Somebody Loves You

Guest (Male): I think that the best way you can listen to God is be in silence. Without the TV, without the radio, without your iPod, without your computer, just you and your Bible and the Lord, and allow God to speak to you in areas of your life that need change. As you're willing to submit to him and say, "Here I am, Lord. What do you want to change in my life?"

Guest (Male): Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries of Diamond Bar, California. Well, it's great to have you with us today as Raul continues our study of Job. Today you'll see that when you're facing adversity, the negative words of others can have an especially powerful impact on your heart.

They can pile on guilt and make you doubt yourself and even cause you to question God. But as you stay tuned today, you'll be reminded to listen only to the Lord as he speaks truth, wisdom, and comfort to your soul. Here's Raul Ries in the book of Job.

Raul Ries: Turn to the 35th chapter of the book of Job tonight. Job is coming out of a dark cloud. And what's interesting here now, we're going to read now about Elihu's speeches that we have read before in the past. We get the impression as we have heard Elihu's speeches that he was not growing, but he was swelling. He was just speaking words.

And you also get the impression when you read the scriptures that his listeners' minds were wandering instead of staying on course. And the reason is because he kept exhorting them to listen carefully, and they were already listening to what he had to say. And yet in the last two thirds of his speech, Elihu explained and actually defended the justice of God, as we read in chapters 34 and 35.

We're going to see tonight, and then in the chapters 36 and 37, he'll speak of the greatness of God. And so it's pretty cool how he's trying to bring this whole thing in. And then Job's three friends of the past that came to him when he was sick and he was really going through hell, and he was sitting there with, remember those boils from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet all over his body?

These three friends came and they misjudged Job. They said, "Job, the reason this is happening to you is because you have sin in your life." And there are people like that today, that a person that is a righteous man or righteous woman can be falsely accused because of an infirmity or because something that's going on in their lives and they can actually accuse you of being in sin.

And Job is saying, "If I'm in sin, God, show me my sin so this will not happen to me." But this was allowed by God, as God allows in my life and in your life things to happen, not only to humble us, but to bring us to a place where he can minister to each one of us individually and use our lives because it's not about us, it's about him all the time. And that's something that I've learned and I'm learning every day.

And yet when these three friends will falsely accuse Job, Job eventually had to cut them off because they just kept trying to pursue him and they were saying all kinds of weird things to him. "Job, just repent, everything will be okay." And it wasn't because Job was in sin. Remember at the beginning, Satan came and asked permission from God to allow God to get Satan to harass Job and to take his family from him and then to come against Job personally by infirmity when all these boils came upon the top of his body and all the way down to his feet.

So now here in chapter 35, we have Elihu explaining and defending the justice of God as Job now is before him. And what's really amazing here is that we must never lose sight of God's greatness. That's one thing that the chapter will show us: God is great. And let me say this, whatever you're going through, whatever you're facing, if you're a Christian, know one thing: God will never leave you nor forsake you.

He will be with you in the fire. He will be with you in the storm. And he will deliver you just like he did the three Hebrew children of Israel in the book of Daniel. When they were in the midst of the fire, they weren't even burned by the fire. And when they came out of the fire, they didn't even smell like smoke. And the king was blown away because he threw three men into the fire, he saw four men in the fire, and one was the Son of God. Jesus was with them in the fire as he'll be with you in the fire. Whatever you go through in life, he is there to actually help you and to get you through, which is so beautiful how God operates and how God works.

Notice now in verse 1 of chapter 35, "Moreover Elihu, he answered and he said, 'Do you think that it is right? How do you say my righteousness is more than God's?'" Now Job is not saying that his righteousness is more than God's. Elihu is saying to Job, Job never said that. Here again how people can put words in your mouth, you have to be careful of that. Because no one can be more righteous than God, there's no possible way.

I thank God that I'm righteous because I come to repentance and I ask him by faith to come into my life and then I receive his righteousness, not my righteousness, which makes me right with God when we're born again of the Holy Spirit, when we come to Jesus Christ. And yet we understand literally here what he's saying, he says, "God is wrong because I am suffering." No, that's not what God is saying.

God never said that. Elihu is putting words into Job's mouth. And I think sometimes we really have to be careful, especially when you find yourself in a place of weakness, if you're sick and you're going through something, that if you really truly have people that don't like you and they come to comfort you, you've got to be careful what they say to you. Because those that really love you are going to really care for you and they're not going to say something that is going to throw you over the edge.

And yet these three friends were always coming against Job and saying, "Job, the reason you're suffering so much and the reason you're getting prosecuted by God is because there's sin in your life." And he wasn't a sinner. He had no sin in his life, he understood that. Yes, he was a sinner like any one of us, but yet he was not as what they said that he was in sin because he was a righteous man and Job understood that the hand of God was dealing with him.

He'd already lost his children, he lost all his money, he lost all his goods, and then here is Job now personally being attacked by Satan by permission. Remember that. By permission always we are attacked by the devil. God gives permission and God will bring you through because God wants to test your heart. He wants to test your heart to see what you're made out of. Why? Because he wants to use your life, that's why.

Look at verse 3 what he says. He says, "For you say, 'What advantage will it be to you? What profit shall I have more than if I had sinned?'" Again, here is Job now answering. Literally he's saying, "How am I better off than if I had sinned against God?" I mean, I haven't sinned against God, but maybe I might be better off if I would sin against God. Now Job is speaking in a very defeated place.

Because we're not going to be better if we sin against God. Nobody's better when they sin against God. There's no possible way. But notice how the enemy can bring thoughts into your mind and play with your mind. The Bible says that the devil has come to do what? To rob, to steal, and to kill. Three things that he does all the time. And so Job here under pressure, Elihu ministering to him, he thinks.

He says in verse 4, "I will answer you and your companions with you. Look to the heavens and see, and behold the clouds, they are higher than you. If you sin, what do you accomplish against God? Or if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to God?" We want to understand that Job again here as he's speaking of God, that sin affects God in our lives. Sin affects God in our lives. Yes, that is true.

That's why it's really important whenever we share on Sunday mornings or Sunday evenings and we're going through the Bible, and I talk about young people, I talk about single people or married people, and we talk about sins of covetousness or lying or cheating or fornicating or committing adultery. That if you're really a child of God, if you've been born again by the power of the Holy Spirit, there's no possible way, there should not be a possible way for a person that calls themselves a child of the light to be living a life of darkness and be comforted in that, to be comforted in that. There's no possible way. I don't think you can do it.

And yet there are people that do that. I'm amazed. I am amazed in counseling people, they say, "I've been here about four years and my girlfriend and I have been living together and we want to get married now because we've been convicted." It took him five years or four years to be convicted. And at the same time, are we really opening our hearts and are we really listening to what the Spirit of God is saying to me?

That's the only way that we could be really convicted. Because I know that if I try to get away with something, oh forget it, I can't. God gets me every time. Every time, I don't care what I do. And I thank God for that, that I cannot get away with my sin. And thank God yourself if you can't get away with your sin. But if you're getting away with your sin, if you think you're getting away with your sin, maybe you're not a Christian.

Why? Because in Hebrews chapter 12 and verses 6 through 12, he says that whoever the Lord loves, he chastens. If you're really a child of the light and you actually move away from the light and you start going back into darkness, God will discipline you as a father disciplines his son or his daughter.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. We hope you'll take advantage of our wealth of resources focused on God's sovereign care in suffering. Visit somebodylovesyou.com to explore our full selection, including Raul's nine-lesson study titled "When Trials Come." Now back to more with Raul Ries.

Raul Ries: And so here again, Job, notice again that sin affects God, it says, in our lives. And then verse 7, "If you are righteous, what do you give him? What do you give God? Or what does God receive from your hand?" That's a good question. What can you give to God? I'll tell you what you can give to God. You give to God his love, my love for him, that I love him and I trust him and I want to obey him. Those three things: loving him, trusting him, and obeying him. That's what I can do. That's what I can do as a child of God in the presence of God.

Verse 8, "Your wickedness affects or haunts a man such as you, Job, and your righteousness as a son of man, because of the multitude of oppressions they cry out, they cry out for help because of the arm of the mighty." So he's talking about the sufferers, how they're constantly confining themselves to pitiful complaining instead of real repentance.

If God is chastening you, why don't you repent? I mean, why be tortured? I mean, you know when you go astray, you know when you're doing evil. And I think this is a real good point that he's bringing up here because he wants us to turn to God in sincere prayer, praying to him and saying, "God, forgive me for doing this thing that I've done against you and your Holy Spirit. I need to return back to your heart, God, and I need your grace and your love and your mercy."

You see, the people that do this, they have a wrong motive and selfish reasons why they do it. They think of who? Of themselves and no one else. Only themselves and nobody else. Selfish reprobate people that do not turn to God in repentance but they continue in their sin. Because if God truly is living in my life and the Spirit of God is really dwelling within me, what is he going to do? He brings conviction to my life immediately. That's what the Bible teaches.

Immediately I am convicted. So here again, verse 10, "He also opens their ear to instruction and commands that they turn from iniquity." You see, these people do not see God for himself, nor for the blessing that he gives to those who are true seekers. They love their sin. They don't want to turn. They want to continue sinning against God.

And yet he says, if God has opened your ear to instruction, here you are sitting in the church and you're going through Bible studies every week. How is the word of God ministering to you? How is it affecting your life, not just tonight, but tomorrow, the next day? Are we taking the word of God and are we meditating on it and are we taking it literally so that we can live better lives as we go out into the darkness, as we go to work in the world?

And you're going to be tempted and people are going to come and say, "Hey, come with me, let's go here, let's do this, let's do that." Are you going to be strong enough to say no, I can't do that? You see, but that's where it begins in the house of God as you're coming to seek the Lord. He opens their ear to instruction and commands that they turn from sin.

The voice of the Holy Spirit speaks to us and says, "You need to repent, don't do that anymore." The problem is people are not listening to that quiet voice when he speaks. We're too busy, too much noise. I think that the best way you can listen to God is be in silence. Without the TV, without the radio, without the iPod, without your computer. Just you and your Bible and the Lord and allow God to speak to you in areas of your life that need change.

As you're willing to submit to him and say, "Here I am, Lord. What do you want to change in my life?" Job was looking at a little bit of bright of light already, he's coming at the end of the tunnel. But all the time here, he's been down and bummed out and he wants to die. He hates his friends because they falsely accused him. And now this young man here is speaking to Job.

And watch what he says again. Verse 11, he says, "Who teaches us more than the beasts, more than the animals of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of heaven?" Who's that? Elihu is suggesting here that even the animal creatures in their need of distress, they cry out to God. The animals. How much more we who are human beings and God has put his spirit in us and we are sons and daughters of God. Pretty heavy.

God is there for us. He's not going to abandon you. He's going to be there for you. "Who teaches us more than the beast of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of heaven? There they cry out, but he does not answer because of the pride of evil men." There's the problem: the pride of evil men. God cannot answer them.

"Surely God will not listen to empty talk, nor will the Almighty regard it." God seems to people here so far off and indifferent when they pray because he will not hear vanity. He will not hear emptiness. He will not hear people that their heart is not fully, completely for the Lord. He wants true worshipers to come to him. God doesn't listen to deceit. God listens to truth. You cannot come and talk to God and lie to God. You can't do that. You have to be honest. No deceit. Truthfulness when you speak to God, that's what he's saying here.

He goes on in verse 13, "Surely God will not listen to empty talk, nor the Almighty regard it. Although you say you do not see him, yet justice is before him and you must wait for him. And now because he has not punished in his anger, nor taken much notice of folly, therefore Job opens his mouth in vain. He multiplies words without knowledge." Notice that.

Elihu here is reminding Job that the decision rested on the judge. And here again, he's concluding in a rebuke against Job. Against Job again. And then Elihu now, his fourth speech now. God's ways are just but incurable, he says. Chapter 36, verse 1, "Elihu also proceeded and said, 'Bear with me a little and I will show you that there are yet words to speak on God's behalf.'"

He is defending God and Elihu has limited knowledge. He thinks he can defend God and yet he's limited in knowledge. I mean, who has full knowledge of God? Nobody. Nobody. There are so many mysteries, so crazy. There are things that I've been reading the Bible for such a long time, I don't even understand sometimes. I read it again and read it again and wait on the Lord. So many things that God speaks to our hearts through his word.

"I will fetch my knowledge from afar, I will ascribe righteousness to my maker." He says, "For truly my words are not false. One who is perfect in knowledge is with you." Literally he's saying, that is only God has perfect knowledge. He's the only one that knows everything about everything. Why? Because he's the creator. He made everything. He created us in his own image.

"Behold God is mighty, but despises no one. He is mighty in strength of understanding." So now again, here it is. This is so true about God because why? Suffering is like a purifying factor that God uses in a person's life. It's a refining agent when we get sick. What does God do? He's purifying our lives. He's actually drawing us closer to himself so we can hear his voice. We can hear the heartbeat of God so that God can use us even in a greater way.

"He does not preserve the life of the wicked, but he gives justice to the poor or the oppressed. He does not withdraw his eyes from the righteous, but notice they are on the throne with kings, for he God has seated them forever and they are exalted." This is so true here. Notice God chooses what? His own leaders. Whoever he wants to lead, he chooses them. Nothing by coincidence. As he puts up presidents in communist places wherever it may be, God is putting up the leaders in every nation. He's in full control always of everything.

He says, "And if they are bound in fetters, in chains, held in the cords of affliction," so here he's talking about God's design of suffering to lead people to what? To repent of their pride. The problem with man is pride. They need to repent of their pride, their boastfulness. "Then he tells them their work and their transgressions that they have acted defiantly." I mean, God tells you what the problem is and he wants you to take care of the problem. How? By repenting, by getting right with God.

"He also, God, opens their ear to instruction and commands that they turn from their sin." This is so true. Think of how many people God speaks to every Sunday, every Sunday night, every Wednesday night, during the week on the radio, television, reading your Bible. God always is speaking to us. But the problem is we don't listen the way we should listen.

Guest (Male): Harsh words from another person can cut deeply anytime, but they're especially wounding when you're already enduring pain in your life. We hope today's teaching from Raul has empowered you to tune out all the negative voices and only hear the loving truth from God.

You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. Today's lesson from Job chapters 35 through 38 is being made available to you in its unedited form for a donation of $5 or more. To get your copy, just call us at 800-634-9165. We'd also like to offer you Raul's nine-part series titled "When Trials Come," available on CD or USB. This resource explores more of Job's story and provides assurance of God's faithful care as you look to him in your suffering.

You'll see that no matter what you're going through, you can always be certain of the Lord's loving presence. To order Raul's nine-lesson series, "When Trials Come," visit somebodylovesyou.com or call 800-634-9165. We'll send you the CD set for $23 or the flash drive for just 13. That's 800-634-9165. Or write to Somebody Loves You Radio, PO Box 4440, Diamond Bar, California, 91765.

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