Episode Transcript
Good morning.
Happy Resurrection Sunday.
I would have resurrected from my bed this morning, but you gotta lie down first before you can do that.
Job chapter four is where we'll start this morning.
For the last few weeks, we've listened to Job and what he said regarding his circumstances And his thoughts were deep.
His mind was sorely affected by everything he'd been through.
And if you'll remember, he said all of these things within the hearing of his three friends, Eliphaz and Zophar and Bildad And so let's go right to verse 1 of this new chapter.
Job chapter 4, verse 1.
Then Eliphaz the Timenite answered and said, That is, he answered the statements Job made.
Now it's not stated here, so this is I offer you this uh maybe an educated opinion is what you can call it.
But it's likely that Eliphaz was the eldest of the three friends.
And the reason I say that is it would have been, potentially would have been customary To allow the eldest to speak first and then down the list.
So I'm not holding to that.
But whether he was the eldest or not, he spoke up first, that is clear.
And the verse says he answered.
Now, speaking doesn't require a second person in the conversation, but answering does So you don't have a monologue here, you have a conversation.
And I don't know that Job wanted a conversation.
But Eliphaz made it happen.
So look in verse 2 at what he said.
He said, if we essay to commune with thee.
Wilt thou be grieved?
Now this is Eliphaz to Job.
Another translation reads it this way.
If one attempts a word with you, will you become weary?
And so by this question, Eliphaz was asking to have he was asking permission to have a word with Job.
And he'd obviously realized that prior to this day that he chose to speak, trying to speak with Job would have grieved him.
It would have wearied Job.
But now Eliphaz supposes Maybe it would be worth it to have a word with him to say something at this time.
Now we don't have the benefit of seeing any gestures or any facial expressions that may have been present.
Any sign that Job made toward Eliphaz, like a nod or a motion with his hand to go ahead and speak, we don't know.
And Eliphaz continues, he said, but who can withhold himself from speaking And by this time, a multitude of words had no doubt swelled up within Eliphaz, and he has to get it out.
And so he asks this rhetorical question of a friend, but we don't know that it was answered, a friend with whom he has sat for seven days.
So he didn't just drop by and see a man grieving and say, oh, I know what his problem is.
I'll just say some words to him and he'll be fine.
He sat with him for seven days.
And if you go back to when we first met Job's three friends, we learned that not only did they sit with him for seven days, they sat with him in silence.
For seven days.
They sat with him in silence upon the ashes.
Or at least they were near enough where Job was sitting on the ashes because the Bible said they sat with him.
And I explained to you at least in one lesson, but maybe earlier in our study of Job, how sometimes your silent presence is often the best thing you can offer a grieving person.
Just be there for them.
You don't always have to be talking Now that may be a culture shock for some, but it is okay.
Now, let's look here at another aspect of their silence.
During those days, they weren't just being quiet.
They were also listening.
Job spoke, and they listened.
The most important part of good communication is listening.
That runs contrary to what many think They think, well, as long as I'm talking, I'm a good communicator, and that's not always the case.
In fact, sometimes that makes you a terrible communicator.
And some people forget about that part.
They love to talk, but they're terrible listeners.
And that's not helpful.
If someone shares a burden with you and your answer when they get through talking is, yeah, well one time I had something happen to me.
Blah blah blah.
You're not being a good communicator.
You're being what I call a story topper.
And this doesn't come automatically.
You have to try.
This takes some effort Because we naturally want to respond when somebody says something.
We want to throw the ball back and keep this conversation going.
But that may not be what they want.
When someone tells you something, if you don't know how to do this already, and young people, this is a well this is a treasured gift if you can learn it.
When someone tells you something, ask them a follow-up question about what they just told you.
Because that shows that you're really interested in what they said.
Listen to people in order to understand what they are saying rather than just waiting for your turn to talk.
Show a genuine interest in their burdens.
If Eliphaz can wait for seven days before he starts talking, you can wait for seven minutes When I was in college, I was a psychology major, and that's what my degree is in.
So several of my classes were in counseling psychology.
And I learned what is called active listening.
And active listening involves not only hearing what the other person says, but rephrasing it back to him.
So he knows you understand because that's what the most important thing is at that time.
Now let me give you girls and boys something to think about if you're anybody who's looking for a wife or a husband.
When it comes time for you to select a possible spouse, try this little experiment.
This will save you a lot of heartache and time.
When you begin to tell that person something about yourself, that may take you a few minutes.
And if that person's response is with a story about himself, Make that your last date.
He's not interested in you.
That's a selfish person.
And by the same token.
When your intended, when your date tells you about something, tells you something about himself or herself, show some genuine interest in what That other person is saying.
This is also good for marriage, by the way.
So if you're already married, try that one too.
Ask the follow-up questions.
Don't be selfish and don't interrupt.
There's going to be a time for you to speak And remember Eliphaz, the patient one.
In fact, all three of his friends were patient.
All three of Job's friends were patient.
Seek to understand rather than to be understood, and that was free for you.
Now let's look back in Eliphaz in verse 3 as he continues talking to Job.
He said, Behold, thou hast instructed many.
Now Job was quite a teacher And by instructing, we've studied this word before in the Proverbs.
It means chastising, and that's one aspect of instructing is chastising so that somebody learns something.
But Job either he chastised many, he taught them, he instructed them.
It's all from the same Hebrew word.
He reproved them.
That's all part of teaching.
Instruction is not just speaking words to someone.
It's making sure that they learn them and abide by them.
Now I've been around lecturers who cannot read a room, instructors who cannot read the room.
They don't look out there and see the frowns on people's brows when they're covering some subject.
They don't stop and take the time to say Let me go over this again.
I'm not real sure everybody understands this.
It just breeze right on.
I saw that in college and I thought, well.
If I'm going to learn this, it's going to be on me.
I thought that's what I paid tuition for, to have good instruction.
And I had a bunch of good instruction, but I had some that wasn't any good, and perhaps you have too.
So Job has instructed many and by doing so he wasn't just speaking words to them he was making sure they learned and making sure they abode in the things they learn.
It's what we do with our children.
We tell them to do something, we show them how to do it, and then we correct them when they either don't do what we showed them or they do it wrong.
And Eliphaz begins here with what seems to be a compliment of Job.
When you're known as a teacher of many.
You're a valuable person to the ones whom you've taught.
If I did a survey of the people in here and said, who's somebody in your life besides your parents?
who really left a good mark on you, influenced you.
Many of you might say, well, I had a particular teacher who took interest in me when I was in grade school.
Or I had a coach in junior high or high school who really loved his team and wanted the best for them, taught us how to be fine young men.
And so somebody who's a teacher of many teaches many more than the ones they taught, because those people can go out and teach many and there's quite a an effect a multiplicative a multiplicative effect I'll say that better next week He said, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands.
So not only was Job a teacher, an instructor of many, but he was an encourager.
In fact, the word for strengthened here is translated several times as the word encouraged.
In his final speech to the children of Israel, Moses set forth Joshua as the one who would lead them into the promised land.
Remember, God killed Moses before letting he didn't let him go into the promised land because he smote the rock twice and uh instead of speaking to it.
So he he paid the price.
And Joshua would be the one who would lead them into the promised land.
This was a large undertaking, and it was going to involve going to a new land and conquering formidable enemies.
Listen to what Joshua commanded the people in Deuteronomy 1, verse 38.
Deuteronomy 1, verse 38.
But Joshua, the son of nun, which standeth before thee, he shall go in thither.
Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it So that word encouraged there is the same as our word strengthened in Job 4.
God's word shows us something about encouragement.
We can be encouragers.
When you encourage people, you give them strength.
Remember, those two words are synonymous, mean the same thing.
Encouraging, strengthening.
When my mother was in the hospital last year, she was in bad shape.
And she lost a lot of weight and didn't have much of an appetite.
And I didn't think she was going to make it.
And I'm so thankful that she pulled through.
God was good to her, and she knows it too.
She's very thankful.
But what she needed physically during that time is to be strengthened.
And so when I would sit with her in the hospital or in the rehab center or the nursing home, I gently try to get her to eat food.
Just any, I didn't care what it was.
If she wanted straight sugar, I'd have given it to her.
And I felt like every bite she took would be like receiving a little bit of strength And when we encourage people, think of it as giving them a little bite of food for their strength.
Not physical food, but another kind.
And God's word not only teaches us that we can strengthen people, but he also teaches us where we receive that strength. by which we're able to strengthen people.
In 1 Samuel chapter 30, 1 Samuel chapter 30, The children of Israel were fit to be tied because of what the Amalekites had done to them.
I'm going to read verse 6 of that chapter.
It says, and David was greatly distressed, for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved.
Every man for his sons and for his daughters.
But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.
Now David didn't have at that time somebody to encourage him.
Now that's too bad, isn't it?
He wasn't waiting on some man to come by and encourage him He encouraged himself in the Lord his God.
That's where he received his encouragement.
None of the children of Israel at that time were trying to strengthen David.
There was not an encourager to come by and say, David, it's going to be all right.
You just hang in there and do what the Lord tells you.
He's going to deliver us.
No, David had to seek the Lord himself.
And we should.
But the children of Israel not only did not want to strengthen David, they wanted to kill him.
You know, it's nice when we receive encouragement from other people.
It really is.
But don't count on that always being the case Because you may find yourself, and some of you probably already have, you may find yourself in a situation where it seems like nobody is encouraging you.
And when it's not the case, when people aren't there to encourage you, or they are there but they don't encourage you.
And it's not always intentional.
Some people just say the wrong stuff.
Then remember where David went for his encouragement.
The Lord his God strengthened him.
And he is the one who strengthens us, and he does it through his word.
You don't have some secret meeting with God where you're listening for a voice.
You go straight to his word.
And when Job strengthened the people, he encouraged them And Eliphaz testified to him about that.
And because of what God said about Job in chapter 1, We know that when Job strengthened people, he did it with biblical principles.
He didn't have his own philosophy.
He was the best man on the earth.
And when we try to encourage people who are going through a rough time or having some kind of problem, We don't need to see what the latest influencer is saying about it.
We don't need to see what the pop psychologists say on the short videos, do this, do that.
We need to find the solution to the problem in the Bible.
Let that person read it.
Explain it to them.
And if he doesn't understand, you know, soup kitchens and food pantries exist in order to feed people, to strengthen people.
And they do it with earthly food.
And one of the missions of the church is to go and teach all nations.
And that means we teach them God's word so they'll be saved.
And another mission of the church is to teach the saints God's word.
And when you have God's word, whether you're teaching the lost or you're teaching the saints, you have what you need to strengthen other people.
You have everything you need right there.
Don't think, well, I know I've got my Bible, but I'm going to need something else.
No, you don't.
The answer is right here.
And Job Had not only all these earthly possessions that he could use to strengthen others, because he had a lot.
He had a lot of livestock and he had the servants, he had all those things.
But more importantly And even without all those things, he had God's word.
Look back in verse 4.
Eliphaz continues, speaking to Job, thy words have upholden him that was falling.
And thou hast strengthened the feeble knees.
Another translation has it this way.
Your words have helped the one who was stumbling to stand, and you have strengthened feeble knees.
Now, what do we normally give a person who is unable to stand?
A rollator, right?
That's right. or a walker, a cane, or uh if if they can't, that allows them to support their own weight some and the the device to be of help.
But sometimes people can't stand it also.
We give them a wheelchair so they can sit.
But can you imagine being able to take a lame person And by speaking to him, give him enough strength to keep him from falling when he stands.
And that's the image here of Job's words, is that people who were unable to stand on their own, whether it was physically or not.
The words he spoke strengthened them so they could.
In Luke chapter 7, we read where John the Baptist had sent two of his disciples to Jesus to find out if Jesus was the Christ, if he was the one that they should be looking for, or should they look for another.
And in verse 22, this is Luke 7, 22, Jesus answered those disciples.
And he said, then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way.
And tell John what things ye have seen and heard, how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised To the poor the gospel is preached.
Now what did the lame need?
They needed strength, didn't they?
And we read several places in the New Testament where Jesus spoke and the lame received their strength and they walked again.
In Acts chapter 3, the apostles continued with this gift of healing the Lord gave them.
And I want to read this passage which begins in verse 1, and I'll read through verse 9.
So it's Acts chapter 3, verses 1 through 9, if you're writing that down.
Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour, and a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried. whom they lay daily at the gate of the temple, which is called beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple.
Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms.
Now those are gifts.
That's money he's asking for.
And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John said, Look on us.
And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them.
Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none.
But such as I have, give I thee.
In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.
And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up And listen to this.
And immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.
And he leaping up stood and walked and entered with them into the temple, walking and leaping and praising God.
And all the people saw him walking and praising God.
Now this was a lame man who needed to be strengthened.
He was asking for money.
And that's probably because he was poor, being that he was disabled and not able to work, most likely.
But money would not give him the strength to stand.
And Peter and John confirmed that when they saw him and said, we don't have any silver or gold to give you, but we still have something for you.
We have something that can help you.
And so for this apostolic age and to those apostles, God had given the gifts of healing Now I'll reread part of the passage that ties in with our text in Job.
It was, immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.
You know, today, and it's been this way as long as I can remember, there are a bunch of self-proclaimed faith healers And they're actually fake healers.
And I wish I could say that like Donald Trump.
Man, that would be good, but I can't do it.
I've got way too much redneck in me, so I'll just do this and tell you there are some fake healers out there They strengthen nobody except themselves.
They take money from the sick and the elderly and a lot of people who are just deceived.
They're not they're not strong people, and some of them are Christians.
They're just not very strong Christians because they can't see through these deceivers.
If Oral Roberts could have truly healed people Then why was there a hospital named after him?
Why couldn't he have gone to every hospital and clinic in in Tulsa, Oklahoma and emptied it out just by laying hands on people?
That's because he was a fake.
And yes, God can heal anyone he wants by any means he decides.
We don't doubt God can heal.
That's never been the case But this physical healing in the Bible is supposed to be a reminder and a picture of what the gospel does.
And what the Word of God as a whole does for sinners and for saints.
It's a healing balm.
And from the Old Testament through Jesus' earthly ministry By his ministry through his apostles, and now by his ministry through through the church, people are strengthened by God's word.
We don't have what you call healing meetings in here.
We pray for people.
And we know that even in our with our fervent prayers, God chooses not to bring physical healing to some people, but to give them grace.
He did that with the Apostle Paul.
Paul had three prayer meetings about his thorn in the flesh, and God said, No, no, and no.
My grace is sufficient for you.
For in your weakness I'm made strong.
So I'll read let me read to you from Luke chapter 22 verses 31 through 32.
And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, now that's Peter, Simon, Peter, behold, Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat.
But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not, and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.
By preaching God's word, Peter strengthened the brethren.
This is how we do it.
This is how Job did it.
It's how he strengthened the feeble hands and upheld him that was falling.
Sure, he probably gave away more food than we could imagine.
He probably helped a lot of poor people who were physically in need of sustenance.
But he strengthened a lot of people by his character, by being a godly man, and by Using godly principles, and we've already heard him speak about them, but we're going to hear him speak about things, and you'll think, wow, it sounds like he's read the book of Revelation.
It's pretty impressive.
I want to, by the way, speaking of the encouragement and the strengthening here, I want to use this passage, this time to express my gratitude for all the people who have encouraged me over the years.
I've had some really rough patches in the ministry, not really here.
The one anything we've had here over the last 14 years has been like that.
I've been through some rough patches in the ministry, and so has our pastor.
And I won't go into them, but I will tell you that The encouragement that I received from a handful of Christians along the way meant the world to me.
And there weren't many of them, by the way.
But the ones who were there were like nuggets of gold.
And spiritually speaking, during those times, my hands were feeble.
And they receive strength through the encouragement of the people.
And the strength that I received from God's word was evident as well.
That's what kept me going.
And if you're an encourager, and some of you have been to me as well, in fact all of you are.
When you come in here, you may say, Well, I just don't have the gift of encouragement.
I don't think about that stuff.
You just sitting in that chair.
That's good enough for me.
That's encouraging that somebody would take the time out of their Sunday morning and instead of hanging around in the bed, just get up. and come in here or or tune in instead of death scrolling on Facebook, land on the Central Baptist Church Internet campus and Study God's word with us.
That's encouraging to me.
And if you are an encourager, you have a critical role in God's kingdom work.
You're a strengthener.
And you might be like the Old Testament man named Her.
You know there were two men, Aaron and Hur.
Aaron was Moses' brother.
And during the battle with the Amalekites.
When old Moses' hand would drop down, the children of Israel would start losing to the Amalekites.
And when his hands would be raised up, they would prevail.
And so Aaron and her saw a need, and I'm focusing specifically on her.
And his mission, his ministry was to hold up one of the hands. of Moses.
Not to be Moses, not to take Moses' place, but to hold up one of his hands.
That was his role.
And all Her did was focus on giving his physical strength to Moses, whose strength was diminishing And that encouragement helped Israel beat the Amalekites.
And her is never mentioned again in the Bible, not by name.
You just don't see anything else about him.
But God knows him.
And the rewards that he has are great because of his work of encouragement, strengthening.
That's what he did.
And so are Jobs.
Now let's look back in our text in Job chapter 4 and verse 5.
Eliphaz continues, but now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest.
Now when he says it is come upon thee, he's talking about the instruction.
He said, Job, you've instructed many.
Now you're getting instructed.
You've chastised many.
Now you're being chastised.
And I believe chastisement in particular is what Eliphaz is saying here that's happening to Job.
And the word faintest in this verse is from the same Hebrew word as grieved back up in verse 2.
And so this is the accusation from Eliphaz.
Job, you were an instructor of many.
Which included having to chastise them.
Now it's happening to you, and you're grieved by it?
You're wearied by it And this is where Eliphaz makes a dangerous assumption about Job.
He's inferring that Job's terrible circumstances were the result of Job being chastened.
So that's what this is.
This is chastening.
And based upon that false premise, because that's not what it is, we have we've got the goods on this.
We've already read what was going on in the first few chapters And based upon that false premise, Eliphaz is essentially labeling Job a hypocrite for fainting or being grieved at this chastisement, at this instruction Now the writer of Hebrews wrote this in Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 5.
Hebrews 12 and verse 5.
And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children.
My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him.
So this principle is true throughout the Bible.
God taught the children of Israel to endure chastening as a nation.
He taught them to chasten their children for their misbehavior.
And he taught those who are chastened to patiently accept it.
And Eliphaz believes Job here is acting contrary to the scripture by fainting when he is chastened.
Boy, that turned for the worse in a hurry, didn't it?
He was a great listener.
He told Job how important he was and how many great things he's done, and now he's criticizing him.
And we know Eliphaz is wrong because we have the inside scoop on why all these things happened to Job.
And he continues enlarging upon his assumption.
Look back in your text.
He said, It toucheth thee, and thou art troubled.
So again, the word it is speaking of the instruction that The chastisement that Job is receiving, at least in Eliphaz's opinion.
So what Eliphaz is saying Is that by the deaths of your children, the deaths of your servants and livestock And the other that was stolen away, God is chastening you.
God's instructing you.
Now what a terrible thing to say to somebody.
We don't know when God is chastening somebody.
He does.
And I don't know that the person would really know whether they're being chastened or not.
I can tell you this.
Let's say that I did something foolish.
And the Bible clearly told me what the consequences of that foolish thing were.
And if I sit around and wonder, well, is God chastening me right now for stealing?
I just got arrested and went to jail for stealing.
Is God chastening me for stealing?
Listen, I violated a biblical principle.
Yes, I'm being chastened for it.
But there are other things that are less clear.
And the the worst thing you could ever say to somebody who's lost children is, well, that's God chastening you.
What a horrible thing to say.
You remember the young man who was born blind, and Jesus, the disciples, came to him and said, Who did sin, this man or his parents?
And Jesus said, neither.
Now Jesus wasn't saying that they weren't sinners.
He was saying that sin didn't cause this.
The reason this young man is blind is I'm about to be glorified.
God is going to be glorified when I heal this young man.
So Ilafaz is uh is out of line here, but still we learn from it.
And It's not that God has not done some of these things before and after Job's life, but it's not the case here.
Something has touched Job.
But that something is Satan, and we know that.
We read that.
It's not God.
God has simply allowed Satan. to do this in order to demonstrate something greater that we see at the end of the book of Job.
He said, It toucheth thee and thou art troubled.
So let's look at and thou art troubled.
Now this pertains to Job's reaction to this supposed chastening from God.
And Elifaz's point here is that God's instruction, his chastening has touched Job, and Job should not be troubled by it.
He should patiently accept it.
And again, we draw from Hebrews 12, verse 11, to answer this very statement Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous.
Nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised Thereby.
I just hit something on my iPad and boy it just took me to the calendar.
I already know what day it is.
So, when we're chastened by the Lord, the Hebrew writer is telling us it's not an immediately joyous occasion.
In fact, it is no fun.
We don't say like God's chasten Job.
Job's not required to say, oh boy, that was that was uh fun.
That must be God's chastening.
What a joyous day it is In fact, for the present time, assuming Elifaz's assumption were true, for the present time, even if it were true.
Job has a right to feel grieved.
He doesn't, he's not expected to be joyous at that time.
And even if Eliphiles were right, he was wrong to criticize Job about grieving for fainting, which are the same thing.
And the reaction chastening causes is not immediately joy, it is grief.
However, the fruit That chastening yields is the peaceable fruit of righteousness to the ones who are exercised thereby.
That means the ones upon whom the chastening is enacted.
And chastening is God's investment for you that allows you to enjoy the fruit of righteousness.
We want God to correct our course when we get off course, and he does it.
And he does it because he loves us.
All right, we'll stop right there and pick up next week. with the next verse.
Father, thank you so much for the people who've come and for everyone who's tuned in.
Lord, every one of them are precious to us.
We thank you that they love your word and that they love each other and they love you.
And we look forward to continuing this morning with further study of your word as our pastor brings the message in a little while.
And I pray you bless our singing and our fellowship together, and that you may be glorified in your church.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
