 Let's open our Bibles together to the book of Job. We're going to be looking tonight at chapters seven and eight. Chapter seven and eight as we continue our series here in the book of Job. I'd welcome you who are watching us online. I'm expecting some of you are. Others are watching the Dodger game. It's good to have you with us. A couple of announcements and we'll get into our study and I'll just read what has been given to me. Next week we're going to be having on Wednesday night a kids ministry event and kids in pre-k through sixth grade will have a special in-class event on Wednesday the 28th, and it's called unmasked. It's a dark world so be the light and it's intended to help them to understand that being the light is far better than celebrating the dark. So the kids will be encouraged to look behind the masks that people wear every day even here in church and learn the importance of looking at the hearts of others instead of looking at their outward appearances. There's going to be a time of special teaching crafts in a snack and kids are welcome to dress up but no scary costumes and if you'd like to bring some candy it's being accepted. Donations are being accepted in the kids ministry office and you can drop off donations after services or Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Also tomorrow we're going to have an outdoor fall festival for you ladies. It's from 5 30 to 7 30. There's outdoor shopping 40 local vendors will be here a gourmet food truck and the cafe and the chapel store will be open at 7 30. There's going to be worship. My wife Marie is going to share with the ladies. It's a free event. No registration required. Men we do have our men's breakfast. It's Saturday, November 7th at 8 30. We're going to have Brennan Beeler with us. Tickets are available. You can purchase your tickets online through the church's website or at the gazebo. It's a good opportunity to come and invite somebody. Tuesday morning men's study every Tuesday. It's growing and that's a blessing to see that every Tuesday morning at 6 30 in the chapel. There's a time fellowship and we're calling it Bible brothers and burritos. And so that's a good thing. The Young Adults Bible Study meets every Monday at 7 30 p.m. in the banquet hall. Our shore foundation classes have resumed after being closed due to the COVID restrictions. These classes provide believers with tools to help them mature in their faith. It's on Tuesday or Thursday evenings at 7 o'clock in room 405. And again, tamale pre-order sales have already begun. All sales are online. First day of pickup is Sunday, November 1st. We're calling the tamale tent in the courtyard. Don't forget to pre-order your tamales at least one week in advance. And thank you because this all goes to supporting our children our youth ministry. Okay with that said, we're going to be looking today at Job chapter 7 and 8. And so we'll begin by looking at verses 1 through 1 through 10 in chapter 7 and we'll get into our study. Job chapter 7 beginning at verse 1 reading to verse 10. Is there not a time of hard service for man on earth? Are not his days also like the days of a hired man? Like a servant who earnestly desires the shade and like a hard man who eagerly looks for his wages So I have been allotted months of futility and where are some nights have been appointed to me? When I lie down, I say when shall I arise and the night be ended? For I have had my fill of tossing till dawn. My flesh is caked with worms and dust. My skin is Cracked and breaks out of fresh. My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle and are spent without hope. Oh, remember that my life is a breath. My eye will never again see good. The eye of him who sees me will see me no more while your eyes are upon me I shall no longer be. As the clouds disappears, as the cloud disappears and vanishes away So he who goes down to the grave does not come up. He shall never return to his house nor shall his place know him anymore. Beautiful upbeat words that we get a chance to look at. Let me remind you of a few things that we've already seen in chapter six. In chapter six, Job had finished expressing what he would call a deep anguish of the soul. And he had stated to his so-called comforters if if you could only weigh the sorrow of my heart you'd understand my pain. But your counsel is tasteless. I therefore refuse to listen to what you've been saying. Instead I would prefer death to living. I wish that God would crush me and end my misery. I have lost everything. I've lost my former prosperity. I'm frail and I can't take this pain and sorrow. If you truly loved me he was saying to them you would comfort me instead of further hurting me. Instead you try to correct me and do not succeed in showing me where I have aired. Remember in verses 29 and 30 of chapter 6 he had closed by saying yield now let there be no injustice concede my righteousness still stands. Is there injustice on my tongue? Cannot my taste discern the unsavory? So he's already closed by saying your counsel does not help me. And so what we have here in chapter 7 and let me give you a bit of an outline for just a moment is the continuation of his defense. Verses 1 through 10 gives us his belief that he has a right to complain. Verse 11 makes it clear that he believes he has an unlimited right to complain. And verses 12 through 21 he takes his complaint directly to God. We're going to see that as this chapter unfolds before us. So as we look at chapter 7 and verses 1 through 5 I'll take them as a group and then move on. He begins with a question. He says is there not in verse 1 is there not a time of hard service for man on earth are not his days also like the days of a hired man? So he speaks concerning a time of hard service. If you take notes the words hard service are words that are used that usually speak of war or warfare. Hard service speaks of military service. This speaks about going out to war. So he's saying does man not have a lifetime of hard service? Does man not endure a lifetime of warfare is what he's saying there of warfare? What kind of warfare might he be speaking about? Well in Ecclesiastes chapter 8 verse 8 Solomon said there is no man who has power over the spirit to retain the spirit. Neither has he power in the day of death. There is no discharge in that war. Neither shall wickedness deliver those who are given to it. We have a war we're fighting we ultimately are going to die and that's the point that Job is making. Does man not have a lifetime of hard service of warfare? Is there not a war every day going on and is it not a life that's going to end up ultimately ultimately dying? Like a servant verse 2 who earnestly desires the shade like a hard man who eagerly looks for his wages. Servants and hired employees work hard and at night they find time to rest. Why am I not being given a time to rest from all the pain that I'm experiencing? He says in verse 3 I have been allotted months of futility. Where some nights have been appointed to me when I lie down I say when shall I arise and the night be ended for I have had my fill of tossing till dawn. I'm unable to serve the Lord. My days are hard I'm frustrated I'm tired my nights are especially difficult they're long and they're painful. My son David just yesterday went and had an operation on his shoulder and I was speaking to him today and I asked him how are you doing? He had had some nerve damage and other things that they were repairing and he said something to me that basically mirrors what Job is saying. He said I was in such pain that I could hardly sleep and that's what Job is speaking about here. He's speaking about lying down and it says in verse 4 again notice when I lie down I say when shall I arise and then I be ended. Have you ever spent a night tossing and turning in pain? Many people have I have you know you you just you're in pain you've had physical problems or whatever and and you just cannot rest and he's been going through this for months not just for a day not just for a week but for months months he's been suffering in this and he's saying listen I'm just tired I'm unable to serve the Lord because my body doesn't allow me to do that and the days that I live in in right now all day long it's hard it's difficult for me I'm frustrated but when I go to bed it's especially difficult because my nights are long. I've spent long nights where you just wish you could go to sleep and you can't and the pain is there and it keeps you awake. One of the things that he's saying in this so it made me think and I'll just say it quickly what he's saying is understandable but when you feel that you're not being of any service when you're feeling that your nights are just weird some like he says you know you can use your nights for for things and and not everybody would consider this immediately but it is something you can do and it is something I've done and it's something I counseled my mom about my mom had a lot of physical pain especially in the last year of her life but mom had a lot of physical pain she had lupus and various other things she dealt with and and on one occasion I still remember having a conversation with her where she she had said to me similar similar thoughts that Job is communicating she said you know at night I just toss and turn I'm in a lot of pain I can't sleep I can't rest and she says you know son I I I feel so useless I feel like I I have what's my purpose and I remember having this conversation where I said to her and I didn't take her pain lightly by the way I didn't minimize it it was very real but I said you know mama one of the things that you might want to think about is this and my mom was a prayer warrior she was a prayer warrior I said mama what you need to do is you need to pray not just for yourself obviously but I said lift your lift your prayers to the Lord you're awake and you're not useless you may not be able to get out of your bed and do the things that you'd like to do you can't go and visit with people you can't share your faith with those that you used to share with when she'd go to a store or go to even to the doctors she would share her faith with people you can't do that anymore right now but mom you can pray you're not useless you can redeem the time you just have to find opportunity to do it and Job right now is saying I feel like I I have no opportunities I feel like I'm I'm dying I have no place of rest I feel fatigued and and verse four is making it clear that the pain is greatest at night but I'm I can't sleep I toss and I I turn in pain in verse five he says my flesh is caked with worms and dust my skin is cracked and breaks out of fresh my my flesh is filled with well like maggots if you will sores that he refers to as lumps of dust my skin is dry and it's it breaks and and new infections are erupting in verse six my days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle are spent without hope my days are short and few my life will soon come to its end I have no hope to ever recover verse seven oh remember that my life is a breath my eye will never again see good so Job seems to be turning his cry to the Lord now and asking God listen to me my days are few it's like what it says in Psalm 102 verse 11 where it reads my days are like the evening shadow I wither away like grass you know when you're young you feel that time goes by so slowly as you grow older you begin to think that time goes by very quickly and with Job he's saying these things that I'm going through make me realize that that that my days are few and they're going by swiftly well that knowledge that knowledge that your life is short is intended to to cause us to seek the Lord while we can Ecclesiastes 12 once is it like this remember now your Creator in the days of your youth while the evil days come not nor the years draw nigh when you shall say I have no pleasure in them remember now the Creator in the days of your youth because your days do pass by quickly in verse 8 he says the eye of him who sees me will see me no more while your eyes are upon me I shall no longer be I'm about to die and you will not see me face to face on earth ever again verse nine as the cloud disappears and vanishes away so he who goes down to the grave does not come up as a cloud is consumed by the heat of the sun and then vanishes he's saying I too will soon vanish and James in chapter four verse 14 said it like this he said whereas you know not what shall be on the moral for what is your life he went on to say it's a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away so the cloud disappears and vanishes away and so is my life in verse 10 he shall never return to his house nor shall his place know him anymore while alive I could go to work and then come home from work but when a person dies he doesn't come home anymore not in the way he used to and so as he's saying that he goes I have a right to complain verse 11 therefore I will not restrain my mouth I will speak in the anguish of my spirit because I believe this to be true I have a right to unlimited complaining since I'm hurting I have a right to cry out don't try to stop me I need to share with God how I'm hurting I need to ease myself by crying out you know as I've been saying as we go through the book of Job I'll probably repeat this thought several times through the book but one of the one of the things that I think is necessary and Job is actually saying this right now is not so much that I have a right to complain but that in my complaint it's actually sometimes actually expressing a faith that I have to the Lord because I'm speaking to the one who can relieve the pain that I'm in and I think that that sometimes it's it's important for us to to allow people to speak what's on their heart regardless of whether you agree with it regardless of whether you think that that they're showing a lack of faith one of the things I see in in Christians is sometimes and it's a sad thing to admit to but it's true is that many Christians in my lifetime at least that I've seen don't know how to weep with those who weep they just don't you know maybe there's an uncomfortableness that comes when you see somebody hurting and you just want to give them a word of encouragement to help them feel better I don't know but I learned a long time ago that sometimes I just need to let that person complain it's not that I agree with them I may disagree completely with them but sometimes I need to allow them to do that so that they come to the end of that and then now we can have a conversation about that now we can speak concerning the things they're going through and and I think that's very important and in the case of Job he's saying listen I I'm in a lot of pain and and I I want to make my voice heard and I'm not going to restrain my mouth I'm going to speak of the anguish of my soul and his friends are trying to correct him you're going to see this in just a moment but I I'm hurting and and I have a right to cry and he goes on in verse 12 he says am I am I a sea or a sea serpent that you speaking to God that you said a guard over me am I a sea am I without a mind am I wild and out of control so you can't communicate with me he says you've said a guard over me I feel like you have enclosed me you have shut me in you've suffocated me and you've suffocated my cries and that's how I'm feeling Lord in verse 13 when I say my bed will comfort me my couch will ease my complaint then you scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions I'm having nightmares I can't rest I'm in so much pain I can't sleep one commentator pointed out that most likely Satan had been permitted to frighten him as he slept and these frightening dreams and all that he was having actually took his piece away from him and took away his rest in verse 15 he says my soul chooses strangling in death rather than my body that's a pretty strong statement I would prefer a violent death if it's quick rather than my flesh being slowly consumed it's a picture of him now just skin and bones in verse 16 I loathe my life I would not live forever let me alone for my days are but a breath I can't take this anymore I want it to end I want to die please let me die you are the god who determines length of life so withdraw your hand for me I'm asking you let me die verse 17 what is man that you should exalt him that you should set your heart on him that you should visit him every morning and test him every moment why are you paying attention to me why are you paying attention to men and why are you making man such a subject of trials how long how long will you not look away from me and let me alone till I swallow my saliva how long am I going to suffer when he says till I swallow my saliva that speaks of being taken in a headlock until you can't breathe have I sinned what have I done to you a watcher of men why have you set me as your target so that I'm a burden to myself have you ever spoken to the Lord like that have you ever said God it feels like you've set me up and you're firing your arrows at me this is a very poetic way of saying Lord why am I being treated this way you're correcting me but you haven't shown me where I've where I've done wrong what have I done how can I make it right I'm weary I can't endure this any longer why why have you chosen me to vent your anger on he says in verse 21 why then do you not pardon my transgression take away my iniquity for now I will lie down in the dust and you will seek me diligently but I will no longer be God pardon my transgression you're a God filled with mercy why have you not forgiven me if I've sinned now I will lie down in the dust he says you will seek me diligently it's too late I'm going to die and though you seek me to pardon me I'm going to be dead and that's why I need your help now so he's poured out his soul and he's speaking in front of his friends and now one of his friends begins to speak to him enter bill dad and I mentioned to you again remember this as you take your notes bill dad the shoe height is the shortest man in the Old Testament anyway I'll wait for that one then bill dad the shoe height answered and said how long will you speak these things and the words of your mouth be like strong wind does God subvert judgment or does the Almighty pervert justice if your sons have sinned against him he has cast them away for their transgression if you would earnestly seek God and make your supplication to the Almighty if you were pure and upright surely now he would awake for you and prosper your rightful dwelling place though your beginning was small yet your latter end would increase abundantly bill dad let's look at him for just a moment one commentator wanted to point out that bill dad apparently was younger than aliphaz but he would be older than the third counselor so far so it would be speaking in a chronological sequence the older than the next oldest and then the youngest so apparently he's younger than aliphaz but older than so far this is a man as we look at him who is an example of a person who speaks first but doesn't listen with the heart if you want a good scripture proverbs 18 13 is a good one here it says he who answers a matter before he hears it it is folly and shame to him and bill dad is one of those guys who's just waiting for your mouth to stop so his mouth can begin he's one of those guys who's ready to give advice and he's been waiting and as aliphaz has been speaking and then Job has responded we have this man billed who has been waiting and now he has his opportunity to speak and that's what he's doing but again he's an example of somebody who speaks first without thinking and so in verse two when he says how long will you speak these things and the words of your mouth he says be like a strong wind he's he's simply saying i want to repeat some of the things that you've already heard but i'm going to be more direct and notice how he opens he opens with a rebuke how long will you speak these things in other words we've sat patiently with you but you continue to spout off so you need to be silenced now in Job chapter six verse 14 Job had made a plea he had said to him who was afflicted kindness should be shown by his friend but what he's doing is showing anything but kindness he actually says your words are like a strong wind it scatters everything around it your your your words are like a strong wind it's so loud it drowns out all the people's voices in other words you're just making a lot of noise and now he begins to give his his comments verse three he says does God subvert judgment does the Almighty pervert justice in other words does God judge unrighteously does he afflict people unjustly does he punish those who are good and what he's saying here is is Joe God obviously is judging you listen if you weren't in sin you wouldn't be under his judgment because God is perfect and God doesn't make mistakes and therefore you're only reaping the consequences of what you have done you've implied that God is unjust he's saying and God is not unjust and then he goes and gets even more personal when he says in verse four if your sons have sinned against him he has cast them away for their transcript he killed your children can you imagine that can you imagine him saying that because his children died remember when the wind came and knocked down the house and his seven sons and three daughters died he's saying Job you're the reason your children died I remember a teacher quote unquote a false teacher who was on television and was sharing how that a woman had had a miscarriage and he was quote unquote ministering to the woman who had lost her baby and it said to her if you had faith you wouldn't have lost your baby and I remember hearing it it was on tv and millions were listening to this guy say you were the reason your your baby died you were the reason what kind of cruelty is that what kind of what kind of word is that and that's what bill dad is giving right now you're saying God is unjust God is not unjust job your children died because they should have and you're getting what you deserve remember aliphaz had said in chapter five verse four that his sons are far from safety they're crushed in the gate so bill dad is simply adding to what has already been said if you're in sin your children have no place of safety your children he is saying have died because of you now aliphaz and now bill dad believed that that they know what only God would know you see God is the only one who searches out our hearts and yet they're making judgments of of Job's heart in in Hebrews 4 13 it says nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account God is the only one who knows everything he sees it all in Proverbs 17 verse 3 it says the refining pot is for silver and the furnace is for gold but the Lord tries the hearts in Jeremiah 17 verse 10 I the Lord search the heart I try the reins even to give every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doing God is the one who searches the heart but aliphaz and bill dad believed that they know what only God himself would know if your sons have sinned against him he has cast away cast him away for their transgression verse five if you would earnestly seek God and make your supplication to the Almighty if you were pure and upright surely now he would awake for you and prosper your rightful dwelling place so my solution is seek God confess your sin if you do he'll pardon you abundantly he'll restore your prosperity you see the underlying message here you have no faith because if you did you wouldn't have these problems he says in verse seven though your beginning was small yet your latter end would increase abundantly when God rebuilds you after confessing your sin he's going to bless you once again now if Job had been going through this because of sin this this would have been correct you see Proverbs 28 13 says he who covers his sins will not prosper but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy if he actually had been in sin well that would have been a true statement but the fact is as we know that at the beginning of the book God said that this was a righteous man and the enemy was trying to cause Job to curse God and that was the whole purpose of all that's taking place what you have here is you have a man correcting a man for sinning when the man in fact hadn't brought this on because of sin so he's saying if you cover your sin you're not going to prosper well again in a sense there's truth to that I remember King David how King David said in Psalm 32 verses 3 through 5 when I kept silent my bones grew old through my groaning all the day long for day and night your hand was heavy upon me my vitality was turned into the drought of summer I acknowledged my sin to you my iniquity I've not hidden I said I'll confess my transgressions to the Lord you forgave the iniquity of my sin if Job had sinned well of course it's important to confess and forsake and God is merciful and God does forgive God does restore those things are right but the problem is Bildad is accusing Job of something he hasn't done there may be a hint of sarcasm here by the way he would be saying that if Job were innocent he wouldn't be undergoing this pain so confess your sin it'll all go away once again you will be blessed verse 8 inquire please of the former age consider the things discovered by their fathers put my advice to the test do research search out the ancient writings and the ancient teachings did not all the sages of ancient history verify my words you see ancient wisdom agrees with me the wicked can flourish that's true but they only flourish temporarily and the ancients discovered that the righteous endure affliction but when evil is repented of they are restored and so he's saying all you need to do is look into the past and see what has taken place inquiry says of the former age consider the things discovered by their fathers first nine for we were born yesterday and know nothing because our days on earth are a shadow we're young we are inexperienced we have little knowledge of the ways of the world we're we're we're we're still growing in our experience in life and so the ancients lived longer and they discovered great truths that they've communicated to me now you need to remember that when he speaks of the ancients he's speaking of those who were from the early days like in adam and and those early days and when you read in the book of genesis the ages of these people they live for hundreds of years over 900 years some of them and so in 900 years i guess you're going to gain a lot of knowledge and experience it's interesting it's almost it can be looked at as in an interesting way if you think of genesis chapter 47 verse 9 when jacob was standing before the pharaoh of egypt and he was speaking to the pharaoh and he said the years of my pilgrimage are 130 my years have been few and difficult and they do not equal the years of the pilgrimage of my fathers i'm 130 years old but i'm a kid compared to them so i feel like a teenager about right now you know the longer you live the more experiences you gain now that doesn't mean that the longer you live the wiser you get because that's not necessarily true because it's been said there's no fool like an old fool if you live a long time but you don't you don't follow the ways of the lord and you don't gain experience and knowledge and walk in the spirit well it's very possible to be 70 80 90 years old and still a foolish person but those in ancient times who lived a long time and had a long walk with the lord learned many things that are communicated to those who follow after them and because in the earlier days when creation was new and and the earth had a greater atmosphere and it was more possible to live longer years and over time the years of man became less and less until the psalmist finally said a man may live 70 years perhaps 80 for reason of strength from the 900 plus years that the original human beings live to what we have now is all because of sin and all because of the environment has changed over time but when you live a long time and you walk in the ways of the lord you gain a lot of experience and when you gain a lot of experience you're able to communicate that to others and so build that is simply saying listen what i'm telling you is not unique to me it's something that if you were to take some time and google it he wasn't saying that but if you were to take some time and look this up look for some sources of information look for some of the writings some of the things that have been presented to us that we have that we have that that guide us you would see that the things i'm saying to you right now are accurate the ancients would know these things so inquire of the former age consider the things discovered by their fathers for he said again in verse nine we were born yesterday know nothing our days on earth are a shadow will they not teach you and tell you and utter words from their heart joe had said teach me and i will hold my tongue caused me to understand wherein i've aired he had said that in chapter six verse 24 so he's responding by saying since you want to be taught well do your homework he says they will utter words from their heart their words are not hasty they come through observation they come through reflection their words are sincere and their their their their wisdom comes by experience he says in verse 11 can the papyrus grow up without a marsh can the reeds flourish without water well it is yet green and not cut down it withers before any other plant the papyrus and a reed obviously are plants that require moisture so it's a picture of the prosperity of the wicked at first they seem to flourish and that's true and i don't want to why how can i say this i'll say it because it's true it's just it's hard to say something with when you want to say it to say certain thing and it comes off in a different way but here we go sometimes please come back next week sometimes have you ever wondered how come the wicked seem to prosper have you ever thought that i mean that's a common thought in scripture of course why does you know i'm raising my kid in the ways of the lord but my kid keeps getting in trouble and my next door neighbor has a kid the same age and they they pretty much ignore that child but but their kid is an honor roll student at school and my kid isn't doing well at all that kid seems to be better than my kid and not only that but that guy didn't lose his job but i know that the guys and you know he's a drunk and and they live in an evil way and yet they seem to be prospering and i'm doing the best that i can but i'm in danger of losing my job lord how come people prosper and those who those who do their best to serve you seem to get the short end of the stick how come have you ever thought that even once in your life have you ever thought how lord it's almost like not even worth doing all this and going through all of this doing all this and going through all of this because because it seems the more i tried the worse it is i was talking to maria my wife and i was saying to her there's a guy named jeff bezos who's the richest man and see again i'm going to give you some numbers that nobody's going to understand because you can't i'll tell you why in a minute if you told me that you had a million dollars i can get my mind around a million i can get my mind around that why because houses are selling for a million dollars so i that's a figure i can get into i can oh okay if you tell me a billion now you're getting a little further because i don't know what a billion really is and you know a thousand million or whatever you know but i don't know what that means i don't know what that means one billion dollars can you imagine that now if you say 10 million 15 25 a hundred million my mind can wrap around that a bit jeff bezos personal wealth is something like 165 billion dollars now we were talking about this the other day because i wrote them and said could you tie it no i i didn't we were talking about that the other day and i was telling marie that is a figure that is a number that i can't understand i can't understand that number but when you read articles on on this man and again i'm not trying to be his judge but i will say it like this unfaithful to his wife with his wife's best brand that's common knowledge you could read that anywhere i'm not saying that by gossip that's just a fact and the guy doesn't honor the lord at all and it seems like on one level he will never he i put it like this he could if this were possible which is not but say it were if he was walking down the street and he had a million dollars in a satchel and he put the satchel down and walked away and forgot he wouldn't even miss it he wouldn't even miss it he wouldn't even know a million dollars he wouldn't you know why because i don't even know how to say 165 billion dollars in in in words that makes sense because the interest on his money that he has right now he's instantly he's instantly made it up he never lost it he could go into any place and buy anything he wants and never really even touch his money because a day later he's already made it back see that's something i don't understand and the reason i'm bringing this up is because i'm jealous no the reason i'm bringing this up is because you see people who love the lord and they seem to always have a difficult time a tough time holding a job a tough time making a payment a tough time they can't even buy the kids shoes sometimes and and if you look around long enough you're going to see that that seems to be common for a lot of people a lot of people and so we end up with a lot of a lot of armchair philosophers and build that as one of them and he's saying to job listen if you were really righteous your kids wouldn't have died so let's face it if you were really righteous you wouldn't be suffering the way that you are because the fact is is you're not and what you need to do is you need to look into the books what i'm saying to you isn't something that i created this is ancient wisdom let's look into it we're youth we're young what do we know my experience is limited but read from those who've gone before us and they agree with me god is dealing with you that's what he's saying god is dealing with you because you're a sinner look at how he says in verse 13 he says so are the paths of all who forget god and the hope of the hypocrite shall perish that's a strong statement he's calling joe a hypocrite joe you began well but your sin has caught up with you he says in verse 14 whose confidence shall be cut off and whose trust is a spider's web a spider's web that's an interesting picture a spider's web can be beautiful if you walk outside and you see it then in the morning sun but it's fragile it's destroyed quickly so their confidence their hope is in their wealth but it's taken away suddenly that's why paul and first timothy 6 17 says command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth which is so uncertain but to put their hope in god who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment put your trust in god he said the confidence they have these hypocrites and joe would seem to be included in that shall be cut off it's like trusting in a spider's web in verse 15 he leans on his house but it doesn't stand he holds it fast it doesn't endure he grows green in the sun his branches spread out in his garden his roots wrap around the rock heap and look for a place in the stones if he's destroyed from this place it will deny him saying i haven't seen you so he's emphasizing that there's no stability there's no way that the wicked can endure in verse 15 he leans on his house it doesn't stand he holds it fast it doesn't endure in verses 16 and 17 he grows green in the sun the branches spread out in his garden in other words the wicked can prosper temporarily it can appear that they'll always flourish but they don't because in verse 18 if he's destroyed from his place then it will deny him saying i haven't seen you this is another way of saying i never knew you so these things don't last behold this is the joy of his way and out of the earth others will grow behold god will not cast away the blameless nor will he uphold the evildoers he will yet fill your mouth with laughing your lips with rejoicing those who hate you will be clothed with shame and the dwelling place of the wicked will come to nothing listen he's saying this is how the lord works remember that the end of the wicked is hard he ultimately dies and someone rises up and replaces him but verse 20 god will not cast away the blameless god will not reject the righteous man and god does not help the evil man do evil if you are truly blameless god will restore you and god will deal with those who have hurt you you see the problem is bill dad thinks job is hiding sin because job is suffering so greatly years ago a particular doctrine entered into the church and infected the church and influenced the church it was called the prosperity doctrine many of you may be familiar with it it began it began its history goes back quite a ways and I'm not going to give you a lot of information about it but I will say a couple of things about it originally it was propagated by an individual named Kenneth Hagan but Kenneth Hagan had actually gotten the the elements of this from a a man who was wasn't a Christian his name was E. W. Kenyon and E. W. Kenyon had published something around the turn of the 20th century or so about about the the power of your words and positive thinking and that kind of thinking kind of infiltrated into the church and so eventually what happened is the the power of positive thinking and the power of confessing and the power of your words that were actually originally from a a non-Christian perspective began to infiltrate the church and a man by the name of Kenneth Hagan took those things I had a book that actually showed that he actually plagiarized great portions of the writings of E. W. Kenyon and he popularized this this this belief that if you really love the Lord nothing bad will happen to you and you can confess with your mouth and your words have power and so you can actually create reality and so E. W. Kenyon influenced the writings of Kenneth Hagan who went on to influence the writings and thinking of a man named Kenneth Copeland Kenneth Copeland began to influence people like Frederick K. C. Price and Marilyn Hickey and quite a number of others and they popularized a doctrine that became what is referred to as the positive confession movement many of you have heard of it perhaps you haven't which is basically saying that what you believe and what you and what you confess becomes your reality it became almost magical so that the strength of my confession and the strength of my belief is going to actually create reality so within this movement there was a guarantee that they were giving based on your faith that you would never be sick because you can confess health and so all of you are probably familiar with this but if you don't get well many of the proponents would say it's because your faith wasn't strong enough and you were confessing the wrong things now this entered into the church through a variety of ways especially as it was popularized on the quote unquote Christian television channel TBN with TBN you had Paul Crouch and his wife who would bring these speakers on and so from what at one time had been a movement that that was called a Jesus movement where we actually wanted to read the Bible rightly divide it and apply it the out kind of the outliers of the Pentecostal movement the Hagans and Copeland's and those began to infiltrate through TV so it became a popularized doctrine and it infected quite a number of churches and in our early days here in this church there's more than one time that I had conversations with people who believed that I wasn't teaching the whole council because I was in teaching people that they were automatically healed when they got saved all they needed to do was confess their healing but the problem with that is one it's biblically not true you know my words do not command God my words do not create reality a two it's misunderstanding the ways of the Lord and the place of suffering and affliction in the body of Christ now it's not that we wake up in the morning saying God could you please hurt me today I don't wake up that way I don't think anybody here does but I can also say that through the times of pain and the times of hurt and the times of disappointment I have discovered God and I haven't always gone through times of affliction because I sinned and it was coming back and I was reaping the consequences you see that was part of the positive confession movement if you're not healed it's because you've got unconfessed sin and what happened is people were so busy confessing every sin to make sure that they are washed and cleansed it became a works orientation plus they believed that they could begin to command God by their faith and God had to honor them so that they spoke to a mountain the mountain had to be removed and if that mountain was not removed then it's my lack of faith the problem is is some of the proponents of this particular doctrine died of diseases Kenneth Hagan died not at natural causes and uh Frederick Casey Price who was a very big proponent his wife had cancer and so it that should have proven that there was something wrong with what's being taught but people still clung to it now it isn't as strong today as it was 20 years ago but it still has infiltrated the church and what we're seeing and the reason I told you all of that is what we're seeing in these arguments are actually arguments that people who cling to the positive confession movement it's their arguments this is what they argue you are sick Job because you have unconfessed sin that's why listen you know when you when you sow to the flesh from the flesh you're going to reap corruption we've already been reading that they're blaming Job for his condition and that's what Bill that is doing he's saying you have sin you have to deal with it but we already read the first page the first page of the book of Job God says he's a righteous man and he hates evil he didn't have at that time an unconfessed sin this was something different and this is something that God was using in the life of Job and we'll see it at the conclusion to show Job things about himself that Job doesn't know remember at the end of the of the book Job says I heard of you with the hearing of my ear but now I see you with the seeing of my eye and I abhor myself in sackcloth and ashes I I walked by faith and not by sight and I didn't have a complete understanding but now that I've seen you it now makes sense we're going to see that later on but as we're going through this I wanted to tell you this so that next week you'll see that the line of argumentation here is constantly blaming Job when in fact Job at this time is saying what have I done God show me what I've done I'll turn from it but these people are so bent on no Job read the books look at the history problem is you've done something wrong well at this place they're wrong we'll stop here and we'll pick up next week I wanted to give you that so you have an understanding as we keep going through this book