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hey book by book the book of Job is what

we're doing study number two and I'm

joined here I'm rich abuse here's poor

black um and here's Glen Scrivener who

works with the hour of revival

ministries as we come to join in with

you get a Bible open if you like and

maybe you could follow at some point

with one of our Bible study guides we go

on the book of Job we could have that

with you if you want but anyway they

will open the Bible at chapters four to

seven basically we'll try and cover

those and our title for today is the

words of eliphaz the temanite one of

jobs comforters consider now who being

innocent has ever perished that's the

theme we're going to take today I'll

start a bit further back chapter four

verse five any fire says but now trouble

comes to you job and you are discouraged

it strikes you and you're dismayed

should not your piety be your confidence

and your blameless ways your hope

consider now who being innocent has ever

perished where were the upright ever

destroyed as I have observed those who

plow evil and those who sow trouble

reap it well here are the three friends

they've entered now the seem a newspaper

once felt a competition make your best

definition of a friend the winning entry

was this a friend is the first person

who comes in when the whole world goes

out this maybe not a bad description do

you think poor black I'm of these

friends of jobs they come in what are

all their role well that's true I mean

often if people know anything about the

book of Job they'll go oh those

miserable comforters which she comes up

in chapter 16 about them but we've got

to remember when she owes everything

fell apart for job they came and you

know I'm sure they were they seem to be

quite important men because it turns out

you know they're older men and have

responsibilities things and that they

basically just drop everything and come

and sit with Joe for a whole week and

they can see that he's in terrible

suffering so they don't initially say

anything and they just sit with him and

we with him and just in silent just

because there's nothing to say

so that's what's good about them and

then they wait until job's starts to

talk before they respond and they intend

good for him when they start answering

but but the the problem with them is

that they don't mention Jesus in any of

their answers and they have no concept

of Christ in his cross so they don't

really get suffering they haven't got

any real answers and so yes they've got

lots of true things that they say

there's lots of the theological things I

say are kind of true but they're just

not relevant at this point and they're

not applied properly

someone says that they can't remove said

it they have theology but no empathy and

they're not really weird a good this guy

think because you weren't you say how

what how different it is when you know

you empathize with a person in suffering

because we were staying at the hotel up

the road and weren't you saying that the

difference is because that was the scene

of suffering the Grand Hotel oh my

goodness yes the grant with that time

years ago when the Grand Hotel was

bombed by terrorists remember and we of

course in the newspaper went worldwide

that story but if you've got somebody

who was in that thing and I did have a

friend who was in that hotel that very

night and to see him on television being

pulled out of the rubble I thought

that's my friend Harvey Thomas how can

that be

yeah and that affected me deeply so well

if there's empathy there that's the

vital bit very very important very

interesting so actually as we look at

this then I mean it sounds at first as

though early Affairs is encouraging job

verse one and two by reminding him of

all the help he's been to others then he

talks about a strange spiritual

experience he's had what is that all

about yes I mean he starts out in order

to comfort and that's his intention and

he wants to sympathize and and sit with

him and yet you know our theme verse

verse seven really betrays the theology

that he has the understanding of God and

life that he has that really twists

things and it's verse 7 consider now who

being innocent has ever perished where

were the upright ever

destroyed now Jobe if you're being

destroyed what does that say about you

after all so really kind of LFS is kind

of philosophy is really that's the whole

kind of what goes around comes around

and if bad things are happening to you

Jobe I suppose after all you must really

be a bad man and yet and you think where

does El Affairs get such wisdom from if

we put wisdom in inverted commas well

verse 12 he kind of he reveals where he

gets this wisdom from a word was

secretly brought to me verse 13 amid

disquieting dreams in the night and then

verse 14 it's this terrifying thing

verse 15 a spirit glided past my face

this is the source of Elif Aza's

theology and really this whole it what

goes around comes around thing it comes

straight from the pits this is not a

good spirit that he's listening to and

therefore it's not good comfort that he

gives it's been maybe a common fallacy I

mean is this it's just a kind of

prosperity gospel of elephants that

sometimes we hear about today how

dangerous is that oh it's terrible it's

pure poison Richard and I remember that

we had a guest KP Yohannan who did study

2 Corinthians with us and he's ministry

a great Indian event great Indian

evangelists and planting churches every

day all over the countries organization

and you think one of the biggest threats

because we ease facing aggressive

ideologies and nationalist things and

the physical violence he'd suffered

physical violence and we that those are

the biggest threats he said no the

biggest threat to the church he felt

worldwide worldwide was this prosperity

gospel because it is preached inside

churches but it is literally the

philosophy of Satan like Satan if you

remember as we thought in earlier

studies Satan's philosophy is you should

get think of yourself and you what do

you get out of it health and wealth for

you if you get health and wealth then

serve the Lord if you don't you know you

won't and then what happens is literally

in our churches around the world and on

TV channels and things like that there

are people who are saying why suffer why

why should you serve the Lord well

because he will give you

what health and wealth and prosperity

and things like that and that's what the

gospel is no it isn't that is Satan's

philosophy that's why Satan does things

and it's so poisonous because in like in

chapter four verse six here and he's

saying should not your piety be your

confidence and your blameless ways your

hope so he's really saying if you do the

right things you will have lots of

prosperity and popularity Jesus says no

if you're following me you will suffer

persecutions the world will be against

you I love it when Jesus says if the

world's against me and he's trying to

kill me

and I'm really nice it's definitely

going to be against you and he promised

that he didn't promise an easy life he

promised suffering and hardship and

unpopularity tremendously deep in James

chapter 5 we're going to mention that

quite a few times when James studies the

book of Job he says wait until the Lord

comes that's when they'll be your best

life ok there's a terrible book that's

been going around called your best life

now know what James would say no your

best life is when Jesus comes at the end

of all things when he puts everything

right now we may suffer we might be in a

prison we might be in a hospital but the

Lord says no I'm with you keep faithful

one day you will be there will be all

the glory and and you'll be with me and

there'll be a wonderful life to come now

it might be tough it will be tough

mm-hmm so really the reason for being a

Christian at all is that Christianity is

true it's true and Jesus if we have

Jesus it's worth at everything that's

everything yeah I mean so when Joe and I

reacted to the preaching of benefeds

actually we come on a chapter six for

that hmm let's just try to understand a

bit about his reactions now yeah I mean

if the prosperity gospel kind of

destroys the church at large what does

it do to an individual when they're

suffering when you're when you're in the

middle of suffering and pain and

darkness and comets someone comes along

and says all you mustn't have enough

faith because if you have enough faith

then you will prosper and have your best

life now what does it do when you're

actually suffering well my goodness job

chapter 6 verse 2

he says if only my anguish could be

weighed and all my misery be placed on

the scales it would surely outweigh the

sand of the Seas you know he he he's

basically saying all throughout his

responses to the miserable comforters

yes I really am suffering I really am

suffering but no I haven't particularly

brought it on myself

yeah there's no particular sin that has

brought this on me and and so he

continually stands up for his own

uprightness not that he's completely

sinless but that he hasn't done anything

to bring this onto himself in fact him

in verse 10 I like first Chad go on yes

that he has not denied the words of the

Holy One that's that's his heart's

desire not to deny that then I would

still have this consolation my joy in

unrelenting pain he still got joy yes

that's a wonder in the pain not after

the pain in the pain and that's what up

ends the prosperity teaching so how does

Jobe describe the natural hopelessness

of the Fallen human condition really

into job chapter 7 verses 1 to 16 I mean

look at those words first - like a slave

longing for the evening shadows verse 3

have been allotted months of futility

nights of misery have been assigned to

me verse 4 when I lie down I think how

long before I get up the night drags on

and I toss little people in hospital

feel like that again and again or verse

7 remember O Lord that my life is but a

breath my eyes will never seen happiness

again over 16

leave me alone my days have no meaning

so all of that when we're thinking about

those verses how does that remind us of

oh well some of them curses of the Old

Testament well it does because these

friends have almost said to him look

Jobe life's in your hands yes they don't

say here's Christ look at him you'll

find answers of meaning and purpose and

understanding and comfort and hope in

him they've said no Joe it's you he's

all I down to you - and if you do the

right thing you'll do well but if not

you're gonna suffer and so in a way

Joe's left is spurring and he does stare

down into the darkness of well what is

life if I don't have Christ and he looks

at it and a lot of this language sounds

like the curses of Deuteronomy 28 to 30

when the law

really says he is the way of life he is

the way of death here's the way blessing

Christ the way of cursing life without

Christ and if we look down he looks it

and you can see why job ends up going

into despair cuz he looks down if it

really is just me and that's all I've

got there is nothing in life anymore so

it look particularly at verses 12 to 16

verse 12 in a way that thing about the

abyss and the monster of the deep he's

really saying there's no heaven if

that's the case there's only hell and

the devil then verse 13 there's no rest

verse 14 no sleep verse 15 no life verse

16 no meaning if you look at in

Deuteronomy the curse is that kind of is

the curse of life without Christ so when

his friends say Joe think of life just

as if it all depends on you oh they

can't easily he's really despairing

there's no hope if that's the case we

learn from Joni Eareckson tada

yeah that wheelchair quadriplegic in

California and she often if people would

try and tell her what the situation was

but actually she needed to turn to

Christ all the time which was what her

experience was in all of that trouble

what's Joe bristling with in chapter 7

verses 17 to 21 when he asks God what is

man when he's so targeted when man is so

targeted what do you think of that well

I think sometimes in job he feels like

the Lord is a million miles away and

sometimes here he feels like the Lord is

right there scrutinizing everything

about him and it's a particularly

uncomfortable feeling that job has verse

18 that that he's being examined every

morning and tested every moment just

just get away from me for a minute let

me have a bit of rest spite he says in

verse 19 and in verse 21 he says why do

you not pardon my offenses and forgive

my sins and I think he's putting his

finger on something that's very

important it's certainly been important

him in the suffering that I've gone

through at various points you can think

that the circumstances around you are

the deepest issues the suffering that's

happening to you is that is the deepest

issue but actually job says you know

what I really need is forgiveness for my

sins not that any particular sin has

brought this suffering on Joe we know

that it hasn't but he's a common or

garden sinner like you or I and he knows

that actually with the scrutiny of the

Lord what he really needs his his sins

forgiven right here he's not really

seeing it we will see him trust in the

Lord's forgiveness later and we'll see

what comfort that brings to him but I

think it's so important that what he

does is focusing on those sins that are

that are bigger than the suffering

around me but that there is the Lord's

forgiveness that's bigger still I think

that gives us great relief in suffering

- I know then we meet of course with

people who have been in deep trouble in

prison for their beliefs in the Lord

Jesus Christ when you meet them I met a

young lady the other day who had been

told you either leave your religion and

join us or your family will be disrupted

will be taken away from you she said

well I have to stay on with Jesus that

was torture for her and yet when I met

her she of course she's praying that

they should be reunited with the family

again but I thought I want to kneel at

your feet because you've learned so much

about the Lord Jesus Christ and she

glowed it was wonderful to meet so the

reality of job's darkness is there

absolutely in Chapter 7 verse 3 and

verse 4 and you to somebody

sharing in this study maybe you also

feel a degree of darkness around you

older people who are sharing in this

study will remember the end or the

beginning rather of World War two when

King George the sixth was addressing the

world on BBC and it was just a Christmas

I was Christmas broadcast looking into

the new year and his wife there's Queen

Elizabeth she had given in just seconds

before the broadcast a little quote from

Minnie Louise Haskins and George the

sixth gave this to the world and I said

to the man who stood at the gate of the

year give me a light that I made read

safely into the unknown and he replied

go out into the darkness and put your

hand in the hand of God that's the be to

you better than light

and safer than a known way you too

you too some of us experienced these

matters and we would want to echo George

the six you are right so is the book of

Job so is the answers of job god bless

you until the next time

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