Let me tell you what, the wrong friends can be the worst friends, amen? They can damage us and oftentimes bring us through some terrible things. Well, hopefully you've got your Bible open to Job. What we're gonna do is only highlight certain verses and read them, okay? We're not gonna read the whole text, because we're talking about three chapters. Actually, four, five, six, and seven, so four chapters. So quite a bit of material, so we're not gonna read all that. What we're gonna do is read highlighted scripture and go through, fill in the blanks. As you notice on the second page, we're gonna be looking at a number of applications, because when I teach, I'm just really high on application. If you can't use it, then why teach it, amen? It's sort of wasting our time, so I just really like the tires to meet the road and let's go. That's it. I do know this, that a lot of you are saying, well, that was Jesus, and look what he could do. Well, I don't know about you, but isn't Jesus living in our lives? And why can't Jesus do those things? In fact, did not Jesus say greater things you will do than what I did? Correct? And so I think we shouldn't marginalize or minimize what Jesus wants to do through you, okay? Not through Pastor Phil, not through anyone who's professional, not anyone through you because you're a part of the body of Christ. He wants you to be used. And so, don't necessarily always think that if someone's hurting or suffering, you gotta call the staff or us or whatever you wanna use as a description. Hey, say, Jesus, please use me, and go. Amen? And go. Because God, probably after tonight's lesson, we're gonna learn that he's uniquely prepared you, or you would know about the need, amen? That's called a divine assignment. by divine design. So can we start out by this key thought tonight? Can we read it out loud together? You see it's just sort of lighter in tone. Let's read it out loud. It says, in this lesson, we are given an example. Are you guys reading? Example on how not to act and behave toward hurting people. So that's the principle that we're looking at, or the goal for tonight. This is how not to act or behave toward hurting people. It's gonna be one lesson after another from Eliphaz, don't do it this way, do it another way, do it God's way. And let's read also the key verse because this is what I think this whole section is really about. So can we read that out loud? A friend loves at all times, but a brother is born for adversity. See, in the body of Christ, we were really birthed into the new life for adversity. Because James says, hey, you're gonna have trials, right? We are going to have trials. It's a done deal. But it's how we get through them that really makes the difference. And we can't get through them without each other. That's why at Grace we emphasize groups. You need to be connected. I got a call just yesterday morning at six o'clock from one of the persons in my group because their son-in-law had passed away in the night. He had battled with cancer. We had prayed for him in class. God healed him, got him saved. It was incredible. Then he got home, then he got, it came back. And he ended up starting to bleed in the hospital from everywhere. And so he said, I'm going home because I want to die in my bed. I want to die at home, and he drove from Houston, Texas to Dallas. And when he got there, they rushed him to the hospital because he was basically just bleeding everywhere from his leukemia. And then they told him at the hospital where he had worked before, and they cared so deeply about him. And I think maybe that was the other reason. He wanted to be where people cared about him in the hospital because they knew him. And the hospital said you need to come right up to his wife and because he's dying. And so he died there in the hospital telling her that he loved her. But I just shared that with you because there was a trial that was thrown into this person's life, the mother-in-law's life, and father-in-law's life, and then into my lap because we care about one another. So it's so important. So as we enter this section, next section of Job, we are about to be introduced to the three Job's friends. Now, this section is going to be the next 23 chapters. Are you with me? And so from chapters 23 on, specifically 4 through 26, there is a prolonged dialogue between Job and his friends. While Job withstood the collapse, now listen, this is so important, while he withstood the collapse of his business, the death of his children, the infliction of disease, and the criticism of his wife, What comes closest to defeating him, listen to this, is the adverse influence of his friends or his frenemies. Is that how you pronounce it? Frenemies. In other words, a friend that's an enemy. And this was something that Dr. David Jeremiah brought up in a study that actually is a word that has been used more recently than not. So it is actually a word, but it's one of those that you won't want on your side because they really aren't there for your benefit. Well, there are three associates of Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. Now this is important, were the devil's deadly instruments. Good, you got your Bibles, good. Matthew 16, turn to it real quick, please. We got a ton of stuff to cover, but it's all good. Make the evening fly and you can go home and get warm, amen. Matthew 16, 21 through 23, really important. Jesus predicts his death, and here's how it goes. From this time on, Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things, at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed on the third day and raised to life. Can you imagine Jesus with his disciples sharing this insight or this information? That would be profound, but also extremely scary and also disappointing because they thought he was gonna set up his kingdom. Well, they had different news, but here's Peter's response. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. Never, Lord, he said, this shall never happen to you. Peter took him aside and said that. Then this is what Jesus said. Jesus turned and said to Peter, get behind me, Satan. You are a stumbling block to me, and you do not have in mind the things of God but the things of men. The reason I shared this is because, in my opinion, that's what Eliphaz had. Eliphaz really did not have the mind of God. What he had was his own mind that he began to interpret God to Job, and it was not good. counsel at all. So, let's look further here. They beat Job down and wore him out, and Satan loved every minute of it because Satan was ready for Job to cave in. Well, chapters 4 and 5, we capture Eliphaz, his piercing words to Job, a man already hurting and what can we learn? So, Let's go through this together. First of all, we can learn some things specifically from Job's life. First of all, we can learn from Eliphaz and his rebuke, Job 4, chapters 4 through 5. This is all his rebukes, okay, rebukes. Eliphaz gives his opening statement, and here's what he said. Eliphaz gives, this is chapter 4, verses 2 through 6. If one attempts a word with you, will you become weary? In other words, it's almost as though while they sat in the ash heap with him, and that's why I thought it was so ironic to show a leper, because in his world there was no one. except fellow lepers to basically live out their existence shunned by everyone and hated by everyone, not just shunned. Well, you can see they pulled out their sword like they were gonna kill this helpless guy because they were gonna keep themselves clean. Well, the point of the matter is, is that Eliphaz asked that question, after being silent all this time, will you let me, will you let me share some words with you? But who can withhold himself from speaking? In other words, this is so depiccable, how can we not say something to you? And so it goes on, surely you have instructed many, and you have strengthened weak hands, your words have upheld him who is stumbling, and you have strengthened feeble knees, but now it comes upon you, and you are weary. It touches you and you are troubled. It is not your reverence, your confidence, and your integrity, your ways, and your hope. I want to go on to explain, Eliphaz is saying this, Job, it was one thing when you were called upon to counsel others when they were hurting, You help them face their own hurts, but now you're on the hurting end, buddy, and you were great when you were giving advice, but now it's your turn to take it in, and now you are weary and troubled. Isn't that ironic that Eliphaz starts out by saying that what we need to learn is that we don't need sarcasm, right? And that's exactly what he was saying to Job. So fill in that in A. You don't need sarcasm. S-A-R-C-A-S-M. I've got it spelled there because I wanted to define it a little bit. Have you ever had studies where you are thrown out words? And you don't really quite understand. I mean, we use sarcasm, amen? In fact, in our home, I don't know where it came from in my wife's mind, but sarcasm was not ever allowed. And I use it quite often sometimes. And she would let me know, this doesn't cut it because it's not really your heart. It's what you are saying that hurts. Is that, everyone with me on what sarcasm is? So sarcasm is a mean tool that should not be used anytime. Maybe some of you could learn already tonight that you need to stop using sarcasm. especially hurting people, you don't use sarcasm. It usually is showing contempt by using ironical statements, okay? In other words, they're exaggerated oftentimes. So it's very important you understand this sarcasm. But what Job needed was support. What he needed was support. He needed support. He needed to understand that they were there for him, not against him. Is everyone with me on that? Oftentimes sarcasm can come because of envy or jealousy. We think this person's got something I don't have, so let's downplay it or misuse it to hurt them while they are really effective in what they're doing. In other words, Job did help people. Job helped people. It was one thing when you were called to counsel others when they were hurting, but you helped them face their own hurts, but now you're hurting in the end, and you were great when you were giving advice, but now it's your turn to take it, and you are weary and troubled is what Eliphaz was saying. So, He needed encouragement. Job needed to know and be reminded not of his history, because he already understood that part of his life. That wasn't what was on the radar. What he needed was understanding that he's in ash, in the ashes, and he's scraping his boils, and he's in tremendous pain and agony. He needed to be supported. Well, let's look at the next one, B. We don't need logic. We don't need logic. Here, that's verses seven through 11. Let's look at just verse seven. It says, Aliphaz says, remember now whoever perished being innocent. In other words, he's saying, Job, it's your fault this has happened because if you were innocent, first of all, you wouldn't be almost dead. Are you with me? Or where were the upright ever cut off? Here is the logic that he lays out. If you do what is right, things will go well for you. Now, don't we often think that way too? Hey, I'm at church. Things have gotta go well now, right, all week long? Like this is a ticket for God if you come to church, or if you're in a group, or if you've gone to the hospital, or if you called someone, boy, now God, you owe me. And that's not logic of God, that's logic of man, because obviously God isn't about us doing works to get righteousness, but righteousness comes from the work God has done for us. And then out of that flows our fruitfulness, right? So Eliphaz gives Job theological points rather than comfort and consolation. Job certainly didn't need correction and chastisement. When you're going through difficult times, you need your friends to pick you up, not put you down. Say amen. Amen. Well, Let's go on. Of course, the verse Proverbs 17, 17 that we read really does fit in at this point. A brother is born for adversity. Next, we need love is what we need rather than logic. We need love. In other words, we need someone to love us the way we are at that moment in time. Does that make sense? Patty is so good at this, and I don't mean to keep bringing up my wife, but she's awesome, so why not? And the thing about Patty as a nurse is she's got the gift of mercy, and so she was a perfect candidate to have that as a career. And so if Pastor dropped right now with a heart attack, probably the first one that would run to him is Patty, because she's all over that. But I've seen her in a setting where people have cancer, or people have things going on in their lives, and she'll ask them direct questions about feeling things during their suffering. And I'm thinking, Patty, don't bring this up. In my mind, I'm thinking, just be quiet, don't bring this up. But people want to talk about what is hard. Say amen! They want to talk about what's hard. So don't run from that. Let them ask them questions By the way, if you can learn anything from Jesus life, he asked questions and when I'm in the jail ministry and when pastors here at the church the greatest thing we can do to help people and the greatest thing you can do when you are one-on-one with people is ask questions let them tell you What they want What they don't want Their history, all of that will come out if you just ask questions. It's just a wonderful thing. Ask questions. Stupid, just ask questions. That's what I say to myself. Just ask questions, stupid. In other words, you don't know. You don't know until people tell you, amen? But isn't it amazing, we walk into a setting, someone's hurting and we think we got, we know why you're there, we know what you're going through, we know. So I guess I'll just pray and leave you alone. That's pretty sad, isn't it? How about asking questions? How are you doing? What are you doing? And let people talk. People need to talk. And that is love, by the way, that's love. Well, let's move on. We don't need experiences. In verse 13 and 14 of chapter four, Eliphaz then realized that he was given a secret word in a frightening dream. Man, I've been asked questions tons of times in the jail. I have dreams or nightmares. Can you interpret them? Are they important? Are they significant? Get me a book on them, will you please? Say boy most the time dreams come from your own head swimming in your own thoughts From the past present and whatever you've let in it right TV and the radio and all that stuff And I just say there's about zero worth in your prayers Don't put a lot of credence in them because God quit using dreams to necessarily direct us as to what he wants for us Because the word replaced all that amen amen amen So don't let people go nuts on a prayer or on a dream and think, man, this is interpreting my life, because Eliphaz did that in a negative way. Man, I dreamed about you last night, Job, and let me just tell you about how God gave me that for your benefit. Let me tell you, he was talking out of his head, not out of his heart. Here's this this disquieting thoughts from the visions of the night when deep sleep falls on men This is this is his words. Are you with me in verses 13 and 14? And it falls on fear came upon me and trembling which made all my bones shake. So in other words Eliphaz is making this Tremendously dynamic and dramatic so that he could get Job's attention like see I've got more answers for you, bud My dream will give you the answers that you need. I Well, it goes on, now this is a chilling passage. What is also pretty certain is this dream has not come from God. God has a certain pattern for revealing his truth and the description lacks authority such as that experience. In addition, God's method of communicating his truth is not to blatantly scare people in his presentation. Okay? And so, man, I don't know about you guys, but man, my mind is active when it comes at night, man. In fact, one of my prayers almost every night is, Father, please help me not to have dreams tonight, because it seems like I run all night long. I wake up tired, amen. Anyway, verse 17, look at this, verse 17. Can a mortal man be more righteous than God? See, Job continued to say, I've done nothing wrong. I'm suffering for not doing anything wrong. Who didn't do anything wrong and suffered? Jesus. But Jesus never said that. I'm suffering for not doing anything wrong. He gladly suffered for you and I. because that's what we needed to take care of the curse of sin. Wow, what a Savior. Well, let's move on. It says, Verse 17, again, can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can a man be more pure than his maker? This is a half-truth, by the way. This is what Eliphaz proclaimed as truth. It was only a half-truth. For a while, God is a God of justice. He also is a God of mercy and grace. There's the balance, right? But Eliphaz leaves all that out of the discussion. He comes with his judgmental experience and lays on Job's heavy heart half-truths that are never helpful. especially to those who are already struggling with reality of the midst of their despair and hopelessness. People crave the whole truth, the truth that encourages them to keep going, the truth that God loves them, that he will never leave them or forsake them, that he is here with you, even though you might not sense his presence. You know that's what faith is, is it not? When we don't trust our senses, but we trust our heart, amen? We don't need assumptions, next one, we don't need assumptions, we need assurance. Now this is verses, chapter five, verses one through seven, but I'm gonna specifically talk about three and four. Eliphaz continues, I've seen the foolish taking root, but suddenly I cursed his dwelling place. His sons are far from safety, they are crushed in the gate and there is no deliverer. Eliphaz says that he has seen sinners prosper only to lose everything in the end. And looking at the passage carefully, we can see that Eliphaz is saying that the death of Job's children is the result of his sin. Wow. Obviously, Eliphaz's speech is filled with assumptions. How could he know any of the things he is saying? How could he know Job's heart and fully understand the cause of his suffering? Could there be anyone that would understand that? All of us say, no, right? No, no one could know that. No one, but God, but God. Well, Eliphaz is not omniscient. He is making assumptions. What Job could have used was some assurance, some assurance. That's the second blank, assurance. and from his friend, not only that he was there for him, but a reminder that God was there for him as well. Hey, I'm here for you, but God is even a greater here for you than me. Can I share something real quickly that's very important? I know a lot of people are very people-oriented. When we first got married 47 years ago, Patty, in our relationship, would often say, I just need some girl time. I just need some girls. I just need to go see some girls. I just need some girl time. Well, I found after a while, and she found after a while, that her connection with these girls, or people, let's just use that term, was the connecting point for her assurance of her walk with God, instead of having an assurance of her walk with God with him alone. and then on the overflow of that relationship having friends. Does that make sense? In other words, what she was doing was putting friends first and Jesus second. Having her needs met that aren't the needs Jesus might have wanted to meet. Are you with all of us in this? Because a lot of times what we think our needs are aren't really what the needs of God are for us. Is everyone with me? So, I'm just saying that we need to be careful. So many times the inmates will find out in court what's going on and the very first thing they do when they get back to the pod is run to the phone and call someone and tell them about what happened in court. Do you know what I always tell them? Bud, why didn't you run to Jesus and tell him what happened in court? Why didn't you let him know what your needs are and what you're thinking instead of someone that can't help you at all, amen? Hey man, you can tell I get fired up about court, right? Anyway, F, F, we don't need pious platitudes. Now that's a tough word, but pious means like the Pharisee or Sadducee. Oh, forgive me, thank you, pastor, thank you, Patty. All right, I'm sure glad you guys are listening, amen. We don't need advice, we don't need advice, we don't need advice. Let's look at that first, okay, and that's verse eight. So Eliphaz now takes on the role of spiritual advisor. Did I do something wrong? I hear you mumbling out there. D, did we get D? I thought we did. Assumptions and assurance, good, good, okay. Eight, so Eliphaz now takes on the role of a spiritual advisor. He has already told Job why he is suffering. Isn't that interesting? Now he's going to tell Job what he is supposed to do about it. I got the solution, bud. And so in essence, Eliphaz says, Job, what you need to do is just go cast yourself on the mercy of God. Tell God all your sins that you've committed and maybe he will surprise you and bail you out of the mess that you're in. Now that's exactly what Satan wanted him to do. Is everyone with me on that? You gotta understand that what was going on here was layer after layer of wearing Job down. So let's go on here. So in essence, Eliphaz was, little does Eliphaz know that his advice is not pertinent to Job's situation. Job is not being punished for sins. God counts him as someone he could trust with this test that he was giving him. He was a godly man. Eliphaz's recommendation just compounds the nature of Job's suffering because Job knows he is not harboring any sin. Now there's been several times, at least three times, that I have utilized with some suffering I was going through. I had a herniated disc. I had a heart, I was out of rhythm. I'm not talking about dancing, I was out of rhythm. My heart was bouncing all over the place and I had an oblation. Anyway, those are two things that I can think of that I called upon our elders here to pray for me for God's healing or for God's work in healing me through medicine or through what I went through. And in both cases, God healed me because I had a herniated disc, praise Jesus. I was able to get an epidural and that's worked. I lift railroad ties and do all that stuff. And so I just am so praising God. And then on my heart, the oblation worked. And in fact, I was so shook and out of whack that my heart was doing everything wrong. Anyway, I can't explain the medical terms, but it was doing everything. So when they burn it off, which the oblation does, they could make sure everything was going and that's working well. So here's why I'm bringing this up. Oftentimes people are suffering, but they never think of the next step. And I think, in my opinion, it says in James, if you are sick, if anyone is sick among us, go to the elders and have them pray over you. But here's the greatest part of that recommendation. And that is that when I was preparing to have the elders lay hands on me and anoint me with oil, the most important part was my making sure that I was clean before God. In other words, I wasn't just there to get healing, I was there to make sure my life was healed with the sin that I might have that I needed to deal with. And so that's what's most important about that whole thing, is making sure you're right. And the reason I bring this up is Job had checked himself and checked himself and checked himself and said, Lord, there's nothing I've done to have caused this. So I just wanted to bring that up real quickly. So we don't need pious palitudes. So in verses, yes. Oh, affirmation, did I not finish that? Okay, forgive me, let's, okay. This only shows how critical our words are when we are trying to help someone. You can help or they can harm greatly. And if we are not sure of our words, our silence and our prayers is the most eloquent and powerful thing we can do. Is everyone with me? That's the assurance. So now we're E, we need advice. This is verses 17 and 18 where Eliphaz says this, behold, happy is the man from whom God corrects. Do not despise the chastening of the Almighty, for he bruises, but he binds up. He wounds, but his hands make whole. Isn't that interesting? Eliphaz seemed to be telling Job to just buck up. Everything is going to turn out right. This passage sounds much like the positive mental attitudes of those beliefs that are passed around today as preaching from the word of God. This is nothing more than a pious platitude. Do you know what a pious platitude is? It is a tired saying that sounds like it's right thing to say at the time, even if it isn't. Have you ever been guilty of saying the right thing, but it's not the right thing at the wrong time? Eliphaz's pious platitude is reminiscent of Proverbs 25, 20, like one who takes away a garment in cold weather is one who sings to a heavy heart. Wouldn't it be something to go out tonight and say, hey, can I please have your coat because you don't really need it, it's only 10 above, and think that's helpful to that person that's cold? That would be crazy. Well, that's what he did. So what we need is not pious platitude, but we need powerful principles, powerful principles. Somebody has said there are two kinds of friends in the world. Some friends brighten the room when they enter and the others brighten the room when they leave. Eliphaz fits the second description of a friend. There are two ways to help a hurting friend. One way is with sarcasm, logic, experiences, assumption, advice, pious platitudes, and the other way is support, love, encouragement, assurances, affirmation, and powerful principles. Well, where else can we get powerful principles but the word of God, amen? Do you know that when I spend time with the word every day, it's not for me alone, but it's for everyone else in my life that God brings across my path, amen? And I'm equipping myself for service as I go because I'm filled up with the Holy Spirit and I'm filled up with the truth and I'm filled up with the living water that can splash all over everyone as I move along. So what can we learn from Job's response, okay? What can we learn from Job's response? Well, now it's time for Job's response. Chapter six, he responds to his friends. Chapter seven, he responds to God. And that's gonna be the rest of our time tonight. What we can learn from Job's response to his friends. First of all, we can learn this. We can go from a devastated life to a discouraged heart. We can go from a devastated life to a discouraged heart. This is verses one and three. Job begins the sixth chapter by taking us through the cycle of despair that he has been experiencing. If you've ever been where Job is, you will understand his words completely. There's nothing like the words of someone suffering, someone suffering. Job answered and said, oh, that my grief were fully weighed and my calamity laid with on the scales. For then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea, therefore my words have been rash. I remember going into the hospital one morning to help a call that I got when I was on staff here at Grace, and a woman that came to our church Her son was a weightlifter, and so he was also, he had emphysema, really bad, and then he was taking hormones to build his body even stronger. Well, the two mixed together killed him. 24 years old, laying there in the hospital dead. And his mom was frantic. And at that point, I'm just thinking, Lord, this is way over my head and I have no clue what to do. And often when that's the case for me, I just shut up and then maybe ask a question after, I mean, all the family were there, they were all just a mess. And I said, after some time, I said, is it okay if I pray? Oh, she hit the roof. She said, no, you can't pray. Because instantly her whole world and her whole life and her living for this son was wiped away. And now God was wiped away in her grief. And you gotta understand when people are grieving, they'll say things they don't really mean. And I knew that when she said what she said. No, I don't want you to pray. I don't wanna talk to God. I said, okay, I understand. And I didn't go any further. I just tried to be there is all. So what can we learn from Job and what he said? Job is speaking of the way of his grief and putting his calamities on the scales. He is saying, Eliphaz, yes, my words were strong, but you don't understand the heaviness of my hurting right now. Hopefully none of us will hear those words. You don't understand my hurting right now because you haven't done the right thing when they say that. You should have listened. Listen to people. Listen to people. I've heard people say after they've lost a loved one that the greatest visit they had was the one who said not a word, but sat with them. and listened for their heart. Well, number two, do we get that then? From a devastated life to a discouraged heart. Number two, from a discouraged heart to a distaste for life. In verses four through seven, Job speaks about flavorless food. Sounds like COVID, does it not? Like the white of a yolk of an egg, the food references are merely a metaphor for his life. Job has lost all his zest and passion for living. There's no flavor, no interest for him in anything. For him, life has become a tasteless white of an egg. I think one thing I read in the New Testament is Jesus, I know he's God, but please don't let that excuse us from being like Jesus, amen? That we have life experience so we can identify and I think come alongside people. Plus the Holy Spirit is there to help us do that better. And why can't we, why can't we get down on their level? and understand their discouragement. We had one of our volunteers that had cancer just like he had, just like Chuck had, what's that cancer that Chuck had? Lysophagus, there we go, Holy Spirit, yeah, that's really hard for me to say, but anyway, Lysophagus cancer. And this volunteer had the same thing, and I said to Jack, I said, Jack, I can tell you can't eat, you can't drink. What's it like? He said, well, all I can think of is what Jesus went through for me to get me through each day. What an answer. Like I'm going, who's come to who here, bud? You follow what I'm saying? People that are really hurting often will pull the curtain back and you'll get to see God. Amen? So. From a distasteful lip for living to a despair of hope is the next one. The despair of Job is easy to see in verses eight through nine. Here's what he says. Oh, that I might, this is chapter six. Oh, that I might have my request that God would grant me the thing that I long for, that I would please God to crush me. Listen to that. That he would loose his hand and cut me off. Job was at the place where he just wanted to, his final resolution of it all was death. He couldn't go back in time to when his kids were alive and his wife was supportive and when he possessed wealth, standing and honor, so he wished that God would just take him instead of leaving him stuck in a barren, present place. I could see where he would go there, don't you? One thing behind the scene here is Job loved God. Job loved God. Otherwise he'd have gotten bitter. He just got honest with God. He just got honest with God. God's got big shorts, he can understand us being honest with him. Lesson number four, from despair of hope to desire for help. Job finally turns to his friends and says, now therefore he pleased to look at me, for I would never lie to your face. In this passage, Job simply asked his friends to see him in the midst of his pain and to speak words of encouragement. If they knew something about Job's life, he is telling them to reveal it to him. Job is not afraid to point out the failure of his friends to help him. And I think sometimes we gotta help people, even when we're the ones that are hurting the most. Does that make sense? Because it's a teaching moment. Why not take advantage of that? See, I think confrontation is good when it's good to exhort one another in love, amen? And I think that that's what Job was, Job was truly trying to help his friend, Eliphaz. Of course, the others are listening. They knew something about Job's life, and he's telling them to reveal it to him, but they did not try to meet his needs. They would not even look him in the face and recognize him. They were with Job physically, but they were actually far away from him emotionally. I wanted to just quote a verse, Romans 12 verse 15 says, mourn with those who mourn and weep with those who weep and mourn with those who mourn and rejoice with those who rejoice. Are you with me on this verses? I'm going about my day and I have to do a death notification at the jail. And I have to do those frequently and praise God in the sense that I can see them face to face. They've let me do that face to face. And I just, man, I'm just so, I miss seeing them. So I'm doing a death notification. And before I do a death notification, I usually am praying, Father, prepare me to mourn with them because that's what you would do. Weep with those who weep and mourn with those who mourn. I want the Holy Spirit to actually make me feel what they're feeling because they need empathy. Is everyone with me on that? Only the Holy Spirit can do these kind of things, by the way. You can't manifest it, because it wouldn't be sincere at all. So he asked them to do two things. Teach me, verse 24, and then look at me, verse 28. Isn't that interesting? He needs his friends to help him, but they cannot go at it that way because, let me see, but they cannot go at it that way. They have been going a wrong way. Job wants them to really understand his situation. He reaches out for their help. So let's go to the next point. What we can learn from Job's response to his God. Now Job is going to ask to talk to God, or actually now Job is going to talk to God and he is not going to restrain his mouth, he is going to complain honestly and openly. Now we can learn from that too. Is everyone with me on this? Why can we do that? Because we know at the end of this, God comes back and says, Job hasn't sinned. So what he's doing isn't negative at this point. Are you with me? Now at the end of this book, we're gonna have a different side of Job. And we're gonna learn about repentance, and we're gonna learn about all of that, which is very important. Because it doesn't mean that we aren't always doing right, but we could slowly slip to do wrong. Yeah, you're with me, okay. So as Job talks to God, he reveals certain things that happen to most people when they suffer in anguish and despair. This is so important. So let's say that some of you in this room have really never suffered. Have you ever run into people that say, I've never been in the hospital my whole life, I've never had surgery, I've never done this, I've never done that? I mean, there are people like that. Praise God. I don't know. Anyway, my mom was never in the hospital, but I'll never forget when she was. It was just, man, it was like a torrent come over me that said, what are you doing in that bed? You're never sick. You're here in this hospital and you're weak and fragile. I've never seen my mom like that. And she was like in her 70s. And so it was shocking to me. And I think maybe to these guys, this whole thing was shocking to them. I mean, this man had it all and now he's got. Not even his health. So I just want you to understand that things can change, can they not? Look at how many lives COVID, I mean, they were in our midst, now they're not. You follow what I'm saying? Things change. And so we can't assume they're always going to be the same. So the very first thing is nights are long and sleepless. Nights are long and sleepless. Have you ever gone through hard things and you, man, you just didn't get sleep? And it went on for nights, right? And this is when people are suffering. I'll never forget when Patty, because of her neurological disease in her neck, she had been taking narcotics, and God, we were in Florida, and she believed God healed her in the night. I mean, all the pain stopped. And remember, I told you, it's like having a charley horse all the time. And so when that stopped, she believed God healed her. Well, she didn't tell me for three days and she stopped cold turkey on narcotics. Cold turkey. So by the time we got to the hospital, or by the time we got to the airport, two or three days later, I had to put her in a wheelchair. She was so weak. Finally, she told me. And so she's in a wheelchair, we get to the airport, and she's sort of going, she's declining quick. You follow what I'm saying? So by the time we get to Des Moines, she's sort of hallucinating mildly, but once we got home, it was bad. It was really bad. Pastor remembers this because we ended up taking her to Lutheran, to the medical, or to the mental help, to get help for her to detox. And of course, she's not in her right mind, but she's in her right mind enough to tell them, I don't need to be here, I'm fine. Well, she wasn't fine. Well, the interesting thing is, is that there was no room in the hospital for her in the psych ward, so we took her home. Oh my goodness, she declined so quick, it was unbelievable. And I won't go into all the details. and so and so we my son by then all our family was there to sort of gear ourselves through this. I mean, it was, and she hadn't slept for already seven days. She never had slept, because she just, she didn't. So I'm going nuts. How long can you go with no sleep, amen? I mean, how long can you go? I know you meth heads, amen. Some of you are in here and you were meth heads. Man, you went two weeks without sleep. Is that verifiable? Say amen. And then you guys all know who the meth heads are, amen. I love it because to me, they are my heart, amen. All right, so thank you guys, praise God. You're not meth heads no more, amen. Saved by the blood of lamb, amen. All right, so the point is, and I'll wrap this all up, is they released her and my son heard her comments that were despairing of life. I mean, it was terrible. He picked her up, put her in the pickup with him. He drove back to the hospital. By then, they had a room. Isn't that God? And they gave her a shot and she just sort of went, she just went to sleep. She didn't go to sleep, but she she calmed down and I told you all that story because of the fact that She had that long with sleepless. I ran over here to the church Pastor Chuck and Pastor Phil Man, they tried to I mean I was a mess because I just I just couldn't believe how long someone could go without sleep I thought for sure she was gonna die. I mean, how long can you go without sleep? Well, Pastor Phil was always assuring, she'll be better, she'll be better. Well, in my world, she was getting worse. Anyway, God made her better, praise God. And so nights are long and they're sleepless. I guess I wanted to share that story because how long can you go? A long time. Number two, life feels short and hopeless. Life feels short and hopeless. You know, the older I get, the more I recognize how short life is. And sometimes how hopeless life is because without God, life is really hopeless. With God, it's somewhat sometimes hopeless because it seems like it's all continual doing the same thing over and over. Amen. It's repetitious, but yet it's good. Well, let's move on here. It says it can be short and hopeless. Job continues in verse seven, oh, remember that my life is a breath. It is. My eye will never again see good. Well, that's the hopelessness that you're in. Not only can I not sleep, but I also see life ebbing away every moment of my day. Well, number three, dreams are frightening and threatening. Thirdly, Job tells God in verse 14 that you scare me with dreams and you terrify me with visions. Job's suffering is intense. Most nights he cannot sleep because he's scraping himself with pain and it's oozing out. How many of you've fractured a bone or twisted an ankle and you're trying to go under the sheets and you're, oh, everything you do just, it hurts so bad. And sleep ebbs away and the night seems so long. Anyway, it's hard. Well, dreams are frightening and threatening and Job goes on to say, suffering is intense. Most nights he cannot sleep. He's greeted by nightmares that only intensify his suffering. In fact, he says he would rather be dead than in his body when he suffers such horrific dreams. I really believe with all my heart, demonic influences can cause all that. Satan's relentless in what he was doing with Job. Often with no sleep, we don't really make good choices in our life. Well, God seems cruel and uncaring. 19 through 20, here verses 19 and 20, Job concludes by saying this, how long, how long will you not look away from me and let me alone till I swallow my saliva? Have I sinned? What have I done to you, O watcher of men? Job just wishes God would just leave him be and not antagonize him. To Job, God doesn't even seem uncaring. He seems cruel. And of course, Eliphaz was no help to Job either. Is Job better off in the end of chapter seven than he was at the beginning of chapter four? No, he's worse. His despair has deepened, his hopelessness has grown. He's received no help. His attempts to help Job, Eliphaz made two huge mistakes that are often made today by God's people when they are trying to help the hurting. Here, listen to this. Number one, number one. Eliphaz made all suffering the result of sin. In the case of Job, it wasn't because of sin. In the case of Jesus, it wasn't because of sin. In the case of Joseph, it wasn't because of sin. I mean, you can go through the Bible and find people, it wasn't because of sin. And so it's so important that we understand that. And so it's so important that we not assume things, and that's exactly what the second thing was, is that Eliphaz assumed what he thought was the problem, and he judged, and he judged him. In other words, he had preconceived thoughts. So, here's what I want to do. I want you to look at the bottom of the sheet on the back, or there, the applications, and I just want to quickly share them, and then I've got two things for you to do as an assignment. Number one, We started this night out by saying, Jesus, help me to help people. Number two. Job, I'm good, but God is good. I'm good, but is God good? See, that's the question in Job's mind. Are you with me on this? And that's similar to what Adam and Eve said that Satan, I mean, they bit on Satan when Satan said, God's holding out here, Job, holding out Adam and Eve because he really wants you to be just like him. In other words, Satan is working in a sense in the garden to have Adam and Eve not only question God, but feel like you're holding out for us. So here's the thing. We don't test God God test us. Is everyone with me on that? At the end of this book, Job repents because of what he did in his reactions. So the next thought is for an application is thoughtfulness. Listen to this, thoughtfulness can become thoughtlessness when helping people. You can go in thinking I'm so thoughtful, I'm here. But what you do is you are thoughtless with them. Everyone with me on that? I really believe that the body of Christ needs to grow in its capacity to minister to one another, to really minister to one another, to care, to love. I mean, that's what the Bible is saying that we need to do. The next point that I wanna bring out is this. If we're not sure of our words, our silence and our prayers will be far more powerful than our speech. The example, is, for instance, going to a funeral and you see the loved one and you say, oh, he or she's in a better place. Not if it's a tragic death. And do you follow what I'm saying? I mean, that's a great thing, but maybe not right now. Is everyone with me on that? Or you meet with the family and you say, boy, I understand, I understand. Oh, do you? My brother-in-law was hit by a drunk driver and a man doing drugs all night and he was killed and he was 35. And if people come to the funeral and tell my sister, we understand. That's a pious platitude. Is everyone with me on that? That didn't mean a need. In fact, the church she was going to told her she cannot weep. because it would be a violation of scripture that says that if you have hope, then you don't weep as those with no hope. So she never wept at all. Isn't that sick? She finally got out of that church, praise God, and then she had her grieving time. Sometimes we don't grieve right because of the people around us not letting us do that. So let's go on to the next point. Not all suffering is because of sin. It wasn't in Job's case. The next one, we can't generalize and stereotype situations when helping people. Just because we might have experienced something near it or close to it or whatever, we don't say, hey, you know, we don't stereotype, we don't generalize. You find out what, you find out who your true friends are, the next point, when you go through tough times. And then the next point, only from hindsight, this is so important, only from the aftermath of it, correct, only the hindsight can we understand fully what God has intended to use our suffering or our problems for good. That's the only way, I mean, I could only understand if I mentioned all of what I've gone through that from behind it all I can look back and see, boy, God was really changing my character and my life. Well, the next one is, in the midst of God's promises to give us wisdom to know how to navigate through the uncharted waters, James 1.5 says, if you're suffering or if you're going through trials, it says, ask of God and he with no partiality, no favoritism will give you the wisdom to know how to respond to your trial. How many of us have learned that? That's a great key. Identify with Job, Jesus identified with humanity and his sufferings, and we're out of time, but if you read Isaiah... 53, three and five, it just simply tells us that Jesus suffered for us and it was the will of God that he did it. In fact, I just wanna read one verse and it says, let me see, 53, here it is. It was the Lord's will to crush him. and to cause him to suffer. And though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand." Isn't that an amazing thought? 2 Corinthians 8, 9, you should all memorize that. He who was rich became poor for our sakes that through his poverty we might become rich. Isn't that a great verse to know? Now, here's your assignment. Everybody has hard things that have happened to them, but not everyone learns from them or uses them to help others. That's the key. We can't see the reasons or benefits from within our struggle, but God can define his purposes once we look back from the other side. I want you guys, in the next 24 hours, I want you to write down two things that have happened to you that have been extremely hard. Okay? You know, I don't care what they are, because they're your struggles that you went through, but I would tell you that this might help you in grieving and in processing if you write them down. Number two, a part of that is I want you also to write down what you had learned from those things so you can help others. We better pray, because you guys are ready to go, I can tell. Your cars are running, and you're excited. But isn't this good stuff? Can you see why God stuck it in the Bible? Because we need to not be like Eliphaz. We need to be good friends who were born for adversity. Amen? In other words, we were birthed into God's family for hard times, not good times. You are nobody when it's good. You're somebody when it's hard, because God's making you into his. vessel that he can use. Father, thank you for tonight. Thank you for this incredible story in these chapters with Job and Eliphaz and the response between him and you. Father, we can learn so much because there's so many hurting people all around us. It's incredible in these days, all the hurting people I pray that we would help them and not hurt them like Jesus did. May we be like you. May you help people heal and find their tools in learning from their experiences how to help others like you. In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you, guys.