number 12. And read into chapter five and verse number seven. Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and I mine ear received a little thereof, in thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men. Fear came upon me and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. Then a spirit passed before my face. The hair of my flesh stood up. It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof. An image was before mine eyes. There was silence, and I heard a voice saying, shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure than his maker? Behold, he put no trust in his servants and his angels he charged with folly. How much less than them that dwell in houses of clay. whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth. They are destroyed from morning to evening. They perish forever without any regarding it. Doth not their excellency, which is in them, go away? They die, even without wisdom. Call now, if there be any that will answer thee, and to which of the saints wilt thou turn? For wrath killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the silly one. I have seen the foolish taking root, but suddenly I cursed his habitation. His children are far from safety, they are crushed in the gate, neither is there any to deliver them, whose harvest the hungry eateth up and taketh it even out of the thorns, and the robbers swalloweth up their substance, although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground, yet man is born into trouble as the sparks fly upward. Job, number one, verses one through 11, take a dose of your own medicine, Number two, get your head out of the clouds. Come back to reality. And then Eliphaz begins by this section by relating an experience that he had. This rather mystical experience that he had, this dreamlike thing. Let's be realistic, folks. We don't quite know what to make of it, do we? And the narrator never tells us exactly what to make of it. Men do have dreams. God does communicate in dreams. Eliphaz lives in a time in which God communicates by dreams. So it's not the fact that Eliphaz has this experience that should pose the problem to us. It is the nature of the instruction that is the problem. He goes on then by talking about in verses 13 through 17, what this said, none are pure and just in the sight of God. That's the problem, folks. That's a problem. And there is, by the way, just a little bit of a disagreement, because I know that some of you have different translations In verse number 17, shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure than his maker? And our King James translators have kind of chosen to deal with it in the more than God sense of the word. Other versions deal with it in God's sight kind of sense of the word. What does God say? But notice again the way Eliphaz concludes. He doesn't have any confidence in his angels, verse number 18. He has no trust in his servants. Now let's just stop here, folks, and I'm not looking for a verbal answer, right, an out loud answer, but in light of chapter one, is there any truth to that? I mean, let's just, right, let's not bog down in this kind of sort of vision that Eliphaz is claiming to have. Let's walk down on how Eliphaz interprets it. This is what was told me. God doesn't trust his servants. That doesn't jibe with what you've already been told about Job in chapter one. Satan, what you been doing? I've been walking around, just walking around the earth. Have you thought about Job? There's nobody like him. A perfect and upright man. One that fears me and escheweth evil. But men get trouble, chapter seven, or chapter five, verse seven, yet man is born in trouble as the sparks fly upward. Trouble is all men get. Trouble is all men deserve. Trouble is the lot of man's life. They get it because they deserve it, because it's all that God can bring himself to give them, because he trusts none of them. Job, get your head out of the clouds. This is the way life is. This is the way it works. So take a dose of your own medicine. Come back to planet Earth. Chapter five, verse number eight. I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause. which doeth great things and unsearchable marvelous things without number, who giveth rain upon the earth and sendeth waters upon the fields, to set up on high those that be low, that those which mourn may be exalted to safety. He disappointeth the devices of the crafty so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise. He taketh the wise in their own craftiness, and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong. They meet with darkness in the daytime and grope in the noonday as in the night. But he saveth the poor from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty. So the poor hath hope, and iniquity stoppeth her mouth. Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth. Therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty. I'm sorry, I should have stopped at verse number 16. So Job, take a dose of your own medicine. Job, get your head out of the clouds. Job, bring yourself low. Come down off your high horse. Verse number eight kind of sets the tone for all that he says in this section. Here's what I would do if I was in your shoes. Here's what I would do if I was you. I would run to God. I would run to God. Because obviously, Job, you're far away from God. Look at you. I mean, he doesn't say this directly, but it's implied in all they said. Look at you. Your kids are gone. Your enterprises are destroyed. Your economy is ruined. Your marriage is in shamble. Your health is destroyed. Look at you. And we all know that this is what God does to people that he's trying to get. And he tries to get people because of their sin. And if you would give up your sin, look at what awaits you. He would set you up on high. He would exalt you. He would deliver you. He would spare you. And that brings us to Eliphaz's fourth piece of advice, beginning in verse number 16. So the poor hath hope, and iniquity stoppeth her mouth. Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth, therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty. For he maketh sore and bindeth up, he woundeth, and his hands make whole. He shall deliver thee in six troubles, yea, and seven shall no evil touch thee. In famine he shall redeem thee from death, and in war from the power of the sword. Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue, neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh. At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh, neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth. For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee. And thou shalt know that thy tabernacle shall be in peace, and thou shalt visit thy habitation and shalt not sin. Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great, and thine offspring as the grass of the earth. Thou shall come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in a season. Lo, this we have searched. Lo, this we have searched it, so it is. Hear it, and know thou it for thy good. Fourth piece of advice. You just need to surrender. You just need to surrender all. Chapter five and verse number 16, you just got to stop resisting. And if you'll stop resisting Job, great things will happen. So there is in a nutshell, folks, in four modern day sayings that we've probably all heard in some form or another. is Eliphaz's advice to Job. I would like then to turn our attention to this. What's wrong with Eliphaz's advice? We know that something is wrong with Eliphaz's advice because just as Job chapter 1 tells us that Job was upright and feared God and avoided evil, so 42.7 tells us that Job's three friends did not say the right things about God. Now this is particularly fascinating, folks, in light of the fact that some of the things that Eliphaz says are actually quoted in the New Testament. Chapter 5 and verse number 13 is quoted by Paul in the early chapters of 1 Corinthians with reference to the gospel. He taketh the wise in their own craftiness and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong. That's quoted when Paul is rebuking the Corinthians for their love of worldly wisdom and their attempt to do gospel ministry in light of the wisdom of men. And that the gospel of Christ is the wisdom of God A foolish message, Paul's explanation. And men's wisdom will be their own undoing. It is also quoted, chapter five, verse number 17. Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth. Therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty. Solomon quotes it. Hebrews quotes it. So here's the issue, folks. Eliphaz's advice is not entirely bad advice. Any one of those four things could be said to people in the right context, in the right framework, to the right end. Do we not really need to be consistent? Is it not true that what is true for us or true for others must be true for us? Is it not truthful that we should be realistic about this world and our expectations in it? Is it really bad advice to tell someone to get their heads out of the clouds? Is it really bad advice to tell somebody to stop being proud? Is it really bad advice? I hope not, folks. We have multiple songs in our songbook that direct us to refuse to be proud and to surrender and submit ourselves to God. Are they all badly written? Are they all conveying the wrong message? Folks, it is Eliphaz's advice in light of what he does not know about what is going on that is the problem. It is the ignorance of Eliphaz that is really undercutting the advice of Eliphaz. What does Eliphaz not know? He does not know that in God's plan, there is suffering in innocence. That's what he does not know. We will see this time and time again, folks, in the book of Job. Nobody really factors this in, that God has a plan for innocent suffering. that Satan has an active role in the world. Eliphaz sees the world kind of flat. It's easy to see the world through that lens, right? God is just, God is powerful. You do wrong, he reaches out and grabs you by the throat. There is a complexity to things that is lost on even a man of Eliphaz's stature. God himself, folks, not just through the book of Job, but God himself informs us that much of our suffering is caused by our own sinful decisions, by our own sinful actions. Jesus is very honest and upfront with us, folks, to tell us that the nature of sin is to harden us. We just think It's maybe not as bad as I thought. We don't think. I'm becoming insensitive to the depth of my sin. And in fact, folks, much earthly suffering is really simply designed to be a preview of the suffering of eternal judgment. In Luke chapter 13, a tower fell on some men and Jesus's disciples inquired about that. And here was Jesus' answer, Luke 13, three, I tell you, nay, but except ye repent, this was people, not the 12, but people who were with Jesus. Nay, but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Right, the question was, did that tower fall on those people because they were more evil? We've had this, folks, I don't know what it was, 2005, 2004, I don't remember, you could, you know, I don't have all the details right, But the televangelist Pat Robertson, who would not be in our camp, was seriously and accurately criticized when a hurricane swept through Haiti and he condemned it as God's judgment upon a wicked people. Well, boy, by that metric, we had to have the hurricane of hurricanes on this previous four years. Earthly suffering is to some extent a preview that you cannot tie directly, right? This guy had this bad thing happen because he did this bad thing and that's the way it works. All bad things can be directly tied to these bad actions. On the other hand, folks, right? I mean, if you were just going down that road, and I don't think we would, but if you're going down that road, where does that, where do we put the death of Christ on that scale? If Christ died for my sins, why would I ever need to suffer again? How many people need to suffer for the sin of a person? So there's an additional layer to this, again, one that Eliphaz did not understand, but we do. And we just cannot read the book of Job without bringing it to bear because we understand it. And that is that Jesus Christ suffered, I'm gonna start with this, Jesus Christ suffered in innocence so that he might rescue those who deserve to suffer. That's nowhere found in Eliphaz's theology. That is exactly what the pastor in Hebrews 2.10 says, it became him for whom are all things, because Christ is the end of all things, and by whom are all things, because he is the beginning of all things, in bringing many sons unto glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. So that again, we can see it's not necessarily the main theme of the book of Job, but it is a significant theme of the book of Job, that Job's sufferings preview the sufferings of Christ, the innocent for the benefit of the guilty. And therefore, folks, God explains to us that it is in our place to suffer with Christ, He suffered, and it is now God's will that we in Him suffer also. Romans chapter eight and verse number 17. I won't go super fast, super slow, but I will take enough time if you want to try and turn to the passages, New Testament passages. Romans chapter eight and verse number 17, Paul writes, and if children, right, if we are God's children, then we are God's heirs. and joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. 2 Corinthians 1, verse 5, For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. The sufferings of Christ abound in us. And admittedly, folks, these are very difficult concepts to embrace as American Christians, aren't they? Or Colossians chapter one in verse number 24. Paul writes to the church at Colossae, who now rejoice in my sufferings for you. I'm suffering for you. And fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church. And folks, it's not like Jesus didn't suffer enough on the cross that we need to suffer to fill up the suffering. It is simply this, it is that as Christ in his innocence was rejected, and in his innocence suffered, so our identification with him brings similar suffering. Peter writes in 1 Peter 4.13, But rejoice inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. So again, I hope that we don't do this, but I admit that it is easy to default to this. That all suffering in life is retribution. That all suffering is some indication of divine disfavor. It's to completely misunderstand the role of suffering in the life of a believer. It is true, folks, that we might suffer as the consequences for bad action. But what Job teaches us is that you can suffer as a consequence of good action. Job didn't suffer because he wasn't faithful. Job suffered because he was. And God's good people will suffer because of their faithfulness. Let's pray. Father, we rely upon the work of your Spirit again and the ministry of your Word to deal with us about our own conduct. And Father, if we are sinning, if we are consciously, actively, willfully, unrepentantly sinning, and then the hand of judgment comes, it is what we have merited. But it is equally true that if we are faithful and dedicated and consecrated and striving to be pleasing, that there is a suffering that can be attached to that. So may our focus be then always upon Christ and being the very best of believer and to not allow our situation and circumstances to govern us. Bless these dear saints. Bless us with faithful service, please, in Christ's name, amen. All right, thank you, as always, for being here.