Somebody asked me once, which translation of the
Bible I use.
Now, there are many good translations.
The one I use, when I started studying
the scriptures 40 years ago, I used the
King James Version, which is almost the only
one available those days.
Today I use the New American Standard Bible
and the Living Bible, or which is more
modern now, called the New Living Translation.
That's just for your information.
Let's turn to the book of Job and
we'll go now to chapter 3.
See, the reason why I'm spending a little
more time on Job than on some of
the other books is because of the very
reason which I mentioned in the last session,
that I personally believe that this is the
first inspired writing in scripture.
I do not believe that all these details
could ever have been written hundreds of years
after Job died.
And therefore, if this is the first inspired
book of scripture, then there's a lot of
teaching here which is very, very relevant for
us.
And it deals with the individual.
It doesn't deal with a nation like most
of the Old Testament dealt with.
It deals with God and one man, God
and you.
So in that way, the book of Job
is a great encouragement and many of the
things that we face and suffer from Satan
and from other believers, Job faced.
Because these three so-called friends of his
were actually a picture of other believers.
They are not enemies.
They are not unbelievers.
It's a picture of believers who can trouble
us, misunderstand us, criticize us.
And it is always more painful when a
believer attacks us and accuses us than an
unbeliever.
And if I were to give you my
testimony in the last 40 years, I've faced
a thousand times more accusation and criticism from
believers than from unbelievers.
And I think that is the history of
almost every servant of God in the history
of the church.
It's no different.
Jesus faced more opposition from the Pharisees than
from the Greeks and the Romans.
Pilate wanted to release him.
Annas and Caiaphas wanted to kill him.
So it's always been like that.
And so don't be surprised when you find
your maximum opposition from believers who don't understand
you, who criticize you, who tell all types
of false stories about you.
Because Job faced that too from his so
-called friends, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar.
And in the end, there was a man
called Elihu also.
So I just want to say something about,
you see, there were three rounds of discussion
here from between these Job and his three
friends that goes on from chapter 3 to
chapter 31.
Three rounds of discussion.
Three of them, one or two of them
spoke three times and the last one spoke
only twice.
And then at the end of these three
rounds of discussion, another young man speaks Elihu
from chapter 32 to 37.
And then when he's also finished, God speaks
chapter 38 to 42.
So that's the broad outline of the book
of Job.
First of all is this discussion between God
and Satan in chapter 1 and 2.
And then there's this long discussion between Job
and these four preachers, chapter 3 to 37.
And then there is a discussion between the
Lord and Job in chapter 38 to 42.
That's how the book of Job is divided.
Now what we've covered so far is the
first discussion between God and Satan and how
Job reacted.
Now, these preachers, it's very clear that they
were also instruments in the devil's hand to
accuse Job.
Now, before we look into that, I want
to show you one verse as to what
God said about these preachers.
God said something about Job.
We already saw that.
God said something about these three preachers.
Let's look at that before we see what
they said.
Job chapter 42.
The Lord said in verse 7, the last
chapter, verse 7, to Eliphaz the Temanite, I'm
angry with you and with your two friends.
For you have not been right in what
you said about me.
Please remember that when you read all that
they said.
Your opinion may be different from God.
Some of those things they said, you may
say, well, they were right in what they
said.
But please humble yourself and remember, God said
that they were wrong.
Why?
According to our human intelligence, when we read
some of the things that Eliphaz said and
others said, they sound right.
Why did God say then what you said
was not right?
It's very important for us to understand that.
Because the spirit behind it was wrong.
And it's the spirit behind your words that
God sees.
You can say a right thing, but you
can say it with the motive of hurting
somebody.
And God says it's wrong.
But you examine those words according to scripture
and in a court of law, it's absolutely
right.
And every court of law, the Supreme Court
will also say it's right, but God says
it's wrong.
Please remember this all your life.
That a lot of things which men say
are right, God will say is wrong.
Because he sees the spirit.
Why did you say it?
What was the motive in your saying this
correct statement?
What was the motive in your finding fault
with somebody, a servant of God in a
particular area?
You can find fault with servants of God
in many areas.
Okay, what you say may be correct.
The question is why do you say it?
Do you say it because you're jealous?
Do you say it because you want to
show that you are clever?
You want to accuse?
I would say be careful.
A spiritual man cannot be discerned by clever
people who are carnal.
Only a spiritual man can discern another spiritual
man.
And there was nobody spiritual in Job's time,
so none of these four preachers could discern
him.
Only God could.
Okay, now these four preachers, Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar
and Elihu are a picture of four types
of preachers today in Christendom.
Eliphaz, we read in chapter 4 and verse
12, is the man who is given to
visions and angels and supernatural.
You know there are preachers like that who
always talk about visions that they have seen
and angels that they have seen and try
to bring authority into their words by giving
you these testimonies of their angels and visions.
Chapter 4, Eliphaz says, this is his first
sermon to Job and he says, you know
actually this truth that I'm sharing with you,
verse 12, was given to me in secret.
It was whispered in my ear.
It came in a vision at night when
others were sleeping.
Fear gripped me.
I trembled as the power of God came
upon me.
And I shook with terror.
And a spirit came in front of my
face.
It sent shivers up my spine.
It stopped.
And then there was a form in front
of my eyes.
And a voice said, can a mortal man
be just and upright before God?
Can a person be pure before the Creator?
The words are right.
Absolutely right.
Can a mortal man be just and upright
before God?
Can a person be pure before the Creator?
But that was not the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit doesn't bring fear and terror
into a man's heart.
The Holy Spirit always brings joy and peace.
The kingdom of God is righteousness and peace
and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Don't be scared of all these people who
talk about visions and dreams and spirits and
all.
They're like Eliphaz.
It's one group of preachers in Christendom today.
And they try to bring authority to what
they say.
Not from the written word of God.
If they quoted the written word of God,
that'd be fine.
No, they say in secret.
I saw a vision.
And this is what I heard.
And this is what the Lord told me.
Some other Lord.
Not the Lord Jesus Christ.
The second preacher is Bildad.
And he's a gentler type of person.
If you read Bildad, I don't have time
to show you all the verses.
He's a gentler type of person who is
still accusing Job.
You know, there are some people who accuse
harshly.
And some people who accuse in a very
gentle way.
You see how sometimes a husband can say
one small sentence and there's a sting of
a serpent in it.
Or a wife can say something very gently
and there can be a sting of a
serpent in it.
There are different ways in which people speak
with the same evil nature.
So Bildad was a little more gentle.
And he is the type of preacher who
talks about what our fathers believed.
From the time of our fathers, we know
that God always judges wicked people.
And he believes in the traditions of the
fathers.
You know, that's another type of preacher today
in Christendom.
Who doesn't want to disturb any of the
church traditions that have been handed down from
hundreds of years.
We don't change anything.
We don't go for visions and dreams and
all that.
It's just these traditions.
These traditions.
This is what our fathers believed.
This is what our forefathers believed.
And of course, we don't want to rock
the boat.
That's the second type of preacher.
And we see plenty of those also.
The third preacher is Zophar.
And he is a very angry man.
He's the man who hit out at Job
the hardest.
He's like these self-appointed prophets, you know.
These people who have imagined that they are
fiery people like Elijah and John the Baptist.
God has never anointed them or called them.
But they try to hit out at this
and hit out at that.
And they are self-appointed critics of everything
they see.
Everything is wrong.
Self-appointed critics.
Now, Jesus also criticized a lot of things.
But there's an anointed criticism and there are
self-appointed censors.
You know, in the book of James chapter
3, in the Amplified Bible, it says don't
be a self-appointed censor of other people's
actions.
When it says don't be many teachers, the
Amplified Bible amplifies that.
A self-appointed censor.
You know what a censor is?
One who assesses every single word that other
people say.
The Pharisees were like that.
Every word he says, they waited to catch
him in some word.
I found that many times in my ministry
too.
Sometimes there are people sitting in the congregation
who are waiting to catch one word that
I say.
Ah!
You know what Brother Zach said?
Oh, they want, they are looking carefully with
a microscope through my books to find one
word.
Jesus faced it.
Self-appointed critics who never do anything for
God themselves but who are only interested in
finding fault with others.
There are preachers like this plenty.
There's no anointing in their life.
There's no blessing in their life.
They are angry people who are just censoring
and criticizing and accusing.
That's Zophar, an angry man who uses harsh
words and hard words.
Jesus said things like, you vipers and snakes,
but there was an anointing upon them.
But if you imitate Jesus, there may be
no anointing on what you say.
You can't imitate Paul.
Paul turned around to somebody and said, you
enemy of all righteousness, the Lord will smite
you.
You imitate that, there's no anointing on it.
You can imitate a true prophet and there'll
be no anointing on your words.
God doesn't back it up.
So Zophar was like that.
This other type of preacher appears to be
very radical and all that, but there's no
anointing there.
And Elihu is much better than all these
three.
He was the fourth type of preacher who
accurately taught what he said was the truth.
In fact, in the chapter 42, you don't
find God saying anything against Elihu.
It's very interesting.
He only says against Eliphaz and Zophar and
Bildad.
God doesn't criticize Elihu because Elihu had a
little better spirit.
But Elihu was a teacher who taught everything
correctly, but he was a man who had
not gone through suffering and trial himself.
That's another type of preacher who got a
lot of knowledge, but never gone through deep
waters of suffering and trial.
And they are very pious people who are
ready to give advice to other people who
are going through the deep waters of suffering
and trial, never having known anything of it
themselves.
What they say is correct, but God does
not anoint it because they have not gone
through those deep waters themselves.
Paul said in 2 Corinthians 1.4, I've
been through pressure and tremendous distress and trial,
and the strength that God gave me in
that is what I give to you.
That's a different type of preacher altogether.
That's the type we should be, like Paul
was.
But these four preachers are not the type
of preachers any of us should be, even
like Elihu, who is the best of the
lot.
And that's why none of them could accomplish
anything with Job.
They just wasted their time.
And they were all prosperity preachers, by the
way.
Elihu a little less than the others, but
basically they all believed that prosperity was the
thing.
Now I want to share something else with
you as a broad outline, first of all.
We don't have time to go through every
chapter, but let me just show you briefly.
First of all, the first round of discussion.
You see, Eliphaz, I'll just pick out a
few verses here and there and show you
a little picture of how these people preached.
When Eliphaz preached to Job, he was saying,
you are suffering because you have sinned.
That was his basic message.
Job, you're suffering because you have sinned.
He didn't know anything about Job's private life,
but he accuses him, just like a lot
of people today.
Chapter four, verse eight.
This is Eliphaz.
He says, my experience shows that those who
plant trouble and cultivate evil will harvest the
same themselves.
So you're getting a harvest of the evil
that you have cultivated and the trouble that
you have planted in your past life.
It was 100% wrong.
And what was Job's reply to Eliphaz?
Chapter six and verse six and seven.
This is only a sample.
He says, people complain when there is no
salt in their food.
He says, your message is like food without
salt and like the uncooked white of an
egg.
He uses pretty expressive terms to say, that's
what I think of your message.
Goodbye.
He couldn't care less.
Then Bildad speaks, and I'll give you a
sample of Bildad's preaching.
In chapter eight, verse four, he says, your
children must have sinned.
They obviously sinned against God, so their punishment
is well deserved.
And if you are, verse six, if you
are pure and live with complete integrity, God
will rise up and restore your happy home.
Highest holy man who knows all about Job's
children apparently.
Do you criticize other people's children?
Do you say, this has happened because of
this?
I know why this has happened to so
and so.
This is because of this, this is because
of that.
You are like Bildad, no different.
Be careful, these are warnings for us, my
brothers and sisters.
What is Job's reply to that?
Chapter nine, verse two.
He says, yes, I know this is all
true in principle.
You want me to be perfect before God.
How can a person be declared innocent in
the eyes of God?
If someone wanted to take God to court,
is it possible to answer him even once
in a thousand times?
All these theories you are saying is right.
A lot of preachers preach theories which they
have never practiced in their daily life.
Then we go to the third preacher, that
Zophar.
This is the first round of discussion.
I am just giving you a little sample
and you will get an idea of what
type of preachers these were.
Chapter 11, verse 11.
Zophar, this angry man.
You know, he says things like, verse three,
should I remain silent while you babble on,
you mock God.
And shouldn't someone make you ashamed?
And he says in verse 11, he knows
those who are false, God knows those who
are false.
And God takes note of all these, their
sins.
An empty headed person.
He is calling Job, the godliest man in
his generation.
He is calling him an empty headed person.
You won't become wise any more than a
wild donkey can produce human children.
What strong words.
Can a wild donkey produce human children?
You are not going to be any better
than that.
Yeah, yeah.
Are these preachers or what?
Are these people supposed to represent God or
just angry men trying to get their own
back on someone whom they are jealous of?
So that's the first round of discussion that's
over.
And then, yeah, I didn't show you what
Job said to him.
Yes, Job says in chapter 12, his response
to Zophar.
In sarcasm, in a sarcastic way, he tells
Zophar, oh, you really know everything, don't you?
And I suppose when you die, there'll be
no more wisdom in this world.
He says, well, I also know a few
things myself, verse 3, and you are no
better than I am.
Who doesn't know all these things that you're
saying?
See, Job's not bothered by what these people
say.
He just replies to them straight.
Then we go to the second round of
discussion.
In the second round, we see Alifaz saying
in chapter 15 and verse 2.
Alifaz replied to Job and says, you're supposed
to be a wise man and yet you
give all this foolish talk.
You're nothing but a windbag.
You know what a windbag is?
A lot of hot air.
That's all you've got.
It isn't right to speak so foolishly.
And he says in verse 20, wicked people
are the ones who have pain all through
their lives.
These wicked people, verse 27, may be fat
and rich, but their cities will be ruined.
And what is Job's reply to that?
In the second round, chapter 16, verse 2,
Job says, I've heard all of this before.
He says, you are a bunch of miserable
comforters.
Won't you ever stop your flow of foolish
words?
Whatever I said that makes you speak so
endlessly.
I could say the same things if you
were suffering in my place.
I could come and preach to you like
that too.
I could spout off my criticisms against you
and shake my head at you.
Absolutely right.
And then in the second round, Bildad speaks
in chapter 18 and verse 2.
Bildad says, how long, Job, before you stop
talking?
Speak some sense if you want us to
answer.
Do you think we are cattle?
Do you think we have no intelligence?
You may tear your hair out in anger,
but do you think that will make the
rocks fall off from a cliff?
Verse 5, the truth remains that the light
of the wicked is snuffed out.
God snuffs out the light of the wicked.
In other words, you're a wicked man.
Verse 6, the light in their tent will
grow dark.
Verse 7, the confident stride of the wicked
will be shortened.
Verse 8, the wicked walk into a net.
They fall into a pit that God has
dug for them in their path.
That's what he says, implying that Job is
wicked.
And Job's reply to that is, chapter 19,
verse 2.
How long will you fellows torture me?
How long will you try to break me
with your words?
Ten times you have tried to insult me
now.
You should be ashamed of dealing with me
so harshly.
And even if I have sinned, this is
the best part.
That's my concern, not yours.
God will deal with that.
Why are you bothered about that?
You're trying to overcome me using my present
humiliation as evidence of my sin.
But it is God who has wronged me.
He feels that God has wronged him.
I cry out for help, but no one
hears.
And then Zophar, this is the angry man.
He comes to give his second round, third
round rather.
No, the second round.
He says in chapter 20, verse 19.
The wicked man oppresses the poor and leaves
them destitute.
Job, you must have done something like that.
He turns them out of their homes because
they can't pay their rent.
You must have done that.
The wicked man is always greedy, verse 20.
Never satisfied.
He dreams about things and nothing remains.
Nothing is left after he's finished gorging himself
with the food.
And therefore his prosperity will not endure.
In the midst of plenty, he will run
into trouble.
And disasters will destroy him.
And may God give such people a belly
full of trouble.
These are supposed to be comforters.
Accusing, accusing, accusing, accusing.
Job's reply to this second round of discussion,
the third man, Zophar.
In chapter 21.
Now listen to the wisdom of Job.
Verse 7.
He says, actually the truth is that wicked
people sometimes live to a good old age.
Isn't that right?
Absolutely right.
He was no prosperity preacher, Job.
He says, wicked people grow old and wealthy.
We see it all around us.
Wicked people live to see their children, verse
8, grow to maturity.
And wicked people even enjoy their grandchildren.
Don't say I'm wicked that suffering only comes
to wicked people.
He says, look around and see.
Wicked people enjoy their grandchildren.
Wicked people, their homes, verse 9, are safe
from every fear.
And God does not punish them.
Absolutely right.
Their animals, their bulls never fail to breed.
Their cows bear calves without any miscarriage.
In other words, their business prospers.
Their children are happy and skipping about like
lambs, verse 11.
The children are happy singing with tambourines and
harps.
They make music, wicked people.
They make merry to the sound of the
flute.
They spend their days in prosperity.
And they go to their grave in peace.
This is exactly what we see of wicked
people around us.
All this, even though they say to God,
go away.
We don't want.
It's no use praying to you.
We don't want you.
Who is the Almighty that we should obey
Him?
What good will it do to us if
we pray, verse 16.
Their prosperity is not of their own doing.
In other words, Job says, they are not
prosperous because a reward for their lives.
Because their lives are so wicked.
And so, I will have nothing to do,
Job says, with that kind of thinking.
That you people are telling me that I'm
suffering because I'm wicked.
Very sensible reply.
And now we come to the third round
of discussion.
That goes on between Job and the three.
We saw the two rounds already.
In the third round, only two people speak.
Eliphaz and Bildad.
Eliphaz says, chapter 22, verse 6 and 7.
I know what happened, Job.
Now he acts as though he's got discernment.
This is the man who talks about visions
and spirits and prophecy and all that type
of stuff.
You must have lent, 22-6, you must
have lent money to your friend.
And kept the clothing which he gave you
as a pledge and never returned it.
That means you treated your friend badly.
You stripped him to the bone.
And more than that, Job, verse 7.
You must have refused water when some thirsty
man came to your house.
And you must have refused him the hungry
man food when he came to your house.
After all, Job, you think the land belongs
to the powerful.
And those who are privileged have a right
to it because you're such an influential man.
You think everything belongs to you.
More than that, some widows who came to
your place, verse 9.
You must have sent them away without helping
them.
And you must have crushed the strength of
some orphans.
That is why, verse 10, you are surrounded
today by traps and fears.
That's why you cannot see in the midst
of all the darkness and the waters that
cover you.
And you say, verse 13, that God can't
see what I'm doing.
How can he judge through the thick darkness?
All a lie.
How easy it is to judge other people.
What is Job's reply?
He says in verse 1, the last part.
Why must the godly wait for so long
for God?
Evil people steal the land, move the boundaries,
markers.
They steal sheep.
They take donkeys from the poor and the
fatherless.
The poor widow has to give her ox
to pay for a loan.
The poor are kicked aside by evil people.
The needy have to hide from these evil
people for safety.
Like the wild donkeys in the desert, the
poor have to spend all their time just
enough, getting enough to keep body and soul
together.
They have to go into the desert.
These poor righteous people sometimes to search for
food for their children.
The wicked, verse 9, snatch a widow's child
from her breast.
They take the baby as a pledge.
The poor, on the other hand, have to
go about naked without any clothing, verse 10.
They press out olive oil for other people.
They are not allowed to taste it themselves.
The groans of the dying rise from the
city.
Yet God does not respond to their moaning.
Wicked people, verse 13, rebel against the light.
They don't stay in the right paths.
The murderer rises in the dawn to kill
the poor.
The adulterer waits for twilight and sins.
They break into houses, verse 16.
But, Job says, I know, one day they'll
disappear from the earth, verse 18.
Everything they own is cursed.
Death consumes the sinners, finally.
Even the sinner's own mother will forget him.
Worms will find him sweet to eat.
No one will remember him.
Wicked people are broken.
God, in his great power, verse 22, will
drag away the rich, verse 25.
Can anyone claim otherwise?
Can you prove me wrong?
See, Job has got his head screwed on
properly.
He thinks straight when he is speaking, even
though he is in intense suffering.
So, that's his second round with Bildad.
He's got very little to say.
But, he says, in verse 25, verse 4,
How can a mere mortal man stand before
God and claim to be righteous?
Who in all the earth is pure?
God is so glorious, even the moon and
stars scarcely shine compared to him.
Now, Job's reply to that is, to the
third round of Bildad, in chapter 26, verse
2, sarcastically.
Again, he uses a lot of sarcasm.
Oh, he says, how you people have helped
powerless people like me.
How you have saved people who have no
strength.
Oh, how you have enlightened my stupidity.
He's being sarcastic.
Oh, you have enlightened my stupidity.
What wise things you have said.
He's making fun of them.
Where have you gotten all these wise sayings?
Whose spirit speaks through you?
Verse 4.
That's his question.
Whose spirit is speaking through you?
And he says in chapter 27, verse 6,
the last part, My conscience is clear for
as long as I live.
That's Job's reply.
I use this New Living Translation because it
makes some of these things very clear.
And so you see, there is this discussion
that goes on like this.
Now I want to come.
Zophar doesn't speak a third time.
I think he's probably heated up so much
that he's sitting there and cooling off.
He's got nothing more to say.
And then you find this long reply that
Job gives from chapter 26 on to chapter
31, where he's justifying himself and he's saying
all these things that he did.
You see, Job, though he was a very
wonderful man and had light on so many
things that were wrong, he was an extremely
helpful man.
But he did not have light on one
thing.
Spiritual pride.
Pride in his godliness.
He was godly and he was proud of
it.
And that is why God took him through
this trial to make him godly and humble.
You know, when the apostle Paul, godly man,
was in danger of becoming proud, he also
was taken through suffering.
He was given a thorn in the flesh
called a messenger of Satan.
Job had a messenger of Satan.
Paul had a messenger of Satan.
But Paul says, I know why I got
it.
Job didn't know.
Paul says, I know, 2 Corinthians 12, because
I was in danger of becoming spiritually proud.
So God did this to keep me humble
so that I can get grace, because God
gives grace only to the humble.
That is the real reason why God takes
godly people through suffering, misunderstanding, opposition, persecution to
humble us, so that he can pour out
his grace upon us.
That is the New Testament answer.
Job, don't blame Job.
He didn't have a Bible, he didn't have
the Holy Spirit, he didn't have a brother.
He didn't have a meeting to go to.
It's amazing that he lived as he did,
with all that, without all that.
But in the New Testament, we have the
clear light as to why God takes godly
people through suffering.
And now we come to the last preacher,
Elihu.
And I just want to show you a
few things that he says in chapter 32.
The fourth preacher says, Elihu, the son of
Barakel, was very angry.
Now, I've always told the brothers in our
church, whenever you're angry, please don't preach.
Because the anger of man, James says, can
never work the righteousness of God.
And not only don't preach, whenever you're angry,
don't speak.
Even at home.
You can save yourself from hundreds of sins
if you follow this simple rule.
But Elihu did not have that wisdom.
He was angry and he spoke.
And he was angry in a self-righteous
way.
Because he said, Job refused to admit that
he had sinned against God.
See, basically, all these people were saying was
that you've sinned, your children have sinned.
God knows you're all a crook, Zophar says.
But none of these people really understood why
God, even Elihu didn't understand.
Elihu says some wonderful things about God, but
he couldn't explain to Job.
Like if Paul was there, Paul could have
explained after going through that experience.
Today we can explain, but Elihu didn't have
that experience.
There are many preachers today who have no
experience.
What they are saying is correct.
Elihu is a good man and you can
be a good person.
But if you don't have experience of trial
and suffering, your ministry will be very shallow.
That's what we learned from Elihu's life.
Chapter 32, verse, he was angry.
He was also not only angry with Job.
Verse 3, he was also angry with Job's
three friends.
Because they had condemned God by their inability.
And he thought, well, I can answer these
fellows.
And he was young.
He says in verse 6, I'm young and
you're old, so I held back.
He's much better than the other three.
But he also does not have the answer.
Chapter 34, verse 7.
He says, has there ever been a man
as arrogant as Job?
In other words, he says from the time
of Adam.
Has there ever been a man on the
face of the earth so proud as Job?
What did God say about Job?
There's no man like him on the face
of the earth, such a perfect, blameless, upright
man.
Do you see how completely out of fellowship
with God Elihu is?
That Elihu's opinion of Job is exactly the
opposite of God's.
The greatest Bible scholars of Jesus' time.
The Pharisees, Annas, Caiaphas, the great Bible scholars.
They thought he was the prince of devils.
Unlearned people like Peter said, thou art the
Christ, the son of the living God.
And Jesus said, you are blessed.
It's not your human cleverness that taught you.
It's not all your Bible study that taught
you.
My father in heaven has opened your eyes
to see the truth.
So you see, throughout the ages, you find
a lot of people who are very clever,
have sometimes got exactly the opposite opinion of
a godly man that God has.
They think because of their knowledge, they are
right.
They are totally wrong.
Don't be discouraged if people who are great
Bible scholars think you're wrong.
The history of the Bible and the history
of Christianity teaches that's always been the case.
It's only a godly man who can assess
your true value.
And imagine, Elihu, the best of these four
preachers, says, has there ever been a man
who was so proud as Job?
What a statement to make about the godliest
man of his generation.
That shows how blind even good people can
be, who understand everything about God correctly.
And he also goes on to say in
chapter 36 and verse 11, he's a prosperity
preacher too.
If people listen to God and obey him,
they'll be blessed with prosperity throughout their lives.
And all their lives will be pleasant with
health.
It's health and wealth.
But if they refuse to listen to God,
they will perish in battle and die.
It's the same message we hear today from
the false preachers.
And he says in verse 26, look, God
is exalted beyond what we can understand.
Some things he says are right.
Chapter 37, he finally says in verse 23
and 24, we cannot imagine the power of
the almighty.
Yet he is so just and merciful that
he does not oppress us.
No wonder people everywhere fear him.
People who are truly wise will show him
reverence.
Correct statement, but a misunderstanding of Job's condition.
What is Job's reply to Elihu?
Nothing.
Then God replies to Job.
And when God speaks to Job, he doesn't
talk about his suffering.
He doesn't say anything like that.
And Job is convicted.
What a lesson for us to learn.
God says, my ways are not your ways.
You try to go and convict a man
of his sin like some self-appointed prophet,
nothing happens.
God in his great mercy and compassion speaks
in quite another way.
And the man is so thoroughly convicted of
sin, that he says, oh God, I'm corrupt,
I'm nothing.
How did Job change?
Now this is an example.
If you come to the last chapters of
Job, you see that what God is basically
telling Job is, if you can't understand all
these wonders in creation, how can you understand
spiritual principles?
If you can't understand even creation, how can
you understand spiritual principles which are deeper than
creation?
That's a very good answer.
Scientists are still trying to figure out the
mysteries of the universe.
We cannot understand spiritual truths except God revealing
it to us.
So the first thing we need is to
humble ourselves.
And then the second thing God tells Job
in all these chapters is, if I can
control the lightning, I don't have time to
show you all these verses, but you can
read from chapter 38 to 41.
If I can control the lightning, and I
can even control all the wild animals, you
think I can't control that lightning that struck
the house, that struck those animals that were
killed?
You think I can't control the storm that
struck the house where your children died?
You think I can't control the Sabians who
came and destroyed your property?
You think I can't do that?
That's what God is trying to say.
Think of creation.
Think of what I have done.
I control all these things.
And he says in chapter 41 verse 9
to 11, if you can't stand even in
front of a crocodile that I have created,
you think you can stand before me?
God is very down to earth.
You see a crocodile and you turn and
run.
And he says that, who will confront me?
41.11 No one dares disturb the crocodile.
41.10 And if you don't dare disturb
the crocodile, how do you think you can
stand before me?
I who created that crocodile?
Nobody here will argue in front of a
crocodile, will you?
Your argument won't last very long, if you
try to argue with a crocodile.
And God says you won't stand in front
of a crocodile and you think you can
just come and stand before me?
That's all he says.
He doesn't talk to him about his sin
or his children's sins or anything.
He just shows him his greatness.
And Job is humbled.
Job says, the Lord says in chapter 40
verse 2, you still want to argue with
the Almighty?
What is Job's reply now to God?
Lord, I am nothing.
I want to tell you something from the
first book of Inspired Scripture.
God's purpose is to bring us down to
zero.
Whoever God uses, he has to first reduce
to nothing.
And when you recognize that you are nothing,
Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, who
is Paul and who is Apollos?
I planted, Apollos watered.
He who plants is nothing, he who waters
is nothing.
The man who does evangelism is zero, the
man who does Bible teaching is zero.
Paul says I did the evangelism, Apollos did
the Bible teaching.
Who is going to get the credit?
God.
You do the evangelism, somebody else does the
Bible teaching.
Who gets the credit?
There are Christians fighting about it today.
Why are they fighting?
Because they are not zeros.
I brought that soul.
You are stealing a sheep from my church.
My church?
There is a church of Jesus Christ.
Which is this?
Your church.
Your church, everybody must be stolen and taken
away and put in the church of Jesus
Christ.
We must destroy your church.
This is going on.
Paul says who is Paul, who is Apollos?
I planted, somebody else watered.
I am nothing, he is nothing.
God is everything.
That point, many many servants of God have
not come to.
That was the secret of Paul's life.
He was a zero till the end of
his life.
He said I am nothing.
And Job, what a long time he took
to come to that place where he said
I am insignificant.
I am nothing.
And he said I will put my hand
over my mouth.
I will never again speak to justify myself.
I am good for nothing.
I have already said too much.
I have nothing to say.
And thereafter, I believe for the rest of
his life, Job became like James says, a
man who was quick to hear and slow
to speak.
That long speech that he gave from chapter
26 to chapter 31, six chapters, is one
of the longest messages in the whole, longest
sermons in the whole Bible almost.
It's all self-justification.
I did this, I cared for the widow,
I cared for the poor, I helped the
blind.
Nobody and the people respected me in the
streets and when I spoke, nobody else spoke
after that.
My words were so blessed.
All this.
He was conscious of all these things.
And he never realized the pride there was
in his righteousness.
Now this man has become zero.
As a result of whose preaching?
Was it Eliphaz or Bildad?
Was it the man who saw visions and
dreams and who gave all that?
Was it the man who held to his
traditions?
Was it the man who was a self
-appointed censor?
Was it the man who was so correct
in what he said?
None of these people could help him.
All these four types of preachers can't help
anybody.
But God did.
So we can say there are five types
of preachers here.
The fifth one was God.
Whom shall we imitate?
Be followers of God.
Be imitators of God.
It says in 1 Corinthians 11.
Learn something.
Job.
All those people directly attacked Job for his
sin.
God never said a word about that.
God's way is different.
He drew Job to become a true worshipper.
She showed him his fantastic sovereignty and his
almighty power.
And I believe that's what the Christian church
needs to demonstrate to an unbelieving generation.
That our God is almighty.
He is sovereign.
I'm not afraid of you people.
I'm not afraid of you religious fundamentalists who
try to do things to me.
Not a hair on my head can be
touched without my heavenly father's permission.
I'm a servant of almighty God.
John Wesley once said, I have been sent
by God to do a work and I
am immortal until my life's work is done.
That is how a man who lives before
God speaks.
The number of people who tried to kill
John Wesley they couldn't kill him.
Because God had a plan for his life.
Be a man of God.
Be a woman of God.
One who lives before God's face.
One who has God's compassion.
One who is not ready to criticize.
One who does not pass judgments without knowing
the true facts.
And even after you know the true facts
you say there may be still more which
I don't know.
Humble yourself and say, Lord I don't know.
I'm nothing.
I'll put my hand on my mouth.
And God and then Job says in chapter
42 the Lord says Job says verse 5
Lord I had heard about you before with
my ears but now I have seen you
with my own eyes.
See there's a lot of difference between hearing
about God and seeing him with our own
eyes spiritually.
Oh Lord.
You know when John saw Jesus in the
Isle of Patmos he fell and worshipped.
And Job fell down and worshipped.
And he says I take back everything I
said.
I take back everything I said.
Verse 6, 42, 6.
And I sit in dust and ashes and
I repent.
What a wonderful place God's brief message brought
Job to which all those preachers could not
do.
Shall I tell you why?
And now you understand the reason.
If you want an effective ministry God loved
Job.
Those other people did not love Job.
If you love people from your heart God
will give you the right words for them.
If you don't love them you only want
to criticize them, find fault with them, accuse
them, you are jealous of them.
However much of the Bible you know God
will not give you the right words to
bless them.
That was the difference.
God loved Job.
Love the people you serve and God will
give you words to speak to them.
Like I have often said, if you want
to be a prophet of God you must
have two things in your heart.
One, you must have God's word in your
heart and second, you must have God's people
on your heart.
Then He will give you a word for
them.
Otherwise He will not.
And then the Lord said to Job, the
Lord said to these other people, I am
angry with you, verse 7.
Now you got to offer a sacrifice and
ask my servant Job to pray for you.
And ask my servant Job to offer a
burnt offering for you.
He is going to be your mediator, this
man whom you accused.
The Lord says to one of the churches
in Revelation, these people who have accused you,
I will make them come down and kneel
before you and acknowledge that I have loved
you.
That's what happens here.
And He says, if Job prays for you
I will accept his prayer on your behalf
and then I won't treat you as you
fellows deserve to be treated because you have
not said about me the right thing as
Job said.
Job said many things angrily but finally he
took back everything he said and what was
left was all the good things.
And so Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar went to
Job and said, brother we are really sorry
we had this wrong attitude towards you.
You see, I don't know whether they repented
or not, they didn't want judgment.
Anyway, and Job prayed for his friends, verse
10, and as soon as he prayed for
his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes too.
Pray for these people who are supposed to
be your friends, who may be your enemies,
pray for them.
That's a godly man.
He learns how to pray for those who
persecute him, those who are jealous of him,
and when you do that, it says the
Lord blessed him double.
You want the Lord to bless you double?
Pray for those who persecute you.
Love those who are your enemies.
Do good to those who harm you.
That's the way.
I just want to point out to you
one or two things in the book of
Job in conclusion that Job said.
In chapter 13 verse 15, he said even
if God slays me, I will trust him.
Wonderful words.
And in chapter 19 and verse 25, he
says I know that my redeemer lives remember,
this is 2000 years before Christ with no
bible written.
I know that my redeemer lives and he
will stand on the earth at the last
day.
Imagine, Job was a prophet speaking about the
second coming of Christ.
And after my body has decayed, he's speaking
about the resurrection.
I, in my body, I will see God.
Today when people die, they don't have a
body in heaven.
This is talking about the resurrection.
In my body, I will see God.
I will see him for myself.
I will see him with my own eyes.
Chapter 23 and verse 10.
In the living bible, it's written like this.
He knows every detail of what is happening
to me.
What tremendous faith.
He knows every detail of what is happening
to me.
He knows the way I'm taking.
He knows every detail of this way.
These are some of the tremendous confessions that
Job made.
And I believe that these are the things
that remain.
All the bad things are wiped out from
God's record because Job took it all back.
And these are the things that remain.
And I hope that what we have studied
here will help us to follow the example
of this wonderful man and the way that
he lived in a time without all the
facilities and encouragement that we have in our
day.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for the wonderful
example of this man who did not have
even 1% of the opportunities and facilities
that we have today.
It shows that we can rise a hundred
times higher and if we haven't done so,
it's because of our lack of faith, our
lack of diligence and our lack of seriousness
of which we want to deeply repent.
Bring us down quickly to that zero point
from which you can bless us double.
We pray in Jesus' name.
Amen.