Simple Faith

Bill Henry: So many who claim the name of Christ live in despair, live in depression. They're cast down all the time, forever sad, forever in this state that Job is in. Beloved in Christ, remember this: that Jesus Christ has died for you, that God so loved you that He sent His only begotten Son to come and die for your sins. He's risen from the dead so that every word that He has uttered to us is proved true.

Guest (Male): Ever had some well-meaning Christian come up to you claiming they had a word from the Lord for you? Then they go on to make some outlandish statement that really doesn't line up with scripture. Well, that's exactly what Job's friends do in the passage before us today on Simple Faith.

We're learning through this present series in Job the real need to choose our words carefully when we're around those who are suffering. Pastor Bill Henry says we also need to make sure that we don't misrepresent the Lord. We're in the middle of a conversation between Eliphaz and Job. Here's Pastor Bill.

Bill Henry: So, you'll remember that as we come into chapter six, Job is in the middle of intense suffering. Anybody here ever suffered? Raise your hand if you don't mind if you've ever suffered in your life. Most of us have. Some of us don't even want to raise our hands because it was so bad, apparently. We've all suffered. If we haven't suffered, we will suffer. But Job is basically all that culminated together, if you will.

Remember all of his children were killed by a great wind, and then the house fell in on his children as they were celebrating a birthday. And then his many oxen—a thousand oxen and 500 donkeys—were stolen. 7,000 sheep were consumed by fire from heaven, along with many of his servants. The Chaldeans then came and took his 3,000 camels. Most of the servants were killed in those raids as well. And now his body has sores all over it. He's in intense physical pain and suffering.

And this suffering that we kind of think, "Oh, man, boils all over his body. That sounds pretty bad." But again, we're going to just briefly look again at how this is described throughout the book of Job, his suffering. This is just the physical part. Ready? Lost his kids, lost all his wealth, all his way to make money and food and everything. So, in his body, Job 2:7, inflamed ulcerous sores. He had itching all over his body, degenerative changing in facial skin.

Loss of appetite, depression, loss of strength. Worms in the boils in chapter 7:5. They were running sores. He had difficulty in breathing, chapter 9:18. Darkness under his eyes, chapter 16:16. Foul breath, chapter 19:17. Loss of weight, continual pain, restlessness, blackened skin, peeling skin. He even had fevers.

In the midst of all of this, we'll remember that this was caused by Satan. And Satan went through the Lord first, and you remember as we saw in chapters one and two, God gave permission. But it's interesting to note what Job was also called by God Himself in chapters one and two. In Job 1:8, this is God speaking to Satan. He said, "Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil?"

And then again in chapter 2:3, "Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity although you incited him against me to destroy him without reason." And so, God Himself has said that Job is a blameless and an upright man.

And yet his three friends—with friends like that, who needs enemies? And so, here Job has been listening to one of his friends. As we come into verse one, Eliphaz had been bloviating. He'd been judging Job according to his own experiences. As we had read, basically saying that as far as he has known, God has never punished the righteous. But he also spoke of some visions that he had had, you'll remember. And saying that in the dreams and because of all this, Job, you're just not a good guy.

It's interesting because he says all this, and now we come as Job replies to the first of his three friends, Eliphaz. Look at verse one: "Then Job answered and said, 'Oh that my vexation were weighed, and all my calamity laid in the balances.'" Basically, I like how the Amplified translation has this verse. It says, "Oh that my impatience and vexation might be thoroughly weighed, and all my calamity be laid up against them in the balances, one against the other to see if my grief is unmanly."

And so that's basically what Job is saying. He's saying that if you weighed my anguish and you weighed it against all the bad things that have happened to me, all the bad things that have happened to me basically would outweigh even this anguish that I'm now showing. And he goes on to say in verse three, "For then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea; therefore my words have been rash."

Rash here in the Hebrew is *twat*, and it literally means to walk wildly, to be drinking a cup of judgment, to be rash. And so that's how Job is being. As he's speaking to his friends and even as he talks about God, he admits that he's being rash. Now, it can be easy to speak rashly when we are hurting. When something bad has happened to us and things are going on that are beyond our control, things that hurt us and maybe somebody's doing something bad. It can be quite easy to say rash things to those around us.

And yet perhaps it's when we are hurting that we need to be the most careful about what comes out of our mouths and the rashness. James 1:19 and 20 says, "Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires." Can I have an amen on that? Amen. Proverbs 10:19 says it this way, "When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent." Be careful, beloved in Christ. When somebody hurts you, it can be so easy to blurt out words that just cut and hurt people.

So again, as he is speaking rashly, notice the first person that he points to is actually God. Look at verse four: "For the arrows of the Almighty are in me; my spirit drinks their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me. Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass, or the ox low over his fodder?" So, notice here in verse four he blames God. The arrows of the Almighty are in him and he thinks this is all from God.

In Ephesians chapter six, we're reminded to put on the full armor of God. And notice one of the things that we have, the implements, is the shield of faith which is able to extinguish the fiery darts of the evil one. It is not God who fires darts at us. It is the evil one. It's an interesting study. I'd recommend go online and look up the Roman darts of the day back in when Rome had an army and stuff, and these darts were wicked, wicked things. And so, he's thinking the arrows of the Almighty are in him.

Look at verse five, he goes on to say, "Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass, or the ox low over his fodder?" Now, since both the donkey and the ox are mostly quiet when they eat—have you ever been around people and they never say a word when they eat? I know some people very close to me that are like that. It's funny because all of a sudden, they're just chowing down. And so, that's what he's pointing to. Does the wild ox bray when he has grass? No, he's happy, he's peaceful. Or the ox low over his fodder? No, he's happy, he's peaceful.

So basically, Job is saying, "Look, I would be happy too if I were not in pain. If you were to mix in some good stuff with what's going on, but there's no good stuff happening." Look at verse six: "Can that which is tasteless be eaten without salt, or is there any taste in the juice of the mallow? My appetite refuses to touch them; they are as food that is loathsome to me." Again, he's comparing this to his pain. He's saying, "Look, this pain is so loathsome. There's nothing good to add to it like a salt on top, at least, that could make it taste good."

I love a good steak. But man, it just has to have a little bit of salt, a little bit of pepper on there, and it just brings out that flavor. There are some foods I'll never eat. You give me eggs without salt, forget it, I won't eat it. And so, that's what he's kind of talking about. But the salt he would be talking about is some good things in the midst of his suffering, in the midst of his pain. And again, Job is now using this suffering as an excuse to complain and to be vexed for his friends since again, remember, it was God that Job is saying that shot these arrows at him.

Now, lest we be too quick to judge Job, remember, beloved in Christ, he didn't have a Bible sitting in front of him. He didn't have any of the word of God. The Pentateuch could not have been written, nothing yet. So even though he is a righteous and upright man before God, he's still also a human being. And sometimes when we fail and we sin, remember too that God's grace is more than enough. His grace is sufficient for us.

So look at verse eight, Job goes on: "Oh that I might have my request, and that God will fulfill my hope. That it would please God to crush me; that He would let loose His hand and cut me off. This would be my comfort; I would even exult in pain unsparing, for I have not denied the words of the Holy One. What is my strength, that I should wait? And what is my end, that I should be patient? Is my strength the strength of stones, or is my flesh bronze? Have I any help in me when resource is driven from me?"

So again, look at verse eight. He just wants to die. That it would please God to crush me, that He would let loose His hand and cut me off. So, notice Job's answer is not suicide to take his own life, but he just asks that God would take his life, would cut him off. And he thinks this is the only place that comfort is to be found, in his death.

It's a very sad thing to even read here. And it's interesting, without even realizing it, if you think about it, he'd gone right to where his wife had told him to go: "Why don't you just curse God and die?" And so even though he wasn't outrightly cursing God, in falsely blaming God for these things that are happening, he is in a way cursing God. And he does want to die. That's what he wants. But notice in his mind he hadn't cursed because notice in verse 10, he had not denied the words of the Holy One.

And yet that's exactly what he's doing here, is he not? He is basically not trusting in the Lord his God in the midst of this suffering. Oh, again, he had not denied the words of the Holy One as we read here, but he sure wasn't trusting in them either, was he? He wasn't trusting in his God. Beloved in Christ, is this our hearts here tonight? Perhaps it was our hearts or maybe it will be our hearts, that we've been through suffering and we've allowed calluses to come on our hearts and on our minds that we think, "If I just keep everybody at an arm's length, I'll be safe."

You see, beloved in Christ, when calamities come into our lives, when people hurt us, when bad things happen—and again, if we live long enough, if you haven't had calamities, if you haven't had terrible things happen in your life to you or to somebody you love, you will. It's sadly a guarantee of this fallen world. But we will be tempted, maybe you've gone where Job is going. You're just wishing for death. You're just forgetting about the certain hope that we have in Jesus Christ.

We're thousands of years beyond Job, and now we are beyond the cross now. We're on the other side of the covenant. We have a new covenant in Jesus Christ, a certain hope, a resurrection hope in Jesus. We have His very word to guide us, to be the light. We have His Holy Spirit now living within us. Oh, yet so many who claim the name of Christ live in despair, live in depression. They're cast down all the time, forever sad, forever just in this state that Job is in.

Beloved in Christ, remember this: that Jesus Christ has died for you, that God so loved you that He sent His only begotten Son to come and die for your sins. He's risen from the dead so that every word that He has uttered to us is proved true. Now, do you find it interesting that one of the things Job asked for was that he wanted to be crushed? Notice, he said he wanted to be crushed. Look, today when we feel this way, remember, beloved in Christ, that there is one who has already been crushed for us.

In Isaiah 53:4 through 6, we read this: "Surely he has borne our griefs, he has carried and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All like sheep have gone astray; we have turned to everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid upon him the iniquity of us all."

And what are the tragic things about how so many within the "proclaim it and profess it" movement today take scriptures like this so far out of context? It's really sad as people miss the main context. Notice here that He was crushed for our iniquities, and it goes on to say, "and with his wounds, by his stripes, we are healed." And that's not talking about physical healing, although yes, God can physically heal. He's talking about our hearts healed from the sin that has so wounded each one of us here, our own sin, the sins of others.

And I love this, that we have this certain hope that Job did not have. And I just want to remind all of us here tonight, remember that. Remember that certain hope. Now, here in verse 14, Job turns directly to his friends. Now he believes they ought to be a friend, even when they're down in suffering. Notice verse 14: "He who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty." So basically, he's telling them that they're withholding kindness and they are condemning him, which we've already saw with Eliphaz, and the other two are going to be even worse.

And so, "he who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty." So he's feeling basically forlorn by his friends, rejected. I love what Proverbs 17:17 says: "A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity." Do you love at all times, beloved in Christ? Do you love those around you? Do you love your friends even those who may have hurt you? Proverbs 18:24: "There are friends who destroy each other, but a real friend sticks closer than a brother."

It's interesting. I know a lot of us we can be so consumed with how are our friends treating us, we don't even think about how are we treating our friends. And a lot of times, sadly, we can also treat our friends good just wanting them to treat us good as well, instead of just dying and laying down our life for our friends as Jesus said, and not expecting anything in return. I'm just going to love with the love that Jesus has given to me so freely.

But you know at the same time, Proverbs 27:6 says, "Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful." Sometimes the words of a friendship will be hard because we'll have to go to somebody that we love and that we've been friends with for a long time and say, "Hey, look, this is what the Bible says, and it says what you're doing right now, how you're acting, what you're saying, it's sin. I'm calling you, I'm here to help you repent. I'm bringing you to that place of restoration and coming with that spirit of humility." And that is the words of a true friend.

And so, sometimes those will hurt, but that's not what's happening here. They've just been attacking Job. Look at verse 15: "My brothers are treacherous as a torrent bed, as torrential streams that pass away, which are dark with ice, where the snow hides itself. When they melt, they disappear; when it's hot, they vanish from their place."

So, what's he saying here? Job is saying basically they were like a streams, and in this torrential rain they were big and they were raging when you don't really need extra water. But when the snows have melted and it's not as hot, just as when you need a cool drink of water and you go to that stream, it's all dried up. And that's what he's basically telling them, "Look, I need a cool drink of water from you, my friend. I need some encouragement, but it's hot; they've vanished from their place."

He goes on with this illustration, verse 18: "The caravans turn aside from their course; they go into the waste and perish. The caravans of Tema look; the travelers of Sheba hope. They are ashamed because they were confident; they come there and are disappointed." They were looking for water, these caravans, and so they turned aside to their normal path thinking there'll be water there. Again, Job is pointing out, "I thought you guys would come and that you would bring me refreshment, that you would help lift me up as your friend." But that's not what they were doing.

Beloved in Christ, when you have a friend that's down, and legitimately down, there's not sin involved in things. And again, sin that you can see, right? Because it can be so easy. Somebody starts going through something, and we think they must be doing something wrong. We might not say it out loud. I remember when Talia and I years ago had come in to take over a church in Estes Park, Colorado. They said, "We want to be a Calvary Chapel." And so, after about a month, half the church left saying, "We don't want a Calvary Chapel." And then the rest of the church left about six months later saying, "We don't want to be a Calvary Chapel either."

And so, we were left with a few people left, and we loved and poured into them. And the Lord ended up bringing us back to Calvary Costa Mesa. And we had people literally come up to us and say right to our face, "What did you do wrong? What sin? What's going on?" And it was very hurtful. You come back already feeling defeated, and yet how are we called to be? Romans 12:15, "Rejoice with those who rejoice, share others' joy, and weep with those who weep, share others' grief."

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 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, Battle Ground, 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 First Thessalonians. This program is brought to you by Simple Faith Calvary Chapel in Vancouver, Washington.