Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the opportunity to reflect upon this man's statements of Elihu that he gave that magnify who you are and puts us in our place. And we pray that we would learn from him and even contemplate some of these things long beyond what we have here today. So Lord, we thank you for this time. Help us to learn who you are. And this we pray in Christ's name, amen. Well, if you take Bibles, turn over to Job chapter 32, we'll actually get into Job 33 is where we will start here. But I'm thankful for Pastor Brian covering the last two weeks. I really wanted to talk about Elihu last week because he's that character. He's the youngest character of them all. You don't even know he's there. You'd never know he's there until suddenly in chapter 32, they announced this guy and he's the son of so-and-so and whatever. He's the youngest one out of the bunch. And he starts talking after everybody's run out of breath, I think. Job has the longest speech that he has. He just keeps going and going and going. And I think Job, perhaps in a sickly condition, wore himself out. And he stops talking, but Elihu comes in. And what I find with Elihu in reading the book of Job is that he's refreshing. And you go, why? Because I'm not trying to discern if he's saying things that are right or wrong. To this point, I've had to sit to going through. If you read through the book of Job, you're trying to figure out if what Job's saying is right or if it's wrong. if he's accusing God of certain things, or if he's saying something that's right. And then you look at his friends and you're trying to go, you know, his friends have right statements at times, they're applying it in the wrong way, but you're trying to decipher is what they're saying wrong or right? And so you spend your whole time doing that, and you come to a lie who, and suddenly you go, this person is the spokesman for God. This man, I would describe him as a prophet or a preacher. And we'll look a little bit more at that at the end of what his statements are, but he's kind of this person who comes along and he's stating what God is, what he's like, and what Job's like, and he's accurate in everything he says. He doesn't get rebuked by God for what he says. You get to the end where God rebukes both Job and his three friends, doesn't rebuke Elihu. And God even quotes, and we'll have this in our notes too. He even quotes some of the things that Elihu has said beforehand. He actually says when he comes and appears before Job. So for me, Elihu is refreshing because the whole tone of the book changes at this point, because now you're going, okay, now I can trust what's being said here. And it's not being contradicted. Job's not, you know, coming in here. Because as you look at the top of almost every chapter, he stops. He allows people to respond. Job, who has responded every time when he's been accused, doesn't respond. So Elihu's actually hitting on target exactly what Job was doing in his accusations of God. So this point, to me, I like reading Elihu and the statements of God because I can just sit there and go, okay, this is really accurate at this point. We're not having this argument that we're trying to work our way through back and forth. And so we have what we've called the arguments of Elihu. It's really not the arguments of Elihu. And we have that also. But his first speech is just simply magnifying this. God is sovereign. Now what we mean by sovereign is that God, like old kings used to be able to do, their statements were without contradiction. When they made a ruling, no one contradicted it. When they made a statement, no one contradicted it. In fact, there's a term that we don't use, they had it in the Greek, we don't use it so much anymore because of the connotations, but we use the word despot. In fact, you get into the New Testament, there are a couple times when the Greek word despot is actually used for God. And you go, wow, you know, it sounds like a dictator. No, what it means when you talk about a despot, or you talk about God being sovereign, What he does is without contradiction. He rules and no one can stay his hand. So this is what we mean by this, and this is what he's going to magnify in his first speech. And We really didn't, in the very first, last week in looking at Elihu, you kind of went through chapter 32, and chapter 32 is him basically saying that the friends were wrong. Okay, he's just kind of saying, you weren't doing things right. The rest of this, he's dealing with Job, the friends every once in a while, but it's always Job he's directing his arguments to. And when you have the first argument, I mean, this is the introductions there, 32 through six through 37, or 33 seven. The first allegation that he makes is this, that Job claims to be a victim of unjustifiable affliction from God. You look at verse, verse number eight. Elihu makes this statement. Surely thou, he's speaking to an individual, you, has spoken in mine hearing and I have heard the voice of thy word saying, I am clean without transgression. I am innocent. Neither is there any iniquity in me. Behold, he findeth occasions against me. He counteth me for his enemy. He's actually quoting what Job is saying. He putteth my feet in stocks, he marketh all my paths. It's like wherever I go, he's making me miserable wherever I go. So he, right from the start, goes, this is what Job is saying. You've said these things. I'm not judging your motives. That was the problem with the friends. What were your motives or the things that happened before? Elihu's going, I've heard you say this. You've said these things. I'm not making this up. And so he starts off and he says, you've been claiming you're a victim of unjustifiable affliction from God. God's doing this and I don't know why. He's just making my life miserable. What his rebuttal is, is just simply this, is that God is sovereign. And if he's sovereign, he's unaccountable to you. He doesn't have to give you any reasons for why he does anything. You see in going from verse 12, just starting there, behold, in this thou art not just. I will answer thee that God is greater than man. You're not right in making that statement. God is greater than man is. Why dost thou strive against him? For he giveth not account of any of his matters. For God speaketh once, yea, twice, yet man perceiveth it not. Now, what he's gonna begin to do is talk about ways that God does communicate himself. He doesn't have to tell you anything, but he does at times. Now, how does he do it back in Job's time? usually through dreams, visions, that type of thing. That's what he's gonna talk about in verse 15. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep fall upon men and slumberings upon the bed, then he openeth the ears of men, sealeth their instructions, that he may withdraw man from his purpose and hide pride from man. And so you go, okay, he sometimes would communicate. He doesn't have to, but he sometimes does it by visions and dreams. Then he also does it this way. Verse 22, "'Yea, his soul draweth near unto the grave, his life to the destroyers.'" He's just talking about, this is what Job's thinking, he's nearly dying. "'But if there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to show unto man his uprightness, then he's gracious unto him, and saith, delivering him from his going down to the pit, I have found a ransom.'" You know what sometimes God does for people? This is how he does it now. He brings someone who's speaking words and communicating God's message. I don't know if you've read Pilgrim's Progress, but you ought to read it sometime. John Bunyan put in prison for 12 years because he would not submit to the Church of England the requirements that they had, and so he ended up being there. His allegory is basically a picture in the Christian life as a pilgrimage. And in the pilgrimage of Pilgrim, eventually known as Christian, he comes to a house where there's a whole bunch of pictures and different rooms with different things in there. And one of the things that he opens up and sees is this man who has got his hands out and he's declaring something and the world is behind him. And Pilgrim asked the person who's the owner of the house, what meaneth this? It's the quote of what we have here. This one is a interpreter, one amongst a thousand. He's just simply saying this, there's individuals that God sometimes uses to declare his word. And were there prophets back in the time of Job? I'm guessing there were. Some people that God told certain things. We know, I'll tell you this, we know that Enoch was a man like this. Hebrews and second Peter tells us he was a preacher of righteousness. He was preaching to the ungodly. And this is long before Job. So you have people like this. So God doesn't have to tell you anything, but he does sometimes. And as you go along and you read through this, you get to the point where God does certain things. Verse 29, lo or behold, all these things worketh God oftentimes with man to bring back his soul from the pit to be enlightened with the light of the living. God allows. specific revelation, whether it's through words through, in this case, the dreams and visions, or through the preaching of God's word, his declaration of this, that he calls people back from their destruction to keep them from going in that direction, and what Elihu is serving right now is the purpose of calling Job back from his errors. So he closes off, and I do have to put this as far as the statement in your notes there, The rebuttal, it says it's 33, 12 through 30, or 33, it's actually 12 through 30. I'm sorry about that, but I noticed that before I was here this morning. I changed it on the screen, but I did not, because I already printed paper and didn't want to, yeah, print more. But in the end, what Elihu says is this, the prosecution rests for any statement from the defendant. I mean, verse 31. Mark well, old Job, hearken unto me, hold thy peace, and I will speak. If thou hast anything to say, answer me, speak, for I desire to justify thee. I'm not trying to make you right, you know, trying to get things taken care of. If not, hearken unto me, hold thy peace, and I shall teach thee wisdom. So, he goes through. God can do whatever he wants. He doesn't have to communicate to us if he doesn't want to. That's what Job's going, why is this going on? God hasn't told me why this is going on. It's not fair. And he says, God communicates to us, but you're not right because you're sitting here arguing that God doesn't do these things and God doesn't have a right, so am I wrong in this, Job? That's kind of what he's saying. Am I wrong in what I've said? You know, you speak up, let me know, hold your peace, or you know, speak now or forever, you're here in the wedding, forever hold your peace. Job, you can have a chance to respond. And as I said, Job doesn't respond. Every other time his friends accuse him of something, he responds, not to Elihu, which means Elihu's hitting his target. He's hitting exactly what Job has had a problem with. You get to the second speech. There's four of them as you look at the sheet here. And basically, I'm giving you the outline of this so that when you read through this again with Elihu, you understand what he's doing. And you can come back here later and go, okay, this is what Elihu's doing. His second statement in his speech is going to be that God is just. Okay, he's sovereign, can do whatever he wants, but as a judge, he's always going to come down on the right side of the law. He's always gonna deal with it as it should be. And so you start off in verse number two of chapter 34. And he says this, hear my words, O ye wise men, give ear unto me, ye that have knowledge. For the ear trieth words, as the mouth tasteth meat. Let us choose to us judgment. Let us know among ourselves what is good. Verse five, for Job hath said, I am righteous, and God hath taken away my judgment. Should I lie against my right? My wound is incurable without transgression. "'What man's like Job, who drinketh up scorning like water, "'which goeth in the company with the workers of iniquity, "'which walketh with wicked men? "'For he hath said, it profiteth a man nothing "'that he should delight himself with God.'" You're kind of going, ooh, you know, he's making statements like his friends have made that Job's a really bad sinner, he's been with wicked people, but he gets right down to the heart of the matter. You're not any different than those wicked people because what you have suggested is this, is that God has been unjust, And in your mind, you're thinking this. What does it profit me to serve God if God's unrighteous? Why should I be righteous if God's unrighteous? Okay, it's sort of like this. Ever hear a parent make this statement? Do as I say, not as I do. Well, Job's accusing God of this. You said certain things that we're supposed to do, but you're not doing those things. So why should I follow what you're saying? Because you're not doing it yourself. I mean, that's where Job has gotten to in his thinking. So as you go through this, you know, the allegation is that Job claims that God has denied him justice and fair treatment, that God isn't being fair because he's not doing what Job's required. So why even do what's right if I think that God's not doing right? And so the rebuttal to that, God is unfailingly just and can never pervert justice. Okay, he's always going to do what's right. That's the character of God. If God stops doing what's right, he ceases to be God. I mean, look at verse number 10. Therefore hearken to me, ye men of understand it, far be it from God that he should do wickedness, and from the Almighty that he should commit iniquity. For the work of a man shall he render unto him, and cause every man to find according to his ways. Yea, verse 12, surely God will not do wickedly, neither will the Almighty pervert judgment. I mean, don't go there and say he's an unfair judge. I mean, I always think about this when the Supreme Court throws out rulings, okay? You know, I had them throw out another ruling this week, okay? And sometimes people are like, I don't like them. They aren't making the decision the way I want to. And then the next week, they're the greatest thing ever. Look, they made decisions that I like. And the next week, oh, I can't believe that they did this again. Oh, and the next week, yay, you know, and they do this. And they kind of, you know, view, Job is viewing God this way, that he is at times making decisions the way he should be, and other times he's unrighteous. He's a great God on certain occasions, but when bad things start happening to me, oh, I don't like this. He's not a good judge. And that's what is going on here, is that he is saying this, and Elihu goes, don't go down that path. Don't go there because he's always going to judge right. He's never ever misjudged and misapplied punishment. And he's not able to do things wrong, and you go, why is that? Because he is able to do whatever he needs to do. I mean, he can take individuals who are rulers and break them down. In verse 24, what is God able to do? He shall break in pieces mighty men without number and set others in their stead. Sometimes you just thought, oh, well, the rich get away with things. I just read this recently. Somebody got away with this case because they were really rich and wealthy. There's nothing in this world that impresses God. Not the might of those individuals, not the strength of their individuals, not the positions that they have, not the wealth that they have. You go, why? Because God's got all this in infinite and eternal ways. So man doesn't impress him. So when it comes to him, there's nobody coming into his courtroom where he's going, ooh, okay, well, you know, need to work with this person a little bit better than I did the last one. No, God's not like that, and he can deal with leaders and rulers and mighty individuals, and he does because he's not impressed by any of them. So, diagnosis, Job wants to dictate his terms to God and multiply ignorant words against God. He keeps saying stuff that doesn't make any sense. Verse 31, surely it is meet to be said unto God, I have borne chastisement, I will not offend anymore. That which I see not, teach thou me, for I have done iniquity and will do no more. Verse 35, Job has spoken without knowledge, his words are without wisdom. My desire is that Job may be tried unto the end because of his answers for wicked men. For he addeth rebellion unto his sin. He clappeth his hands among us and multiplieth his words against God. What you've done is that you weren't sinning beforehand, but you're now sinning and going, you know, he's clapping his hand. Hey, you know what? God's doing all this stuff to me. You see it? You know, and he's clapping his hands. Pay attention. And what Elihu goes is, you're just like the wicked people. You're accusing God of all sorts of stuff. That isn't true. Your words are empty and vain. He gives Job another chance to speak. Okay, he stops here because you get to verse one of chapter 35, a liar who spoke more ever. So it's this kind of statement where he takes a break for a second. No response from Job, no response from the friends. Okay, let's talk about one more thing about God. When you go through what we've looked at, that God is sovereign, he's just, and this is the big one, God is transcendentally and infinitely righteous. Now the idea of transcendence is a theological term. It's that God is so far above everybody else, He is so far above. I mean, think about this. Most of you who are having a jumping contest, you can only jump about two feet in the air, okay? When you were a kid, you had to climb up a ladder to get to the cookie jar, okay? I mean, there's this type of thing. But when you start thinking about the clouds, can you get to the clouds? You go, well, we can get an airplane. Okay, fine. You know, can we get to another planet? Well, we haven't gotten to a planet yet, and what we do launch at other planets crashes into it, and yeah, that type of thing that we've had recently. But the idea is that God is so far above us, we can't get to him, because he's just so far greater than we are. That's what transcendence means. And he's got statements in here that we'll look at that just kind of point to, you know, he's high like the clouds, He's way up there in comparison to what man's like. And the idea, transcendentally, he's above, he's so much more or greater than they are, and infinitely, you go, what do you mean by that? There's no boundaries. Okay, that's, if you wanna think of what infinite and eternal means, it just means there's no boundaries to his grace and his mercy, and in this case, his righteousness. Okay. Allegation right from the start, he goes this, Job implies that he's more righteous than God. Verse one, Eli who's making the statement. Thinkest thou this to be right? That thou saidest, my righteousness is more than God's? Verse three, thou saidest, what advantage will it be unto thee? And what profit shall I have if I be cleansed from my sin? And then verse four, I will answer thee and thy companions with thee. I'm gonna answer you and your friends because they made these kind of statements. And the rebuttal is this, God's righteousness is unaffected by human actions or accusations. God, as human beings, we will change our position if we get attacked enough. Is that not our personality? We finally are just kind of like, well, maybe I'm doing something wrong. Maybe I'll just kind of back off here. When we have somebody who's assaulting us over and over again or accusing us of something or saying stuff that we'll just kind of go, okay, I'll back down. God doesn't back down. Verse 5, look unto the heavens and see, behold the clouds which are higher than thou. If thou sinnest, what dost thou against him? Or if thy transgressions be multiplied, what doest thou unto him? If thou be righteous, what givest thou him? Or what receiveth he of thy hand? Thy wickedness may hurt a man as thou art, and thy righteousness may profit the son of man. So he's basically saying, you can do stuff to bother people here, but God is so far above the fray, what are you really gonna do to him? I mean, you've heard the statement, your arms are too short to box with God, fight God. He can be above the fray and not bothered by a single thing you do, he doesn't need your stuff. He talks about the righteous people. I mean, does God need your righteousness? You know, I've got to have this? No, God doesn't need it. Will you being angry and frustrated affect God any? No. No, he's not really bothered by this because he's so far above the fray. That's not to say that he doesn't come and intersect with our lives and that, but what we think we can do to harm God and hurt God, not going to happen. And so Job's words aren't really having impact on God, these accusations. And so the analysis is this, is Job is just simply speaking empty words without knowledge. And you have there at the end, Verse 16. He doesn't know what he's talking about. I mean, if we put it in normal phraseology. Job, you've made all sorts of accusations about God. You've said all sorts of things against him, like you know what's going on, and you have just multiplied words. You've really, the idea there is being vain, empty words. That's the, I think, if I remember correctly, it's the same word used for vanity. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity in Ecclesiastes. And you say, how do you describe vanity? And I had one person describe it this way. It's sort of like when you have kids that go out in the summertime and they got bubbles and they're blowing the bubbles. And the bubble is floating there. Well, take out the bubble. What do you have left? Nothing. It's just air. And basically, he's accusing Job, a lot of hot air going on here, a lot of air being used, but it's not accomplishing anything. In fact, it's worthless. It's not doing what you think it is. You're accusing God of all sorts of stuff, like he's gonna be hurt by this, and God's not. God's not affected by all of these things. So that then brings us to a different speech that he has. It's not so much that he's now, he does, but he's not attacking Job. He simply says this, God is great and God is good. I'm gonna emphasize this, God is great and God is good. You need to see this. And you have starting off what is called a theodicy, okay? A theodicy is a defense of God. And a lot of what Job is, commentators will talk about when it comes to Job, that it's not so much a statement about suffering, it's a defense of who God is, what he's like. And what Elihu now does is go, God's like this. I'm gonna defend God as if God needs defending. But he goes, I'm gonna ascribe certain things to him. Look at verse number 36, or 36 verse one. Suffer me a little, I will show thee that I have yet to speak on God's behalf. I really haven't even made statements about God that God wants you to know yet. Verse three, I will fetch my knowledge from afar and I will ascribe righteousness or give righteousness to my maker for truly my word shall not be false. He that is perfect in knowledge is with thee. Verse five, behold. Whenever you say that word behold, it's not just filler word and it's sometimes translated as low, okay? What that is is probably a short statement saying see, look, Pay attention, okay? That's what behold means. It's not just, you know, behold, okay, look, something else. No, pay attention to this. Look, examine this. Behold, verse five, God is mighty and despiseth not any. He is mighty in strength and wisdom. He preserveth not the life of the wicked, but giveth right to the poor. He withdraweth not his eyes from the righteous, but with kings are they on the throne. Yea, he doth establish them forever, and they're exalted. And if they be found in fetters and beholden in cords of affliction, then he show them their work and their transgressions that they have exceeded. He openeth also their ear to discipline and commandeth that they return from iniquity. If they obey and serve him, they shall spend their days in prosperity and their years and pleasures. But if they obey not, they shall perish by the sword, they shall die without knowledge. But hypocrites in heart heap up wrath, and they cry not when he bindeth them. Verse 15, he delivereth the poor in his affliction, openeth the ears in their oppression. So he's starting off here and just simply saying, God is great. He can take the mightiest of individuals and go, I'm gonna bring you down. And those that are, well, lowly, pressed, God can lift them up. He's able to do this. He's a great God. But you also see as you go, you'll find this statement again in verse number 22. This statement, behold, again, verse 22. Behold, God exalteth by his power. Who teacheth like him? Who hath enjoined him his way? Or who can say, thou hast wrought iniquity? He's starting to ask questions, and I will say this, Elihu is gonna start asking questions because he's preparing the way for God, and how is God gonna communicate with Job? By a whole bunch of questions. He's not gonna make any statements, he's just gonna ask a bunch of questions, and Job's not gonna have an answer for him. That's what he's doing. Verse 26, behold, God is great. We know him not. Neither can the number of his years be searched out. He maketh the small drops of water. They pour down rain according to the vapor thereof, which the clouds do drop and distill upon man abundantly. Can any understand the spreading of the clouds or the noise of his tabernacle? Now, I need to stop here and go back and talk about something. Back in, Verse number five of, verse five of chapter 35. He makes a statement, look into the heavens and see and behold the clouds which are higher than you. What Elihu is now referring to is something that these men are outside and they're now observing as it gets closer and closer. He goes, look at the clouds over there. Okay, see the clouds? Yeah, okay. How do they get hung up there? God's so great and magnificent. Now he starts talking about, we just read it. You have these raindrops, verse 27. He makes the drops of water. They pour down rain according to the vapor thereof. These men are getting sprinkled on. There's a storm coming. And when he starts talking about the fact, you see this hanging here, there's a large thundercloud coming in. And he's going to refer to this over and over again, the power of God as he speaks and the flashing of lightning as it comes through. I mean, look at this. Verse 30, behold, chapter 36. Behold, he spreadeth his light upon it, and covereth the bottom of the sea, for by them judgeth he the people. He giveth meat in abundance. With clouds he covereth the light, and the command is not to shine by the cloud that comes therein. The noise thereof showeth concerning it, the cattle also concerning the vapor. You know, he's talking about thunderings and lightnings here. They're causing the animals to do certain things now, as they run. And what they're getting is from natural revelation, the power of God being displayed. God's giving this backdrop as he speaks, and it's, you know, I imagine it's behind him coming in, and he's doing this speaking, and there's this massive cloud, and they're seeing the lightning, and they're seeing these different things. And so he's just simply saying, as he's talking about all of this, and we'll give you the slide here, Job's reaction to God's dealing, put him in danger of being in judgment due to the wicked, I didn't give you that section there, but there's this thing. Behold how great, majestic, and incomprehensible the faithful God is. He's pointing at this storm. It's coming in here. You see that lightning? You see that power as the lightning hits, stuff starts to run, and you get further along, Verse two, hear attentively the noise of his voice and the sound that goes out of his mouth. He directeth it under the whole of heaven and his lightning under the end of the earth. And imagine as he's saying this, there's lightning emphasizing as he's speaking. I mean, he's just simply saying, when it comes to mankind, one of the greatest things that shows and displays God's power that we can't get away from is the weather. And we get affected by it, but we, as human beings, can't make weather happen, despite what some might say, that we're causing the warming and the cooling right now. We can't make weather. I remember as a kid, they were talking about, hey, if we fly airplanes up and we drop some salt on it, you know, some clouds, it'll start raining. And that didn't work very well. And other things like this, we can't make storms. We can't do it. We can't control them. We can't get them to do what we want. But God, he can cause lightning bolts to happen at certain times and announce his presence and you can't get away from it. I mean, we just had this storm go through on Monday night, and we had a couple of bolts hit pretty close, and the animals, the two animals that were on my bed, they moved. I actually turned the light back on in that bedroom because it was dark and it would be flashing, and they would just kind of do this, so I turned the light on so it's not as bright and shocking, but they were upset by that. And you can get in some of these storms and have that type of thing happen where you can't get away from the power of God as it roars and echoes again and again. And he's just using this going, you see this in this atmosphere, what's going on? God's the one who's caused this. He's the one to able to control it and do whatever he needs it to do. I mean, look at what he causes it to do. Verse six, for he sayeth to the snow, be thou on earth. Likewise, the small rain or the great rain in his strength. I mean, he can give snow, he can give rain, he can give heavy rains, he can give a little bit of rain. He can do whatever he wants in the weather. And he's got that kind of power. I mean, he can do this. Verse nine, out of the South come with the whirlwind, the cold out of the North. You know, we talk about the cold North wind and then the warmer coming from the South. He, it's verse 10, by the breath of God, frost is given. The breadth of the waters is straightened. And also by watering, he's wearieth of thick cloud. He scattereth his bright cloud and is turned round about by his counsels. You can get clouds to spin. That's really where it gets exciting. And that type of thing happens. So you have this go all the way down to verse number 18, but I'm gonna start and pick this up in verse number 13, where he starts applying this. Okay, God's fantastic and we got this storm going on and whatever, but verse 13 or 14. Hearken unto this, O Job. Stand still and consider the wondrous works of God. Okay, you just need to stop and observe what your God's like in the natural universe. Verse 15, he starts asking questions like God's gonna ask in the future here. Does thou know when God disposed them and caused the light of his cloud to shine? Dost thou know the balancing of the clouds, the wondrous works of him which is perfect in knowledge? How thy garments are warm when he quieteth the earth by the south wind? Has thou with him spread out the sky which is strong and is molten glass to look at? Teach us what we shall say unto him, for we cannot order our speech by reason of darkness. He's basically going, you think you know everything? I just asked you a bunch of questions. So why don't you say something that gives us an answer on how these things happen? Enlighten us, is what he's saying. Shall it be told, verse 20, that I speak, if a man speak, surely he shall be swallowed up. And now men see not the bright light which is in the clouds, but the wind passeth and cleanseth them. Fair weather cometh out of the north. With God is terrible, and the idea there is awesome and awe-inspiring majesty. "'Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out. "'He is excellent in power, in judgment, "'and in plenty of justice. "'He will not afflict. "'Men do therefore fear him. "'He respecteth not any that are wise of heart.'" How would we say in one word with somebody who's wise in heart? Proud, okay? You put it in there. He is not one who respects those that are proud. What he's suggesting is this, is what we have in our New Testament in James, it says this, God resisteth the proud, but he giveth grace unto the humble. I mean, this is what goes on in that last statement. God will not put up with proud individuals, but if a person humbles themselves, he's ready to work with them. And that's his closing statement, because then you get to verse number one, then the Lord answered Job out of the world, went and said, who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? And then we go on from there for this statement of God. So you've had this thunderstorm coming. And so he defers at the end, God's approaching, I'm done. I don't need to do any more talking and asking questions. God's gonna do the rest of the talking here. Now, for this, how does Elihu work in this? Elihu's preliminary diagnosis prepares the way for God's infallible diagnosis, infallible, unchangeable, and correct diagnosis of Job's disorder and his treatment. Elihu transitions us from the false accusations and flawed arguments of Job's friend to the final word of God. Elihu, as I said, is very much like a preacher. When I preach, I preach God's words, but I know the change doesn't happen until God shows up. I'm not gonna manipulate you into making decisions. But if you're willing to hear what God's words are, what that does is that then you're finally ready for God to go, okay, we got some work to do. There's some change that needs to go on in your life. And that's kind of what Elihu's been doing. He's been preparing the way, So when God actually shows up, change can happen. Change can happen in the heart of Job and his friends as a result of what's going on. Elihu's on the right track. On at least four occasion, God echoes Elihu using the same language and indicating that Elihu's assessment of Job is on target. He's got it pinned down, he's right. And so Elihu, not a mess of an individual who's just, you know, a young guy who's just throwing things out there. No, he's actually young and one who you might say, let no man despise thy youth. He's an individual who's got the wisdom of God behind what he says. And so he's accurate. The last one thing here as far as what we have for Elihu is just something later you might wanna do. Do you enjoy thunderstorms? No, I do not enjoy thunderstorms, okay, and I guess it's an experience as a kid. When I was young, I was probably eight years old, I can remember a summer afternoon and we had all the windows open because mom and dad didn't want to run the air conditioner even though it was a hot August afternoon. And you had a rainstorm come through, and I was in my room, and I had, it was a time where baseball cards were big. You know, baseball cards are worth nothing now. But the baseball cards, everybody had them, and I remember I was stacking them up because I had the numbers set up so I could figure out what cards I didn't have, and I was stacking them up in my room there. And all of a sudden, my room filled with light, And we had the roar of thunder at the same time. We play this game, lightning, 1, 1,000, 2, 1,000, 3, 1,000, 4, 1,000, 5. OK, this is a mile away. This one had none of that. It was the bright light, because I had no lights on in the room. It was in the afternoon. And the windows were open, so I got the full sound where the lightning bolt hit a tree on our street, on our block, right there out in the road. And it was on my side of the house. I can remember to this day the cards going, I had them in my hand, and I can just, I remember them flinging in different, you know, splaying in front of me across the, yeah, the vast reaches of my room. And I still remember that today. I don't like being surprised. I don't mind the loud noises, I don't like that. Just don't let me, you know, get the thunderbolt right next to me. That's not what I want to hear. So I, you know, I got a little bit of a, You know, am I really impressed by thunderstorms? Yeah, if I know what's coming. It's like a roller coaster ride. But when you look at storms, they're impressive. And we get some impressive ones here in the Midwest. I mean, in comparison to what we had in New England, we had storms that would just rain and that type of thing. We didn't get the massive thunderstorms very often wore through there. So my answer to that, do I enjoy thunderstorms? Not really, but here's something to do just to consider God's power. Next time a thunderstorm rolls in, pull out your Bible and read Job 36, 24 right on through. Read it out loud when you have the thunder come through. Get a little bit of the echo there. Or read it slowly. Storms build up. They don't come right away sometimes. You can see them in the distance. And pause upon to the storm for what it is intended to be. It's a part of God's natural revelation of himself. People don't get saved by natural revelation. But they can be convinced there's a God. You've got a passage where Psalm 19, the heavens declare the glory of God. The firmament showeth his handiwork. And this goes on day and night, and the sun goes forth and does all this. And it's basically saying, you can get an understanding there's a God out there, but Psalm 19 also tells us this. It talks about the law of the Lord, the testimonies of the Lord. These type of things are what changes the soul, makes us what we ought to be. We have to have both. the understanding there's a God out there, he's got great power, but he's also communicated to us by specific words, and we need to be ready when we observe creation to go, I need to pay attention to what he has to say specifically, his specific revelation, and be ready to hear what he has to say. Yeah, people, if they look honestly at the creation we are, and we didn't evolve to get here, there's something organized and very powerful behind all of this. And so yeah, that neat little experiment, but it is, he's using the backdrop of a thunderstorm. You may not have caught that as you read through there before, but he is using a thunderstorm, and that's why it's not suddenly we get to chapter 38, verse one, God speaks out of the whirlwind, and you're like, you know, where did this come from? You know, that God just suddenly shows, no, the storm's been, brewing and coming, and they've been getting the droplets of rain and then some, you know, quick rain storms and the like, and lightning and thunder, and then God speaks out of the wind, the whirlwind, and speaks to Job. So, any questions, thoughts on this? But I just like Elihu. Yes? Yes. Yeah, he's... No. Nope. Somebody asked me this morning, when do you think Elihu showed up here? And I would say, was he there the seven days of silence? I would guess he is because he gets a hearing from Job. I mean, he's been with him. It's not that he just shows up in the middle of the argument and then I'm gonna say certain things. But I can definitely say he was there when the stuff starts being said. When Job starts talking, the friends start arguing with one another, he's there at least at that point. Because he's got the arguments down. He's nailing them one by one as he goes through. So he's heard all of them, but he's not named in that first group. So the question was, was he there with Job, those seven days of silence? And I tend to lean to the point, I think he was. He's just in a different category, so he's not mentioned at the beginning, the three friends, because you get to the end, God rebukes Job. In chapter 42, he rebukes his three friends. He doesn't say a single thing about Elihu. Elihu's in a different category of individuals, so he's kind of, you know, he's not grouped with them to start off with because he's kind of a different, he's accurate, he's right. He's the baby? Well, yeah, he's the youngest there. He's kind of, you know, he's the tag-along here, but the tag-along is the one that gets it right. So yeah, I don't know when he shows up, but he's there for the arguments. Was he there for the seven days of silence? I would guess so, just that Job gives him a hearing and it's not that, you know, here Johnny come lately and you're You're throwing your two cents in without having been here the whole time. So yeah. Anybody else? Was Job proud? Oh, yeah. He's accused of this, can't remember what the end of one of the statements, speeches of this, and he's basically saying, you are not humble. You have brought strong words to God and you put yourself in the position of God. He's proud. He's acting like a proud person at this point where he's accusing God that I'm better than God. And when I start saying I'm better than God, that's pride. That's pride. So he's there. So he is a proud individual. and what God does here humbles him. By the time we get to the end, he's covering his mouth and going, I said stuff I should never have said. I was wrong. Yes. Oh yeah, yeah. And that's the thing with Job. Job hadn't sinned to start off with, but what we're seeing is that in our suffering, We gotta be very aware of the fact that we can suddenly go into the category of sin very easily. You got the best man in the world at the time, the righteous man, a man who eschews evil, shies away from evil and does what's right, and he's accusing God of certain things. It's really a warning to us to be aware of ourselves during suffering that we can be pushed to sin, even though we may be the best of individuals when things are going well. Yeah. Mental anguish, yeah. Yeah, it's unfair what he's accused of. And it just shows that when we suffer, we can get into sin, even though we hadn't before then. And it's a warning to us. It's a warning to us.