Verse by verse teaching - Job 5:24

Well, good morning. Our time is 10 o'clock, and our text is Job chapter 5. Job chapter 5 today. And we're going to begin a new verse. And while you're turning there, or after you've turned there, if you would, turn also to 1 Corinthians chapter 8. And just mark that spot or bookmark it on your device. Job chapter 5 and also 1 Corinthians chapter 8. And we'll return to that later in the lesson, so you don't have to take a lot of time finding it then. Good to see everyone here and all the ones who've tuned in online. If it smells like okra in here, it's because I brought a bounty of okra to two who requested it. Brother Fulton asked me if I had a large garden. I said, Oh, yes, it says the vineyard of Naboth. Can't even imagine. It's nothing like Billy's when he gardens. All right, as is often the case. The new verse we'll study today builds off of the old verse or the prior verse, or even verses in this case. Last week, we studied where Eliphaz told Job that he would be in league or covenant with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field would be at peace with him. Now we're going to look at another promise that was extended to Job and therefore to us. Wednesday night, after our pastor taught in Proverbs 15:15, I shared with him how I thought the truth in that teaching was exactly what Job needed to hear. If you remember that verse, if you were here, it said, All the days of the afflicted are evil, but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast. And this continual feast in Job's day would have been these promises that Eliphaz was telling him that, hey, I know you're afflicted right now. But you're going to be in covenant with the stones of the field. You're going to have peace with the beasts of the field, and so forth. And nobody besides Jesus has ever been afflicted more than Job, as far as I could tell. After all, how many people in this world have lost all ten of their children at one time? Had all but four of their servants killed, lost their livestock to thieves, had their wife Tell them to curse God and die and suffer from boils from head to toe all in one day. If you could find somebody who's been through all of that, then I would correct what I said. But it was to this man. Eliphaz said these words of promise that we've read and that we'll continue to read. And I think it does us well from time to time because Job is such a long book, it does us well to review Job's afflictions, just to remind ourselves. What he was going through at this time, so we don't forget the one who is the human subject of this book. And now we look at another promise Eliphaz proclaimed to Job. If you'll look with me in Job 5, verse 24. He said, And thou shalt know that thy tabernacle shall be in peace. So first we'll look at the phrase, thou shalt know. Thou shalt know. Now the Hebrew word for no, K-N-O-W, in English, is the word Yada. And perhaps You've been lecturing someone, and that person's response is, I know, I know. That's telling you, hey, calm down just a little bit. I'm done hearing about it. Well, what do they mean by this? Let's consider the case of a teenager. Teenagers love when I use them for examples, especially my girls when they were teenagers. Let's consider the case of a teenager who's broken a household rule, and the parent begins to scold the teenager, saying, We have a rule in this house that you're not to open the door for a stranger. And the reason you don't open doors for strangers Is for your own safety and the safety of everyone else in this house and the safety of our belongings. But you did it anyway. And by now the teenager, who knew the rule, grows weary of the scolding and may say, Dad, I know, I know. And by saying I know, the teenager's telling her father she was quite aware of the rule. She could even recite the rule verbatim. The problem was that she didn't fully perceive the rule. She knew the words. She knew it came from dad, who is an authority figure, and that because of that, she's supposed to obey it. But she didn't perceive the rule fully. And we're looking at the word no here. Perhaps, The reason for that is that she didn't believe a stranger would actually ever enter the home or actually harm her or someone else in the house if she opened the door. Or perhaps she thought, my father will never find out that I opened the door. Well, ring cameras took care of that, didn't they? You see, the father, in wanting his teenage daughter to know this rule, wants her to be able to do more than just recite it. But to be fully acquainted with it, to fully perceive the rule and what it means and why it's there. So he takes some kind of disciplinary action if he's a good father, so the teenager will fully know the rule from that point onward. Now there are other applications of this Hebrew word translated no in the Old Testament, and we could certainly spend quite a bit of time on them. But I want to look for a moment how it's used in the New Testament and help us with our understanding. Now I asked you to mark down 1 Corinthians chapter 8, verses 1 through 3. So you can just turn there quickly. And if not, that's okay. Write it down or make a mental note. Where the Apostle Paul wrote to the church, Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth. And if any man think that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know. But if any man love God, the same is known of him. In this passage, we had three different Greek words, all translated know or knowledge or knoweth. And the word know, where it says we know, is the Greek word ido. And it means to know in the sense of perceiving. The word knowledge, where it says knowledge puffeth up, is the Greek word gnosis, g-n-o-s-i-s. Which is also translated as science. And the word known, where it says he ought to know, is Yenosko, which means to perceive or to understand. Now, these words aren't miles apart in their meanings. One comes from a different word than the other two. But I want you to see how they're used in these verses. First of all, knowledge in that passage is contrasted with Charity or love. Agape. One puffs up, the other builds up. That's a good way to remember that. Knowledge puffs up, charity builds up. That's what edifieth means: to build up. And knowledge without love is incomplete. Paul said, a man who thinks he knows something doesn't know anything like he ought to. In another place, he wrote that charity or love does not puff up. So a man who has knowledge And loves God is known or recognized by God. Now, God's not impressed with what man knows, particularly outside of his relationship with God. 1 John 4, 8 1 John 4, 8 says, He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. So, using maybe a little better understanding of the word no here, going back to our text in Job, we should be able to conclude that Job Could not fully know the truth that Eliphaz was conveying to him if he didn't love God. His knowledge would be incomplete. When you love God, you love his word. If you love God, if you're a Christian, you love God because he first loved you and gave his son to be a ransom for your sin. And so, if you love God, you love his word. If somebody says, I love God, but boy, my preacher really has to convince me to love God's word, those don't go together. I don't love his word as much as I ought to, but I certainly do love it. I want him to help me love it more. But I don't come here on Sunday mornings and say, Boy, I sure hope Brother Fulton can convince me I need to love God's word. If I didn't love God's word, I wouldn't even come here. You wouldn't either. You wouldn't tune in. At least, I hope that's the case. When you love God, you embrace the promises that are in his word. When he says, Jesus. Will come in the clouds. You don't just have that fact memorized. You know it. You perceive it. You have the love of God in you, so you believe it by faith, even when the world says that's not going to happen. That's a fairy tale. And Eliphaz is telling Job, he would know or perceive and be well acquainted with the following fact. And looking back in your text in Job, that fact is, thy tabernacle shall be in peace. Now Job could not fully know, perceive that truth if he were a lost man sitting on the ash heap. When we try to tell people about the hope that God has given us in Jesus Christ. The natural man neither receives it nor understands it. He can't know it. It's spiritually discerned, the Bible says. That's from 1 Corinthians 2, verse 14. 1 Corinthians 2, 14 Where it says, but the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know Them because they are spiritually discerned. Imagine trying to console a lost man about what lies ahead. When all he can think about is what's happening right now or what happened yesterday. That man who is lost can no more know the promises of God than a brute beast. Well, God has already testified that Job is the kind of man who can know and does know the promise about which Eliphaz told him. And that promise was, Thy tabernacle shall be in peace. What is a tabernacle? Maybe you've heard that word thrown around and you're not real certain what it means. When I was a child, I had never heard the word tabernacle. Until I read of a church or heard my grandfather describe a church called Tabernacle Baptist Church. And I thought, wow, that's a big word. He was a pastor of either Trinity Baptist Church or First Baptist Church, depending on which town he was in. And that Tabernacle Baptist Church sounded pretty fancy to me. But a tabernacle, as it's used in our text, is a dwelling place. And in the Old Testament, we first see the word tabernacle. Used in Exodus chapter 26, where God instructs Moses to build that tabernacle a certain way. and to use specific materials. In fact, that construction had to be done according to the pattern that God showed Moses in the mountain where he met with God. I'll tell you, I could teach for a long time about the tabernacle. It's one of the greatest teaching tools. To help someone understand more about the holiness of God, about the sinfulness of man. The atonement, the high priest, the sacrifices, and so forth. It's rich, rich. And so here in Exodus, we'll learn some things about the tabernacle and then apply it to Job's tabernacle, the one Eliphaz said. Would he would go to, or he would have in peace. Write down Exodus chapter 29, verses 42 through 45. Exodus 29 verses 42 through 45. These are the instructions God gave concerning the tabernacle. And the ordinances. He said, This shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord, where I will meet you. To speak thereunto thee, and there, that is at that tabernacle, there I will meet with the children of Israel. And the tabernacle shall be sanctified by my glory. And I will sanctify the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar. I will sanctify also both Aaron and his sons to minister to me in the priest's office. I will dwell, and I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God. Notice what God said he would do at that tabernacle. He said he would meet with the people, he would sanctify it. He would dwell among the people, and he would be their God. Therefore, the place where God dwelt had to be holy. More specifically, in the tabernacle, God promised to meet with the children of Israel. Through the high priest above the mercy seat in the most holy place called the Holy of Holies. That meeting was with one high priest. Who was sanctified, had to wear clean clothes, had to bring animal blood to that meeting. And God meeting with the children of Israel in that manner sanctified or made holy this meeting place. And when God met with Israel in a sanctified place, he could then dwell with them. He's not going to dwell in a dirty place, in a sanctified place. And if he dwelt with them, he would be their God. And if he was their God, then they would be his people. That tabernacle in the Old Testament was a building. In fact, it was a portable building. They'd take it down and carry it, and when God said, That's it, stop, set it up, they'd set it up. And they did that until the day the temple was built. The temple was a more permanent fixture in Jerusalem, but was also called a tabernacle. In a vision, God showed Ezekiel some things about the temple. Of course, there was a prophetic lesson taught there as well. But in Ezekiel 41, verse 1, he says this about the vision. Ezekiel 41, verse 1. Speaking of God afterward, he brought me to the temple and measured the posts six cubits broad on the one side. and six cubits broad on the other side, which was the breadth of the tabernacle. So whether the building was portable As the tabernacle or tent in the wilderness, as it's called also, or whether it was in a fixed location As the temple was there in Jerusalem, those places were where God dwelt with man, where God met with man. Now there's another kind of tabernacle. And the Apostle Paul gives us a great explanation of it in 2 Corinthians 5, verses 4 through 6. 2 Corinthians 5, verses 4 through 6. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened. Not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore, we are always confident, knowing that whilst we are at home in the body in this tabernacle, we are absent from the Lord. So, tabernacle is used of the human being. You can say the body, but the human being is a body, soul, and spirit as well. So the tabernacle in which we live is a body that can be seen. It has a soul that can know science. It has a spirit that can know God. That's what separates us from the animals, is our spirit. And Job's tabernacle was his own body and soul and spirit in that respect. And just as the Apostle Paul said, we groan in this tabernacle. He said, Our desire is to be clothed in such a way that mortality, that is the certainty of death, might be swallowed up of life. In fact, as long as we are alive in this tabernacle, we're absent from the Lord. It doesn't mean we're not saved. Because we've been saved from the penalty of sin, even as a Christian walks around in this fleshly body where we are tempted daily, hourly, to sin. The penalty of sin has already been paid for at Calvary. And we who are in Christ have that penalty paid for us. But we live in a fallen tabernacle. You know, the Garden of Eden was a dwelling place for Adam and Eve, and there God dwelt with them. So even the word tabernacle is not necessarily used there. That was where God dwelt with them. And what happened when they sinned? When they sinned, they could no longer live in the tabernacle of the garden. So they were evicted. The tabernacle of their bodies was cursed by sin, so they could not live forever. Their minds had been corrupted. And they were cut off from the source of their spiritual life. And when God shed the innocent animals' blood and put the coats of skins on them, He was showing them That a substitution, a substitutionary sacrifice would be required for God to tabernacle with them. It was a picture of Jesus, the Lamb of God. Who would take away sin, so God would tabernacle with men. Revelation chapter 21. I love how we go to Genesis and the Revelation, where it began and where it'll end. Revelation 21, verses 1 through 3, shows us the fulfillment of all things concerning the tabernacle and God's relationship with his people. In fact, you'll find it to be familiar if you remember what we read about the tabernacle and Exodus just a little bit earlier. John wrote, And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. And I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people. And God Himself shall be with them and be their God. Hey, that's what He was teaching us all the way back in the Old Testament when we were taught about the tabernacle in the wilderness. Now going back to Job, his earthly tabernacle was a mess. His body was racked with sores and pain. His mind was afflicted with sorrow. But he had a tabernacle that was no longer defiled. It was holy. It wasn't a building. He had the same undefiled tabernacle as you and I do, if you're a Christian. Ephesians chapter 2, verses 4 through 6. Ephesians 2, verses 4 through 6. But God, who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace ye are saved. And hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. My spirit, Job's spirit, Christian, your spirit, are already seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. He is the holy tabernacle in whom we dwell, and only because of Jesus Christ in us can God dwell with us. He meets with us. He dwells with us. He is our God, and we are his people. Now outside of Jesus Christ, you're simply living in a defiled worldly tabernacle. Your tabernacle is not like Job's. You have no peace if you continue to reject the Son of God and the salvation he has accomplished for you. All you have to look forward to is this earthly tabernacle continuing to deteriorate, and you die and go to the grave, and then you go to the lake of fire, and that's it. Forever and ever, cut off from God. So, as one who knows the truth of God Through the love of God, you see, Job didn't have the knowledge that puffed up. He had charity, he had love, he loved God. And as one who knows the truth of God through the love of God, it's certain that Job's tabernacle shall be in peace. His earthly house The one, now we're talking about a building here, his earthly house where his wife lived and his family lived and where he lived. Would have a temporary peace bestowed upon it, as we read later in the book. However, that short-lived peace is not the one That fulfills the promise of peace in the tabernacle. Even when God brings earthly peace to a man. Or to a nation, to a man's house. Sin brings turmoil and strife. I would love to have peace always in my house. But I know that's not a realistic end goal for me to say, as long as I have peace in my own house, in this Address where I live. Because if that's the case, if that's where my hope is, then I should surely be disappointed if disharmony came to it. If strife came, and should I long for peace in the tabernacle that is my body, I'm talking about through good health. Or even prosperity of some sort financially, then I've already been let down. I share with my wife, don't share everything with y'all, but about the various health conditions that come along the way. And I told her this morning, I said, You know, I was thinking about one, and it took me about three seconds to think about my sister right here, who's got far more challenges than I do. And boy, that'll improve your attitude, by the way. If you read Job, if you think, man, I've got it rough, read Job. That'll improve your attitude. And should I long for peace in the tabernacle of my mind, then I'll soon know of forgetfulness. Absent-mindedness, dementia, and perhaps worse. So it's not in those things that I have hope for peace. And although Eliphaz may have been encouraging Job that there would be earthly peace in his tabernacle, that his body would be healed, his house would be restored to peace. I believe he was more likely encouraging him about a time when the tabernacle of God will be with men. When God will wipe away all tears, when there shall be no more death, neither crying. Or pain because those things will have passed away. Now look back in the second part of Job 5:24. Where he says to Job, And thou shalt visit thy habitation. Now, a habitation is a dwelling place, much like a tabernacle. In the Texas Penal Code, that's one of the sections where the crimes are listed. It's not where all of them are, but it's where a sufficient number of Crimes against property, crimes against person, and so forth are listed. A person's residence is referred to as a habitation. Burglary of a habitation is the name of the offense committed when someone illegally enters your house. And has the intent to commit a theft or an assault or some felony, and may, in fact, commit that very thing. Habitation is just a different word for dwelling place or tabernacle. Now, if a tabernacle has an earthly application and a spiritual application, so does a habitation. It doesn't take us long to get there. And again, we go to Ephesians chapter 2, where this is made plain in verses 19 through 22. Ephesians 2 verses 19 through 22, where he wrote to the church, Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints. And of the household of God. That's a habitation, isn't it? And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself. being the chief cornerstone, in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord. In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. Christians are a building of which Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone. Christians are a habitation of God, a dwelling place of God through the Holy Spirit. So, Job also has an earthly habitation and a spiritual one. He is a member of the body of Christ, a stone in the building of Christ, and therefore one who is spiritually who is built together. For a habitation of God through the Holy Spirit. Now, taking the things we learned about Job's earthly and spiritual tabernacles. We can apply those same things to his earthly and spiritual habitation because they're one and the same. It says, And when Job visits his habitation, look back in your text and shall not sin. And shall not sin. The word for sin here means to miss. And if you look at a word for sin in the New Testament, It's to miss the mark. Amartiology is a study of sin. I bet you were coming just to find that out, weren't you? It's quite a doctrine. Listen for the word instead of the word sin, listen for the word miss here in the book of Judges. Chapter 20 verses 15 through 16. Just write that down. Judges chapter 20, verses 15 through 16. And the children of Benjamin, the tribe, not the Jeremy, and the children of Benjamin were numbered at that time out of the cities twenty and six thousand men that drew sword. Besides the inhabitants of Gibeea, which were numbered seven hundred chosen men. Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men left-handed Everyone could sling stones at a hair breadth and not miss. Now, miss, that's the word also translated sin most other times here in the Old Testament. And that's the meaning of the word sin to miss. It's easily understood, I think, when we read from a New Testament verse as well that's probably very familiar to you, Romans 3, verse 23. Where Paul said, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And that Greek word for come short means to lack or to be behind. Now this is a visual image for you. When a young man tries to shoot an arrow at a target. Now, what are his intentions, do you think? Do you think he just wants to get it halfway there? No, he not only wants to hit the target, he would like to hit the bullseye. Anything outside the bull's eye is unacceptable to him if he's trying to become an archer. Now, his intentions may be pure. He may use a hundred percent of his strength, but because he's not an accomplished archer, the arrow comes short of its target. Now that also describes a man's effort to keep the law and live a perfect life. We are an unequipped archer. We have sin in our bodies. And keeping in mind that sinning is missing or coming short. Let's see how that may apply to what Eliphaz said about Job when he visits his habitation. He said, and shall not sin. Remember, Eliphaz has been under the assumption that Job's current afflictions were the result of some kind of sin Job committed. And we know because of what we learned early in the book, that's not the case. Not that Job wasn't a sinner, but that wasn't why these things occurred. So it would follow. That Eliphaz would suggest there would be a future time in which Job would go back home. And not sin. And at present, he's not home, meaning in his house. He's on an ash heap, somewhere out in a field, perhaps. And while there will be a time during which Job will return to his habitation, It would be foolish to say he would never again sin in his own home, never commit another sin. He knows better than to believe that. And surely Eliphaz also knows that a man cannot live out his days free from committing sins. We still live in this fleshly body. So there must be a habitation to which Job will go and not sin, not miss the mark. And we've already read what that habitation of God is. It's the habitation of God through the Spirit. Now, let's let the Apostle John. Teach us how this works. Read from 1 John chapter 3, verse 2. 1 John chapter 3, verse 2. Now I'll tell you, 1 John chapter 3 is worthy of a lengthy focused study. Because people have taken some verses out of context and have damaged their own assurance of salvation. Their view of the doctrine of sin and all of that, and so we certainly want to avoid that. 1 John 3:2, Beloved, now are we the sons of God. So, right off the bat, we know that John's speaking to the children of God. He said, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him. For we shall see him as he is. So John's writing to Christians. He calls them the sons of God. Which also includes the females, by the way. We studied how the phrase sons of God or sons mean offspring. And when you read this chapter, you have to read it in context, not just with what's in that chapter, but what's in the whole book. And that's why we teach verse by verse. I'm not teaching verse by verse through John, 1 John 3, teaching verse by verse through Job, But we're using this to help us understand in that verse by verse teaching. And looking further down in 1 John 3, I'll read verse 9. He said, Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin. Because he is born of God. And Jesus said, The seed is the word of God. Remember the parable of the sower: the seed is the word of God. I hadn't put this in my notes, but there was another passage that came to mind. It's in 1 Peter chapter 1, verse. I'll read verses 22 through 23. 1 Peter 1:22 through 23. Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit. Unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that you love one another with a pure heart fervently, being born again, he's speaking of these Christians, being born again, not of corruptible seed. But of incorruptible. So there's an incorruptible seed. By the word of God which liveth and abideth forever. And then skipping down to verse 25. But the word of the Lord endureth forever, and this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. So that phrase, sowing the gospel seed. Is not just a song that children sing. It's a biblical truth. Now there are several different ways because if I read this and I'm not familiar with it, I say, uh-oh. If I commit a sin after I'm converted, does that mean I'm really not a son of God? Well, that's nonsense. Remember. You have to interpret all this in context. And John said, he wrote back in 1 John 1:8, which is before this, he said, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. So let's make a couple runs at this. One view on this, and there are several views on this, by the way. But one view on this is that the phrase commit sin has to do with practicing sin, having it as a lifestyle or as a, it may be even as a preference, but practicing sin. And certainly, we are taught in several places, but particularly I think of Romans chapter 6, where Paul tells us not to yield our Members as servants to unrighteousness, but yield ourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead. And remember what Paul told the Ephesians. He said, you're seated together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. So one of the things we have to remember is that we have an Andy Shepherd who is in the flesh, who has a fleshly body. We have an Andy Shepherd who is seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, an absolute perfect union. We have both of those at the same time. Our spiritual habitation is with Jesus. Where's our physical habitation? It's right now, it's here. It's in this body. It's in this body that's dying and has everything wrong with it. And our spiritual habitation being with Jesus would necessarily lead me to believe that it's not our spiritual man who's sinning, not the one that's in Christ Jesus. It's our flesh. It's that part under Adam's curse, that which wars against our spiritual men daily. Because Romans chapter 8, verse 1 says, There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. And we're going to come back next week and try to do a little more detailed treatment of this and then learn how it applies to Job. So, I hope you'll join me. We're out of time this morning. Father, thank you so much for the good attention that each one showed here today for your word. Thank you for the online viewers, and thank you most of all for your Spirit who takes your word and teaches us. And I pray that we've learned of you today, and we ask that you give our pastor the same grace to teach the truths he studied from your word this week. And to give us listening ears and believing hearts that truth may be precious to us, that we may long for it and live by it. In Jesus' name, amen.