Two Journeys

God finally speaks into the story of Job through a mighty whirlwind, humbling Job as he reveals the true power of his nature.

The post The Glorious God Speaks Out of a Whirlwind (Job Sermon 24) appeared first on Two Journeys.

Paul gives a comprehensive explanation of the motives and message of evangelism. This chapter should be studied carefully by every Christian to grow in passion and fruitfulness in evangelism.

The post 2 Corinthians Episode 6: The Ministry of Reconciliation appeared first on Two Journeys.

In Elihu’s final speech he uses God’s power displayed in the weather as a reminder for Job and all of us to trust God, especially in times of affliction.

Turn in your Bibles this morning. We continue our study in Job; looking at chapters 36 and 37, conclude the speeches of Elihu. And as you do, I want to ask you, think in your mind your experience: what is the most awesome display of weather you've ever seen, of weather? When we were missionaries in Japan, I went with my brother-in-law to the coastline there to see the after effects of a massive tsunami. Basically, their version of a hurricane. The wind had whipped the sea into a frothy frenzy and one angry wave after another pummeled the rocky shores. We stood there and watched. The clouds were spectacular. They were mounting higher and higher into the heavens with differing layers, layer upon layer of dark and light clouds. The clouds seemed to be alive, writhing and moving and undulating and crashing into one another. The sound of the winds and its evident force was terrifying, and we struggled to maintain our footing on the rocky cliff where we are standing overlooking this spectacular scene. And all of this was the aftermath of the storm, of the tsunami. The full force of the storm had already passed by. I've seen myself many breathtaking displays of weather that would vie for the top spot in my memory. I remember on a cross country trip, I came to the state of Montana, which claims on their license to be big sky country. I didn't really know what that meant until one day I experienced an electrical storm there, and I realized that the sky did seem bigger than anything I ever saw in my little state of Massachusetts. The states are just little there up in New England. Across the Mississippi they get really big. And the horizon just seemed to be far, far away. And, during this electrical storm, the terror of that storm was greater than anything I'd ever seen before, because I could see the traverse of a single bolt of lightning from one end of the sky to the other. As Jesus talked about it in his second coming glory, "As lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man."

Now as we come to these two chapters in Job 36, 37, we come, as I said, to the final speech of Elihu, the mysterious man of God who just drops into this account. And he comes to speak on God's behalf. He's going to use the staggering power of God displayed in weather, displayed in the clouds, in wind and thunder and lightning to remind Job and all of us to trust God, especially in times of affliction. Today, we're going to find that the basic message from Elihu in these last two chapters will be essentially the same message that what almighty God himself will say to Job in chapters 38-41. Central thesis is this: God is a wise and loving teacher. He uses creation to teach us his nature. And then he uses trials to teach us our own sinfulness and dependency on him, God, the teacher. Therefore, the best we can do in times of suffering is to humble ourselves before him, and trust him more than ever. Look at the wonders of God and creation. Understand the God behind those wonders. Understand that same God is managing your life, and he knows how to do it. So trust him. That's the message. It's going to be the same that we see in Job 38-41, God's speeches.

Let's begin by walking through what Elihu says, and we'll start with ascribing righteousness to our Maker. This is going to be probably the central theological idea in this sermon. Ascribing righteousness to our Maker. Look at verses 1-4, “Elihu continued, ‘Bear with me a little longer and I will show you that there is more to be said in God's behalf. I get my knowledge from afar. I will ascribe righteousness to my Maker. Be assured that my words are not false. One perfect in knowledge is with you.’" I believe as we look at this statement, "I will ascribe righteousness to my Maker," there's a very clear reason why Elihu feels the need to do this. We come to the theological topic of theodicy, or the justification of God, the vindication of God. What do I mean by that? Well, human suffering, or the problem of evil, the problem of wickedness in a world that God runs, is one of the great issues, one of the offensive issues for people who question the existence of God. They're going to bring it up. They regularly accuse God of non-existence even, because of the magnitude of human suffering in the world. They say it is impossible for the God you say that exists, a God who is wise, a God who is loving, a God who is powerful, those are the three attributes all the time on this issue, his wisdom, his power, his love to exist. It's impossible for such a God to exist because of all the suffering we see in the world, all the wickedness we see in the world. So either God is not wise, or perhaps he's not loving, or perhaps he's not powerful, or perhaps he doesn't exist at all.

So, Christians, seeking to win a lost world to faith in Christ, have sought to defend the honor of God, to vindicate his ways to a vicious and skeptical world. This is theodicy, the justification of God, or vindication of God. Amazingly, I believe this is the very thing Elihu is determined to do here, verse 3, "I will ascribe righteousness to my Maker." Notice he speaks of God as my Maker; that is appropriate because the centerpiece of his evidence here will be God's activity in creation, in making and sustaining and ruling over everything in the universe. And so, here we want to take Elihu's words and turn it around to all of us who read this text. This is the application for us. Ascribe righteousness to your Maker, and especially do it when you're suffering. When you're tempted to think God is being unfair, or God's being unjust to you, ascribe righteousness to your Maker. That's the main idea. The God who knit you together in your mother's womb, the God who has sustained your life every day since that time. That God, who not only made you, but actually made all things in the universe, that God is righteous. He doesn't make mistakes, this mighty God.

Elihu, as he begins to talk, he introduces himself again with this preface and he asks for patience, because he has more to say. "Bear with me a little longer," he says. "I want to speak on God's behalf. I want to speak a word for God." As the theologian and writer said, “Who speaks for God?” We, his people in this world, should speak for God. Who speaks for him? Elihu wants to do that. And Elihu claims to gain wisdom or get his wisdom from afar, afar. He really is claiming to get his wisdom from God himself. He claims his words are not false. He even actually claims to be one who is perfect in knowledge. Now, here, the rubber meets the road on our hermeneutic on Elihu. If you're going to band him together with one of his friends and kind of cast him out in that regard, though there's no biblical reason to do so, but you're going to band him together, then you're going to walk through Elihu's statements and find fault with things he says. You may say, “What an arrogant individual! ‘One perfect in knowledge is here with you.’” Imagine saying that to your friends, “I want you to know one perfect in knowledge is here talking to you right now.” But it's a whole different matter, isn't it? If you believe in the office of a prophet or in prophecy. A prophet under the control of the Spirit actually is perfect in knowledge. You are hearing, when you hear a prophet speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, you are hearing, not the word of man, but the word of God through a man. Scripture throughout testifies at this. Apostle Paul said this to the Thessalonicans: “You heard the word from us as the word of God as it really is, not the word of men.” So that's how I hear Elihu here. He's speaking under the power and the influence of the Holy Spirit as a prophet would.

We're going to see much similarity between Elihu's approach and God's approach, very similar. It's like they have the same script. By the way, that happened at the time of Jesus' resurrection. The angels come to the empty tomb. Mary is there weeping. And the angels, though she doesn't think they're angels, but the angels say, "Why are you weeping?" A few moments later Jesus shows up. What's the first thing he says to her? "Why are you weeping?" It's interesting how the messengers of God, the ones that are truly from God, and God himself say the same thing. So it is here with a Elihu. He's going to give us natural theology. He's going to give us creation theology. We'll talk more about that in a moment. What may be learned about God from creation to make his point? And God's going to do the same thing. He's going to walk through a lot of the same material and many other things besides. And the basic idea is this: a human being should never, ever question a God who can make all of that, all of the things that we see with our eyes, this incredible creation. A God who made that, you should never question him or accuse him of wrongdoing, even if you're suffering greatly.

All right. Point two: God uses suffering to test us, verses 5-15. Almighty God does not despise any person. This isn't God despising people. Look at verse 5, "Behold, God is mighty and does not despise any. He is mighty in strength of understanding." That's what the text says. I think our minds might put a disjunction in there. “God is mighty, but he doesn't despise anyone.” I think that would be okay. Although we keep the text just the way it is. It would be easy for suffering people to accuse the mighty God, this awesome powerful God, of playing with people like a vicious young boy who likes to torture insects. "God is mighty," says Elihu. "He's more mighty and powerful than we can possibly imagine, but he doesn't despise any human being." Why is that? Because he knows better than we do the significance of every human being. The significance of everyone created in the image of God. He knows how important that is, so he doesn't despise anyone.

Many rulers and Nobles and the mighty ones on planet Earth, they lorded over the lowliest of people, lorded over them. They despise them. They don't hate them; they just think very little of them. That's what the word means here. They think little of them. They can't be bothered. Those people have no access to that mighty person. Can't get in. He doesn't listen to them. He ignores them. He just lives his high and mighty life. Well, that's not God. God despises no one. And he is mighty in understanding. He understands everything on Earth. He understands what you're going through. He understands your life situation. He understands you and what you need. He understands everything. And he doesn't despise you. Just because we are so limited, because we are so small, you could say, “What is man that you're mindful of him?” We're just small, puny in strength. Yet God doesn't despise any one of us.

Think about how angry Jesus got with his disciples when parents were bringing little children to Jesus. Remember, the disciples were rebuking those people and they couldn't get access and Jesus got angry at them. Their approach is, “Jesus is an important man he doesn't have time for children.” and Jesus became indignant with them and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth. Anyone who will not be converted and transformed to be like a little child will not receive the kingdom of God.” That's how we receive it. And he took the children in his arms and he put his hands on them and blessed them. That's him living out what Elihu says about God. He doesn't despise even the smallest among us.

God does cut off the wicked, verse 6. He's active in cutting off the wicked. Here, Elihu only briefly addressed that lamentation we saw back in Job 21, remember how he is refuting his friends, saying their basic premises. As soon as you're wicked, God crushes you. That's the thing. Job said, "Actually not. There are wicked people that do very well, and they make it to the end of their lives surrounded by all of their loved ones. And they die in their sleep." Job 21. Elihu says, "Actually, the wicked don't escape justice. God sees to it that they get justice. Eventually, he brings the hammer down." Verse 6. But concerning the righteous, God uses suffering to teach them. Verse 7-10: “He does not take his eyes off the righteous; he enthrones them with Kings and exalts them forever. But if men are bound in chains, held fast by chords of affliction, he tells them what they have done- that they have sinned arrogantly. He makes them listen to correction and commands them to repent of their evil.” So God exalts righteous people. He puts them in key positions in society. Even better, someday he'll exalt all of the righteous into heavenly glory and give them thrones, and we will consort with one another with the great ones in history. But along with that, he sometimes afflicts his people with great suffering. Elihu likes it to being held with chains of affliction, cords of affliction, but think of somebody battling chronic illness, like cancer, and wave upon wave of tests and diagnostics come back. It's very, very difficult. It's like they're bound, lashed down by this trial. They can't escape it. They can't sever that cord. It's holding them fast. They can't run and leap and fly and sing. They're held down, they feel, by this chain of affliction. God brings chains of affliction on people, he says to expose their sinfulness. Sometimes it comes as a direct chastisement for sin. Elihu speaks in this case of people sinning arrogantly. There's a certain arrogance, isn't there, to all sin? We're just arrogant when we sin. Prideful. And he brings those individuals, the righteous that are suffering, he brings them to repentance. He convicts them. He takes them back to their own actions. He shows them what they did, “Don't you remember? You did this. You said that. This is what happened.” He shows them their actions, and he makes them take ownership of their choices, “This is what you decided to do.” verse 10, “He makes them listen to correction and commands them to repent of their evil.”

So, I understand you're like, “Well, this sounds a lot like the friends,” but here's the fact of the matter: we don't have Job's resume of righteousness. Don't you think it's wise for us, whenever we go through affliction, to get before God humbly and quietly to go into our room and close the door and pray to our Father whose unseen and say, “God, what sin is there in my life that has resulted in this affliction? Are you chastising me for sin?” It is right for us to do that. Some cases, the answer is no; that, like Job, you're suffering for other purposes. That may be the case. We open that up in our minds. We know the case of Job tells us that. But often it may be, there is a direct chastisement that the Father is bringing into our lives. We should not assume that set is zero, empty; we would never be chastised for our sins. I think we often are. And that's Hebrews 12. So we should go to God. He makes us listen to correction and own our own actions. He commands us to repent of our choices, of our sin, of our evil. The trial then, therefore, sifts people and tests them. The suffering puts people at a fork in the road, and God is testing them to see how they'll respond. Verses 10-12, “He makes them listen to correction, commands them to repent of their evil. If they obey and serve him, they will spend the rest of their days in prosperity and their years in contentment. But if they do not listen, they will perish by the sword and die without knowledge.” So, trials come to all kinds of people, everybody really. When they come, how those people respond sifts them out. There's a sifting that goes on. Shows a lot about the state of your soul. Now, wicked people, when they go through the exact same afflictions, stubbornly refuse to cry out to God. They actually use it as an excuse to get even angrier at God than they were before. Look at verse 13-14, “The godless in heart harbor resentment; even when he fetters them,” there's that chain of affliction, that bondage of affliction, “when he fetters them, they do not cry for help. They die in their youth among male prostitutes of the shrines," the text says.

Many say there are no atheists in foxholes. In other words, when you're in the battle you're going to cry out to God. You're going to find God in that foxhole. Well, actually that doesn't always happen. In fact, it often doesn't happen. Frequently, when wicked people go through these exact same afflictions, they double down on their rebellion, actually. They feel strong in their rebellion because of their suffering. Isaiah 8:21 speaks of this exact same issue, these are wicked people going through affliction: “Distressed and hungry they will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God." Isaiah 8:21. You see the same thing in the afflictions that happen in the book of Revelation. These punishments and judgments come on the Earth, and the people don't repent. They get even angrier at God. Revelation. Conversely, godly people enduring the exact same trials will use them wisely. Look at verse 15, "those who suffer he delivers in their suffering; he speaks to them in their afflictions." God speaks to them in their afflictions. He's telling them many things. He's using the affliction to communicate with them. And point three in my outline, God is wooing them. He's wooing them toward himself.

But along with that comes a warning. So also is evil. There's a siren call of evil. So God is wooing you in the affliction, but so also is evil wooing you, enticing you, verses 16-21. So we get competing enticements, competing voices. On the one hand, God is willing his people to come closer to him, to draw near to him, to ask him for forgiveness and for help. God is telling you, "Use the affliction wisely. Draw closer to me in repentance. Ask me for forgiveness. Ask me for help." On the other hand, though, evil is alluring you. Evil is enticing you, pulling on you with a deadly siren call of rebellion. Who are you going to listen to? The future of your soul depends on how you react when you're at that fork in the road. So God is wooing his people, verses 15-16, “But those who suffer he delivers in their suffering; he speaks to them in their affliction. He is wooing you from the jaws of distress to a spacious place free from restriction, to the comfort of your table laden with choice food.” So in your suffering, God is speaking his wisdom into your life. He's speaking his purpose into your life and your love into your life. He's wooing you to himself. He's talking you down from the ledge, from the ledge of rebellion, from the ledge of sin and destruction, from the jaws of distress. He's enticing you, wooing you away from that, he says, to a place of richness, to a banquet table laden in his presence. Ultimately, this will be fulfilled in heaven's banquet table to sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the kingdom of heaven and feast. God prepares a table before us in the presence of our afflictions and he feeds us. That's going to happen.

I already decided, church, what the title of my last sermon in Job will be. I'm going to write it, I think God willing, this week, number of weeks ahead. The happy ending. Does that sound good? I'm looking forward to the happy ending. You guys have read ahead. You know what happens, don't you? I'm not going to tell you now. Another sermon, another day, God willing. But there is a happy ending for us at the end of all of these afflictions. But at the same time, evil is alluring. It's wooing. It's enticing. It's a warning here.

Now, Elihu is speaking, I think, directly to Job here, and he's not accusing him of sin, but he's warning him. "Don't give into resentment. Don't give into bitterness. Don't give into rebellion against God." Look at verses 17-21. "But now you are laden with the judgment due to the wicked; judgment and justice have taken hold of you. Be careful that no one entices you by riches; do not let a bribe turn you aside. Would your wealth or even all your mighty efforts sustain you so that you would not be in distress? Do not long for the night so you can drag people away from their homes. Beware of turning to evil, which you seem to prefer to affliction." These are sharp words, words of rebuke, words of warning. “Don't go in that direction.”

Some people, when they're in the midst of affliction, begin to question the way they've been living their lives up until now. I mean, in piety, in righteousness. “What good has it been to me to serve God all this time? How has it benefited me? I'm here now suffering the same afflictions as the wicked. What good has all my praying done? If this is how God treats his friends, it's no wonder he has so few of them," some have said. Or we hear that bitter wooing or enticing from Job's wife, "Are you still holding onto your integrity? Curse God and die." That's the voice of evil. “Are you holding onto your piety, to your godliness, to all your praying, your righteous? Are you holding onto that?” So evil is saying, “I've got a better way. Why don't you just forget all that piety and religion and follow us and we'll share a purse together,” so to speak, “We will lay in wait for souls and drag them off,” Proverbs 1. Elihu is saying don't do it. Don't give into that siren call of evil. Now, Elihu turns to his main message: the God of creation gives you everything you need for life. He also will give you everything you need to endure this affliction. He is worthy of your full trust in the midst of your suffering. So point four, God uses creation to teach us his nature.

So Elihu fills Job's mind and ours with majestic thoughts of God. So for me, I'm not just along for the ride. I like reading good poetry. I like reading descriptions of nature, but I am asking, what is this here for? Why is this in the book of Job? We have to ask that question. I think the point is that God of creation knows you, is wise and loving, and you can trust him in the midst of your affliction.

So first, God is an exalted teacher. Verse 22, “God is exalted in his power. Who is a teacher like him?” I love that. That's a helpful little reminder. Just put this weapon in your arsenal for when you go through affliction. God is a teacher. God is going to use it to teach you himself. So we should think God is just generally teaching you about himself all the time in creation, but he's also going to teach you in the midst of affliction. And the lesson is always the same, God himself. God is the lesson. We will learn God in all of this. We will learn God by looking at nature. We will learn God by looking at him in the midst of our sufferings. That's what he's saying.

So, how majestic is God? Well, he's infinitely majestic. He is a majestic sovereign king. He is an independent king. Look at verse 23, “Who has prescribed his ways for him?” I went back yesterday as I was practicing a sermon, working on this. I looked at this word in multiple translations, “Who has prescribed his ways for him?” There are a lot of different aspects, but they all get about the same thing. “Who has assigned God his ways?” You like that? “Who has told God what to do?” You could look at it, “who has been his counselor?” You heard those words before. “Who has understood the mind of the Lord, or instructed him as his counselor? Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him? Who taught him the right way?” Isaiah 40:13-14. That's the kind of thing. Who did God turn to when he said, “I don't know what to do.” That never happened. No one assigns God his ways. And secondly, no one can say to him, “you have done wrong.” God is accountable to no one. I'm going to zero in on this concept, God willing, in a later sermon. God is not accountable to us. He doesn't have to give any explanation to us for what he's done, verse 23. Point of the universe is that God's glory would be on display. That we would see his glory. That we would study his glory. That we would savor his glory and celebrate his glory. That's our job, “The Earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” It's our job to be the knowing ones. We know his glory and celebrate him.

Look at verses 24-26, “Remember to extol his work, which men have praised in song.” That's just a call to praise him. Just remember to extol him, praise him, which others have written songs about. You should sing. In the midst of your affliction, sing. Verse 25, “All mankind has seen it. Men gaze on it from afar. How great is God- beyond our understanding! The number of his years is past finding out.” And so, Elihu then just waxes eloquently concerning the glories of God and creation. This is what we call natural theology. We're going to be swimming in it over the next number of weeks, God willing.

Natural theology. What does that mean? What you can learn about God from what he has made. Romans 1:20, "Since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities- his eternal power and divine nature- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse." So by looking at creation, you can learn what God is like. God is the infinite, the unsearchable creator and sustainer of everything in the universe. Visible and invisible. He is all sufficient. He doesn't need anything from the creation or the creature. But he actually gives to the creation everything it needs to continue to exist. He sustains all of creation by his powerful word. And he sustains creation in the function for which he created it. That's what God does.

Then he talks about weather. As I began the sermon, clouds, rain, thunder, and lightning. Look at verses 27-30: “He draws up the drops of water, which distill as rain to the streams.” So he evaporates them, lifts them up off the Earth. He gathers them, and then he drops them down where he wants them. Verse 28, "The clouds pour down their moisture and abundant showers fall on mankind. Who can understand how he spreads out the clouds, how he thunders from his pavilion? See how he scatters his lightning about him, bathing the depths of the sea." Clouds are really astonishing, aren't they? Have you ever entertained yourself on a summer afternoon just by looking at clouds? Is that something only children do? I must tell you honestly, I haven't done it in a while. Oh, I know I wrote about it in the sermon here, but I remember when I was a kid, you would just look up at the clouds and try to turn them into shapes. Did you ever do that? Like an elephant with a big trunk, really big trunk on that elephant. Or I don't know, some palace with spires going up, or some mountain range, or I don't know, a squirrel. I never saw a squirrel in clouds. You know, they look like fluffy whiffs of cotton, but they're actually immensely heavy. They're very heavy. They're made up of evaporated water, and water is heavy. Water rises from the surface of the Earth. Clouds rise up. They're carried by thermals, like rising columns of heated air. The average fair weather cloud can weigh well over 1 million pounds. A million pounds, one of those fair weather clouds. What about one of those massive thunderstorm clouds that I was describing? Well, that's billions of pounds of water. How does it defy gravity? Do you ever wonder about that? It's amazing. And they just float over the surface of the Earth. And then God's storms are terrifying. Verses 29-30, "Who can understand how he spreads out the clouds, how he thunders from his pavilion? See how he scatters his lightning about him bathing the depths of the sea.” bathing them in light, crackling light. You ever seen an electrical storm over the water, it's just impressive.

By these clouds, Elihu says, God controls the water of the Earth. And he actually even controls the direction of human history by weather. Verses 31-33, “This is the way he governs the nations and provides food and abundance. He fills his hands with lightning and commands it to strike its mark. His thunder announces the coming storm. Even the cattle make known its approach." That's a fascinating concept. God controls, governs nations by weather. Not only by weather, but sometimes by weather, like battles have been influenced decisively by a sudden rainstorm that hinders the movement of troops from one place to another. It happens. And how much more the economy, how withholding water from one place or giving suitable or appropriate water to another place causes food to grow and a balance of wealth that affects the unfolding history of nations. It's amazing.

And then we come to the terror of thunder and lightning. You could say, “Look, pastor, I've outgrown all that. I'm not afraid of thunder and lightning at all.” Have you ever had one strike literally right over your head? What's happening to your heart rate at that moment, dear friends? Especially if it was unexpected, it's unbelievably loud. It's terrifying. Chapter 37:1-5, "At this my heart pounds and leaps from its place." Yes. That's you in an electrical storm, "Listen! Listen to the roar of his voice, to the rumbling that comes from his mouth. He unleashes his lightning beneath the whole heaven and sends it to the ends of the earth. After that comes the sound of his roar. He thunders with his majestic voice. When his voice resounds, he holds nothing back. God's voice thunders in marvelous ways. He does great things beyond our understanding." Elihu acknowledges that his own heart pounds whenever he sees an electrical storm. And the thunder and lightning go together, for thunder is caused by the rapid expansion of air surrounding the path of a lightning bolt. Lightning is the discharge of the static electricity that's happening between the clouds as they rub against each other. A lightning bolt takes only a few thousands of a second to make its journey to the surface of the Earth, but its effects are overwhelming. Lightning bolts heat the air around the bolt to a temperature as high as 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit. That's five times hotter than the surface of the sun. The combination of thunder and lightning always has the power to strike terror into the hearts of people.

The wicked emperor, Caligula, was so terrified of electrical storms, thunder and lightning, that he would run into a corner or literally hide under a bed. He was the Emperor of Rome hiding under a bed at an electrical storm. And then there's Martin Luther, who is a law student making his way across a field in Germany, electrical storm traps him. He's hundreds and hundreds of yards from the forest or from any safety. He falls down in the mud and makes a vow to the patron saint of minors. "Help me, Saint Anne. I shall become a monk." Medieval Catholic theology. He was going to earn his way out of hell by becoming a monk, but that led him on a journey to discovering the gospel. But it was electrical storm. Brilliant, jagged, blinding light, coupled with overpowering deep rolling sound. Our senses reel with the power. They're designed by God, among other things, dear friends to strike terror in the hearts of arrogant, rebellious human beings. And he does it easily.

You remember Exodus 19, the 10 commandments? Remember God descending in a cloud and fire to the top of Mount Sinai? And do you remember how the Earth shook beneath their feet? And there was an electrical storm. Exodus 19:16, "On the morning of the third day, there was thunder and lightning with a thick cloud over the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled." The book of Hebrews tells us something we didn't know. Moses was so terrified at the site that he said, "I am terrified with fear." Everyone was afraid. 10 times in the book of Revelation, 10 times, thunder and lightning are used to show the terrifying power of the presence of God. Thunder and lightning. So Revelation 11:19, "Then God's temple in heaven was open. And within his temple was seen the arc of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peels of thunder and earthquake in a great hailstorm."

Elihu calls thunder the voice of God. Beyond this, Elihu talks about God's control of weather. Verses 5-14, "God's voice thunders in marvelous ways. He does great things beyond our understanding. He says to the snow, 'Fall on the earth.' And to the rain shower, 'Be a mighty downpour.' so that all men that he has made may know his work. He stops every man from his labor." They have to stop working because it's a downpour, “The animals take cover. They remain in their dens. The tempest comes out from its chamber, the cold from the driving winds. The breath of God produces ice. The broad waters become frozen. He loads the clouds with moisture. He scatters his lightning through them. At his direction they swirl around over the face of the whole Earth to do whatever he commands them. He brings the clouds to punish men or to water the Earth and show his love.” verse 14, "Listen to this, Job. Stop and consider God's wonders." The range of precipitation, all of which God controls. The volume of rain, differing levels. Like, there's a sprinkle, ever been in a sprinkle? And then a spring shower. Then there's a downpour. Then there's sheets of rain. I like to talk about the car wash effect. Have you ever been in one of those? I don't know what it is about this region. I never saw this in the state I grew up in, but you can have this pocket of rain and drive through. It takes about a minute to drive through, but it's like a car wash. And then the other side the road is literally dry, bone dry. But in that car wash, it's hard to drive. You can't see much beyond the hood of the car.

Then there's the temperature that God controls. Sometimes it's warm, sometimes colder, sometimes freezing. And then different types of precipitation. There's rain, there's snow, there's hail, hail storms. And then there's the effect of the precipitation. As he says, men have to stop working. Animals take cover. So God uses the clouds, he says, both to punish men, but also to water the Earth and to show his love for people, verse 13. All of these are done at the will and bidding of God for his inscrutable purposes. And man is powerless over the weather. I don't know of any research being done to control weather patterns. I mean, I think we know to wave the white flag on that one. What could we do to stop the massive movements of air over the surface of the Earth? Nothing. Powerless.

So God's activity and all of this should humble us. Verses 14-18, "Listen to this, Job. Stop and consider God's wonders. Do you know how God controls the clouds and makes his lightning flash? Do you know how the clouds hang poised? Those wonders of him who has perfect in knowledge, you who swelter in your clothes when the land lies hush beneath the south wind. Can you join him in spreading out the skies hard as a mirror of cast bronze?" Now this is the very approach that God is going to take with Job in chapters 38-41. "You are limited in knowledge. You are limited in power. You are limited in longevity, in lifespan. Who are you to question me?" He's going to take this exact approach that Elihu is taking here. Such a mighty God of creation is worthy of our adoration and trust. Even in times of suffering.

Fifth point. Consider God's wonders then and revere him. Verses 19-24, "Tell us what we should say to him that we cannot draw up our case because of our darkness. Should he be told that I want to speak? Would any man ask to be swallowed up? Now no one can look at the sun, bright as it is in the skies after the wind has swept them clean. Out of the north he comes in golden splendor; God comes in awesome majesty. The Almighty is beyond our reach and exalted in power; in his justice and great righteousness, he does not oppress. Therefore, men revere him, for does he not have regard for all the wise in heart?" So let's just get to the point here. Elihu is warning Job to stop preparing his court case. You know how Job wants to have his day in court with God as his legal opponent? He thinks he can walk boldly into the presence of God with his legal arguments about his righteousness and accuse God of injustice concerning him, but the God of thunder and lightning, the God who sends every drop of rain that has ever fallen on earth, the God of creation of glory will not be impressed with any of Job's credentials or any of his arguments. None of them. And would not a mortal man be swallowed up by the infinitcy of God's majesty? "We cannot look at the sun directly when the clouds are gone," Elihu says, “We'd be instantly blinded. But God created and sustains the sun. His glory's greater than the sun. God comes out of the north with gold splendor riding on the clouds of awesome glory. He speaks in a voice of thunder. Almighty God then is infinitely above our reach. Hear that Job and hear that all suffering people. God's righteousness is perfect. So here's my final advice,” verse 24, "Fear him for he does not regard any who are wise in their own conceit. Fear him." That's just his way of saying: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” He's not going to look at you if you are arrogant. So you better humble yourself before him and he'll give you grace.

All right, so that's Elihu, chapters 36, 37. What lessons can we take from this? Well, the central lesson we've said throughout the sermon: the God of this glorious creation is worthy of your full trust. When you are suffering afflictions, realize that this mighty God cannot, will not, do wrong in your case. He knows what he's doing. You need to trust him. When you're suffering afflictions draw near to him in humble worship. Humbly ask him for relief, ask him for wisdom, ask him how have I sinned and expect that there is some answer, and then repent of that sin. But don't accuse God of unrighteousness, of injustice. As Elihu said, realize that God is a teacher. He's using creation every day to teach you his nature, but he's also using afflictions to teach you. And what should you learn? That you're a creature and he's the creator. He's infinitely above you. And secondly, that you're a sinner in need of repentance. You have sinned and need to repent. And so like Job at the end of this book, so will you. When you have this encounter with God, you're going to feel that sinfulness and you're going to repent. And use the trial. You're at the fork in the road. Use it to get closer to God, not to hear that evil sirens song to get further away from God. Beware of evil. Beware of murmuring against God, seething in rebellion, questioning the goodness of God or the justice of God or mercy of God. Don't do that. Ultimately, all roads in scripture lead to Christ.

Now, let's look at what the basic issue is here. Elihu is here to speak on God's behalf. God will tell very clearly what he's angry at Job at: "How can you accuse me of injustice, of unrighteousness?" Now here's what I want to say to you. You can't really see the righteousness of God in creation. It's hard to see righteousness. I can see power. I can see wisdom. I can see love. It's hard to see righteousness there. No friends, the greatest display of righteousness there has ever been is the death of his only begotten Son. That's where you see righteousness.

God presented Christ as a propitiation, a sacrifice of atonement for our sins. “He did this,” Romans 3:25-26, “to demonstrate his justice, his righteousness. Because in his forbearance, he'd left the sins committed beforehand unpunished.” You look at history, you look at how God treats different people, you'll get confused. You won't see that God is always, like, smacking the wicked as soon as they do injustice. It's confusing. What you have to do is look to what God did in his only begotten Son, the only pure man that has ever lived. He crushed him on the cross. And why? Because he is our sin bearing substitute. God made him, Christ, who had no sin to be sin for us, and then crushed him so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. That is the single greatest display of the righteousness of God there ever has been or ever will be. God did it to demonstrate his justice, his righteousness. So if you ever want to question the righteousness of God, look to the cross.

And then secondly, know that the one who died there is there to be a merciful and faithful high priest to help you through your trials. He's not distant. He is God with us. He walks with you through the trial. He knows what it is to be tempted. He knows what it is to suffer. And so it says in Hebrews 2:17-18, "Christ is a merciful and high priest and service to God. That he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted."

Finally, I don't know if you're ever going to get out to Montana, but picture in your mind: big sky country. Picture in your mind the lightning flashes from the east visible even in the west, "And at that time,” Jesus says, "the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky. And all the nations of the Earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming in power and great glory on the clouds of the sky." That's what we're looking forward to, a display of the justice and righteousness of God and the salvation that waits for all of us.

Close with me in prayer. Lord, thank you for what we learn from scripture. It's deep. It's complicated. It's not easy to walk through these verses. Father, give us the ability to hear these lessons and take them to heart. Help us to realize, not with any sense of dread or ominousness, but you are in fact right now preparing us for suffering and infliction that you will bring wisely into our lives later. Help us, oh Lord, not to turn away in rebellion, but to turn to you in love and in faith. In Jesus' name. Amen.

In Elihu’s final speech he uses God’s power displayed in the weather as a reminder for Job and all of us to trust God, especially in times of affliction.

The post Ascribe Righteousness to Your Maker (Job Sermon 23) appeared first on Two Journeys.

Paul explains to the Corinthians that the future resurrection life in the presence of Jesus Christ and the reality

The post 2 Corinthians Episode 5: Looking to the Resurrection with Christ appeared first on Two Journeys.

Elihu presents God’s kingly reign in ways that warn us against pride as well, but only God gives the answers to the problem of suffering - in Christ.

Turn in your Bibles, as we continue in our study in Job, we're looking at chapters 34 and 35 today. A.W. Tozer in his classic, The Pursuit of God, said these words, "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us." It's an amazing statement. What comes into our minds when we think about God is our theology, our theology. And Tozer says this is the most important thing that can be said about any one person. What do they really think about God? Well, I would say if that's true, if that statement is true, it's especially true during suffering. In our time of suffering, what we think about God is vital to whether we will go through that suffering well or poorly. That seems to me to be one of the central points of the entire book of Job. To enable us to think exalted, majestic, true thoughts about God while we go through great suffering.

Satan, as he did with Job, wants to use the suffering to put a wedge between us and God, so that in some way, we'll end up cursing God to his face, that we’ll be severed from our sincere and pure devotion to God and to Christ. That's what Satan wants to do in suffering. And God uses, therefore, the word of God to teach us instead, truth about God. That we would think about the unchanging nature of almighty God. And we come to Elihu for the second week. And Elihu is going to focus on Job's central and scandalous accusation that God has been unjust toward him, has dealt with him in injustice. Now God is going to clearly put Job in his place in due time. And we know that, and that's where we're heading. And no human being can ever do better than God at that kind of ministry, than God himself. But Elihu's arguments and his lofty words are extremely powerful and they help put us in our place as well. God can use this.

My approach to Elihu, who, as I told you last time, since we have no statement from God about Elihu, we don't really know what to think about him. It seems to me best, hermeneutically, interpretatively, to just accept Elihu's speeches, these chapters, as we would any Old Testament wisdom literature. That we should just accept the statements, not find fault with them as many commentators do, to try to pick apart Elihu. But as we're going to see in a moment, Elihu urges us to sample words as a tongue tastes food. So we should do that with Elihu as well. And any Old Testament book, the author to Hebrews tells us is shadow, the reality is Christ. So we're going to find in Elihu some shadowy wisdom, some good sound things that will help us, but the reality is going to be ultimately in Christ.

So we need to think about God and his justice. So we, all of us, think about God in too lowly a manner. We think too low thoughts about God, we struggle with conceiving of God's absolute sovereignty, we wrestle with how we feel about that. We tend to find fault with God in little ways and some of us at sometimes in very big ways, especially during suffering. At the back of our minds there's always some question that we have, it seems, about the justice of God. We see so many things wrong with the earth, we see so much suffering. Both suffering that comes from forces of nature and earthquakes and inanimate things, but how much more suffering that comes through human instrumentality. We see the wickedness of people, that people do to other people. And we see people getting away with murder it seems, and we wonder how God could actually be running a planet like this.

How could a good and wise and loving and powerful God actually be in charge of a planet like this with all of these things going on? How can he be so silent when there's so much obviously wrong on earth? Now how much more would we be tempted to question the justice of God when some great tragedy may come into our lives, we have done it. We've been with other people who have done it. And it seems to be for this very purpose, the book of Job is written. Because we tend to break out at that point in complaints and murmurings against God, questionings. And it tends toward open assertions of doubt and unbelief and that's, I think, Satan's purpose.

And yet none of us has ever had anything happen to us, even remotely close to what happened to Job, the instantaneous loss of all his wealth, the instantaneous loss of all 10 of his children, and then subsequently the loss of his health. And Job, yes, did indeed begin very well. In Job 1:22 it says, “In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.” And then later he said to his wife who urged him in words that should remind us eerily of what Satan said would happen. She urged him, "Curse God and die." And he replied to her, “’You are talking like a foolish woman, shall we accept good from God and not trouble?’ And in all this, Job did not sin in what he said.”

Yet, as we've noted again and again, in this long book of Job, trials go on much longer than we want them to last. They wear on us, they wear us down, they break us down through their chronic nature. And so when Job's friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar begin pressing him with their theology, that Job was just suffering because he had committed some sin, God directly judges sins, and because of his suffering being so staggeringly great, then his sins must be staggeringly great as well. Well, anyway, when they did this, it tempted Job and it pressed him to begin complaining against God. It seems, as I've mentioned, that Job has accepted from time to time at least, their basic theological structure. That people suffer in this world as a direct retribution for the sins they have committed, it's a law of sowing and reaping. He accepts their basic premise, but he refutes the concept that he himself is wicked. He's a blameless man, he knows the truth. There is no great pattern of sin in his life. So accepting that premise, he then turns on God and accuses God of injustice. And yearns for his day in court when he can prove to God how righteous he is. Job 19:6 and following, "I know that God has wronged me and drawn his net around me. Though I cry, ‘I've been wronged!’ I get no response. Though I call for help, there is no justice. He has blocked my way so I cannot pass. He has shrouded my path in darkness."

So Job concludes his words with his masterly defense of his own blamelessness, Job 31, and we walked through that. He goes into lengthy detail in the nature of his blamelessness, his righteousness. Which consisted of absolute sexual purity, commitment to sexual purity, wise and moral leadership of his own household, just and sacrificial dealings with the poor and the needy in his community, and many other things. Job 31, the portrait of a truly righteous, a blameless man walking through life. And amazingly, it's all true! It's all true. God himself had boasted about Job to Satan. Job 1:8, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him. He is blameless and upright, a man who fear God and shuns evil."

So Job's friends, ultimately, became silent and could say nothing more because Job had bested them. He'd won the chess match. Job was utterly convinced of his own righteousness and that God had wronged him. Suddenly another man speaks up. Elihu, a man we didn't even know existed, didn't know he was there, but who it seems was listening to all the dialoguing between Job and his friends. And he was angry. He was righteously angry that the honor of God had been so impugned. Job 32:2-3, “Elihu the son Barachel, the Buzite to the family of Ram became very angry with Job for justifying himself rather than God. He was also angry with the three friends because they had found no way to refute Job and yet had condemned him.”

So last week we looked at Elihu's introduction and then his first speech, Job 32 and then 33. His contribution last time brought a new perspective to the problem of suffering. A new angle on it, a different way to look at it. The basic concept that the only possible explanation for human suffering in the world is God's direct retribution for specific sins committed. That explanation is inadequate. It's partially true, but it doesn't cover everything. “There is another explanation,” says Elihu. Namely, that God uses suffering, including sickness to warn people ahead of time against committing sins and to protect them from the ultimate consequence of sin. Job, 33:16-18, “God may speak in their ears and terrify them with warnings. To turn man from wrongdoing and to keep him from pride, to preserve his soul from the pit and his life from perishing by the sword.” So that's a new angle, a new approach, and it's beneficial. It's helpful.

Now, we're going to continue on studying Elihu. And then I'm going to say to you: while Elihu's words are majestic, while they're helpful and beneficial, we're still left wondering if he has missed some aspects of God's character. And at times it seems that Elihu takes the exact same approach to Job that the friends do. The law of sowing and reaping, you get what you deserve. And he doesn't seem aware of the uniqueness of Job's situation. He is a stunningly righteous man, singled out in a very unique way for a role in redemptive history. How could he know all that? And so sometimes Elihu will sound just like the friends.

So as profound as Elihu often is, we're going to find that only God alone can give the full and final answers to the problem of suffering. And he doesn't do it through a Elihu, and he doesn't even do it in the book of Job. He does it ultimately in the person and the work of his son, Jesus Christ. And in Jesus Christ, in his life, his sinless life, his substitutionary death on the cross, his resurrection triumph over the grave, in that all of the questions are ultimately answered.

Now I began this sermon quoting A.W. Tozer, that statement from The Pursuit of God, “What comes into your mind when you think about God is the most important thing about you.” Well, C.S. Lewis heard that statement. He read it when Tozer wrote it and he said, "By God, it is not the most important thing about a man." C.S. Lewis. "How God thinks of us is not only more important than how we think about God, but infinitely more so." So just ruminate on that while I preach the rest of the sermon, and I think both of them are true. I don't think Tozer would've refuted anything C.S. Lewis was saying there. And I think in the end, isn't it marvelous that even when we are... I don't know, temporarily insane in the midst of our suffering, God never loses his perspective, always knows what he's about, knows how to navigate us through it in Christ and bring us safely to the other side. Praise God for that. So I thank God for both A.W. Tozer and C.S. Lewis, they both help us. In the end, what God thinks about us, even in the midst of our suffering and what he has done for us in Christ is infinitely more important than what we think about God, however, it is pretty clear that 42 chapters in the book of Job are given to help us think well about God and rightly about God when we go through suffering. And that's important too.

All right, let's dig in on this second section on Elihu. Elihu and his judgment of Job. And he's going to stand in judgment over Job. And he's going to begin or continue to demand to be heard. He's already spoken some, but now he has more to say. Job 34:1-2, "Then Elihu said, 'Hear my words, you wise men. Listen to me, you men of learning.'" So he is directly addressing not only Job, but the three friends whose failure to correct Job was so offensive to him. And through Elihu, the Holy Spirit is speaking to all of us, “All of you people listen now to the words that Elijah's going to say,” then he says, "The ear tests words." Look at verses 3-4, "The ear tests words as the tongue tastes food. Let us discern for ourselves what is right, let us learn together what is good." So we're going to sample the truth of the words, we're going to test them. Speech is a fundamental gift from the Lord to the human race. It is part of what separates the human race from animals. Part of what it means, I think, to be created in the image of God is the gift of speech, of language. But words, according to Elihu, have to be tested like food has to be tasted.

Think of a master chef that runs a five star restaurant in Paris and he samples all of the sauces and the dressings and the bubbling concoctions that all of his sous chefs are making under his direction in the kitchen. He goes from one to the next with a spoon and tests them and samples them, his skillful tasting, his pallet, enables him to correct the heat at which the sauce is being heated or stirred in the sauce pan, or the exact blending of the spices in the dressings, or the exact makeup, the balance of the ingredients in the soufflé, he's doing this, he's sampling all of this. That is how we're supposed to come to words, especially philosophical words or theological words, significant words. We're going to sample them. We're going to weigh out arguments, we're going to use logic and reasoning and illustrations and applications. And with all of them, we are going to evaluate: is it true or false doctrine?

Now in the book of Acts we meet the Bereans, who are noble minded, and they took everything Paul said and brought it back to scripture to see if what Paul said was true. And so that's what I want to do for each of you. I want each of you each, and you're already doing it, you're doing it right now, “Pastor, we're doing it. Trust us.” You're evaluating, you're listening, sampling to see if it's true or not. We need to do that with Elihu. And we need to do that in general, says Elihu. Helping us in the new covenant, helping us Christians is the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Isn't that marvelous? We have the indwelling Spirit who enables us to sample words and to come to right doctrine. He illuminates, he brings us to truth. Praise God for the ministry of the third person of the Trinity! It says in 1 John 2:20, "You have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you knows the truth. I don't write to you because you don't know the truth, but because you do know the truth.” And so the Holy Spirit enables us, when you hear something, even for the first time to say, "That's true. I just know it." Even if you've never heard that teaching before, you just know, you've got that anointing from the Holy Spirit, the indwelling Spirit helps you. Now, this sampling of words has been essential to the whole study of the book of Job. Where you have to sample, we're kind of in trouble a little bit in this book. When God pans, or rebukes Job for what he says, "Who is this that speaks words without knowledge?" It's like, “Well what do I do then with Job's words?" It's kind of tough. And then later he says that, “Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar have not spoken what is right about me as my servant Job has.” Oh, okay, so some of what Job says is true and some of it isn't. And some of what the friends say is true, and some of it... So we are sampling. And with Elihu, we're like, "I don't know, what do we do?" And so we have to take and evaluate everything Elihu says alongside the truths we have from other passages of scripture, we have to sample them. Then Elihu goes into Job's claim. He goes into the basic problem. The thing that stirs Elihu up, gets him angry. Job's claim of innocence, verse 5-6, “Job says, ‘I am innocent, but God has denied me justice. Although I am right, I am considered a liar. Although I am guiltless, his arrow inflicts an incurable wound.’” That's the basic problem. Job is claiming to be innocent and God is attacking him.

And so he judges Job, verse 7-9, "What man is like Job, who drinks scorn like water? He keeps company with evildoers; he associates with wicked men. For he says, ‘It profits a man nothing when he tries to please God.’" Now it seems like Elihu is saying that in questioning God's justice, he is associating with wicked people in general who do that all the time. What wicked people do all the time is question God, whether he exists or not and whether he's good or not, or just or not. And when Job joins up with them he's just, it seems, hanging out with wicked people like they are, acting like them.

Now, I'm not in entirely sure what it means, "What man is there like job who drinks scorn like water?" Maybe afterwards, one of you can come and tell me what you think that means. It's like, “It doesn't matter how much scorn you pour on this guy; he drinks it and just keeps on going. Nothing seems to change his mind.” I don't know, maybe that's what Elihu means. Then the things get even more challenging after that. Because Elihu digs in and speaks of a majestic God. A God whose righteousness and holiness and majesty soars so far beyond anything we can comprehend. And I think we need to hear these words, the perfect justice, the omniscience of God. And that is the foundation of God's righteous throne in heaven. We who live in 21st century America, we are staggeringly casual about God. We are familiar with God in ways that I think aren't helpful. We are informal. We're a casual people. And we need to not be that way with God. And Elihu's words can help. Elihu in verses 10-12 zeros in on God's perfect hatred of evil, "So listen to me, you men of understanding. Far be it from God to do evil, from the Almighty to do wrong. He repays a man for what he has done. He brings upon him what his conduct deserves. It is unthinkable that God would do wrong, that the Almighty would pervert justice." so what he's saying is God hates evil at a level we can scarcely imagine. And this is the unified teaching of the Bible. God, 1 John 1:5, "God is light,” straight through his being. He is pure, “God is light, and in him there's no darkness at all.” There is no evil in God. So nothing God ever does is evil, he is pure light. So according to Elihu, anything that God has done to Job must be perfectly just, perfectly right, because God did it. Now in heaven, I do believe we will review all of God's actions in history. We'll review all of God's judgments and we'll find that God acted with perfect justice in every case. And that unrepentant sinners actually do ultimately get paid back in full. It says in Romans 2:6, “God will give to each person according to what he has done,” plain. So ultimately, Job, your sense that wicked people get away with murder and all that, we'll come back to that one. But everything that God does is right. And God deals justly with the wicked.

"We who live in 21st century America, we are staggeringly casual about God. We are familiar with God in ways that I think aren't helpful. We are informal. We're a casual people. And we need to not be that way with God. "

God's authority as king, his right to rule is independent of his creatures. Look at verse 13, “Who appointed him,” God, “Who appointed him over the earth? Who put him in charge of the whole world?” God is king of the universe. Okay, who is the king maker? Was there a search process for that? Was there an electorate during that time? No, none of the above. God derives his being and his authority from himself. That's the aseity of God. Everything comes from God himself, nothing from the creature at all. So what that means is we never voted God into office and we can't impeach him, we have no power to vote him out. No creature gave God his throne. It is his by virtue of his person and his work in creating the universe. God the creator made this universe. It is his, he can do with it whatever he pleases. And he made it, and so therefore he can rule over it absolutely as king. God's absolute power also extends to life and death. Look at verses 14-15, and also in verse 20, "If it were his intention and he withdrew his spirit and breath, all mankind would perish together and man would return to the dust." and again, verse 20, "They die in an instant in the middle of the night. The people are shaken and they pass away. The mighty are removed without human hand." So we exist through the will of God at every moment. It says in Acts 17:28, "In him, we live and move and have our being." whether we acknowledge him or not. God sustains the life of every human being at every moment. Hebrews 1:3 says concerning Jesus, "The Son sustains all things by his powerful word. He upholds the being of every creature." It is completely dependent on God's purpose and will whether any human being continues to exist or not for another second. And that's true, not just of humans, but of every creature that God ever made.

Psalm 104:29 speaking of all creatures out in the fields, in the mountains and in the valleys, all of them out they're on planet earth: "When you hide your face, they're terrified when you take away their breath, they die and return to the dust." That's true of humans; that's true of everything. God has therefore, as I've said before, created a needy universe. It needs him. Every atom of the universe needs God to continue to exist. I don't think we can think too much about this or too highly of this. If God wanted to kill a single individual, or if he wanted to kill a whole nation alike, he could do that with no preparation at all. He doesn't need any help to do that. As Moses said to Pharaoh in Exodus 9:15, at this point, they're well into multiple plagues and Pharaoh still doesn't get it. Remember how Pharaoh began that interview with Moses, in the exchange with Moses. "Who is the Lord? I don't know the Lord." Well, he is getting an education. And God said to Pharaoh through Moses in Exodus 9:15, "For by now, I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would've wiped you from the face of the earth." "Do you not know who I am? I have that kind of power." It says in verse 20, Elihu says, "The mighty are removed without a human hand." Meaning God doesn't need any allies at all if he wanted to kill anyone or even any nation, he doesn't need any help to do it. Verse 20.

Jonathan Edwards in his famous sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, zeroed in on this powerful ability of God to take life at any moment, without any preparation, without any equipment. I mean: nothing needs to get arranged. This is what Edward said:

It is no security to wicked men for one moment that there are no visible means of death at hand. It is no security to a natural man that he is now in health, that he does not see which way he should now immediately go out of the world by any accident. That there is no visible danger in any respect in his circumstances, the manifold and continual experience of the world in all ages shows this is no evidence that a man is not actually on the brink, the very brink of eternity and that his next step will not be into another world. The unseen, unthought-of ways and means of persons going suddenly out of the world are innumerable and inconceivable. Unconverted men walk over the pit of hell on a rotten covering, and there are innumerable places in this covering so weak that they will not bear their weight. And these places are not seen by them. The arrows of death fly unsoon at noon day. The sharpest sight cannot discern them. God has so many different, unsearchable ways of taking wicked men out of this world and sending them to hell.

This is an elaboration of the very thing Elihu is saying, when God takes away their breath, they die, and they go to the dust. It would be good for us to meditate on this as well. “In God I live and move and have my being.” It's the very same thing he said in James. “We should say, ‘If God wills, I will live and do this or that.’" Do not presume on the future. Do not presume you'll be alive tomorrow or a week from now. God also, according to Elihu is totally impartial. He's not impressed by people's positions. Look at verses 16-19: "If you have understanding, hear this, listen to what I say. Can he who hates justice govern? Will you condemn the just and the mighty One? Is not he, the One who says to kings, 'You are worthless.' And to nobles, 'You are wicked.' And shows no partiality to princes and does not favor the rich over the poor, for they are all the work of his hands. They die in an instant in the middle of the night, the people are shaken and they pass away, the mighty removed without a human hand."

First of all, in that little section, Elihu says God could not rule as he does if he hated justice. Although human history is certainly marred by tyrants, who ruled with an iron fist and hated justice, God isn't like them. Actually, God's love for justice is the foundation of his throne. Psalm 89:14 says, "Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne. Love and faithfulness go before you." God is so powerful and sovereign over the kings and princes of the earth that he has no trouble judging any of them, any time. He sees how many of the kings are actually worthless men and how many of the princes are wicked. And he shows no partiality to them at all, but he removes them in an instant. They die at night with no warning. That's true today. We look around at the heads of state, whether presidents or premieres or prime ministers or any of them, these words are still true. All of them. So Job's contention that God tolerates the wicked and that they die peacefully in their beds with their loving families around them and there's no retribution at all, Job 21, may occasionally be true. But the norm is that God is actually, as it says in Romans 9, “bearing with great patience the objects of his wrath.” That's what's happening, he's just putting up with them. And that at the right time, according to his wisdom, he brings the hammer down. Justice is served.

Now in verses 21 through 28, Elihu speaks of God's perfect knowledge of all of the sins of all men. There's no hiding from God. Verses 21-28, "His eyes are on the ways of men. He sees their every step. There's no dark place, no deep shadow where evildoers can hide. God has no need to examine men further that they should come before him for judgment. Without inquiry, he shatters the mighty and sets up others in their place. Because he takes note of their deeds, he overthrows them in the night and they are crushed. He punishes them for their wickedness where everyone can see them because they turn from following him and had no regard for any of his ways. They caused the cry of the poor to come before him, so that he heard the cry of the needy." So God's judgments of all human beings are perfect. They're based on complete knowledge. Men in their sins, often deceive themselves into thinking that no one can see them. No one knows. Elihu reminds us all that there's never a moment in which God's omnipresent eye does not see everything that we do. Elihu says specifically, "God doesn't need anymore information to judge us. There's no need, Job, for a court trial. There's no need for witnesses to be called. He already knows what we are in our hearts and what we did with our bodies.” Do you remember that time when God showed up and told Abraham, "A year from now, Sarah would hold the child." Remember that? And they'd been a barren couple. Do you remember what Sarah did? Do you remember? She laughed in her tent. And then God said, "Why did Sarah laugh?" And she was afraid. So she lied and said, "I didn't laugh." And God said, "Oh yes, but you did laugh, period. Next paragraph." That's a little microcosm of judgment day. "Yes you did. Period. This is what you said. This is what you did. No witnesses are needed." And God knows our hearts. He knows the motive behind our words. He knows why we did everything that we did. So Job's longing for a hearing is not necessary. God already knows who Job is and what he's done. So if I can just stop and let me just reach ahead for an application and do it right now. Wouldn't it not be good for all of us to walk continually in the fear of the Lord? Isn't the fear of the Lord the beginning of wisdom? Isn't it right for us to see that there's no darkness with God? Even the night is day to him. Wouldn't it be good if there are patterns of sin in our lives, to put them to death immediately? To not act like no one will ever see, no one ever knows? Shouldn't these words move us to that kind of a holy fear? I think so. Let us not be trapped in our vain imaginations about God and think he doesn't see us. Let us not live a double life, whitewashed tombs that look good on the outside, but inside are full of corruption and dead men's bones and everything unclean. What other people wrongly think about us will not matter at all on judgment day. All that matters on judgment day is what God thinks about us. At the final judgment, the court will be seated, the books will be open and the dead will be judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. It's that clear.

"Let us not be trapped in our vain imaginations about God and think he doesn't see us. Let us not live a double life, whitewashed tombs that look good on the outside, but inside are full of corruption and dead men's bones and everything unclean."

Now it seems to me, the Holy Spirit has to say this kind of thing to us again and again, because our faith is so weak. Faith is the eyesight of the soul by which we see invisible, spiritual realities. Past, present, and future. We sin through unbelief, we forget that a holy God is watching us right now and will later call us to account. So the stronger our faith is, the stronger our eyesight of the invisible spiritual world is, the less we will sin. We need to lie openly under the word of God and let it search us and know us. Hebrews 4:12-13 says, "The word of God is living and active, sharper than any double edged sword. It penetrates even to the dividing of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything's uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we will give an account." We need to just let God's word do its work in us. Let it cut us open, let it do its surgery on us. Let it hurt us in order to heal us. That's what we need.

So God works in us a clear view of judgment day and causes us to repent and make changes while there's still time. And it is by working in sinners, a deep conviction of sin that God saves us. This deep conviction of sin brings us to the cross of Christ. And then it continues, doesn't it? To serve us well the rest of our Christian lives. So that we are deeply convicted of sin the rest of our Christian lives. We should also remember that God is patient with us, gives us time to repent. He doesn't deal with us immediately, but we should not presume on that time. We don't know how long it will be. And we should realize that as soon as you're aware of sin in your life, put it to death by the Spirit.

In verse 29-30, Elihu who speaks of God's freedom to rule as he sees fit: "But if he remains silent, who can condemn him? If he hides his face, who can see him? Yet, he is over man and nation alike to keep a godless man from ruling, from laying snares for the people." So Elihu speaks of the freedom that God has sometimes to speak powerfully in judgment, just like that. And other times to be silent and give the sinner more time. God can do whatever he wants. There's no telling. God alone can decide which of these he will do. Remember the story of Jonah? Where Jonah comes and preaches to Nineveh, and the king of Nineveh commands the whole city to repent and to humble themselves before the God of heaven? And then says these words, "Who knows God may be merciful to us?" Do you realize the theology of “who knows?” God can do what he want. He doesn't owe us another day. And so who knows? God may, in some cases, give more time. Other cases: done. Nebuchadnezzar, he gives him seven years, and Nebuchadnezzar repented. King Herod? Killed him immediately, instantly. God can do either one.  Now, Elihu is speaking of God being over both man and nation alike. God is so powerful that he can bring judgment on a single man in and afternoon. And he can do the exact same thing to a nation. He can kill 185,000 of Assyrian troops in a single night. That's the power of God.

So, therefore in Job 34:31-37, Elihu urges Job to repent, “Suppose a man says to God, ‘I am guilty, but I will offend no more. Teach me what I cannot see; if I have done wrong, I will not do so again.’ Should God then reward you on your terms, when you refuse to repent? You must decide, not I. So tell me what you know? Men of understanding declare, wise men who hear will say to me, 'Job speaks without knowledge; his words lack insight. Oh, that Job might be tested to the utmost for answering like a wicked man. To his sin he adds rebellion; scornfully he claps his hands among us and multiplies his words against God.'" So it's interesting, Elihu seems to write Job's script for him here: “Suppose a man says, ‘I am guilty, but I will offend no more. Teach me what I cannot see; if I have done wrong I will not do so again." Effectively, he's saying, "Job, say that to God. Say it to God." "I will confess that I've sinned and I'm guilty, but I promise never to do it again. I yearn Lord for you to teach me the truth about my sins." The rest of this section, if I can be honest with you, brothers and sisters, I found extremely difficult to interpret. Some things are clearer than others. So I walked through this saying, “Okay, what am I going to say to the church about this?” And since I don't really know, I'm gonna just move on to the next section.

There's so many things in this book that I don't fully understand. And so in chapter 35:1-8, Elihu exalts God as independent of all humanity: “Then Elihu said: ‘Do you think this is just? You say, 'I will be cleared by God.’ Yet you ask him, ‘What profit is it to me, and what do I gain by not sinning?' I would like to reply to you and to your friends with you. Look up to the heavens and see; gaze at the clouds so high above you. If you sin, how does that affect him? If your sins are many, what does that do to him? If you are righteous, what do you give to him, or what does he receive from your hand? Your wickedness affects only a man like yourself, and your righteousness only the sons of men.’" So Elihu is giving a sense of the infinite transcendence of God. And we spoke of that earlier in the book of Job. God is not benefited by us in any way. God doesn't need us. We don't make God feel better. We don't help God with his program. Does that make sense? He isn't served by us as if he needed anything. He doesn't need anything. We spoke of this earlier. God is higher above us than the clouds, or even the most distant stars. He is lofty and exalted; you're not going to affect God in himself at all by how you live.

So if Job says, "What benefit is it to me to avoid sinning?" Then you need to know your sins are only hurting yourself and the people around you. You're not hurting God or affecting his throne at all. Elihu then in verses 9-13; cries out against the oppression of the poor by the powerful. Look at these verses: "Men cry out under a load of oppression; they plead for relief from the arm of the powerful. But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night, who teaches more to us than the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of the air?’ He does not answer when men cry out because of the arrogance of the wicked. Indeed, god does not listen to their empty plea; the Almighty pays no attention to it." So all four men, Job and his three friends, have spoken passionately about their concern for what we call social justice. For the poor and needy, Elihu adds his voice to theirs. Here however, Elihu says that even the poor oppressed, themselves are sinners. They do not think of God often in the midst of their afflictions, they are poor. It's true. They are suffering. They are socioeconomically disadvantaged, but they're still sinners. And in the midst of their sorrows they do not think properly about God. They suffer, but they wickedly forget God and they don't cry out to him. And when they do, God does not listen because they do not pray properly in faith and repentance.

And then in verses 14-16, Elihu ends again by judging Job. "How much less, then, will he listen when you say that you do not see him, that your case is before him and that you must wait for him, and further that his anger never punishes and that he does not take the least notice of wickedness. So Job opens his mouth with empty talk and without knowledge, he multiplies words.” So bottom line, no human being ever, no matter what they're going through can rightly accuse God of wrongdoing, ever. Not Job, not the poor, not the mighty, no one.

"So bottom line, no human being ever, no matter what they're going through can rightly accuse God of wrongdoing, ever. Not Job, not the poor, not the mighty, no one."

All right. So what lessons can we draw from this? Well, I've already given you one of the main lessons and that is that we should walk wisely and circumspectly in the fear of the Lord. An omniscient God, a holy God who sees us at every moment. Now, I already told you that was the foundation of Job's righteousness. Wasn't it? It was the foundation of his piety. That's how he lives such a holy life. He never forgot that God saw him all the time, and we need to do that as well. Now the primary benefit of that meditation, by far, is to drive us to the cross of Christ. We are guilty. We have violated God's holy laws. We have no hope in and of ourselves. In our own righteousness, we have no hope.

But we understand that the only righteousness that will survive judgment day is a perfect righteousness and that was only ever found in one man, Jesus Christ. And God in his goodness offers that freely to all of us, every generation, he cries out before us and holds out his own, Jesus holds out his own righteousness and offers it to you as a gift. And he offers to take all of your wickedness and all of your rebellion and take it on himself and suffer and die under the wrath of God on the cross that we might be free from guilt on judgment day. Christ is our righteousness on judgment day. And in Christ’s imputed righteousness, we will shine like the sun forever.

So if you are walking in grief and sorrow now, you're going through trials; you're burdened by that; come to Christ. If you are a sinner and up to this point you have never trusted in Christ as your Lord and savior, come to Christ. Even if you're a Christian and you've walked with the Lord for many years and are in no particular pattern of suffering right now, come again and again, develop a strong habit of coming to Christ in any and every situation because you know, likely maybe even very soon, you're going to be suffering your own version of Job's trials. And so Jesus said in Matthew 11:28-30, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Close with me in prayer.

Father, we thank you for this time with Elihu. These words are deep, they're complicated, they're not easy to understand. Pray that you would guide us, Lord. Help us to have a majestic vision of God, that our hearts and our minds would soar as far as these words imply. So that we see that God is above the heavens, even the highest heavens, which cannot contain you. And that we would draw near to our mediator, our savior Jesus, and find in him full forgiveness and find in him strength for the trials that we're going through. And we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen. 

In two more speeches, Elihu presents God’s kingly reign in ways that warn us against pride. Christ is the only answer to suffering.

The post God Reigns with Perfect Justice (Job Sermon 22) appeared first on Two Journeys.

Paul explains why he does not lose heart in the ministry of the gospel, even in the midst of mass rejection and great suffering. He considers his hardships light and momentary compared to the eternal heavenly reward awaiting him.

The post 2 Corinthians Episode 4: Glorious Light Ministered by Jars of Clay appeared first on Two Journeys.

Elihu made some significant contributions to the topic of human suffering and the character and plans and purposes of God. And in this, his first of four speeches, he will say that God uses suffering to benefit his people.

Turn in your Bibles to Job chapter 32. We'll be looking at 32 and 33 today. The night before Jesus was crucified, he had some time with his disciples, his apostles. And he spoke many words to them to get them ready for what was about to come upon them and all of them, all of them underestimated what that would be. They didn't really understand what was going to happen that very night and they didn't know how hard it would be. And beyond that, even beyond the joy that would come after his death and then his resurrection, they- all of them underestimated how difficult their lives would be as apostles of Christ, all of the persecutions and the sufferings that they would most certainly follow. And so Jesus warned them ahead of time what was going to come. And he said very plainly, "I'm telling you this ahead of time so that when it comes on you, you will believe that I am he."

So the words got out ahead of the challenge, the words prepared their hearts for what was going to come, to the end that they would continue to believe in Jesus. Now you would think, "Well, I know I'm going to keep believing in Jesus no matter what happens." Don't underestimate the power of the world, the flesh and the devil assaulting your faith. You must have supply from heaven, you must have resources flowing into your soul from heaven and part of what we're going to do today is to give you some of those resources to get you ready for what's going to come. And at the end of that teaching time, Jesus said in John 16:33, "I have told you these things so that in me, you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble but take heart. I have overcome the world." Behind all of that is, it very much matters how you go through the trials that are going to come on you. It matters a lot.

It matters a lot whether, in the midst of those trials, in Christ you have peace or not. It matters very much whether you take heart in Christ's ultimate victory or not. That you would have peace in Christ and that you would take heart in Christ. That was the end of John 13:16. I would say it's the end of all scripture. Everything that was written in the past was written to instruct us, Paul tells us in Romans 15. So that through the endurance and the encouragement of the scriptures, you may have hope. Well, what is hope? But a strong feeling in the heart that the future is bright. We're going to a world where there'll be no more death, mourning, crying, or pain. Where you as a Christian man or woman, you're going to shine like the sun forever in the kingdom of your Father.

All of the pain of this life is temporary, all of it. And yet it also has a purpose. God is going to bring it on you. So you should have a sober mind as you listen to the book of Job and today the chapters 32-33. The Holy Spirit is going to use Elihu and some mysterious way to get you ready for what God is intending to bring in your life and it's not going to be nothing. He is going to bring things that you will find hard in your life. You need to get ready, and hopefully this sermon will help you do that. So as we come to Job 32-33, we come to a mysterious character in the Bible. A man of mystery, Elihu, who we didn't even know was there. Who is this guy? It's like he kind of parachutes into the story and says a bunch of things and then leaves. And no one even in the text says, "Who is that?" But in he comes.

Now, you need to realize in all the billions that even the trillions of words, that humans have spoken in all of redemptive history only a very select set made it into the Bible by the wisdom of God. And God chose that every generation of his believing people would listen to the words of Elihu and read them and deal with them. Now, what makes Elihu hard is first of all, we don't know who he is. Oh, we're told in verse two, he is the son of Barachel the Buzite of the family of Ram. Does that help any of you? It didn't help me, I don't know any of those guys. So that's your genealogical address, it doesn't help me much. And up to this point, we didn't even know he was there. He wasn't listed in the list of friends, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar. He has five chapters assigned to him by the Holy Spirit, that's a lot. Four speeches that he makes. And after he's done speaking, God shows up and speaks out of a whirlwind to Job and then after that speaks directly to the three friends, God says nothing about Elihu at all. Furthermore, there's no dialogue; no one talks to him. There's no back and forth. Nobody comes back on him and says anything, he just drops in there.

So for me I have to say, look honestly in the end none of that matters to me, it doesn't. All scripture's God breathed and useful. And I know the book of Job has some hermeneutical- some interpretive challenges like when God says about Job's words, "Who is this that darkens counsel by speaking words without knowledge?" So God gives to Job's words: a thumbs down. So what am I supposed to do with Job's words? And then at the end, He does the same thing to the three friends. He rebukes them because; "They have not spoken what is right about me as my servant Job has." So Job said some good things and not good things and then Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar they are panned by God, they're rejected. So, now I as an interpreter, I am like, "What do I do?" And then we saw the apostle Paul quoting Eliphaz, just quoting him in I Corinthians, an inspired scripture. So that means some of what the friend said was true. So we've been dealing with those hermeneutical challenges all along and now along it comes Elihu and we don't have either thumbs up or thumbs down at all. So basically, I think we should approach Elihu's statements, these chapters, as we do all the scriptures. We do the book of Ecclesiastes, as we do the book of Proverbs, as we do the minor prophets, we just come at it as holy scripture. And we read and wherever it seems to be off, just don't think it's off just take it as truth and accept it. On no other basis would we have to reject Elihu's words, we're just going to sit under them and let God speak.

But having said that, I find in the end that Elihu's wisdom is helpful but shadowy, the reality is Christ. So we in the end are going to get a better, clearer word from the New Testament and from the apostles and from Jesus himself on suffering. But Elihu can still help us, that's the approach that I'm going to take to Elihu. If you have a different approach to Elihu, come afterwards and tell me and I'll be happy to listen and we'll continue to turn through the mystery of these chapters. But in the meantime, we want to hear what Elihu has to say. And Elihu does make some significant contributions to our understanding of God's purpose in suffering.

Now in chapter 32, he just gets ready to speak. That's the whole chapter. So that whole chapter is given to Elihu, stepping in, introducing himself and saying why he had waited so long and that he really has a lot to say and he wants to say something. That's what chapter 32, so let's see it. He begins angry, he's an angry man as he steps up, he's an angry man as he begins to speak, look at verses 1-5: “So these three men stopped answering Job because he was righteous in his own eyes but Elihu, son of Barachel the Buzite of the family of Ram became very angry with Job for justifying himself, rather than God. He was also angry with the three friends because they had found no way to refute Job and had condemned him. Now, Elihu had waited before speaking to Job because they were older than he. But when he saw that the three men had nothing more to say, his anger was aroused.” So this begins right away as an example of holy anger, righteous indignation. We'll talk more about that at the end of the message, somewhat. But he is offended that Job sees himself as righteous and God as unjust, that angers Elihu. Job, it seemed according to Elihu, was more certain of his own righteousness than he was of God's justice. Think about that. More certain of his own righteousness than of God's justice, I think that's true that he felt that way, that Job felt that way. And that's what made Elihu very angry. He was also, the text tells us, angry at the friends. They should have done one of two things. Either they should have brought evidence of Job's wickedness and shut him up, shut him down, or they should have stopped condemning Job. One or the other, but what they did according to Elihu was wrong, and so he was angry.

Now, why did he wait to speak? Why has it taken this long to hear from Elihu? Well, he explains that, verse 4, "Elihu had waited before speaking to Job because they were older than he." He's a young man. Verse 6 and 7, "So Elihu son Barachel the Buzite said, 'I am young in years and you are old, that's why I was fearful not daring to tell you what I know. I thought, ‘Age should speak; advanced years should teach wisdom.'" Well, I think this is an important message for our culture. Our culture tends to revere the young, and beautiful, and strong and energetic. Other cultures tend to revere and esteem wisdom and experience, especially, let's say, oriental cultures. Scripture says, "Rise in the presence of the aged." There's a sense of honor that comes to people who have lived and have experienced. And we should know as Christians, there're just some lessons that take time to learn. And we have to be immersed in them and it takes a while and people who have been walking with the Lord a long time have some wisdom to teach those who haven't been walking as long. And so I think that's commendable, but the time for Elihu's silence has now come to an end. He is compelled to speak and why is that?

Well first of all, God gives understanding to everyone. Every man, every person has something worth listening to. Look at verses 8-10, "It is the spirit in a man the breath of the almighty that gives him understanding. It is not only the old who are wise, not only the aged who understand what is right. Therefore I say: Listen to me and I too will tell you what I know." So all true wisdom comes from God and every human being is created in the image of God and so therefore, every human being has the capacity to speak wisdom and truth. We should listen to people, we should listen even if they're young, we should be willing to listen and so God can speak through young people. There are some people that come to remarkable levels of wisdom very early in life.

Jonathan Edwards, for example, was a spiritual prodigy somewhat like Mozart was musically, Edwards was spiritually. Wrote out a bunch of incredibly deep perceptive resolutions at age 19. Oh that every 19 year old young man had that level of wisdom, it was remarkable. And not just him, but Spurgeon was preaching as a teenager and preaching very deep perceptive sermons. So it can happen. So even though Elihu was a young man, he still has some things worth listening to.

Also, he's compelled to speak because Job's friends were wrong to give up, to wave the white flag on this whole thing. So they seem to be done, they've spent what they have and now nobody's talking, somebody needs to step up. Look at verses 12-16, "Not one of you has proved Job wrong, none of you has answered his arguments. Do not say, ‘We have found wisdom, let God refute him not man.’ But Job has not marshaled his words against me and I will not answer him with your arguments. They are dismayed and have no more to say, words have failed them. Must I wait now that they're silent? Now that they stand there with no reply." So he's gotten frustrated with these friends. So they're older than him, it's true but they seem to be done. And there's more to say here. "I need to defend God, I need to defend the honor and the glory of God, I need to speak up." "Seems like you men are just waiting for God to show up and rebuke Job," which is exactly what's about to happen. But no one knew that and he says, "Look in the absence of that I need to speak, I need to speak up. Now t's my turn." Look at verse 17, "I too will have my say, I too will tell what I know and I can't hold back any longer." Versus 18-20 he said, "I am full of words and the spirit within me compels me. Inside I'm like bottled up wine, like new wine skins ready to burst. I must speak and find relief, I must open my lips and reply." Have you ever felt like that? Yeah, the last time you interrupted someone. Interruption is a sin. We're struggling with that sometimes. We think, "All right, it's time for me to speak. I know the other person's not done yet but I'm going to rudely break in because I can't help myself." And now you have great verses to prove it, you can just quote Elihu, "I'm like wine ready to burst; I'm like a volcanic eruption I can't hold back."

But there are times that the prophet of God is like that. I think about Jeremiah and he had a very, very difficult ministry, didn't he? Very tough ministry. And God's word brought him reproach and rebuke all day long. No one wanted to hear what Jeremiah had to say. And he said, "All right, I'm done. I don't want to be a prophet anymore." But that didn't work, why? He says in Jeremiah 20:9, "If I say I will not mention God or speak anymore in his name, his word is in my heart like a fire. A fire shut up in my bones, I am weary of holding it in. Indeed, I cannot." So hopefully the best way to put a spin on what Elihu is saying here, “God has something he wants me to say and I need to say it.” And as he says it, he said, "I am committed to not flattering anyone." Verse 21, 22 he says, "I will show partiality to no one, nor will I flatter any man. If I was skilled in flattery, my maker would soon take me away." So Elihu's zeal for the glory of God means he's not going to be using flattery. What is flattery? It's self-serving verbal techniques in which you're trying to do something but it's not genuine praise, it's not healthy encouragement. It's really a lie. You're saying encouraging things but your real motive is something else. And frequently that happens with wealthy, powerful, influential people. You try to ingratiate yourself, you go into the King's presence and say, "Oh, king live forever." That kind of thing. When you don't really want him to live forever, you don't like him that kind of thing, but it's just using flattery. He said, "I'm not going to do that." Yes, Job is a wealthy, powerful man but God is more important than him and I'm just not going to use flattery in this case.

Then we go onto chapter 33, Elihu then addresses Job directly and he asks him for a hearing. Job 33:1-2 he says, "But now, Job, listen to my words; pay attention to everything I say. I'm about to open my mouth; my words are on the tip of my tongue." And he promises Job that he's upright in heart. Verse 3, "My words come from an upright heart; my lips sincerely speak what I know.” “God's spirit is at work in me." he says, "the breath of the Almighty gives me life.” “So I'm ready to talk and God's spirit is moving and I have something I need to say to you."

And he says, "I'm just a man like you are before God. I've been taken from clay I'm just a human being, so you should not be afraid of me like you would be if God showed up. If God comes and God speaks, you would fear. But you have no reason to fear me, I'm just a man like you are." So verse 5, "Answer me then if you can prepare yourself and confront me." All right, so that's all preface. It's all introduction to Elihu speaking; chapter 32 on into chapter 33:7, this is preparation. Now he says what he wants to say and he begins by criticizing Job.

Now, why does he criticize him? Because it seems to me that both Job's friends and Job himself are operating out of the same basic theological construction on the issue of suffering, human suffering. Both of them feel that the best explanation for Job's sufferings from God are God's righteous justice against specific sins committed. You sin; you get crushed by God. That's just what happens, it's the law of sewing and reaping. And ironically, both the three friends and Job are operating out of that same structure, basically. Now the friends are saying, "Your wickedness must be secret and hidden but it must be very great. Because only that would explain the magnitude of your sufferings, the reason you suffer is because of specific sins you have committed. And so your suffering is great, therefore, your sins must be great. We haven't seen it but it must be happening." Job accepts, it seems that premise, but he said, the wickedness doesn't occur. "I've not done those wicked things." Job 31, his whole defense for his righteousness. "Therefore, God must be unjust. God's wrong about me in bringing all of this." And so Elihu says that whole structure is wrong. Sometimes it's right and sometimes God does punish people for their sins, it's true but that's not the only possible explanation here, so Elihu speaks up. Verse 8-11, Chapter 33:8-11 says, "But you have said in my hearing- I have heard the very words- ‘I am pure and without sin; I am clean and free from guilt. Yet God has found fault with me; he considers me his enemy. He fastens my feet in shackles’ he keeps close watch on all my paths.’" So Elihu has a different perspective on the reason for Job's suffering and he's angry that Job claims to be pure and that God is unjust. So then he elevates Job's mind and all of our minds on the person of God, the majesty of the glory and the holiness of God. God is infinitely majestic so all accusations of God's wrongdoing are themselves very wrong. Verse 12, "I tell you in this you are not right, for God is greater than man." This is one of the greatest lessons that we've taken from the book of Job.

It is always wrong for the suffering to accuse God of wrongdoing. It's never okay to do that. You may be going through great suffering. In the future, God may choose to bring suffering into your life. It will never help you, it is not therapeutic, it will not heal you. And it's just not true that God has wronged you and God has been unjust or saying any harsh, wrong things about God. Don't do it. That's one of the main lessons of the book of Job. You don't need to go through all of that to get to the point Job gets at the end of the book where he puts his hand over his mouth and doesn't accuse God anymore of wrongdoing. So just get to that point, that's what he's saying. Now Job's two great accusations are that God is unjust and not only that, he's silent. "As I cry out to God, he gives me no answer." Look at verse 13, "Why do you complain to him, to God that he answers none of man's words." So Elihu takes that up, "Why do you say God doesn't speak?"

Job has repeatedly charged God with silence. Isn't it true that when we go through great suffering, one of the worst things that people say is that, "I pray but God doesn't say anything to me. He doesn't answer me, I don't feel close to God through all of this?" Very great trial. And so Job said it. Job 19:7, "Though I cry I've been wronged, I get no response." And then Job 30:20, "I cry out to you oh God, but you do not answer.” “You've left me on my own God." But Elihu asserts, God is not silent. Look at verse 14-16, "For God does speak. Now one way now another though man may not perceive it in a dream and a vision of the night when deep sleep falls on men, as they slumber in their beds, he may speak in their ears and terrify them with warnings."

"So God is there and is not silent," as Francis Shafer said. He actually fills the world with communication. He speaks all the time through creation and we're going to see the beauty of natural theology when God speaks, basically all that God does. "Look at my creation, do you not see the greatness of my power and my wisdom and love?" So that's natural theology. God does that. Psalm 19:1, "The heavens declare the glory of God. The skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day, they pour forth speech." You just look around at creation and you can see God talking to you. But that's not really what Elihu talks about; he also speaks directly to the hearts and ears of human beings. Something pops into man's mind and it was God speaking to him, sometimes he speaks by dreams even when people are sleeping.

And why does God speak? Well here it's time for Elihu's powerful contribution on this whole theology of suffering. Elihu's new insights is that God uses suffering to save his people, God uses suffering to save or benefit his people. Job and his friends are operating from that paradigm that God in suffering is just pounding on people, he's bringing justice for their sins, it's retribution. But Elihu sees a different possibility, a more redemptive answer, I would say a more therapeutic answer. God brings suffering into the lives of his people to help them ultimately, to benefit them, to bring them to a better place in life. First of all, he uses warnings. Look at verses 15-16, "In a dream, in a vision of the night when deep sleep falls on men as they slumber in their beds, he may speak in their ears and terrify them with warnings." And he does this, verse 17, "To turn them from wrongdoing.” And also in verse 17, "To keep them from pride." So turn them away from sin and to turn them away from pride, that's why God does this. Ultimately salvation from the pit: verse 18, "To preserve his soul from the pit," ultimate judgment. So God steps in ahead of time, in dreams, warns you about the course of action, humbles you about himself and about yourself and preserves you from going down to the pit. That's what God does.

So he does this so that people will not continue in evil courses. Very good example of this in the book of Genesis. Do you remember Genesis 20? When Abraham and Sarah were in Gerar and Abraham lied about Sarah, you remember this? He said, "She's my sister," very bad. I mean because Isaac's about to be conceived and born, it'd be very clear that it was Abraham the father, you could get into that whole thing, but it was very important that they not mess up with Sarah here. And this lie put Sarah in tremendous jeopardy. Well, what ended up happening? Well, what happened was Abimelek, the king of Gerar, is about to take Sarah as his wife remember, and God speaks to him in a terrifying dream. And this is what Abimelek heard, "You are a dead man because the woman you're about to marry is a married woman." He was like, "What did I do? I didn't do anything. I didn't know. I'm innocent. I'm an innocent man." Then God answers him in the dream, "Yes, I know that you did this with a clear conscience so I have kept you from sinning against me. That's why I did not let you touch her. Now return the man's wife for he is a prophet and he will pray for you and you will live." Wow. "But if you do not return her, you may be sure that you and all of yours will die." Wow. What do you think Abimelek did when he woke up from that dream? What would you do? So that's a clear example of what Elihu who says, "God will step in and use dreams and warn people." And it's amazing in the Muslim world how often God has used dreams to save people's souls. He'll lead Muslim people to certain cities where they'll hear a messenger even identified in the dream and they hear the gospel, and they're saved. This is a recurring theme in Muslim conversions; it's remarkable how God uses dreams.

Now, Elihu doesn't mention the clearest way God speaks wisdom. Much clearer than natural theology and much clearer than dreams. And that is the written word of God; he doesn't mention scripture at all. It's for this reason that many scholars think that the book of Job is so old maybe the oldest book because it predates all other scriptures. We don't know it's an argument from silence, he just doesn't mention it. But the word of God is a clearer word to us, isn't it? As again Psalm 19 continues, beyond natural theology, Psalm 19:7-8 says, "The law of the Lord is perfect reviving the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right giving joy to the heart, the commands of the Lord are radiant giving light to the eyes." So light, clear light, comes from God's word, the precepts.

God also says- Elihu uses sickness. He turns to the terrible sickness that Job has experienced- experiencing and he says that God uses sickness to help his people, to humble them, to chastise them for their sins. But to the end of bringing them to a deeper, sweeter, more intimate relationship with God. So he describes his sickness verse 19-22, "Or a man may be chastened on a bed of pain with constant distress in his bones so that his very being finds food repulsive and his soul loathes the choicest meal. His flesh wastes away to nothing and his bones once hidden now stick out. His soul draws near to the pit and his life to the messengers of death." That's almost exactly describing Job. God uses dread sicknesses to bring people to that level. And yet God can heal using, interestingly, an angel as a mediator.

Scripture is deep and complex, isn't it? Where'd this angel mediator come from? I find this interesting. He says at verse 23-24, "Yet, if there's an angel on his side as a mediator one out of a thousand to tell a man what is right for him, to be gracious to him and say, ‘Spare him from going down to the pit I've found a ransom for him.’” So there's an intercessor, a mediator, and he's speaking to the suffering man, the sick man, but also to speak on his behalf to God, “Be gracious to him; heal him. I found a ransom for him.” Friends, all of that points me to Christ our mediator, doesn't it? I can't help but go and say, who would that be other than Jesus? Speaking on our behalf, speaking wisdom to us, speaking to God on our behalf saying, “Spare him.”

Then the healing comes. Verse 25, "His flesh is renewed like a child, it's restored as in days of youth." He does this through prayer. So the sick person on the sick bed prays. They cry out to God, they lose that aloof independent attitude that we all walk in. That's our natural sinful state, “I don't need God,” but now when you're sick, what are you doing? You're praying, "Heal me, God. Heal me, I'm hurting. Heal me." “He prays to God,” verse 26, “and finds favor with him,” and look at the final end, "he sees God's face and shouts for joy; he is restored by God to his righteous state.” He's in a better place after the sickness than he was before it. He's closer to God, more intimate and thanks God, really, for the affliction. And then he gets to have a powerful ministry to other people, "So let me tell you about what happened to me. Let me tell you how God was gracious to me." Verse 27-28, “Then he comes to men and says, ‘I sinned, I perverted what was right but I did not get what I deserve,’” God did not treat me as my sins deserve, “‘He redeemed my soul from going down to the pit and I will live to enjoy the light.’” So God does this to save His people. It's kind of a summary, verse 29-30: “God does all these things to a man twice, even three times to turn back his soul from the pit that the light of life may shine on him.” Then in verses 31-33, he warns us all, and Job too, "I have a lot more to say." So we're going to have a couple more sermons on Elihu, he just has more to talk about, "Pay attention Job and listen to me, be silent and I will speak. If you have anything to say answer me, speak up for I want you to be cleared. But if not, then listen to me be silent and I will teach you wisdom." And on we go into the next chapter.

So Elihu has brought powerful and helpful perspective on God's purpose and suffering. God's purpose is to warn people of their sins, to turn them away from passive sin that will lead to the pit, eternal judgment, or to the sword, temporal judgments. In this, God is very kind. He warns us ahead of time to repent lest we perish. God also uses sickness to humble us and chastise us for our sins and then he heals us in answer to prayer. He restores us to full health, to an even greater closeness and intimacy with God than we ever had before. This is exactly what will happen to Job, though Elihu doesn't know it yet.

Now I must stop having summarized basically everything Elihu has said and go directly to the cross. Always as we read the Old Testament, we should think, how does this make me wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus? How is the testimony of Christ the spirit of all prophecy? How does everything in God's word bring us to Christ? All roads lead to the cross. Well first of all, Elihu as an Old Testament voice of wisdom is what I would call a shadow. Its shadowy wisdom. The reality is found in Christ. The author to Hebrews gives us that shadow reality image, Old Testament shadow, New Testament reality. So Elihu's speaking truth but it's not the clearest light of day, it's not everything we could say. However, it is helpful.

Now God does speak in dreams, he does whisper in our ears but how do you know it's God? How do you know that dream was God? Angels speak in dreams and so therefore also demons can speak in dreams. I don't know, how do I interpret? What's the standard of truth? Friends, it's God's word and so God speaks a clearer word through the prophets, through Moses, through Isaiah, and Jeremiah, and Ezekiel and Daniel, and then even more clearly and finally he speaks to us in Christ. So in Hebrews 1:1-3 it says, "In the past, God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways. But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son whom he appointed heir of all things and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being sustaining all things by his powerful word. And after he had provided purification for sin, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty in heaven." that's Jesus Christ, God's final word to the human race, God's clearest word to the human race, Jesus Christ. And Christ sufferings teach us about all suffering. Suffering wouldn't even be in the world if it weren't for Adam's sin. Adam's sin brought in death and suffering into the world. Therefore, Jesus had to die on the cross to redeem us from all of this.

And so Jesus' suffering and Jesus' death is of an order different than anything we could ever experience. It was in our place, he suffered in our place. He died under the wrath of God, the death we deserve for our sins. As Isaiah saw, very clear, Isaiah 53:4-6, speaking of Christ, "Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows. Yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our inequities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him and by his wounds, we are healed. We all like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” So when you are going through your sufferings, you're going through afflictions, remember the three categories that were assaulted in Job's life, his possessions, his loved ones, his family and his health. You, dear friend, are vulnerable in all three areas. You're vulnerable. Vulnerable. And when you get hit in one or more of those areas, when you are hurting in one or more of those areas, you should go to God where that in general pain and suffering is in the world because of sin. It may well be that you are specifically being chastised for your own sins or maybe not.

"Jesus' suffering and Jesus' death is of an order different than anything we could ever experience. It was in our place, he suffered in our place."

But in any case, there is a strong connection between sin and suffering and death. That meditation should lead you to the cross, “Jesus died in my place. I know I'm a sinner, I know I deserve the pit, I deserve to be condemned but because Jesus died from me, I am freed from the pit, I will spend eternity with God in heaven.” And so all suffering should lead us to the cross and then we realize that all of our suffering as Christians then is redemptive. God is a loving father and Elihu's themes come in then, we're sick, we're hurting, we can pray and God's going to use it to bring us close to him. He's going to heal us of sin, ultimately. 1 Peter 2:24-25 has this therapeutic model of the cross, therapeutic, speaking of Jesus, "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live for righteousness, by his wounds you have been healed." You hear that? Healed. Healed from what? “For you are like sheep going astray.” Healed from that. From sin. “You are like sheep going astray but now you have returned to the shepherd and overseer of your soul.” So whenever you're hurting or ever you're in grief and sorrow, go quickly to Christ, to the cross, to the empty tomb and find joy in that. If you're not a Christian yet, if you came here today, you don't usually go to church, maybe you're going through some suffering right now, maybe you're afraid you will, you're waiting for the other shoe to drop in your life, you're afraid of it. I'm just saying, thank you, thank God that you're here. I'm glad you're here. You have heard the gospel this morning; you've heard of a substitute of God's Son dying in your place, trust in him. Trust in him and your sins will be forgiven.

Now I want to finish with just a couple more lessons from Elihu and we'll be done. I want to talk about the reality and limitations of righteous rage. Righteous rage. We're told in James, “everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and,” what? “Slow to become angry,” why? Why slow to become angry? "For man's anger does not bring about the righteousness of God. Therefore, get rid of all,” listen to this, “moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you which can save you." Wow, James is hard on anger, very hard. Calls it moral filth. Most of our anger, let's be honest, is unrighteous, isn't it? Unrighteous. It's based on pride or inconvenience. That'll take care of 95% of your unrighteous anger right there. Your pride was hurt and so you get angry, you're inconvenienced in some way, by some other drivers let's say, and you get angry. But you say: “Yet, however, there are still examples of righteous rage in the Bible!” That is true, there are. But be careful; be careful.

So Elihu is righteously angry about God's honor being impugned, and that's going to happen. We're going to get angry about things, there are issues, moral injustices in this world that we should be angry about. Wickedness that humans do to each other like abortion, like racism, like economic exploitation, sex trafficking, child abuse. And it is right for us to look at those or hear accounts of that and feel anger about it. It's right. But we have to be careful. Our hearts are corrupt. We shouldn't trust ourselves so much. I think the year 2020, looking back, was a full display of so-called righteous rage in America. People were angry about lots and lots of stuff and many of them believed they had righteous reasons behind that. Whether it was the righteous rage when they rioted after George Floyd's death, or when others storm the Capitol Building after the election. If you read all the- you see all the rage in social media, do you see some of the anger in social media? The current- hottest current events of the day, like Black Lives Matter, COVID, masks, election, all of these topics, racism, sex abuse, Me Too. And many of those that are enraged in no way claim to be Christians, they just have a moral structure that's offended and they're, I think it seems in many cases, proud of their anger, proud of it. There's problems when we get righteously angry, it really could be a proud thing like you’re virtue signaling. Saying to everyone, "I don't like that stuff. Therefore, see how righteous I am." And even if the issue itself is clear and the actions are clear, we still should be distrustful of our own reactions and be more humble about it. But there is a place for righteous rage. Look at Jesus, John 2, he goes and sees all the people buying and selling in the temple courts. You remember that? And he sat down and took the time to weave together a long whip. I don't know how long that took, but it took a while. And then what did he do with the whip? Well you know what he did with the whip. He drove out all who were buying and selling in his Father's temple, “Get out of here,” he said, "This house will be called a house of prayer for all nations and you have made it a den of thieves." And his disciples remembered, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” So I think there's a place for it, but just be careful.

Secondly, God both wounds and heals. See the activity of God in all of this, it's not an accident when you get sick. Deuteronomy 32:39 says, "See now that I, myself am he. There is no God besides me, I put to death and I bring to life. I have wounded and I will heal." So Elihu rightly sees God's hand, God's wise, loving hand and his purpose in sickness and it's helpful for us. And one of the purposes of God is to humble us. Sickness humbles you, doesn't it? You're powerless, what can you do to get well? And wasn't that the case with the apostle Paul? God showed him amazing things. He caught him up to the third heaven, to paradise. He saw God with his own eyes in heaven. And then he says in 2 Corinthians 12:7-9, "To keep me from becoming conceded because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan who torment me. Three times, I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me but he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you for my strength is made perfect in weakness.’” That sickness, that pain that got brought into Paul's life, he said, "Was to keep me from being conceited, to humble me and keep me low before the hand of God."

But encourage yourself with this: all sickness, all pain is temporary. It's temporary. You're going to a world where there be no more death, mourning, crying and pain. And where it says in Revelation 22:2, "the leaves of the tree of life are there for the healing of the nations.” And the river of the water of life is flowing through and under that tree. And we're going to be drinking from the river of the water of life and we're going to be feeding from the tree of life. And it's a continual renewal of the health and energy and strength of the resurrection body. You won't know any sickness in heaven, so look forward to that.

And finally, when God disciplines us for sin and we repent of that sin and then God heals us, then we are able or even if there's no known sin but there’s just suffering in our lives, we're able then to have a powerful ministry to others, we're able to minister the comfort that we receive when we went through that painful time. 2 Corinthians 1:4, "God comforts us in all our trouble so that we may comfort others in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God." Close with me in prayer. Lord, we thank you for the things we've learned from your word today. So much to know. We pray, Lord, that you would please sustain and strengthen each one of us in them. Lord, thank you for your wisdom in bringing sorrow and pain into our lives. You don't give us more than we can bear but you are good and loving when you do it. I pray that you would strengthen those that are going through acute suffering right now. If there are any, even that are here, that are suffering and struggling, just speak a word of comfort and consolation to them. Lord, we thank you for this time in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Elihu finally breaks his silence to defend the plans and purposes of God to Job, concluding that God uses suffering to benefit his people.

The post Elihu Speaks (Job Sermon 21) appeared first on Two Journeys.