God's ways are revealed through the trials of Job, demonstrating His objective to refine and perfect His people. The sermon highlights Job's initial integrity and his subsequent self-centeredness, contrasting it with the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount, which Job's life mirrors in his care for the poor and his commitment to righteousness. Elihu's discourse serves as a divinely appointed mediator, guiding Job toward repentance and a deeper understanding of God's justice and mercy, ultimately revealing that God's afflictions are disciplinary and that His rewards are worth waiting for. The core lesson is that God is not a debtor to man and that His love for His children, like His love for Job, is profound, leading to a revelation of His character and a patient endurance that yields the fruit of righteousness.
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Returning again tonight to the book of Job. For five lessons together on the book of Job, we were examining the ways of Satan. Satan's ways as they are revealed in his dealing with Job. Tonight we want to begin a series in the book of Job on the ways of God. And while the book of Job gives us an insight into the ways of Satan. It also gives us an insight into the ways of God toward his people, toward his children. The book of Job is a good book dealing with the omniscience of God.
Satan is out to destroy Job. God knew Job far better than Satan did. And God is going to make this good man that he reveals to us in chapter one and two. God's going to make him better. And that's the objective of God to make a good man better. And that's what he's going to do with Job. And that's what he's going to do with his people, those who have been saved by his matchless grace. And how's God going to do this? Well, he's going to teach Job about himself. Job is a good man. He's holding his integrity. But there are things that Job doesn't know yet about himself.
But the thrilling thing about the book of Job as you examine it and as it reveals the ways of God is the way God brings Job to an end of himself and to an understanding of him. God is going to bring Job to repentance before himself. In the ninth chapter of Job, Job cries out to God. Job opens his heart and he cries for a mediator. A mediator that can lay his hand on God and lay his hand on Job and make peace between them. And this is something that we have. And those of us who know the New Testament know that we have a mediator.
First Timothy two five. There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. And tonight we're going to begin with chapter twenty nine and verse one. Job chapter twenty nine and in Job chapter twenty nine and chapter thirty and in chapter thirty one he continues his answer to his three friends but it's in chapter twenty nine and chapter thirty and chapter thirty one that we learn more about Job's personal condition and his real problem.
He has eye problem. And he has a very self-centered problem. And we're going to learn that from twenty-nine, thirty, and thirty-one. Let's just pray together. Our Father, in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we thank you that you have revealed yourself to us. We could never know you except you reveal yourself to us. And we ask you to do that in order that we may know thee. For unless we know thee, we never really know ourselves, and we won't be able to know anybody else in a way that we can be beneficial and helpful to them.
And we thank you, our Father, that you have been pleased to reveal yourself in the person of thy Son. We thank you that we don't need to say like Job did, oh, that there was a day's man between us. We have a mediator. The mediator is the God-man, the man Christ Jesus. And we thank you for him tonight. And we thank you that he has laid hold of thy throne. And that he has laid hold of humanity by becoming a man. And he has made peace through the blood of his cross. And now our Father, give us insight. In order that we might glorify thee, for Jesus' sake.
Amen. There's a word that you find in the book of Job four times. God uses it in chapter two, and it's the word integrity. In chapter two, God uses it concerning Job as he talks to Satan. He says, Job is holding to his integrity. And I mentioned when we studied the second chapter that integrity means wholeness. oneness, a unity. And it is used of Job. But the second time it's used, it's used in the same chapter by Job's wife. And here it's used in a negative sense. She said, why do you hold on to your integrity?
Why do you hold on to your oneness, your wholeness? Curse God and die. And of course she's an instrument that Satan is using. to cause Job to do what Satan said he would do. But Job then uses it two times. In chapter twenty-seven, verse five, he says, God forbid that I should justify you. Till I die, I will not remove mine integrity from me. He's not going to justify Job's three friends, for he knows that they're wrong. And that's who he speaks to. But when you come to chapter thirty-one and verse six, He uses it again.
And this time it's a quite interesting usage. He says in chapter thirty-one six, let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity. The thing is, God knew it. And he knew it in a way that Job didn't know it. And he's going, Job is going to be taught what God knows about him. One of the sweet things that you have in chapter twenty-nine, thirty and thirty-one is what I call a mirror of the Sermon on the Mount. That may sound strange at first.
It was just my reading over it and reading over it that I saw that a lot of the things that our Blessed Lord said in chapters five, six, and seven of Matthew are mirrored in the life of this man, Job. And I'm going to bring out a few of those by the grace of God. You know it's in the Sermon on the Mount where we have the blessed man of the New Testament. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God, etc., etc.
And blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and say, All men are of evil against you falsely for my sake. And I want you to notice chapter thirty-one and verse one. And when you think of thirty-one verse one, we want to think of Matthew six, verses twenty-two and twenty-three. thirty one verse one Job says I made a covenant with mine eyes why then should I think upon a maid in other words it was our Lord in the sermon on the mouth in Matthew five that says whosoever looketh upon a woman and lusteth after her have committed adultery in his heart but when you come to Matthew chapter six and in Matthew six verses We read this, the light of the body is the eye.
Job says, I made a covenant with mine eyes. I will not look. If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. That's integrity. That's integrity. The whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, the whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in me be darkness, How great is that darkness? And then think also in chapter thirty-one of verses sixteen through thirty-two. Now that's a long passage, sixteen through thirty-two. We'll just read one or two verses here, beginning in verse sixteen, where he says, If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or I have caused the eyes of the widow to fail, or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof.
For from my youth he was brought up with me, as with a father I have guided her from my mother's womb, if I have seen any perish for one of clothing or any poor without covering. In other words, he's talking about giving to the poor, caring for the poor. Look at Matthew five thirty. In Matthew chapter five and verse thirty we read this. That's not the verse I wanted my typewriter. Oh, it's verse forty. All right. I thought my typewriter made a mistake, but it was my eyes. Verse forty it says, and any man will sue thee at the law and take away thy coat.
Let him have thy cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile. Go with him too. In other words, verse forty-two, give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee. Turn not thou away. And Job could say these things concerning himself. Look back at the Beatitudes in verse seven of chapter five, where it says, Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. And in this passage in Job, Job tells how he had mercy on the poor and how he was merciful to the needy. And then in Job twenty-nine, verses fourteen and fifteen, Job twenty-nine, verses fourteen and fifteen, where we read, I put on righteousness and it closed me.
My judgment was as a robe and a diadem. I was eyes to the blind and feet. was I to the lame. In other words, Job is a mirror of that which Christ taught in the Sermon on the Mount. And it was only in my latest reading and rereading of these chapters that I saw the parallels between Matthew five, six, and seven and the book of Job. May I say something about the Sermon on the Mount? I know it's just about two years since we've gone through the Sermon on the Mount and Sunday mornings, but let me say this.
When I was a teenager, in fact, it was the afternoon that we were going to have the baccalaureate service when I was going to graduate from high school. I went to hear Dr. Lewis Barry Schaefer. President and founder of Dallas Seminary. And he announced that his subject was going to be what is Judaism. And when I looked at the announcement of the subject that he was going to take up, I asked myself the question, what is Judaism? And I didn't know. And it bothered me.
And in fact, I walked two and a half miles to listen to Dr. Schaefer. And I walked two and a half miles home. And we were getting company. And I went out the back door. But that afternoon when Dr. Schaefer spoke, he taught that the Sermon on the Mount is not for today. It's for the kingdom. And you know for years I never bothered with the Sermon on the Mount. Until one day I was studying the Epistles. and I was studying the practical portion of the epistles, especially the epistle to the Ephesians.
And I found that in the practical portion of the epistles, where the doctrine that's taught in the opening of the epistles is put into practice, I saw that these are parallel with our Lord's teaching in the Sermon on the Mount. And I lost a lot of time because I was taught that the Sermon on the Mount is not for today. Now there are some people still teach that. I could mention a famous Bible teacher who's now with the Lord who taught it. But that doesn't change a thing.
I tell you, this is a new insight into the life of this man, Job. But Job has a problem that only God can reveal to Job. And Job is a near-sighted man. He sees himself as all right. To Job and Job's eyes, Job is all right. Job has a real problem that J. Vernon McGee called perpendicular Iedus. That's what he called it. And... what I've done not in this Bible but in another I've done it in a few Bibles when I get to chapter twenty nine and chapter thirty and chapter thirty one I circle all the personal pronouns Job is talking about himself Job is occupied with himself and when we become occupied with ourselves we become very near-sighted when it comes to God and the things of God.
And I noted in chapter twenty-nine that I is mentioned twenty times. Me is mentioned fourteen times. And my he uses seventeen times. That's talking a lot about yourself. And that's only twenty-five verses in chapter twenty-nine. When you come to chapter thirty... Chapter thirty he uses I fifteen times, me he uses twenty times, and my he uses nineteen times. When you come to chapter thirty-one he uses I twenty-seven times.
Me he uses eleven times and he uses the pronoun myself one time. In Job chapter thirty-one Verses thirty-five and thirty-six, Job desires an answer from God. Notice thirty-five and thirty-six of chapter thirty-one. Oh, that one would hear me, behold, my desire is that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book. Surely I would take it upon my shoulder and bind it as a crown to me. Little did Job realize when he said this, that God is about to reveal himself to him, and that in a most mighty way.
That in a most unique way. And God is going to come descend to honor Job's request. Beginning in chapter thirty-two and going through chapter thirty-seven of Job, we have the discourse of Elihu. And You see, and when you get to chapter thirty-two, we read this in verse one. So these three men ceased to answer Job because he was righteous in his own eyes. Then was kindled the wrath of Elihu, the son of Barakal, the buzzi, of the kindred of Ram.
Against Job was his wrath kindled because he justified himself rather than God. Also against these three friends was his wrath kindled because they had found no answer and yet had condemned Job. Now Elihu had waited till Job had spoken because they were older than he. When Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, then his wrath was kindled. And Elihu, the son of Barackel, the Buzai answered and said, I am young, and ye are very old.
Wherefore, I was afraid, and durst not show you mine opinion. I said days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom. But there is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding. Great men are not always wise, neither do the aged understand judgment. Therefore I said, Hearken to me. I will show mine opinion. We'll end our reading at that point. You see, Job won the day against Elipaz, Zophar, and Bildad. He was able to answer his three friends.
They were used of Satan to try to cause Job to leave his wholeness that he had demonstrated and that he could easily speak about. The things that Job spoke about when he used the personal pronouns were true. They were true about himself. But he didn't realize how they really sounded in the years of others and especially how they sounded in the presence of a holy God. But standing among the crowd that gathered that day was this young man.
He was listening to the argument, the discourses of these men, and he listened to Job's answer. And he knew well the debate that was carried on. Now God is going to use Elihu to speak to Job before he reveals himself. The scripture tells us here in the opening verse that Elihu was the son of Barakal, a Buzite, of the kindred of Ram. There's an implication in this. And it's an implication that gives to us the dating of the Book of Job. In other words, he was descended from a man by the name of Buzz.
He was the son of Abraham's brother Nahor. So most scholars say that the Book of Job is old. It was written And it took place, the contents of the book, took place about the time of Abraham. Now, the discourse of Elihu answers Job's problem. And they get him ready for Jehovah's appearance. God is going to appear to Job. And God is going to ask Job some very pertinent questions. And before the whirlwind, before the tornado comes, and Job has to answer God, Elihu is there, and he gets Job, and he gets his attention.
The thing that we must notice about Elihu is he was courteous. While he was angry with Job's three friends, he waited till they were through. for they were older than he was. Now this is a very nice thing to see in a young man. His way of speaking in verse seven of the thirty second chapter show his courteous ways. I said they should speak and the multitude of years should teach wisdom. And this young man is full.
And he's not going to flatter Job, even though he won the argument. Job won the argument. But it's not always winning the argument that's important. And Elihu isn't going to flatter him. But I want you to notice his argument. Notice verses twenty through twenty two. He's very, he's a very full man. He says, I will speak that I may be refreshed. I will open my lips and answer. Let me not, I pray, you accept any man's person. Neither let me give flattering titles unto man, for I know not to give flattering titles, and so doing my maker would soon take me away.
In other words, he's going to be honest. He's going to be truthful with Job. So what is his message? His message to Job is, Job, you need to repent. Job, you need to repent because you talk more about yourself than you do about God. Job, you justify yourself, and you don't justify God in your speech. And we read that, you see, concerning Job. In verses thirty-seven, or verse thirty-five and verse seven, you have the sum of the matter. In chapter thirty-five and verse seven, He says, If thou be righteous, what givest thou him?
Or what receiveth he of thine hand? Job, if you are as righteous as you say you are, the truth of the righteousness of God is very simple. If the sermon on the Mount is mirrored in our lives, and it's quite evident that it was in Job's life, and we thank God for it, But the more we become like Christ, the more we loathe our own selves, and the more aware we are of our own depravity and our own inability. Romans chapter seven, the apostle Paul says in verse eighteen, he says, I know that in me, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing.
And that's something that Job didn't say. concerning himself. Now when you get to chapter thirty-seven and verses twenty-three and twenty-four, Elihu says this, Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out. He is excellent in power and in judgment and in plenty of justice he will not afflict. Men do therefore fear him. He respecteth not any that are wise of heart. All he sums up, the relation of God to man, in justice, in judgment, and in holiness.
When you go back to chapter thirty-six and verse one, and we're going to read through verse six. Elihu also proceeded and said, Suffer me a little, and I will show thee that I have yet to speak on God's behalf. I will fetch my knowledge from afar. and will ascribe righteousness to my maker. For truly my word shall not be false. He that is perfect in knowledge is with thee. Behold, God is mighty, and despiseth not any. He is mighty in strength and wisdom. He preserves not the life of the wicked, but giveth the right to the poor.
And he speaks well of God. Chapter thirty-three. We go back. And in verses three through nine, we find the ways of God. For Elihu is going to be the answer to what Job cried for in chapter nine. In chapter nine, Job cried, oh, that there was a mediator, that he could lay his hand on God and lay his hand on me, and so make peace. Bring us together. And there's only one who can do that for us. And that's God revealed in the person of Christ. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
So as God is going to reveal himself to Job, he gives him Elihu. And he is like a mediator. Notice chapter thirty-three, verse three. My word shall be of the uprightness of my heart. and my lips shall utter knowledge clearly. The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life. If thou canst answer me, set thy words in order before me, stand up. Behold, I am according to thy wish in God's stead. Notice the mediator. I am according to your wish. You one of the days, man.
I've come. I am according to your wish in God's stead, but I also informed out of the clay. Behold, my terror shall not make thee afraid, neither shall my hand be heavy upon thee. Surely, thou hast spoken in mine, hearing, and I have heard the voice of thy words, saying, I am clean without transgression. I am innocent. Neither is there iniquity in me. What a mediator he becomes. to Job. This is what Job longed for, and this is what God graciously gave him. Now, Eli, who justifies God in what he says?
He adds a momentous truth when you read the whole of his discourse. And his momentous truth that he deals with is the affliction of the righteous is disciplinarian. And it's the truth of Hebrews chapter twelve, that whosoever the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. What Elihu does is teach in a nice way the truth of Hebrews chapter twelve. And in Hebrews twelve it says, No, chastening for the present is joyous, but grievous, but afterwards.
It yieldeth a peaceable fruit of righteousness to them that are exercised thereby. And Job is going to be exercised by this man, Elihu, and it's going to yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness. God is going to bless him in a very definite way. In other words, Elihu is telling Job, throughout his discourse, Job, pay attention to what I'm telling you. That's what he's saying. It almost reminds me of CH Spurgeon, who got a letter every Monday morning. Every Monday morning it was an unsigned letter.
Somebody was in his audience every Sunday and they took down every grammatical error, every mistake he made, and they wrote him a letter and let them know on the Monday. He got the letter every Monday morning. And you know what CH Spurgeon said? He said, that person, whoever it was, will never know how wonderful they were to me. They did me so much good. You know, some of us would curl up at something like that, who would try to help us. But that person had good intentions, and C.H.
Spurgeon became one of the greatest preachers that this world has ever seen. Let us apply these truths. And I know I've been going rapidly through the book of Job. But I want you to get an insight into the ways of Satan. But I want you to get an insight into the ways of God. And God is granting Job his wish. And application number one tonight is we must ever remember that God is no man's debtor. God is no man's debtor. And that is one of the most glorious truths that the child of God will ever learn in the school of God. God's dealing with Job revealed his intense love for Job and his intense love for his children.
If God loved Job that way, then he loves me because I'm loved as Christ is loved. We sing this occasionally at the Lord's Supper. So dear, so very dear to God. more dear I cannot be, the love wherewith he loves the Son, such is his love to me. Barnhouse quoted that verse from the hymn last Saturday night in his message on WHPE. You see, God loves Job, and God bragged about Job in chapter one and in chapter two, and he bragged about him to Satan.
And God permitted Job to go through a terrible ordeal. But God is no man's dental. And if we learn that lesson, we have then learned something of the heart of God. What did God desire? God desired Job to get a good look at himself. That's what he desired. And you see, God had a purpose in it all. It was God who called Job to Satan's attention. Now Job didn't realize what God said.
And Job didn't realize what he said. He didn't realize what he said in chapter thirty-one in verse six. Where he said, let me be weighed in an even balance. That God may know mine integrity. You see, Job didn't realize what he said. You see, God was weighing Job. Why? Because he wanted Job to see what Job really was. And at the end of the book, Job is going to cry out, I repent in dust and ashes. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine I see it.
O the revelation of the ways of God. no wonder the New Testament says in James chapter five verse eleven it says behold we count them happy which endure you've heard of the patience of Job and how he saw the end of the Lord that's genuine revelation and how did he see it by being patient you've heard of the patience of Job he had to listen to the three men who were miserable comforters. And it was only then, after that, that he saw the end of the Lord.
And what did he learn when he saw the end of the Lord? Well, James tells us how that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy. Oh, the tender mercies of our God. And that brings us to application number two. As very simple. and very short. God's rewards are worth waiting for. God's rewards are worth waiting for. James five eleven, we count them happy that unto us. His rewards are worth waiting for.
I like the way the Puritans put it. The Puritans called it the perseverance of the saints. And you and I can wait on the Lord time and again in the Psalms. I'm thinking of the forty-six. Wait, I say, on the Lord. Let's pray together. Our Father, we thank you for the revelation of your ways. Truly, you're no man's debtor. When you asked Abraham to offer Isaac, Abraham may have had a very heavy heart going up the mountain, but he didn't come down with one.
For there in the mountain he saw thee, your revelation to him of the person of Christ. You're no man's debtor. His obedience to thee was rewarded in a way that he could never imagine had he not been obedient. Help us, O God, to believe your word. to trust you, to cast our care upon you, realizing that you care for us and your way is perfect. Now our Father, we commend this company to you and to the word of your grace.
As we've gone so rapidly through the book of Job thus far, we ask you, O God, that you would cause what was said to be remembered, that each of us may endure, and that the word of thy grace will be real in our lives. And may thy grace, thy mercy, and thy peace be the portion of each of thine own for the Lord Jesus' sake. Amen.