Job chapter 15 this morning, please. Job chapter 15. And let's go ahead and stand, please, and we will We're going to read together verses 1 through 16 of Job chapter 15. That will be our portion to begin. Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite and said, Should a wise man utter vain knowledge and fill his belly with the east wind? Should he reason with unprofitable talk or with speeches wherewith he can do no good? Yea, thou castest off fear and restrainest prayer before God. For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty. Thine own mouth condemneth thee, not I. Yea, thine own lips testify against thee. Art thou the first man that was born? Or wast thou made before the hills? Hast thou heard the secret of God? Dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself? What knowest thou that we know not? What understandeth thou which is not in us? With us are both the gray-headed and very-aged men, much elder than thy father. Are the consolations of God small with thee? Is there any secret thing with thee? Why doth thine heart carry thee away? And what do thy eyes wink at, that thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest such words go out of thy mouth? What is man that he should be clean, and he which is born of a woman that he should be righteous? Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints, yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight. How much more abominable and filthy is man which drinketh iniquity like water. Let's pray. Our Lord God, thank you for this book and may we learn to be genuinely grateful, not only for what it says, but for the speed at which it moves. May your words minister to our souls in every imaginable way. Father, there are few of us ever who experience the totality of suffering that Job does. But your people will suffer physically or emotionally or financially And we thank you for the consolations of Christ and pray your help today. Bless, please, the proclamation of your word to your people in Jesus' name. Amen. And you may, of course, be seated. There are in the lengthiest part of the book, the poetical section of the book, there are three kind of rounds of speeches. And one of the things that I am endeavoring to do in preaching through the book of Job is deal with small chunks of individual conversation. Job, of course, for reasons unknown to him, is experiencing at one moment, the totality of human catastrophe. His children are killed, his wealth is taken, his health is destroyed. His wife is an outsider, a stranger to him. All of his human relationships are now twisted. His friends, although they have ostensibly come to help, provide no help at all. And Job is left in his own misery. And at times his faith is a thing of beauty, and at times his faith apparently is on the brink of extinction. And so this morning, beginning in chapter 15, we have the second of these rounds of conversation, beginning yet again with the oldest viewed to be the wisest and most experienced man, Eliphaz. If anything, in round two of the conversation, Job's friends are even less sympathetic than they were in round one. And so what we will try and do this morning is capture again the essence of how Eliphaz views his suffering friend, and how Job responds to Eliphaz, and then we will of course endeavor to extract some application for ourselves. From the very outset, the main characters, and that would be Job himself, Eliphaz and his companions, Bildad and Zophar, have built their lives and arguments around the idea that piety produces prosperity, that piety produces prosperity, that Job's reputation his incredible fortune, his happy home life, are the direct result of his good works. That he has lived in such a way that God has been pleased to bestow these things upon him. And this is because of the nature of God. who is wise and powerful and upright and who could oversee or create no other kind of world than a world of clear and recognizable moral order. Righteousness is rewarded. Unrighteousness is punished. And now everybody is looking at the anomaly. A man who for years has been the epitome of virtue has experienced catastrophic collapse. And Job's three friends and I think Job himself would understand that collapse from the same perspective that the Bible presents that kind of collapse. One of the things that To move away from Job for a moment, one of the things that God uses to reinforce that something is his judgment is the rapidity with which it happens. Now I'm really going off on a tangent, but I don't think it's accidental, folks, that the evolutionary world requires tremendous amounts of time for everything to happen. that if you give something long enough, who knows, maybe a rock will become a living thing. And yet God frequently associates his judgments with speed and the ease at which something apparently strong unravels and the strong fabric of Job's life unravels very quickly. Now we have a dilemma. The world that we envisioned that God had created, there can't be anything wrong with it. So the problem must be with Job. And what we need to do is figure out what's going on with Job so that he can get it right, so that God can again bring the blessing This is the constant theme from the earthly side into the heavenly side. It obviously is not the perspective of the heavenly side, and we, of course, have the great privilege of beginning the book by seeing things from heaven's view, something that does not happen in our own life. We don't see the heavenly perspective, we see only the earthly side. Job, of course, while recognizing the dilemma and at some level admitting the system or recognizing the system that God is a moral God and in his power rewards righteousness and punishes evil, Job himself is on the horns of a dilemma, but I have done nothing wrong. There is, if we were dealing with the book more academically, which I'm endeavoring not to do, There is a courtroom dimension drama to the entire poetical section. Job is not simply demanding answers. He is arguing for a court hearing. Let's come in and make the case. Let's present the facts. Give me the opportunity to sit in the witness chair and I will prove my innocence. And let's put God in the witness chair and let him argue his position. His friends have not come to his aid, but rather have found his self-defense irritating and irksome. And that is revealed in the way that they talk. And last week, as we concluded, What to us is chapter 14, but is really Job's final response here. Imagine four men sitting at a dining room table, talking in turns about one man's predicament. In chapter 14 and verse number 14, Job posed a question, if a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change come. And Job is, in his poetic way, anticipating some moment in the future when there will be relief. Eliphaz, of course, is sitting at the table, the senior spokesman of the opposition, And in chapter 15, he takes now great umbrage. He's listening to Job as we're to be listening to Job. And he finds Job's words highly offensive. Without rereading them, right, in verses 1 through 3, he says that Job's words are empty and meaningless. They're like eating air. And in verse number four, he points out that those kinds of words don't do anything to help him. They're only making him farther away from God. They're only further alienating him. And then in verses five and six, he says, not only are they empty words that are alienating you from God, they are dishonest and self-serving words. They're not the truth. You're just trying to defend, protect yourself. And in fact, verses 7-10, they are proud and haughty. Here you sit, your body covered in sores, your clothing in shreds, your children's graves fresh, and here you sit in your arrogance. Defend yourself. And they are, verses 11-13, harsh and disrespectful. Why should men like us have to take abuse from a man in your position? And in conclusion, verses 14 through 16, your words are fiction, fantasy words. One of the things Eliphaz argued in the very beginning, and as you read through the book, there is a repetition of ideas because The reality, folks, is that we're rarely very original in the things that we believe. Eliphaz has already argued, chapter four, verse number 17, that a man cannot be right with God. God is right, but a man can't really be right with God. Shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure than his maker? And although we did not read it, you may read it for yourself, but wait until after the sermon. In verses 17 through 20, Eliphaz bolsters his argument with a testimony about the fate of the wicked. This is something else that we will see. Bildad is the master of this. In many ways, accurately, he He paints these vividly horrific pictures of what awaits those who are God's enemies. Again, the evidence is clear that Job is on the receiving end of God's judgment. Nobody seems to grasp the possibility that there is a very real Satan adversary and that he has given very real reign over very righteous people. It is just this stark, harsh, black and white world. God is a powerful God of order. He punishes the evil. He rewards the righteous. Look at where you are. What have you done? It is at this point, and we will not comment upon it all, but we will look at it in chapter 16 and 17, that Job now responds to the criticism. Again, envision four men sitting at a table. maybe with notepads in front of them, making notes on what was said. So let's turn our attention to verses one through six, first of all of chapter 16. Then Job answered, right? Job is listening to Eliphaz like Eliphaz is listening to Job. I've heard many such things, many comforters are ye all. Shall vain words have an end? By the way, Eliphaz says of Job, empty words. Job says of Eliphaz, empty words. Sound familiar? Folks, does it sound familiar? Shall vain words have an end, or what emboldeneth thee that thou answerest? I also could speak as ye do, if your soul were in my soul's stead. I could heap up words against you, and shake mine head at you. But I would strengthen you with my mouth, and the moving of my lips should answer your grief. Though I speak, my grief is not assuaged, and though I forbear, what am I eased? Right, so he begins by pointing out that if he were in Eliphaz's place, he could say the things that Eliphaz were saying. But he wouldn't. But he wouldn't. What he really wants from his friends is simply comfort. That is really all they can give him because they can't heal him and they can't bring his children back to life and they can't restore his fortune. And he wants comfort from his friends because he is receiving a whipping from God. That's verses 7 through 14. I don't need my friends to beat me up. God is already doing that pretty well. But now he, you notice the change there, now he hath made me weary. Thou hast made desolate all my company. Thou hast filled me with wrinkles, which is a witness against me, and my leanness rising up in me beareth witness to my face. He teareth me in his wrath, who hateth me. He gnasheth upon me with his teeth. Mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me. They have gaped upon me with their mouth. They have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully. They have gathered themselves together against me. God hath delivered me to the ungodly. and turn me over into the hands of the wicked. I was at ease, but he hath broken me asunder. He hath also taken me by my neck and shaken me to pieces and set me up for his mark. His archers compass me round about. He cleaveth my reins asunder and doth not spare. He poureth out my gall upon the ground. He breaketh me with breach upon breach. He runneth upon me like a giant. I am desolate, I am wrinkled, I am in leanness, I am in tears. And in verses 11 through 14, this is the work of my God. This is his testimony. This is what God has done to me. And yet, verses 15 to 17, I am an innocent man. I have sowed sackcloth upon my skin, defiled my horn in the dust, my face is foul with weeping, and on my eyelids is the shadow of death, not for any injustice in mine hands. Also, my prayer is pure. So I look like a mourner. I look like a man afflicted. But I am innocent. I've done no injustice. And my only hope, verses 18 through 21, is the God who is apparently my enemy. O earth, cover not thou my blood. Let my cry have no place. Also now behold, my witness is in heaven and my record is on high. My friends scorn me, but mine eye poureth out tears unto God. O that one might plead for a man with God as a man pleadeth. for his neighbor. My only hope is God. And then we will look at the remainder of the argument beginning in chapter 16, verse number 22, down through the end of chapter 17. Where does this leave Job? I want pity and comfort. God is my adversary and he is thoroughly destroying me. And yet he is my hope. My only hope. So there is nothing to do but endure. There is nothing to do but endure. Verse number 22. When a few years are come, then I shall go the way whence I shall not return. Someday I'll die. My breath is corrupt. My days are extinct, the graves are ready for me. Are there not mockers with me, and doth not mine eye continue in their provocation? Lay down now, put me in assurity with thee. Who is he that will strike hands with me? For thou hast laid their heart from understanding, therefore shalt thou not exalt them. He that speaketh flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail. He hath made me also a byword of the people, and aforetime I was as a tabard or a tambourine. Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow. Upright men shall be astonished at this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite. The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger. But as for you all, do you return and come now, for I cannot find one wise man among you. My days are past. My purposes are broken off. Even the thoughts of my heart, they change the night into day. The light is short because of darkness. If I wait, the grave is mine house. I have made my bed in the darkness. I have said to corruption, thou art my father. To the worm, thou art my mother and my sister. And where is now my hope? As for my joy, who shall see it? They shall go down to the bars of the pit when our rest together is in the dust. So Job, what are you doing? I am waiting to die. And I am waiting to die all alone. There's none to come to my aid. There's none to be with me. My friends are no help. God is my enemy. I'm just waiting to die. That is Job's lot. That is his response. What I need from you, my friends, is comfort. I'm getting abuse enough from God. And yet he is my only hope. And so here I am waiting until I die. Not the prettiest of pictures, not the happiest of sentiments. So let's now take a few minutes and think about how Job ministers to us. Because here is one of God's inspired books, one of the longer ones. How does it minister to us? Well, one of the things, folks, that we want always to remember to not lose complete sight of, we see it much more clearly than Job did, is that Job prefigures the suffering of Christ in a very real way. For again, who was more innocent than Jesus, and who suffered more severely than Christ, and who agonized as deeply as he did, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And we see even echoes of that in Job chapter 16, when Job talks about being smitten. They have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully. They have gathered themselves together against me. We will see that in the Lord Jesus Christ. We have here a glimpse of suffering in innocence for the sake of our sin. And then folks, as we think about the Job again, or about the book of Job, we have the great advantage of knowing the totality of the book. James chapter five and verse number 11. Behold, we count them happy or blessed, which endure. You have heard of the patience of Job. We have heard of Job's experiences. and we have heard of his spiritual endurance, and have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy. So we know that his vindication comes. And while it may be a relatively small consolation to us, we know that our vindication will come as well. We know that that is the end result for the people of God. But we also know as we read through this, folks, and let me beg you to first of all read the book of Job and to not try and race through the poetical passages as quickly as you can to get them over with. It is the nature of human suffering to linger. It is an agony. Job is agonizing and God is giving us an insight into his agony and all that comes with it, the confusion, the ups and downs emotionally, the beautiful bursting moments of faith and the deep dark moments of despair, these are our own experiences. The attempts on the part of our friends and fellow church members to minister to us when Often their words are hurtful and not at all helpful. And who does not have some sense at times that God has abandoned them? I suppose every pastor, every pastor has had conversations with their church members along the lines of, I'm not even sure if I'm saved. It just seems like God doesn't pay me the least little bit of attention. So we can look down the road and say, hey, Job, everything is going to be okay, but it isn't okay today. Job, as we do, has to live it. He has to live the agonizing experience. He has to endure the criticism of his friends. He has to experience the ups and downs of his faith. He has to know what it is to desperately want an answer when the answer will not come. And by the way, folks, one of the things that remains constant throughout the book of Job is that as far as we know, Job never knows what really happened. God doesn't get to the end of the book. and tie it all up in a nice neat package. Let me tell you about Satan coming after you and how I highlighted your faith. None of that. None of that. By the way, in Isaiah chapter 49, which is one of the servant songs that we find in the book of Isaiah, songs that are oftentimes about the nation of Israel and almost always about the Lord Jesus Christ and his future ministry, Jesus himself will question the effectiveness of his earthly ministry and make the point that his vindication is with the Lord. This is, right, were we to get one big takeaway from the book of Job, it is that the Lord is righteous and his vindication will come for us, and in some extent for Job. all in the vindication of Christ. Our sin is absorbed by him. His righteousness is applied to us. We truly suffer then to that extent in innocence. This is the perspective of the book. And finally, folks, let me just point out to you that one of the ways that God ministers to us in our sorrow and grief is through his word, is through his word. through the lengthy and sometimes challenging portions of the poetry of Job. But this is the inspired record. This is a divine assistance for us. What we want, or maybe you don't want, but what I usually want, is I want every temptation and obstacle simply to evaporate. just to be gone, right? I don't want to have to deny my sinful desires and I don't want to have to endure my difficult circumstances. I just want them to go away. I think we would have to admit that for many of us this is a source of contention between us and God who will not operate like that often. but will say to us, no, in my power resist your temptations and in my power endure your trials, but they're not going anywhere. And as Jesus pointed out to the 12, right before he went to the cross, now have I told you before it come to pass that when it is come to pass, you might believe. Or as Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, You were appointed to this suffering. There's no escaping it. There is an appointment to it. And there is then the God of all grace. This is a man whose faith was sorely tested. And we are privileged really to live alongside him the experience of that testing. And we don't want to minimize it. Let's go together to the Lord.