[0:00] Well, take your Bibles if you would and turn with me to Job chapter 4. While you're turning, unless I am badly mistaken, today John and Sandy Pearson are celebrating 35 years of wedding bliss.
[0:19] The church was started in his home and he has been foundational in everything and he and his wife. And so be sure and say happy anniversary to them if you would.
[0:32] You know, we believe in karma. Not supposed to, but human beings tend to believe in karma. Jesus is dealing with a blind man and his disciples said to him, well, who did sin?
[0:44] This man or his parents? Everybody tends to think, well, somebody's blind. Somebody did something wrong somewhere. And then I remember, you may not have ever heard of him, but there used to be quite a famous evangelist called Lester Roloff when I was a younger man many years ago.
[1:01] And a man in my church loved Brother Roloff. Brother Roloff was very famous. Everybody had heard of him back in the day. And the fact is, he told me one time I was going out there to take somebody to one of the children's homes.
[1:12] And he said to me, he said, well, when you see him, tell him I said hi. I said, not even thinking about it. You know, I didn't say that to him. I just thought, sure, you think he knows you. And so I showed up in Texas and I'm sitting there.
[1:23] And he said, where are you from, son? I said, I'm from Cartersville. He said, well, do you know Charlie Shelton? I said, yeah, he told me to tell you hi. He said, yeah, I ate a watermelon. We went on the end of the runway last time I was there.
[1:34] And so he was for real. But when Brother Lester died in a plane crash, Mr. Shelton said, I wonder what he did wrong. I wonder why God took him out. I wonder why God killed him.
[1:46] I said, well, I don't know that he did anything wrong. He said, oh, I don't know. That's basically the human idea of karma. Bad stuff happens to you because you deserve it and because you did something bad.
[1:57] So in the book of Job where we are, you know, Job, this is the craziest story you ever heard. There's been this meeting in heaven between God and Satan, the accuser, the adversary.
[2:08] And they've been arguing about whether or not Job loves God. And God said, Job loves me. And Satan said, well, no, he doesn't really love you. He just loves all the toys you give him.
[2:19] And if you take them away from him, he'll curse you. And they take them all away and he doesn't curse him. He said, well, then if you hurt his body, he'll still curse you. And so God said, well, take all this stuff away. Take his body.
[2:30] Just don't kill him. And we'll see if he loves me. And they do. And Job stands true. And so we're in a part of the story now where Job has been sitting with his three friends. And there's an extra guy that's there who's not mentioned yet.
[2:43] And they're all sitting basically in an ashes heap. And he's ripped his clothes and his body's full of pus and sores and blisters. And he's thrown dirt on his head. And they haven't eaten or taken a bath or anything for well over a week.
[2:57] And it's been seven days and seven nights. And no one said a word. And at the end of that time, Job just goes, well, I'm about ready to talk. And here's what I got to say. Bless God, I wish I'd never been born.
[3:08] My life stinks. And I cursed the day I was born. And curse everything. And so they all sat there just listening to him. And then we get to hear from our first friend of Job.
[3:21] And his name is Eliphaz. And if you'll take your Bible and go with me to Job chapter 4 and verse 1. The first thing that we find that old Eliphaz does when he starts in the story is he acknowledges that Job really had been a good man.
[3:36] He starts off saying nice things about Job. You know when somebody comes to see you in the office and they start off saying, you know, I really do love you. And you've always been one of my special favorite people.
[3:46] But. You're always just waiting for the but to fall. You know it's about to happen. I've really enjoyed being here at the church. But. And so that's basically what's going to happen. So here's the pre to the falling of the hammer.
[4:00] He says in verse 1. Eliphaz the Timonite answered and said. If we say to commune with you, with thee, wilt thou be greed? If we speak to you, will it make you mad at us?
[4:12] But I can't help it. I have got to say something. I've been sitting here for seven days in these ashes. And seven nights in these ashes. And I just heard you spew out a bunch of garbage. And I am itching to put you in your place.
[4:24] He said. I want to talk to you. And so he begins to remind Job of how God has used Job in the past. Look if you would. In Job chapter 4 and verse 3.
[4:35] By the way. If we stopped on this one little part of this message. It would be an ideal lesson for who we ought to be. This first part. Eliphaz looks at him and says. You really have lived up to who you ought to be.
[4:46] He says. Number one. You have instructed many. Won't you underline that? Instructed many. Won't you write beside that? In the margin of your Bible. Am I involved in discipleship? Am I teaching other people how to serve God?
[4:59] Am I clarifying the scriptures? Am I understanding the scriptures? This means he has rebuked and warned and helped and matured other people. Only that in verse 3.
[5:09] He has strengthened the weak hands. He's encouraged people that were about to quit. He has helped them to grow strong. He has helped them to get the victory. He's helped them to be strong in the things of the Lord.
[5:20] And then in verse 4. He is upholding them that was fallen. He's been there and he's helped people. They were stumbling. And they were helped by Job's word. He helped pick them up. He helped them stand up.
[5:32] He helped them get what they needed. He helped them mature. They were about to be defeated and about to be overthrown by the devil. But Job stepped in and helped them. Job has helped struggling believers.
[5:44] Chapter 4 and verse 4. He has strengthened the feeble knees. They were just about to buckle. They were just about to break. They were just about to give up. But he has helped them. Eliphaz knows that God has been greatly used to help others that are in need.
[5:59] So just let me say something to all of us. Right here is a beautiful picture of who and what we ought to be doing in a local church. You know, you don't come to church to hear the speaking.
[6:10] You don't come to church to hear the singing. You come to church to get involved in the lives of others. You come to church to be one another to each other. In the Bible, there are dozens of one another.
[6:21] Love one another and forgive one another and give to one another and help one another. Some people have turned church into a spectator sport. It was never meant to be that. Everything Eliphaz says to him is a picture of what you and I ought to be doing.
[6:35] Look, if you will, with me at Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 24. I want to challenge you. You ought to be in church on Sunday morning and Sunday night and Thursday night and other times. You ought to be involved in the visitation program.
[6:47] You ought to be involved in discipleship. You really ought to make this church like the center of your life because it's like we are born-again believers. We're strangers and pilgrims. We don't belong to this world. We may live here, but this world is not my home.
[6:59] I'm just a passing through. I want to do something for God with my life. I want it to count. And the way God does that is he puts us together in a church. Look at what the Bible says in Hebrews 10, 24.
[7:10] Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and the good works. Would you underline that? Let us consider one another. I need to see you. I need to know you. I need to think about you.
[7:21] I need to be going around going, what's going on in that person's life? What's happening there? I want to be a blessing. I want to do all that Job just said. And then it says, watch this, consider one another to provoke them to good works.
[7:33] I ought to be going around the whole time going, I'm here to just be a cheerleader. I'm here to be an encourager. I'm here to be a motivator. Let's do more for Jesus. Verse 25. And don't forsake the assembling of yourselves as a matter of some is.
[7:48] See, most people tend to drop out of church. Hey, you live in a day and time when there's less church than ever. You call off, now you go to church, no Sunday school, no Sunday night, no midweek.
[7:59] Let's go to one hour church. Let the preacher give us this dose of spiritual consolation and let's live our lives. We'll tag one hour on there and that's all.
[8:10] But Eliphaz says, Job's not been that kind of guy. Job really has worked in the lives of others. Job's a rich guy. Job's a rich guy. And Job's been blessing people and helping people.
[8:21] He's the richest guy around. He's been blessing people and helping people. You ought to start taking church a little more seriously. You ought to start saying, hey, I need to be there for others. I need to be there to help people.
[8:32] I need to be there to be a blessing. Don't forsake the assembling of yourselves. Some people are going to go to less and less church, but we will be in more and more church. Because exhorting one another so much the more you see the day approaching.
[8:45] How many of you believe Jesus is coming back? Say amen. Come tonight at 5 o'clock. You'll find out more about that. We believe he's coming back. And if you believe he's coming back, you don't go to less and less church. If you thought Jesus was coming tomorrow, you'd probably come to church tonight.
[8:57] But since you might not think he's coming back, you're like, I'll check it. When he gets ready, when he sends a notice he's coming, we'll all be there. But that's not what it says here. We ought to consider each other and motivate each other.
[9:10] We ought to be together and we ought to be helping each other. We come looking for a place to serve. You don't come to be served. Somebody said, I went to church today and shake my hand. And I always want to say, whose hand did you shake?
[9:23] You know, I never have had to worry about whether or not they shook my hand because I was shaking theirs. Get involved in discipling new people. Everybody here, you ought to be. We need to strengthen these people.
[9:34] We need to help people grow. We need to. The bad days are coming. Just like they did to Job. We need to be ready for that. But now we get to Job 4, 5. I mean, he's going to have two chapters here.
[9:45] Chapter 4 and chapter 5. And in chapter 4 and chapter 5, he is going to be pretty mean. And he's been real generous. He's given him four verses of nice stuff. That's kind of like how it is, you know.
[9:56] Hey, how you doing? Love you. Love the church. But. Now watch it. Verse 5. You ready? But now it's come upon you, upon thee, and you faint.
[10:07] Thou faintest. It touches you and you are troubled. He said, I'm going to bring this home. I said, now look. You have been a good guy. And you have done a lot of good stuff.
[10:18] But now your life's falling apart. And you need to be strengthened. And instead of that, you've been a good teacher, but living it comes pretty hard. Preaching's easy.
[10:30] And preaching's cheap. And teaching's easy. And teaching is cheap. It's one thing to tell another person how to deal with their trouble when you're rich. But now you don't know what you're doing.
[10:43] You just lost everything. You used to run around the church telling nobody, oh, just trust Jesus. He'll take care of your finances. Oh, just trust Jesus. He'll help you and your family.
[10:54] Oh, just trust Jesus. He'll protect your kids. Oh, just trust Jesus. Your best life is now. Just trust Jesus. And Eliphaz said, well, now what you got to say, big boy?
[11:05] Because you ain't getting your best life now. Your children are dead. All your stuff is gone. Your wife wants you to curse God and die. And I see you can't practice what you preach.
[11:16] Look at verse 6. Is not this thy fear, thy confidence, thy hope, and the righteousness of thy ways? Isn't this what you used to tell everybody? What you going to do now, big boy?
[11:28] It ain't nothing you like better when you're the preacher. You know, I've been the preacher for most of my life. And what you like when you're really discouraged and you're down, somebody will come to you and say, I heard you preach and say this. Why aren't you doing it? And I'm like, won't you just shut up?
[11:39] I was preaching. Now I'm living. Amen. I was preaching when I told you I do. Now I got to live it. That's a little bit different. That's what's going on. And now we come to karma.
[11:50] You can almost write it by the verse. Look at verse 7. Remember, I pray thee, Job, big boy, whoever perished being innocent. Now, Job, let's just be honest.
[12:02] Good people don't die. Innocent people don't die. Whoever perished being innocent. Or where were the righteous cut off? I'll tell you what I've seen. I've seen that if you plow iniquity and you sow wickedness, you will reap the same.
[12:18] Can I just ask, are your kids not dead? When bad things happen to you, it happens because you deserve it, Job. The basic premise is bad things do not happen to good people.
[12:33] You're reaping what you sow. Big lesson here. Don't do like Eliphaz. The next time somebody needs a little comfort, please don't read this chapter before you go see them. Amen. Do not go to them and say, so your children died.
[12:47] Well, bless God, what did you do wrong? That wouldn't be the best way to go about that. He's doing it completely wrong. And this is what we know. If you know your Bible, you've been studying it long, we all know that none of this is happening because of anything Job did wrong.
[13:00] None of it. None of it. But in human eyes, you're looking at it and saying, how in the world do you go from the richest man one day to the poorest man the next day? How do you go from having a big happy family with 10 kids in it to no kids the next day?
[13:13] You must have really done something wrong. But that's not what's happening. You can't judge people by what appears to be happening in their lives. By the end of the story, for the next chapters on top of chapters, they're going to look at Job and say, you deserve it.
[13:28] You did wrong. God's paying you for it. And when we get to the end of the book of Job, God's going to say, no, he didn't and no, he wasn't. And you don't know what you're talking about. So let's realize there's more to the story than that.
[13:43] But I will tell you this. Trials and troubles are coming for all of us. Odds are very good that we're not going to have as much tragedy as Job.
[13:55] But some of us aren't worried about our spiritual life. You nibble on the scriptures. You don't eat them. You taste a little bit of church, but you don't get in.
[14:07] You pray, but you don't pray much more than a little ditty. And you're just playing a game. There's no family devotions going on in your house. There's no seeking God. There's no memorizing scripture.
[14:17] You're just living life with a stamp, a post stamp of Jesus on your life. And trouble's coming. Trouble's coming. And you've got platitudes, but trouble's coming.
[14:31] Eliphaz reminds Job that God knows what he's doing. Job chapter 4 and verse 17. Now here's a truth. He's wrong, but he's right. Look at chapter 4 and verse 17.
[14:43] Shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure than his maker? You have no right, Job, to set in judgment over God.
[14:55] He is the creator. He is the owner. He is the king. He is the all-powerful one. We are his property. We are his subjects. We don't make God in our image.
[15:05] We serve God. We choose to honor him. But Eliphaz, like many of you, has a very harsh view of God. It's the wrong view of God.
[15:18] It's the view I grew up with. It's the view I grew up with. I grew up thinking, I'd like to get to heaven, but I don't want to be there the first 50 or 100 years while I'm getting into Baptist purgatory.
[15:30] I don't want all the stuff, the bad stuff God's going to do to me. But many of us live our lives like God is an angry God who just wants to hurt us. We're like he's got thunderbolts in his hands, and at any minute he's going to hurl a thunderbolt at me.
[15:43] Better be careful. Better watch what you're saying. Better watch what you're doing. But that's not a godly view. I still remember when I got to Jonah chapter 4 in my life, and I got to verse 2 one day in my devotions, and I was so scared of God.
[15:59] I was like, God's so mean. He's just going to take me out when he gets an opportunity. And I read there about how sweet and wonderful he was, and that's why Jonah didn't want to go preach that message.
[16:10] And I mean, tears came to my eyes, and those that know me know that doesn't happen very easily. I realize God loves me. But look at other fans and what he says, verse 18. Behold, he, God, put no trust in his servants and even charged his angels with folly.
[16:27] Job, you better keep your mouth shut. Don't be back talking God. You realize that God doesn't even trust anybody. God doesn't trust anybody. And he even jumped all over his angels for messing up.
[16:39] God's an angry God. He sees a God that holds him all in contempt and not in love. He says, God is certainly, if he couldn't trust angels and all the servants in heaven, he'd never trust you.
[16:52] Look at verse 19. You live in a house of clay. Your foundation is dust. And look at what he says. And you will be crushed before the bug. I mean, basically, God's up in heaven like, you people live in clay.
[17:08] You're made out of dirt. And I'm going to stomp you like a bug before the moth. That's what your Bible says. That's Job's. I mean, that's Eliphaz. Eliphaz is like, well, God doesn't trust anybody.
[17:20] And he'll knock you out in a heartbeat. Lives are easily snuffed out for God. We're weak, and we should never forget that. God, God's crushed you like a bug.
[17:32] You shouldn't be arguing. You are just a pawn in the hands of a horrible dictator that will do whatever he wants. Fact is, men die, and God doesn't even pay attention.
[17:44] Look at verse 20. They are destroyed from morning to evening, and they perish forever without any regarding it. Eliphaz is like, you need to hush. Don't be a curse in the day you was born, and don't be blaming God.
[17:56] The fact is, we're just made out of dirt, and we're all going to die. And if we die, God doesn't even pay attention. That's not true. None of it's true. Eliphaz is a good Baptist.
[18:09] He just runs his mouth with no scripture. I was out knocking doors with Graham Young yesterday. We went to a house, and this man lets us in, and he says, I don't need church.
[18:23] God teaches me directly. And then he said, I've run into devils, and I've run into angels, and I've run into demons. I've run into death one night himself. I thought he was out to get me, but he wasn't.
[18:35] He just gave me all this long lecture, and I'm just sitting there going. And over an hour later, I finally was able to find a break in the conversation. He just paused, and I said, I really got to go. That reminds me of this guy right here.
[18:47] You do know that that's not true, right? God knows when a bird falls, and God knows how many hairs are on your head. And Eliphaz may serve a horrible God, but not the God of the Bible.
[19:02] In Job chapter 4, verse 21, he said, Doth not their excellency which is in them go away? They die even without wisdom. Men die, and it's gone and lost.
[19:12] And I'm just telling you what I think about how God looks at us. How many of us are falling into that attitude? You serve an angry God. You serve a God you cannot please.
[19:23] You serve a God that cannot. You're just a pawn in the hands of fate or God. You use those as excuses. It's not your fault you've got a porn problem.
[19:34] It's not your fault that things are happening. You're just a bug in God's economy. Not true. Now, for those of you looking, this is where you've got to study your Bible a little bit. Because when I first read Job 4 and 5, when I was a kid, I thought, man, that's God.
[19:49] Yeah, it is. That's the way he is. Mean. Mean. Mean than a junkyard dog. That's what we were saying as a kid. He's out to get you. But when we get to Job, God's going to go, you guys are dead wrong.
[20:02] I don't appreciate nothing you've had to say. I'm kind of like, well, God, you could have left that out of the Bible then. If you'd have just left that out of the Bible, I wouldn't have had to get confused myself. But I think he already knew we were confused.
[20:13] We don't know the God of the Bible. We don't pay attention to the God of the Bible. So go with me to Job chapter 5 and verse 1. He is sure that Job has sinned. Eliphaz is sure that Job has sinned.
[20:28] And nobody can help him because he's done wrong. In Job 5, 1, he says, Call now if there be any that will answer thee, and to which of the saints wilt thou turn.
[20:40] You can't. There's nobody going to help you. See, won't you call and see if he'll answer you. Nobody's going to help you. You're wrong to be angry about what's happening. But I will say this to you, Job.
[20:50] Your bad attitudes are going to hurt you in the long run. I think we got a little bit of truth slipped in here. Look at this. In verse 2, wrath kills a foolish man. You know what ends up happening? He's kind of right on that one.
[21:01] When things go wrong in our lives, we get angry. We're angry with God. And that's what a foolish man is. He like doesn't believe in God. And he's angry without any reason to be angry. And so he said, don't let your anger take over.
[21:14] We're to look to God and wait on him instead of being a fool. And not taking him into consideration. Envy slays the silly one. He said, you're silly. I've seen the foolish taking root.
[21:25] And I've seen his habitation cursed. But if you keep these bad attitudes up, bad stuff's going to happen. It's already happened to you, Job 5.4. His children are far from safety. They're crushed in the gate.
[21:37] Harvest of the hungry is eating them up. The robbers are swallowing them up. Now listen to me. I want to tell you something. You know that you're learning the right attitude about God.
[21:49] And the word of God has a massive effect on your children. It has a massive effect on your children. Eliphaz, you can marker down.
[22:02] His kids are going to be bitter, angry kids that had been taught to serve a really bad God. So many of you have taken an ounce of a Baptist preacher, an ounce of Bible, and a pound of a Baptist preacher's preaching.
[22:16] And you've never studied your Bible. And you go home with bad attitudes about God. And you say stuff with no biblical basis like Eliphaz does. And you are bringing that wrath and that jealousy.
[22:27] And you're building foolishness into the hearts of your kids. We need to know God. We need to know the God of the Bible. So Eliphaz is back on his little rant.
[22:40] In chapter 5 and verse 6, he said, affliction doesn't come out of nowhere. It doesn't come out of the dust. Trouble doesn't spring out of the ground. Man's born unto trouble. Now, here's what we know.
[22:55] We're studying the Bible. So you've got to understand that we know things Eliphaz doesn't know. Oh, Eliphaz thinks, well, you was the richest guy in town eight days ago.
[23:06] And it's all gone. Karma must have really hit you hard. So you must have really been doing bad stuff. And I'm going to ring you out. Well, the truth of the matter is he hasn't done anything wrong.
[23:17] He hasn't done anything wrong. He is totally innocent in this story. In fact, it's the only thing that's happened here is God and Satan are having a discussion. And Job is the one in the middle of it.
[23:29] Job isn't suffering because of his sin. Job is suffering because God is working a miracle in his life, doing some things in his life. Finally, Eliphaz gives some good advice.
[23:41] Look at chapter 5 and verse 8. He said, well, if I was you, I'd seek God. Now, you know, can I tell you what you need to do when you're in the middle of a problem? You need to get in the Bible.
[23:53] Now, as soon as problems happen, I can tell you what you do because I've been pastoring 46 years. As soon as a problem happens, you stop coming to church. As soon as a problem happens, you stop reading your Bible.
[24:04] As soon as a problem happens, you blame God. You sound like Eliphaz. But Eliphaz said, seek God. Verse 9. God, which does great things and unsearchable, marvelous without number.
[24:18] The God who controls nature. Job chapter 5 and verse 10. He gives rain and sends water. Job chapter 5 verse 11. He set up on high those that be low. It's God that's in charge of what's happening.
[24:30] He's the almighty God. And he disciplines sin. Verse 12. He disappoints the devices of the crafty so that their hands can't perform an enterprise.
[24:41] He takes the wise in their own counsel. They meet darkness and grope in the noonday. But in the middle of all that, according to Eliphaz, God gives hope.
[24:51] 5.15. He saves the poor and the poor has hope. In the middle of your crisis. By the way, I've been through some crises. My daughter was raped. And that was like the most horrendous thing.
[25:05] In our lives and the world. And in that moment, laying on a table, being examined in Atiquipa, Peru. And she's like a 16-year-old girl or 15-year-old girl. She's laying on that table. And I'm so full of anger and hate.
[25:17] And Eliphaz is like my middle name right then. And I walked in that room. And she's laying there. And she looked at me. And she said, Daddy, Peru didn't rape me. Don't get a bad attitude. Some bad Peruvians did. I was like, I'm going to kill them all.
[25:29] I'm already out in the lobby praying, God, if you destroy Peru today, that'll be a great thing. Karma, God. Bring some karma. I need to get a hold of God.
[25:43] I just say to you, I watch you. I notice you slack off on coming to church. I notice you slack off getting into your Bible. I know you pull away from your ministries.
[25:53] I know things bad happen in your life. And instead of going and seeking God, you develop an Eliphaz attitude. Well, I would serve him, but he's a big, bad, bully God.
[26:05] He says something else good in chapter 5, verse 17. He said that we ought to be happy that God's working in our lives.
[26:17] Now, this is a verse you're going to find back in Hebrews. When you get to Hebrews later on, he's going to be quoting this. Look here. Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects. Now, here's what you can count on.
[26:28] Now, let's remember some great truths from this story. Satan's not in charge. Satan can only do what he's allowed to do. He had to ask permission from God for everything.
[26:41] You can trust God to slap the snot out of Satan when he needs it. You can be sure God will be there. And see, you need to underline in your Bible, happy is the man whom God corrects.
[26:55] Did you know God's building me? And God's building you? And God's building the message for his kingdom and his glory? And when we get to the end of the story of Job, what we're going to find when we hit the end of the story of Job is how God blesses him with everything and everything.
[27:12] He's got 10 more kids, and all of his riches are twice as big as it ever was. And all God was doing was saying, I wanted to prove to you there are people that love me. Because God wanted the glory.
[27:24] So here's what we need to do. God's at work in your life. Sometimes bad things are happening in your life, and you didn't do anything to bring it about. You really were doing all the stuff Job was doing.
[27:35] And sometimes God said, Wake up, Austin. Wake up, Austin. Be involved in doing what's right. You know you've been doing wrong. But this is what you can know. If God's correcting you, he knows you.
[27:47] Could I get an amen there? You know who's going to discipline a kid? It's going to be their parent. That's what Hebrews is going to tell us. He disciplines his own children.
[27:59] So verse 17, despise not the chastening of the Lord. We are not accidents. We're not bugs to be squashed out.
[28:11] God's at work in the life of every Christian. And with every Christian, he has predestined you to be conformed to the image of his son.
[28:22] Romans 8, 29. And so what he's doing is all these things, Romans 8, 28, he's going to take and work every one of them, and he's going to use it all to bring honor and glory to Jesus and honor and glory to God.
[28:35] And so whatever's happening in my life, I'm going to trust that God is bigger than that and that God knows what he's doing and nothing will be happening in my life that God wouldn't approve, that God wouldn't allow help to bring me to what he wants me to be.
[28:49] By the way, I have been through some junk. My wife and I have been through some stuff. Despise not the chasing of the Lord, of the Almighty.
[29:01] You ought to circle that word Almighty if you didn't want to go. You see, you need to understand Satan's not Almighty. You need to understand circumstances aren't Almighty. You need to understand we were saved by the Almighty, all-powerful God of the universe.
[29:16] And he saved me, and he's promised me eternal life, and he's working in my life. By the way, if you want to know the truth about who he is, he doesn't squash me like a bug. He comes and dies like a slain lamb being tortured to save me and rescue me.
[29:32] And by the way, whatever God's doing in your life, he'll turn it to good. When our daughter was raped, I'd spend hours praying.
[29:49] I was like, I want no world. What in the world? So then I would try to imagine how God could turn it into something great. And I used to say, well, God, if she's pregnant, help me help that boy to be a man of God.
[30:07] Because God can do with anything that happens, God does great stuff. That's what it says in verse 18. God makes sore, but he binds up.
[30:18] God wounds, but his hands make whole. And some of you need to be hurt this morning.
[30:33] A famous old preacher said one time, I hope I make you mad enough to get right with God. God, you've been living in sin and arrogance. You don't believe you need to repent.
[30:45] You don't believe you need to turn to Jesus. You don't need to believe you need to give up on you and believe him. And junk's happening in your life. And you look at it as the most horrible thing. But I have found over the years that more people get right with God in crisis than any other time.
[31:00] You let their life fall apart. They'll get saved. You let their world come crushing down and they'll get saved. He binds up and he makes holes. If you're not saved this morning, he's at work in your life.
[31:13] But then for every one of us that are Christians, I am so wrapped up in Austin. That's me. I am so wrapped up in me many times that God needs to allow junk to happen in my life.
[31:24] So I'll quit thinking about me and my stuff and my family and my things and I can focus on him. And the truth is, I live too much of my life down here. If you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above.
[31:38] Set your affection on things above. God's at work in our lives. You are not an accident. Things aren't just going to happen. God is at work.
[31:50] He disciplines, but he bandages and makes whole. It is interesting how Eliphaz started off saying nice things and he's going to end up doing that.
[32:02] If you look at chapter 5 and verse 19, he said, he shall deliver you. God's going to turn this around, Job. I thought that was kind of funny. I'm like, you started off nice, got really dirty, mean in the middle.
[32:14] And now you're like, God's going to turn this around. In seven, there shall no evil touch thee. In famine, he shall redeem you from death and you do not need to be afraid. In verse 24, God makes his people to live in peace.
[32:27] In verse 25, he said, your seed will be great and I'll spring like the grass of the earth. Now listen to what I'm going to tell you. The world wants you to think you're an evolved animal.
[32:43] And you're subject to scientific analysis. And you're subject to, they can sit down and tell you, we do this because 10 million years ago, our ancestors did that.
[32:54] They'll do anything they can to take God out of the equation. And Eliphaz is wrong with some of his dumb things he has to say, but at least Eliphaz knows there's a God in heaven. And you need to know that.
[33:07] You cannot live your life like we're evolved animals. You cannot live your life thinking, it's just me and my house and my children and my stuff and me to enjoy life.
[33:20] There's something bigger going on in the story. There's an underlying picture taking place in all of this that in every minute of this story, God in heaven's at work.
[33:31] He is paying attention to the discussion because he's going to come back and answer the discussion. He is paying attention. He's paying attention to you. He knows if you've been born again.
[33:43] He knows if you're saved. He knows if you're going to go to heaven when you die. He knows if you're living a life that ignores him. I think you're great. I mean, I really think you're great. I see you on Saturday mornings. You look awful nice.
[33:54] I don't know you, but he does. And he knows that when you lay yourself down tonight, he knows if he is first or not. He knows if he's getting the preeminence or not. And you can mark this one down.
[34:06] He's going to bring you to him. No matter what he has to take us through, he has predestined us, Romans 8, 29, to be conformed to the image of his son.
[34:18] So God started working in my life way before this. But on May the 6th, 1962, he saved me. And what he said was, Austin, I'm going to take you along all this journey, but when I finish, when I finish, you're going to look like Jesus.
[34:33] You're going to have his attitudes. It'll happen after I'm sure I get to heaven because I'm not going to get there. But you know, God's been working in my life and he's still working in my life. And he's working in your life. You could help him.
[34:43] You know, you could be willing and docile. You could take your Bible and read it and pray it. That's the Holy Spirit. Because one way or the other, he's going to, if you're his, you don't get to be who you want to be.
[34:58] Born again people don't get to be who they want to be unless who they want to be is what Jesus wants them to be. We are not our own. We were bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body.
[35:10] So if you're not saved, get saved today. And if you are saved, let's humble ourselves and say, God, work in my life.
[35:24] Don't take things as accidents. Realize that the Almighty is at work.