Sunday Morning Service (Job 22-Job 24)

Job 22-Job 24 

“I Shall Come Forth As Gold!” •  3.18.21  •  Calvary Christian Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service

Intro.

- Having been away from the book of Job for a few weeks, I remind you that we are entering into the third round of dialogue between Job and his friends.

- As we travel through this section today, you will see that nothing has changed in the minds of the participants. If anything, the tone is increasingly hostile and desperate.

- As usual, Eliphaz leads off with a verbal barrage that leaves little room for positivity! Ch. 22.

Text

• Job 22:1-5 : "Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said: 'Can a man be profitable to God, though he who is wise may be profitable to himself? Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that you are righteous? Or is it gain to Him that you make your ways blameless? Is it because of your fear of Him that He corrects you, and enters into judgment with you? Is not your wickedness great, and your iniquity without end?" : Eliphaz has gone from gracious and nuanced, to sarcastic and blunt.

- He wants to know what God gains from Job's supposed wisdom and righteousness?

- Job has held onto his claim that he is righteous, meaning that he is not guilty of committing a sin so egregious as to earn the circumstances that he has received from God.

- Unbeknownst to Eliphaz, God has both profited and gained pleasure through Job's actions! God has been bragging about Job since the first day when Job held fast to his integrity! (Job 2:3)

- I'm convinced that God's heart is delighted each and every time a Christian chooses to remain faithful to Him. These are the excellent ones in whom is all His delight! (Psalm 16:3)

- Eliphaz doesn't believe Job's claim for a second! If Job were righteous, would God really be treating him this way? If one was to measure by God's actions, it was Job's sin that was massive!

- The NLT translates verse 5 this way: "There's no limit to your sins!" What an indictment!

- Eliphaz has no direct evidence, but he believes that he can reverse engineer what Job had done based upon God's response to him.

- In a desperate attempt to salvage his position, Eliphaz presents what Job must have done to earn God's displeasure. Verse 6.

• Job 22:6-11 : "For you have taken pledges from your brother for no reason, and stripped the naked of their clothing. You have not given the weary water to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry. But the mighty man possessed the land, and the honorable man dwelt in it. You have sent widows away empty, and the strength of the fatherless was crushed. Therefore snares are all around you, and sudden fear troubles you,  or darkness so that you cannot see; And an abundance of water covers you." : When a person was in another person's debt, they would give certain garments as collateral until they could pay it off.

- Moses will later collate these commands in Deuteronomy 24:10-13. It seems obvious that they were a part of God's people's understanding well before the law was given.

- If that's the truth, Job would have known that God wouldn't let His people forcefully remove the pledge from the debtor's home.

- They were to respect their brother's property and were not allowed to keep what had been pledged overnight. Eliphaz believes that this had been Job's habit.

- He was perpetually forcing his brother to relinquish their belongings to him and refused to give it back until they were left without any covering for the night!

- In a world which valued hospitality to an extreme degree, Job refused to help the weary and hungry. He was supposedly acting as though he owned the land and only he had the right to enjoy it.

- Widows and orphans couldn't get past his cold blooded heart! He sent the desolate away empty handed and took advantage of the orphan's hopes for assistance.

- "No wonder there are traps all around you! No wonder sudden terror afflicts you!" These actions warrant these responses from the Lord, according to Eliphaz. Verse 12.

• Job 22:12-20 : "Is not God in the height of heaven? And see the highest stars, how lofty they are! And you say, ‘What does God know? Can He judge through the deep darkness? Thick clouds cover Him, so that He cannot see, and He walks above the circle of heaven. Will you keep to the old way which wicked men have trod, who were cut down before their time, whose foundations were swept away by a flood? They said to God, ‘Depart from us! What can the Almighty do to them?’ Yet He filled their houses with good things; But the counsel of the wicked is far from me. The righteous see it and are glad, and the innocent laugh at them: Surely our adversaries are cut down, and the fire consumes their remnant." : Eliphaz is forced to guess at how Job could act the way that he is supposed to have acted. What does one have to believe in order to act without considering divine justice?

- Eliphaz theorizes that Job must believe that God is too remote from His creation to judge. He lives beyond the stars and looks down through the thick clouds.

- All of the wicked believe that God's vision obscured by distance and is clouded by darkness.

- Does Job think that God cannot see Him? That has been the way that the world has operated in times past. It's the "old way" which eventually ends if judgment.

- Verses 15 and 16 again seem to point to the flood judgment that occurred in Noah's time.

- Wicked men were cut down prematurely. Interesting statement to make. Men forefeited their years in wickedness and whatever they were and whatever they had, was swept away by the flood!

- Listen to verse 16 in the NLT: "They were snatched away in the prime of life, the foundations of their lives washed away!" What was their enduring testimony?

- "They said to God 'depart from us!" How could they say such a thing when it was God that filled their houses with good things!

- Eliphaz won't have anyhing to do with the way that the wicked think. He, along with all other righteous people, are happy to see the wicked fall from their perch.

- He claims that they laugh at them when they are cut down and the fire consumes their remnant. What an awful thing to say to Job!

- He is telling his friend that he is glad to see Job get his due! He believes himself to be a righteous person and it's gratifying for him to see God dispense His judgment on Job! Verse 21.

• Job 22:21-30 : "Now acquaint yourself with Him, and be at peace; Thereby good will come to you. Receive, please, instruction from His mouth, and lay up His words in your heart. If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up; You will remove iniquity far from your tents. Then you will lay your gold in the dust, and the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks. Yes, the Almighty will be your gold and your precious silver; For then you will have your delight in the Almighty, and lift up your face to God. You will make your prayer to Him, He will hear you, and you will pay your vows. You will also declare a thing, and it will be established for you; So light will shine on your ways. When they cast you down, and you say, ‘Exaltation will come!' Then He will save the humble person. He will even deliver one who is not innocent; Yes, he will be delivered by the purity of your hands.'" : Eliphaz, like his friends before him, has only one prescription for Job. The man needs to repent from the secret sin that he has been committing!

- The word "acquaint" is alternately translated "submit" or "yield" to God. This is otherwise good advice for a person who has been guilty of secret sin.

- Every one of us must submit, yield ourselves to God if we ever hope to be at peace! But Eliphaz misses the point. This isn't the issue that Job is experiencing.

- Job is told to receive God's word, to treasure what is said and to return to the Lord. Job is just staring at Eliphaz completely unfazed. He has been looking for the Lord to answer him since day one!

- Eliphaz is convinced of Job's sin and when he finally removes it from his dwelling place, ie. repents, he'll find his greatest treasure in the Lord.

- He suggests that he rid himself of his gold. Toss it to the dust. Throw it in the river. They have all intimated that Job's true loss was his possessions. They believed that he worshipped them!

- At no point does Job concern himself with his possessions, but with his POSITION before God! These men haven't heard a word that Job has said.

- They keep trying to force the issue. If he will just repent and turn from his lust for money, he'll have the relationship with God that will bring delight to his soul.

- God will listen to his prayers and receive his vows. Job will simply say what he wills to do and it will take place! The road before him will light up!

- If Job will simply humble himself, God will visit him and deliver even he who is not innocent! Once he makes his hands pure, he can expect God to restore him! Job rolls his eyes into chapter 23.

• Job 23:1-7 : "Then Job answered and said: 'Even today my complaint is bitter; My hand is listless because of my groaning. Oh, that I knew where I might find Him, that I might come to His seat! I would present my case before Him, and fill my mouth with arguments. I would know the words which He would answer me, and understand what He would say to me. Would He contend with me in His great power? No! But He would take note of me. There the upright could reason with Him, and I would be delivered forever from my Judge." : Job hasn't lost any of his edge. His case against the Lord is a bitter one and his hand is barely able to keep it's strength!

- I prefer the KJV here at the end of verse 1: "My stroke is heavier than my groaning." There are times in our lives when we don't have the strength to match our circumstance.

- And talking with these lugheads isn't helping! Job just wants to meet with God, to lay out his case and vent all of his arguments to him. He feels that he has it figured out.

- God will say this to him and then, he will respond and they will come to an understanding. God won't just overpower him. He'll consider Job's case carefully. This is how he envisions it.

- In that place, Job believes that he could find some relief from the treatment he has received from God. Job thinks that this is an ideal solution, but it's not what he has experienced. Verse 8.

• Job 23:8-12 :  "Look, I go forward, but He is not there, and backward, but I cannot perceive Him; When He works on the left hand, I cannot behold Him; When He turns to the right hand, I cannot see Him. But He knows the way that I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. My foot has held fast to His steps; I have kept His way and not turned aside. I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food." : No matter which way Job has turned, the result is the same. God has hidden Himself from Job's view! He can't see or even perceive His presence!

- In an age when the "deconstruction" of one's faith is considered some precious rite of passage, Job, a man who could have abandoned his faith, didn't! Look at his example here!

- There isn't a person on earth who has suffered as much as Job has. Who can match him?

- Yet, he goes forward, backward, left and right to find the Lord! He knows that God is somewhere and instead of giving up on his faith, Job has pressed in with greater determination!

- Job's sole comfort is not whether or not he is able to find God, but that God is readily able to find him! "He knows the way that I take!" We cannot find Him, but we know He can find us!

- How many have experienced the timely intervention of the Lord? At the right moment, as we are reading His Word, we recognize the power of His voice answering our call!

- He knows where to find us and even more importantly, when to find us! He ministers to us at just the right time! Job doesn't question this, even though he has been unable to reach Him!

- God is intimately acquainted with our ways. He knows our path before we take a step. He knows the next word we say before it has even entered our minds! (Psalm 139:1-4)

- The omniscience of God is not a threat to Job or to anyone that walks with Him in purity.

- In fact, God's omniscience is Job's last line of defense! He welcomes God's examination. He's confident that his character will be as good as gold! What a statement to make!

- Job knows that he is being tested. He knows that he is going to come through it and he knows that when he does, God will value what He sees in him. It's as if Job has read James 1:2-4!

- Why does he feel this way? Because he knows that his feet have remained on the path. His feet have been committed to walking in the ways of the Lord and hasn't turned from it one bit!

- Neither has he sinned with his words, but he has considered God's word more vital to him than his next meal! Whatever Job had from God, he kept locked in his mind! Verse 13.

• Job 22:13-17 : "But He is unique, and who can make Him change? And whatever His soul desires, that He does.  For He performs what is appointed for me, and many such things are with Him. Therefore I am terrified at His presence; When I consider this, I am afraid of Him. For God made my heart weak, and the Almighty terrifies me; Because I was not cut off from the presence of darkness, and He did not hide deep darkness from my face." : "But He is unique." The word is often translated "one" and is defined, "one in unity." "Hear Oh Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one."

- Theologians call this use of "one," "a compound unity." It is akin to buying a single unit of grapes or a single hand of bananas. It is one unit composed of many individual pieces of fruit.

- The Lord is One being eternally existent in three distinct, equal persons. Job is absolutely correct in his statement. God cannot change! Nobody can convince Him to do do anything.

- He does what He wants to do in the world. He is sovereign over His creation. He is transcendant, but He is also imminent, because He performs what is appointed for His child!

- These things only scratch at the surface of His workings. Even if a man were to spend every waking moment in his life considering the wonders of God, that man would fall woefully short!

- How should you and I respond to the reality of God, based SOLELY on what you have come to know by that which is revealed? Job is very clear on this: I AM TERRIFIED!

- This is not necessarily the fear of the Lord that we generally call "reverence." Job is reduced to cowering at the thought of God! This is what we all feel when we aren't sure of God's love!

- When a person IS sure of God's love, God's sovereignty is a comfort. Job doesn't feel that.

- Job's heart has "softened" and weakened. Job's understanding of God, the power that He exerts and the absolute inability to manipulate Him, leaves Job in a perpetually disturbed state!

- This final phrase accentuates that reason to fear. His working in Job's life didn't preclude a journey into darkness! Eliphaz has accused Job and Job has answered for himself.

- Now, Job turns the tables on Eliphaz and asks him an important question. Chapter 24.

• Job 24:1 : "Since times are not hidden from the Almighty, why do those who know Him see not His days?" : Job wants to hear Eliphaz comment upon this. This is a widely translated statement across the spectrum.

- When you examine them all, it becomes clear that Job is wondering aloud why God doesn't deal with those who commit wickedness. Why doesn't He reserve and appoint them to punishment?

- He laments that he, as a righteous person, does not get to witness such moments. Verses 2-12 provides a litany of offenses that Job would like to see God reprove. Verse 2.

• Job 24:2-12 : "Some remove landmarks; They seize flocks violently and feed on them; They drive away the donkey of the fatherless; They take the widow’s ox as a pledge. They push the needy off the road; All the poor of the land are forced to hide. Indeed, like wild donkeys in the desert, they go out to their work, searching for food. The wilderness yields food for them and for their children. They gather their fodder in the field and glean in the vineyard of the wicked. They spend the night naked, without clothing, and have no covering in the cold. They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and huddle around the rock for want of shelter. Some snatch the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge from the poor. They cause the poor to go naked, without clothing; And they take away the sheaves from the hungry. They press out oil within their walls, and tread winepresses, yet suffer thirst. The dying groan in the city, and the souls of the wounded cry out; Yet God does not charge them with wrong." : Job begins his list with illegal land encroachment in the removal of property boundry markers. He moves to theft of livestock.

- The oppression of the orphan, the widow and the needy was so pervasive, men were reduced to scavenging in the wilderness. Look at their lives!

- They find themselves gathering other people's leftovers. They are poorly clothed and shivering in the elements, hoping to find a rock big enough to shelter them!

- Those that aren't living in the wilderness experienced other awful realities of the ancient world. If a person couldn't pay their debts, their children could be taken and forced into slavery!

- The rich and the poor were never more separate and disparate than in that ancient time.

- The rich could simply take everything from a man, even down to the clothes he was wearing and the food he expected to eat. It was a "Might Makes Right" society.

- Job has seen men that worked with olives and grapes who received none of the fruit from their labor! There is widespread knowledge of this travesty.

- While this is a certain evil in the eyes of men, God doesn't bring anyone up on charges! The wicked oppress and the poor live under it day after day! Verse 13.

• Job 24:13-17 : "There are those who rebel against the light; They do not know its ways nor abide in its paths. The murderer rises with the light; He kills the poor and needy; And in the night he is like a thief. The eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, ‘No eye will see me’; And he disguises his face.  In the dark they break into houses which they marked for themselves in the daytime; They do not know the light.  For the morning is the same to them as the shadow of death; If someone recognizes them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death." : It's not as if they don't know. The wicked rebel against the light. They are aware of the light and recognize it's call upon them, but refuse to bow their knees to it's demands.

- Consequently, the murderer kills and steals. The adulterer lives a life in the shadows so that he is unknown. Why doesn't he make himself known?

- Because he knows what light decrees to be right! In their twisted mind, they live their belief: No eye will see me!

- They carry out their plans, disguising their faces and stealing from the houses they have spent their days casing! Their dread of being recognized lives with them throughout their days!

- That terror looms over them like the shadow of death! There is a sense of foreboding, as they live with the eventual consequence of their actions. They will be punished and they know it!

- Eliphaz is wondering where Job is going. Job is as unsatisfied in this as he is! Verse 18.

• Job 24:18-25 : "They should be swift on the face of the waters, their portion should be cursed in the earth, so that no one would turn into the way of their vineyards. As drought and heat consume the snow waters, so the grave consumes those who have sinned. The womb should forget him, the worm should feed sweetly on him; He should be remembered no more, and wickedness should be broken like a tree. For he preys on the barren who do not bear, and does no good for the widow. But God draws the mighty away with His power; He rises up, but no man is sure of life. He gives them security, and they rely on it; Yet His eyes are on their ways. They are exalted for a little while, then they are gone. They are brought low; They are taken out of the way like all others; They dry out like the heads of grain. Now if it is not so, who will prove me a liar, and make my speech worth nothing?'" : Job is telling Eliphaz how he would handle the wicked if he were God! Notice the repetition of the word "should." This is how life "should" be according to Job!

- They should vanish like foam on the sea and their only expectation should be to be cursed. Their own vineyards, instead of inspiring, should spark fear in their hearts.

- Ultimately, the wicked are as transitory as snow in the face of a heat wave! The grave will consume them and he will be as if he never was. Their own Mothers should forget them!

- Job reasons that if God treated the wicked this way, that wickedness itself would be broken. Nobody would seek to live that life any longer.

- In Job's mind, he would get what he deserves because he has taken advantage of the helpless, the most vulnerable of their society.

- Job responds to the assertion that God is luring these wicked men into a false sense of security, allowing them to run toward their wickedness. Why does he believe that this should happen?

- Because there is a holy and righteous God that exists! If there is no God, then why would any of us believe that there should be recompense?

- Because that instinct is in our hearts, we know that it points to the existence of God! In Job's mind, though he knows that the wicked "get it in the end," it's unsatisfying to him.

- They are exalted and then are no more. They are taken out of the way like all others! There is no special death or destruction. They die just like every other man! They dry out like heads of grain!

- Job challenges his friends to consider the truth of his words. They can't deny that he is speaking the truth.

Conclusion
- Job is right. The world is not as it should be! If it were, the righteous would be glorified and the wicked would be judged. The fact that we agree with him reminds us that we are not home yet!

- This world, stained by human sin, will ever be the theater of pain and suffering. Until the Prince of peace takes His rightful place on the Throne in Jerusalem, life will continue as is!

- For you and I, it is our time of testing and our time to seek after the Lord, to treasure His Word and to wait for the day when our faith turns into sight.

- I pray that He will find each of us as pure gold! May it be so to God's glory!