Simple Faith

Guest (Male): Have you been judged unfairly by someone lately? Not a good feeling. Here’s Pastor Bill Henry.

Bill Henry: Beloved in Christ, again, if people are judging you and you’re not in biblical sin, then do your best to give it to the Lord and not take it to heart. Do your best to do that. It can be hard sometimes when people you love especially believe evil things that have been said about you or are believing or even saying these things. You’re like, "What is going on?" Try not to let it get to your heart and respond biblically and godly and in a loving way to their false judgments.

Guest (Male): You’re listening to Simple Faith, an outreach of Simple Faith Calvary Chapel in Vancouver, Washington. Our pastor and teacher is Bill Henry and today he’s going to take us again to the Book of Job. When I say Job, you naturally think of suffering. Job went through more than just about anyone could stand, yet his faith remained.

Now, what made matters worse was bad advice kept coming his way. We’re currently in Chapter 5 here on Simple Faith. Here’s Pastor Bill now with some words about the right and wrong way to counsel a friend who’s going through tough times.

Bill Henry: Several times through the Gospels, along with other places in his word, John 9:1 through 3, as Jesus passed by, he saw a man who was blind from birth. His disciples asked him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him."

I believe that’s exactly what’s happening as we continue in Job and as we go on, especially when the Lord finally enters the conversation. That is exactly what God has allowed to happen in Job’s life. If he allowed it to happen to Job, guess what? He will allow it to happen in our lives at times, too.

I don't understand why God’s allowing me to suffer. I don't understand why God allowed this to happen or that to happen. We may never know exactly why God allowed that, but we do know that God is working in and through that for his perfect will, good pleasure, and for our good. I don’t know about you, but I find great peace in that.

Let's look at verse 17. "Behold, blessed is the one whom God reproves; therefore, despise not the discipline of the Almighty." Again, he’s saying, "Hey, Job, look man, you should be rejoicing. Blessed is the one whom God reproves. God is reproving you, therefore despise not the discipline of the Almighty." Again, what he’s telling him actually is the truth, but the truth is he’s also accusing Job of sin that isn’t there.

Beloved in Christ, is it true that God blesses or reproves those whom he loves? It is. Psalm 94:12, "Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O Lord, and whom you teach out of your law." Hebrews 12:5 and 6, "And have you forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as sons? 'My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by him; for whom the Lord loves he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives.'"

But notice what Eliphaz is doing. Eliphaz is using truth to sneak in a lie. You see, when you hear a false teacher or maybe even somebody comes to you and they’ll give you 90% scripture, maybe 95%, but then they’re twisting and contorting that last 5% or adding onto it or taking away from it or taking it out of context. We need to be careful of this and don’t listen. When somebody tells you something, it's like, "Hey, this is what the Bible says." Really? Let's go look at it.

Do you know the Bible says that there is no God? Do you know that? I can show you right to the place where it says there is no God. Well, yeah, let’s take it in context and go back and it says, "The fool has said in his heart there is no God." Be careful. There are so many scriptures that the world today likes to throw at us and it always comes with a portion of truth. That’s how Satan works. "Hath God truly said, you shall not eat of any of the trees of the fruit of the garden?" Eve said, "That's basically what he said. We can have everything except this one tree." We have to be careful because Satan always twists, and that's what people do.

That’s what Eliphaz is doing. He’s tearing down more and more. If I could encourage you, as we're going through this, if you have people in your lives that are continually tearing you down, take a break from them. It’s okay to shut them off. Well, isn’t it more loving not to? If you’re crashing and burning in the midst of it, then that's not of God. If you’re finding yourself stronger and stronger in the midst of it, praise God. But know if somebody just continues to attack, it’s okay to say, "Hit the road, Jack. I love you, I'll pray for you, but what you’re saying is not true. It’s not of God." Especially if someone names the name of Christ.

Go read 1 Corinthians 5 and 6 and how Paul deals with that. It’s very strong because remember, a little leaven leavens the whole bunch. Bad company corrupts good morals. Be careful what you allow into your mind, especially by those who are your family and those who are your friends. Be careful because if they're continually spewing these things at you and attacking you—and again, I'm not talking about witnessing—just be careful to let them into your personal zone. That’s where these guys are. They’re in his personal zone.

But again, let’s take a step back real quick. Eliphaz is basically judging Job. He’s basically claiming to know why Job is suffering. He knows why Job is suffering. That’s what he’s saying. If we take another step back, have we ever done this with somebody else? Have we ever looked at somebody from the outside and judged them? I’m going to raise my hand first. I still do it sometimes. If we're honest with ourselves, we all have that tendency. Why? Because we all have this stuff right here. It's called flesh. Anybody have this stuff hanging on your bones right now? Yeah, and it loves to judge other people.

Maybe even as Christians, the flesh in us still likes to judge others because it makes me feel better. You find somebody that's really spiritual. Okay, I’ve got to find a flaw so I’m more spiritual than they are. It’s a terrible thing. But we have to be careful. Have we ever done this with someone? A friend, a family member, a Christian brother or sister? Tearing them down instead of building them up? That's what we’re supposed to do, by the way, as the body of Christ. We're to edify. The word edify in the Greek literally means to build up.

Are we those who are building up or tearing down? I know, sadly, so many marriages, even Christian marriages, they just tear each other down. Tear their children down or the children are tearing the parents down, all in the name of Jesus, if you will. Man, that's terrible. But again, it can be so easy to fall into judging another man’s servant. Paul had to warn the Roman church in Romans 14:4. He said, "Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand."

It's one thing if Job was in blatant sin and he was being approached by Eliphaz and saying, "Bro, you’re in this sin, God calls it sin, you need to repent." It’s the same thing today. But if we don’t know, how about we show love and we show grace and we show mercy? Be careful, man. Some people hear these words: grace, mercy. "What are you talking about? We need more legalism." No thanks. No thank you. My old pastor used to say, "If I'm going to err, may I err on the side of grace." Again, that doesn't mean a license to sin.

But Eliphaz definitely isn't erring on the side of grace. Look at verse 18. "For he wounds, and he binds up; he shatters, but his hands heal. He will deliver you from six troubles; in seven, no evil shall touch you." Again, talking about the one who is righteous and God will do these things for them. Verse 20, "In famine he will redeem you from death, and in war from the power of the sword." So again, he’s charging, "Hey, Job, if you just simply repent, receive the Lord’s punishment, his chastisement, the Lord would heal you. He’d deliver you from six troubles, no seven." Notice, even death and the power of war and the sword, he would have peace in his life.

Look, anyone who takes just a momentary look around today, even here in the church, people that you know and love have died in war that loved Jesus. They’ve died in hospitals or at home or in some accident or have been attacked. So he is so far off. But again, how wicked it is to do it in the name of God. Even more so, it’s one thing to say, "Hey, you know, it’s my opinion that..." No, but to do it—"Well, if you were really a Christian, if you were really godly..." Man.

Verse 21, "You shall be hidden from the lash of the tongue; you shall not fear destruction when it comes. At destruction and famine you shall laugh, and you shall not fear the beasts of the earth." So again, if you’re like this, like Eliphaz, and you basically have no sin, then the Lord’s not going to lash his tongue. You’re not going to fear destruction when it comes. Destruction and famine, you shall laugh. Ha, ha, ha! Fear destruction? Ha, ha, ha! And you shall not fear the beasts of the earth.

"Hey, Job, if you were perfect like me, you wouldn’t mind these terrible things because they wouldn’t be happening." And it’s just terrible. Here’s Job. Remember, he is sitting there suffering. He has boils from head to toe, in his mouth, and his whole body. It's just—he’s completely suffering. He’s lost his kids, all his kids. He’s lost most of his properties and things that he owned. His wife told him to curse God and die. And now his friend is basically judging him for who he is.

And yet, remember, as he sits there suffering and being judged—now, if you’ve ever been judged or are being judged, or in the future you’re falsely judged by someone—remember this what we're reading right now. Because he’s being judged by somebody who is not godly. Oh, he’s saying he’s doing it in the name of God and saying he’s doing it in the name of—you know, that this is godly. But remember, we read in chapters 1 and 2—I'm going to remind us of this—that according to God, Job is the most upright man in all the earth.

So here’s a guy who wasn’t on God’s list that we know of of being the most upright guy on the earth, and he’s judging Job. Beloved in Christ, again, if people are judging you and you’re not in biblical sin, then do your best to give it to the Lord and not take it to heart. Do your best to do that. It can be hard sometimes when people you love especially believe evil things that have been said about you or are believing or even saying these things. You’re like, "What is going on?" Try not to let it get to your heart and respond biblically and godly and in a loving way to their false judgments.

Be careful of falling into the thing, "Well, I need to defend myself. I need to do this." Hey, if there’s blatant sin and you can approach that, we’re to do that biblically. I get that. And if they don’t listen, we come back with two witnesses. If not, we bring it before the church. But here’s the thing. Can I encourage you that when you’re sinned against in this way, respond in a biblical, godly, and loving way? Do your best to do it.

Remember what Jesus said in Luke 6:27. "But to you who are willing to listen, I say: Love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you." You want to be released from those years of pain and bitterness? You want to be healed of them? I’m telling you what: start to pray for those people who abused you. It's so funny. I shared this years ago. I like to pray for those who hate me or those who hurt me.

And by the way, there was a time in my Christian life where I’d open up to the prayers of David. You ever read—you know, like, "Lord, smite them down, Lord. Just curse them from the face of the earth." Well, David prayed it and he’s a man after God’s own heart, after all. Amen, amen. But then I started, "Lord, you know what, just please bless them." Because the Lord showed me something. When you pray for God to bless someone, we always think, "Oh, that means they’re just going to prosper. They're going to get rich. It's going to be this and that."

No. God’s blessings for wherever someone is at. It might be praying, Lord, without you realizing it because you don’t know exactly what’s happening with them. Lord, please bless them. It might be where they need to get saved, and you’re praying for their salvation without realizing it. It might be they’re saved, but man, they’re living in some sin and they need to repent of that and they’re taking it on you. Whatever it is, just pray for God to bless them because the most important thing is, look, you are set free from that bitterness, that root of bitterness that can take hold. Be careful of that.

So I love the words of Jesus. If you're ever the victim of this kind of vitriol, or if you have been, just pray for them. Bless them. Do good to them as it’s within your grasp. Verse 23, "For you shall be in league with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the earth shall be at peace with you." So you’re going to be in Shangri-La. It’s like everything—whoo!—just everything’s going to be wonderful. When it says right here "be in league with the stones of the field," it means—we don't really get that unless you have a farm and you’ve had to go through and dig up the stones in your property. Basically, that’s what he’s saying. Even the stones will be moving out of your way. "You’ll be in league with the stones of the field. The beasts of the field shall be at peace with you." You’ll be Beauty and the Bear, or Cinderella or one of those that talks to all the animals and all that.

Verse 24, "You shall know that your tent is at peace, and you shall inspect your fold and miss nothing. You shall know also that your offspring shall be many." So now he brings it to his kids. Ah, man. "And your descendants as the grass of the earth." Again, just think of that open wound that he had and just twisting that knife. Verse 26, "You shall come to your grave in ripe old age, like a sheaf gathered up in its season." Again, promising all these different things. Just confess your sin, just this or that, and forgetting about the sovereignty of God.

Verse 27, "Behold, this we have searched out; it is true. Hear, and know it is for your good." So verse 27, notice he says, "Behold, this we have searched out; it is true." Notice he isn’t saying something that God has said. Not that they had the Bible yet—they didn't—but even that had God spoken. So he’s just, again, searched out what we have searched out. And it's true! I'm telling you, bro, it is true. And when people come to you with that today, and they come to you and they say, "Hey, if you do this, this, this, man, you’re going to be happier. If you do that, that, that, and that, man, I know because I've done it."

Or they’ll say things about the Bible. Again, they’ll say, "Oh yeah, I’m a Christian, but you know, that Jesus thing you're talking about, that's not my Jesus. My Jesus would never send somebody to hell. My Jesus would never do this." And I just like to look at people now and say, "You’re right. That is your Jesus. He’s not the Jesus of the Bible. He’s not the real, true, and living Jesus." That is one that, again, we've searched out and it's true. God doesn’t mind this sin or that sin, my pet sin. You ever notice how it’s their own pet sins? It might be alcohol. God doesn’t care if I get drunk all the time. He created the vine, after all. Or if I get high all the time, or all these different things. Those are sin. And don’t believe them. Don’t even believe ourselves. We believe the word of God. It never changes. How awesome is that?

Well, you know, it used to be against drinking, but now it’s for. Or it used to be for drinking, but now it’s against. No, it stays the same. And lastly he says, "Hear and know it for your good." You see, sadly, those who want to control your life and basically tell you that they know how everything goes, notice they don’t point you back to the Lord. And today, they don’t point you back to the word of God. "Hear and know it for your good. You want to know what's good for you? I’m going to tell you what's good for you."

Now, I want to also be careful and warn all of us not to be doing that with others. I’ve seen some young people and I see the call of God in their life. I just see this anointing. And yet their parents are just, "Well, you need to go to college first. You need to do this first. You need to do that first." And all of a sudden, they get out of college and it’s like, what happened? God was searching to and fro and all of a sudden because, "Look man, I know what’s good for you. This is what—I wish I would have—I wish I would have." And today, sadly, in the American dream, we can push that on our kids too much.

Is a good education worthwhile? Sometimes. But today in the indoctrination centers, I don’t know anymore. Like I’ve said here before, I would rather have all my kids work at McDonald’s and be going to heaven than to be the smartest doctor, engineer, or teacher in the world and be going to hell. Who cares? But my point is, look, sometimes again, "Well, you’re going to go to the mission field? What do you mean? That’s dangerous out there. You might get killed. Listen to me, I know what’s good." Do you, Mom or Dad?

If it’s not biblical, be careful to go beyond what the Bible gives us. If there’s a calling on your child’s life, encourage that calling. Encourage them. "They go out and they got killed in the field, Pastor Bill. It's your fault!" No, their life was in the hands of Jesus. And we need to remember that they’re not ours, they are his. And it's the same with our own lives. Maybe you’ve been listening to that too long, forever voices. "I know what’s good for you. I know what’s right for you." And even as we're older, even I can—I'm 64 years old. No, it’s hard to believe, but I am. And there's still those voices ringing in my brain. "I know what’s good for you. I’ll tell you what’s right for you."

And we put these—Lord Jesus, may you remove all the boundaries. You know what’s good for me. You’ve told me what’s good for me in your word. Hopefully I have a pastor who is giving me your word and not what he just likes to bloviate as Eliphaz is doing here. As we're closing, I like how the New Living translation renders verse 27. It says, "We have studied life and found all this to be true. Listen to my counsel and apply it to yourself." You know, when someone says that to you and they’re not giving you the word of God, say, "Thanks, but no thanks." Sincerely.

And I mean this with all my heart. An old friend of mine, Chris Druri, used to say, "Never listen to somebody who is more messed up than you are. Never take advice from someone who’s more messed up than you are." "Well, I’ve been married three times, four times. Let me tell you about marriage." No thank you. Love your heart, appreciate your heart, but I don’t think I’m going to do that. I’m going to go to the word of God. And may we all learn to do that more and more and more in our lives. And if people you ask advice from and they’re not first pointing you to the word of God, "Thank you, but I’m going to go and find someone who is walking after Christ." That is God. He knows what is for our good. Listen to the counsel of the Lord and apply it to yourself. Amen?

Guest (Male): This has been Simple Faith with Pastor Bill Henry from Simple Faith Calvary Chapel in Vancouver, Washington. Today we brought you a message from Pastor Bill from his series in the Book of Job. It’s our sincere hope and prayer that you’ve been blessed by the words you’ve heard from Pastor Bill today.

And if you’d like to share today’s message with someone, it’s available at our website to either watch or listen, and you can even download an audio MP3 version. We have a large number of Pastor Bill’s messages archived, and you can find them all at simplefaith.org. That’s simplefaith.org. Click the media tab and if you’d like to contact us, just click the contact tab on our website. And there’s a tab at the top of our homepage where you can also send us a prayer request.

You can also call us at the church at 833-BY-GRACE. That’s 833-294-7223. And if you’d like to write to us, our mailing address is Post Office Box 55, Battleground, Washington, 98604. Here at Simple Faith Calvary Chapel, we have two services on Sunday morning at 9:00 and 10:45, and a great time of study in God’s word Wednesday night at 7:00 PM. We’d love to have you come visit us and make sure you say hi to Pastor Bill and let him know you listen to Simple Faith.

For more information and directions, go to simplefaith.org. And you can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Thanks for joining us today. Be sure to join us next time as our series in Job continues here on Simple Faith with Pastor Bill Henry. And be sure to join us for the Saturday edition of Simple Faith and our series in 1 Thessalonians. This program is brought to you by Simple Faith Calvary Chapel in Vancouver, Washington.