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Guest (Male): on what can cause a friendship to spiral downward. Here's pastor Tom Keller.

Pastor Thom Keller: This isn't how the downward spiral and the criticism began. It began by his friends trying to explain why these troubles came upon Job. That was the beginning of the downward spiral. Practical takeaway for all of us. It has to be to teach us that we need to be very very careful about trying to explain why certain things happen to other people.

Guest (Male): Friends are described as coming in when the whole world goes out. But there's another saying, with friends like these, who needs enemies? Of course, we want to be the former, not the latter. And let's be encouraged in that direction on today's study the word with pastor Tom Keller. We'll hear about Job's friends who learn of his situation and come to him. It's very instructive on the kind of friend we need to be. But before we get to that encounter, pastor Tom picks up in Job chapter two with the response of Job's wife.

Pastor Thom Keller: She obviously completely lost her faith because she doesn't see any possibility in the reversal of his health or his fortunes lost. We know all that does come back. We know that does happen. She has no faith to believe that's possible. So she says, Job, your only way out of this is to die. She sees death as the only thing good that can can come to Job. One thing interesting about her motives, Anderson says this about what she said. It must be admitted that we cannot tell just what she is proposing and even less what her motive was.

If this distraught woman could no longer endure the sight of her husband, her tormented husband, and for love's sake would rather see him die and end his misery, then her desperate remedy could be pardoned. The simple sequence curse God and die could mean curse God before you die. That is while there's still time. She wants God cursed more than she wants even her husband's death. That's pretty wicked. Let's read that again. Or curse God and die could mean curse God before you die. That is while there's still time. She knows Job's going to die, so she says cursing before you die so you don't lose your opportunity cursing.

That's pretty harsh, could be. But even in Job's response, he reflects his unwavering integrity. He does not curse her. He does not call her godless or wicked. He tones it down and calls her merely foolish. In Hebrew is foolish, senseless. And yet and Job's words are so wise. The second party says, should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad? So in all of this, Job said nothing wrong. You know, J. Vernon McGee said this. He said, remember, God's character was assassinated by Satan before all the angels in heaven when Satan implied to God, you're not worthy to be loved.

Remember? He said, you have to pay Job to love you and serve you. And Satan said that in front of all of the angels in heaven. And my guess is they gassed when he said that. He, Satan, attempted to assassinate the character of God by saying the only reason Job served him was because God served Job. Let me read this. This is good. It says, how about it, friend? Are we just time servers? Are we paid lovers? God is good and God is merciful to us. We rejoice in his goodness. But when we are under trial, that is when it reveals our true character.

The fires always burn off the dross, you know. And testing reveals what is genuine. We are to be lights in this world. Light is for the darkness. And God puts us in the darkness so that our lights will shine. God has not promised us an easy life to any of his children. On the contrary, we are told that we are told that the way will be rough. If we suffer with him, we will reign with him. And so the idea here is what Job said is should we accept only good things from the hand of the Lord?

Here's the point. Don't be a fair weather friend. The definition there is a person who stops being a friend in times of difficulty. Now we understand that on a human level, you know, you have a friend and he says he's your friend and then tough times come and he bails. He runs. He's nowhere to be found. But the same applies to God. Don't be a fair weather friend to God. You know, people come to me and say I'm mad at God because this or that happens to me. That's a fair weather friend. That's a fair weather friend.

It always makes me sad to hear people complain about God in that way. Really makes me sad. Because when things are going well in your life, you're happy, you're praising God, you're saying praise God, things are so good right now. Man, I don't know how I could be happier than I have been watching the Lord do things in my life. And then you have a turn of events and you turn against God. Think how that feels to God. You know, how how you just bail on him. I'm mad at God because this or that happened to me.

That's that's a fair weather friend. You know, when I was 30, I shared this before, but when I was 30, I gave my life to Christ. I was suicidal. I didn't want to live. I was I had a tree all picked out down Sinclair Hill in 501 coming back from the dealership of Liddits. And I knew I'd hit it and everybody knew I drove drove too fast anyway, so they just think well he lost it one time and that was it. God pulled me out of that in one night, one night. It was I went from the pit, the bottom of the pit, under the bottom of the pit to the next day just being filled with joy.

It was incredible. Incredible. One night, one night. I remember the next day seeing colors I I hadn't remembered seeing since I was a kid. I remember looking at the skies as I drove my car seeing the blue sky thinking I don't remember I don't remember the last time I noticed that the sky is blue. Everything changed. Here's my point. I was so grateful for what God brought me out of. That's why I have my prayer list. Remember the pit. If you were in the pit, guys, ladies, don't ever forget that pit. You remember where he brought you from.

You remember that. But as a part of that, when I said that, I said, God, I am so grateful for what you got me out of, what you delivered me from. I always chase that thought down with this thought. And God, I hope and pray that when things get good, if they get good, that I don't then forget about you and what you did for me. I don't want to be a fair weather friend. I don't want to be one of those people that's that's all lovey-dovey when I need you, but when everything's good, then I bail.

And then I don't have time for you because I've got too many things to do. I don't want to be that person. Job wasn't that person. He wasn't a fair weather friend. That's what his wife is saying. Look, you be a fair weather friend. He said, no no, I'm in this. I'm in this to the end, good or bad. God sends good things, God sends bad things, God allows good things, God allows bad things. Blessed be the name of the Lord. I am not turning away. Be one of those people, guys. If if there's a lesson you learn from this first two chapters of Job that is practical application in life, that's it right there.

Do not be a fair weather friend. Do not. And now we're introduced to the other main characters in this stage play, Job's three friends and later his fourth. Job 2 verse 11 says three of Job's friends were Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. When they heard of the tragedy he had suffered, they got together and traveled from their homes to comfort and console him. When they saw Job from a distance, they scarcely recognized him. Wailing loudly, they tore their robes and threw dust into the air over their heads to demonstrate their grief.

Then they sat on the ground with him for 7 days. You know, we read that quickly. 7 days is a long time to sit on the ground with somebody. You want to prove that? Find some friend and sit on the ground with him for 7 days throwing dust in your hair. You try that. 7 days. 7 days and nights and no one said a word. For they saw that his suffering was too great for words. Wow. Did you know that the Bible tells us that Job's friend Bildad has been proven to be the shortest man that was ever created in the Bible?

Did you know that? Bildad the Shuhite. Bildad the Shuhite. Wasn't really a lot of laughter there. But okay, you get it. Okay, of the three friends, just some background here, Eliphaz was a Temanite. Teman was a grandson of Esau of Jacob and Esau fame. That's found in Genesis chapter 36 verse 10. So Teman was a grandson of Esau. Bildad Bildad was a was a Shuhite and Shuah was the son of Abraham found in Genesis 25. Zophar was a Naamathite and Naamah was in Northern Arabia. And this is one of the reasons why scholars place this book as being one of the oldest books because of these names going back so early.

These names predate Moses. Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Moses wrote those. But Moses was 430 years after Joseph died. So and Joseph was one of the sons of Jacob of Esau fame. So again, that's why they take this dating of this book way back uh before Moses, before uh any other book in the Bible. And it also gives us the general location would have been in the area of uh Paran in Arabia. Abraham would have only been two generations away from this story. So first, let's look at some good things about Job's friends, okay?

Some good things about them. Number one, when they heard, they went to be by his side. That's a good thing, isn't it? When you're in trouble, that somebody comes to your side. You know how easy it is to put off going to a friend's side. I'm a lot older than almost any of you here. And so I have some experiences that I hope can save you some pain. And uh there was a a young man that I went to high school with, I played soccer with. We weren't particularly close, but I knew him pretty well.

When he was about 30, he was killed in a tragic car accident. And rather than go to his funeral, I stayed at home and worked worked at home. And I was about 30. And I tell you I've had guilt about that. I mean not I don't wake up every night about it. When I think back to him, I thought, you know, that's something I should have done. I could have done. I should have been there. And it's so easy to put off going to somebody's side when we should. You know, what I found in life is that the Holy Spirit will typically prompt you pretty quickly to do something.

You know, if you ever want a lesson on immediacy, read the book book of Mark, especially the first couple of chapters. It says and immediately Jesus and immediately disciples and immediately Jesus and immediately came to and immediately he healed. The word immediately is all over the beginning of the book. And in my prayer list, I I put God help me to to live in the immediate. Help me to live in the immediate to do things immediately. Here's my point. I have found, maybe you found this, that the Holy Spirit will prompt you to do something quickly in your spirit to do it, to go do it.

And Satan will then chase that up with a thought to the contrary why you shouldn't do it. So I give this example. So I'm at the grocery store and there's a woman coming out of the grocery store struggling with her bags. And I think, oh, I should go over and help her. And then the thought comes, oh no, she's going to think I'm I'm coming under her. She's going to run to her car, lock the car doors, you know. You know, this could end up bad. But my initial thought is the right thought. But the thought that chases it down, I think is from the enemy trying to stop me from from doing what I should do.

Try to be aware of that. Try to be aware of the immediate thought that comes from the Holy Spirit to help to do to assist. And then what chases after it. A lot of times it's it's to keep you from doing in the immediate what you should do immediately. Just be aware of that. So the first thing they really good that they do is they go to his side. The second really good thing that they do is that their purpose in going there was to comfort and console him. So their goal was a correct one.

They sat there for 7 days. Third, when they arrived, they acknowledged his loss and pain and they empathized and they mourned with him. I mean 7 days not saying a word. You know, I think they must have been weeping. I really do. Listen, if you can speak for 7 days, don't you think you're going to weep in the midst of that for your your friend to see him like that? How could you not? You're a dear friend. You see that man and you're not going to weep. If you can't speak, it speaks to your emotional state.

And remember remember think about the last time they saw Job. These were close friends. So they probably this probably wasn't a year ago that they saw him. They might have seen him 2 weeks before, 1 week before, 1 day before he lost all of his possessions. And they heard about it. And now they go to see him and they see him in this condition. They just saw him, probably. So the third thing they did that was good is they acknowledged his loss and pain, they empathized and mourned with him. And probably the best thing they did during their first 7 days was what?

That's it. Didn't say a word. That was the best thing that they did. For the first 7 days, they didn't say a word. On the eighth day, they messed up really bad. And it started. They should have kept their mouths shut. Look at verse 13. Then they sat on the ground with him for 7 days and nights. No one said a word, for they saw that his suffering was too great for words. And had they kept this up, listen to this carefully, if they had kept this up or left after 7 days, this would have been a much shorter book.

I counted it up, it would go from 42 chapters down to seven. That's where it would be. Job is have it would have his little argument with God at the end. They'd patch up and then God blesses him. But no, his friends had to open their mouths. Those chapters between chapter chapter four on are all these friends criticizing Job and his defense of their criticisms. And what did they do wrong? Well, although they ended up criticizing and castigating Job for the sin in his life that they that they claimed came because of his sin. This isn't how the downward spiral and the criticism began, which lasts from chapter four to chapter 37 35 chapters.

No, it began by his friends trying to explain why these troubles came upon Job. Remember that? It didn't start by them wanting to criticize him. They didn't want to criticize him. Think about it. Job, you're you're a wicked man. They didn't start that way. They started by trying to explain why this happened to him. That was the beginning of the downward spiral. Now there's a lesson in that for us. You know, where do our criticisms begin? Trying to explain why. Trying to explain why. And this is a huge takeaway to be gained from this study in Job.

A practical takeaway for all of us to take away from Job and his friends. It has to be to teach us that we need to be very very careful about trying to explain why certain things happen to other people. And not only verbally, but in your mind. You know, until about 10 years ago, I thought that I didn't sin unless I said something unkind about someone else. And then I realized that God here's my thoughts. So if I think a judgmental thought about somebody, if I think something unkind about somebody, it's just as though I said it to them technically.

As far as my culpability in the sin of that. So when you see something happens to somebody and you say, oh, in your mind, they deserve that. Oh oh oh oh. There you go. Or I can see why they got that illness because they do that. Oh oh oh. Be careful. You know, somebody said one time, wouldn't it be interesting wouldn't it just be interesting if the way God decided to portion out blessings in your life and my life is based upon the amount of blessings we would like to see our least favorite person get.

Wouldn't that just be interesting? If the way God decided to dole out blessings to us was he would decide to do that based upon the amount of blessings we would want to see our last our least favorite person get. Wouldn't that change some things? God blessed her blessing him. Way start blessing him. You know, listen, we have no right to ever say that God let something happen because to had to Charlie or Sonia for such and such a reason. Why? Because the truth is you don't know the reason. You do not know the reason. You're way above your pay grade when you start giving reasons for why something happened to somebody.

And this is why this book is so practical a tool for us to learn from today. Why? Because these friends of Job's were just as certain of their reasons for Job's illnesses, his losses as people are today. And you hear this. You know, you don't want to be one of these people. And then verse 12 and 13. When they saw Job from a distance, they scarcely recognized him. Wailing loudly, they tore their robes through dust into the air over their heads to demonstrate their grief. And then they sat on the ground with him for 7 days and nights and no one said a word, for they saw that his suffering was too great for words.

But Job's friends, as we will soon see, men, they're philosophers, men who analyze and ponder. And they all arrive at the same conclusion. Job must have really sinned. He must have really messed up somehow because this is why God is punishing him this way. And you know, when you think about it, I think it does help to figure to look at these guys as philosophers that they were really uh deep thinkers and pondered this. But again, the downward spiral began when they tried to explain why this happened. You know, it's be interesting if where we get in trouble in life is even when things happen to us, when we try to figure out why they happened to us.

You know, maybe there's just an element of faith that we ought to just say that's way above my pay grade. And I'm just going to let that up to God. And maybe these three thinkers, these three philosophers at the end of the 7 days, maybe at night, not with Job yet, but maybe as they went to sleep together as a group, as they lay there and started philosophizing with one another, just maybe they shared their thoughts with each other one evening before going to bed. And that gave them the courage then to begin their lengthy Job tribe against Job proclaiming his guilt.

You can almost hear that happening, can't you? You know, as they lay there night six or maybe night seven, you know, do you really think this could have happened to Job if he hadn't really messed up? God wouldn't let this happen to him. Would he? Never. Would God do let something like this happen to someone that he loves, that he favors, that he has chosen? No, not possible. And so among themselves, they start, I think, they probably started to to form their charge against Job ready to proclaim his guilt. And as we go through these chapters, most times I'm going to read the entire chapter at one one reading so we don't lose the feeling of the emotion that's being expressed.

Because if you try to take two or three verses out, you miss the picture. And also Job is not a book that you seek truth from. This is important. Listen to this carefully. Job is not a book that you seek truth from from individual verses because much of Job, in fact, most chapters of the book of Job are based upon wrong promises leading to wrong conclusions. Did you get that? Most of the book of Job, most of the chapters of Job are wrong promises leading to wrong conclusions. And you can't even take what Job said as being always right because he doesn't always get it right.

He makes some assumptions. One of Job's friends speaks from experience. And he says experience shows you that this doesn't happen. Well, that's not from God. So that's why you got to be careful when you you look at the book of Job and pull out scripture verse and say, well, this says this in the book of Job. Well, that was spoken we say a question in the Bible. It does come to the Bible. But it's coming from one of Job's critics who's not expressing the view of God. Do you get it? And that's what I said, you can't take scriptures out of context.

You can't take scriptures out of context.

Guest (Male): Thanks for listening to study the word with pastor Tom Keller. You can hear this message from Job again online at ccleb.com or subscribe to our YouTube channel at Calvary Chapel Lebanon. If you'd rather have a CD copy, call us at 717 273 5633. Have you been helped by the ministry? Let us know that. It would be so encouraging to pastor Tom. Give us a call at 717 273 5633 or write to study the word 740 Willow Street, Lebanon, Pennsylvania 17046. You can also email us through the website at ccleb.com. Study the word is made possible through the generous support of listeners just like you.

And thank you for helping us reach thousands with the love and truth of Jesus. You can give online at ccleb.com or call 717 273 56 33. And we hope you'll visit us sometime here at Calvary Chapel Lebanon. For our service times and more information, go online to ccleb.com. You can also watch our live stream there at ccleb.com or on our YouTube channel at Calvary Chapel Lebanon. Study the word with pastor Tom Keller is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Lebanon. Join us next time when we'll again be in the book of Job. And may God richly bless you as you study the word.