We were having Tommy Steele Sr. at our assembly over in New Smyrna Beach, and one of our young men was asked to be chairman of the meeting and introduced a speaker. He'd never met Tommy before, and so he said, our speaker tonight needs no introduction. He said, which is a good thing, because I don't know a thing about him. Of course, if you know Tommy, Tommy had to expand on that and say a few choice things. Tommy's with the Lord now, isn't he? Tommy's with the Lord. Dear brother, always enjoyed coming down. He saw Sven Christensen. Of course, Sven's with the Lord now, too. And he saw Sven Christensen, and he said to Sven, and he said, before I leave, I need to borrow some of your forty-four caliber outlines. And Sven, who was not noted for this sort of thing, said, Tommy, you couldn't shoot my forty-four caliber sermons in your twenty-two caliber pistols. That's what the reader's digest would call the perfect squelch. Well, dear friends, thus far we've worked our way up to the book of Job chapter twenty-two. Chapter twenty-two, this would be the third and final discourse that falls to our attention this morning. And then tonight, if the Lord should give it to us, we want to look at this other fellow who suddenly appears on the scene. When he comes into the area, we don't know, but suddenly he is there, and apparently he's been there for some time because of two or three things that he says, and apparently he's a younger fellow, at least younger than the so-called comforters of Job. and his name is Elihu, and he's going to say a few choice things tonight. As I say, if the Lord gives the time to us, but that'll be tonight. This is our third and final discourse, and we remember the pattern because it has always fallen this way, and that is Eliphaz is the first speaker, and Job answers him, and then Bildad is the second speaker, and Job answers him, and then the Twitterer, Zophar, He sort of adds up the whole thing and puts it together in some kind of a digested form, and then Job answers him. Furthermore, we know that their subject matter has always been the same. A life is dwelling on the idea that, well, God doesn't punish innocent people, and God has really laid a heavy burden upon you, dear brother Job. And apparently there's secret sin in your heart that no one but God and of course yourself know about. And so if you would confess it and make it right, the Lord would revert. And he says some of those things in our lesson this morning. And he promises Job things that maybe God didn't promise. Now we need to be advised of that. But at any rate, then Bill Dead, the second one comes along and he's operating on the theory that there must have been something wrong with a kid. because suddenly there's ten children out there in eternity, you see, and so apparently they've had sin in their life, too much worldliness, too much carnality, too much sensuality, and so the Lord has not only taken them out into eternity, but for some reason, rather, he's laid punishment or chastisement upon the heart of the Father as well. Now, you look through the book of Job, and you've read it before, probably numbers of times, and, you know, poor Job, he's going to suffer this and suffer this, and Then he's going to have these friends that really don't understand Job's aching heart. They could have been such a help to him, but instead of that, they set themselves up as some sort of chastisers themselves to tell Job what's wrong between himself and the Lord and all these sorts of things. And you know all this because you've read through this. And you know that the end of the book is a very joyful sort of an ending. Everything seems to get straightened up and and Job understands some things about the Lord that he hadn't understood before. And I dearly love it when we get into those questions that God asked Job. And every question that God asked Job, you see Job getting a little bit smaller and a little bit smaller and a little bit, where are you when I, you know, God says that. I can't hardly wait to that part. That'll probably come to us on Saturday. But at any rate, at any rate, you know how the story ends up. So it's very easy for us to say, well, hang in there, Job. Everything's going to be all right, you know, because we know the end from the beginning. But if you can do this, you'll find that your Bible reading and Bible study will mean a lot more to you if you can sort of blank out from your mind the way the story ends. Well, we read Daniel and the lines then, or we read David and Goliath, and you already know how it's going to end. So you have a Tendency to sing-song your way through it, you know. And you can read through the words because you know how the story ends up. And while you're reading through the words, your mind can be busy with a thousand other sorts of things. But you'll get a lot more out of your Bible readings. If you can just sort of blank out from your mind how the story ends and live in the excitement of it. This boy, about seventeen years of age, fighting this giant who stands nearly ten feet tall, you see. And it's an exciting time, and I think we lose the excitement of it and the thrill of it when we know how the story ends. Now, as I say, if we were there, we could have gone up to Job and we could have kind of patted him on the back, or would we have fallen in with his detractors and said, yeah, you deserve everything you get, you know, this sort of a thing. Well, we could have gone up to Job and we could have said, well, hang in there, Job. You know, don't lose your faith in the Lord. Maintain the victorious spirit. Things don't look so well right now. and you're suffering this physical problem, and you've lost the very dearest things to your heart, and so forth. But, you know, the Lord's going to rearrange everything, and it'd be easy for us to say that to him because we know the end of the story. But then you might also, if you were able to talk to Job and you had the New Testament with you, you could turn over to First Peter, First Peter chapter number one and verse number six, and you could tell this to Job, and this might encourage his heart. First Peter chapter one and verse number six says, Wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, you are in heaviness through manifold temptations. And we want Job not only to remember that, but we want ourselves to remember that in nineteen ninety seven. There's a lot of burdened Christians in the world today. Burdened because of personal needs or problems that they have. Burdened Christians because they have unsaved loved ones. Burden Christians, because there's problems in the marriages or in the families of the kids and of the grandchildren, there's a lot of Christians these days who have very heavy hearts. And they need to be apprised of this, that in First Peter chapter one of verse number six, there's two safeguards that the Lord gives to you by the Holy Spirit here in this verse. And when you're under pressure and you're going through these manifold temptations, It says for a season. This is only temporary. You know, the Lord not only starts things, but he concludes things, doesn't he? And very often the Lord has a timetable to these things. Remember Jonah was sent to the Ninevites and he was to tell them, now God has a timetable. And after forty days, if you don't repent, that's the end of the opportunity for you to repent and to become believers in Jehovah God. that God has things that he starts here, but he also has a conclusion. We notice this in the study of the dispensations. This starts here and it ends here and it introduces another dispensation. And the Christian needs to realize, Lord, this isn't going to be forever, this problem, this trial, this heartache, this stressful time. For a season, it's a temporary thing. And the Lord will, with the temptation, also make a way to escape, won't he? That's what you're told of First Corinthians, you see, that ye may be able to escape. to bear it. You know, the Lord knows just how much you and I can stand. And sometimes we feel that He pushes us into water that's over our head, but the Lord knows exactly what we can stand. And this is the way the Lord works. The Lord will put you into a situation that is beyond your strength, because He doesn't want you to trust in your strength. He wants you to draw strength from Him. And a friend of mine several years ago, met another fellow. Well, how are things going? He said, oh, I've got this problem, that problem, this stress, and this heartache, and this need. And my friend said, the guy said, well, I've had it up to here, you know. My friend says, praise God, you've still got eight inches to go, you know. You're not going to drown if the water's up to here, you know. And the Lord very often put that one more thing on you. Because he wants it to... When we say, I've had it up to here, it means, you see, I can handle this in my own strength. The Lord says, I don't want you to handle it in your strength. I want you to draw strength from me, and he'll give you that one more thing that really puts you under, you see. Really puts you under. Well, anyway, we might have had this opportunity to talk to Job and say, I want you to know Job, this isn't going to go on forever. You're not going to sit in the ash heap forever. craping your running sores and lamenting the loss of your children and all these other sorts of this is for a season Joe it's a temporary thing and God leads us through these temporary sorts of things sometimes the thing is longer temporarily than other things but praise God there's going to be an end to it and that's what you're promised here in the word of God for a season and then the next safeguard is if need be if need be you know the Lord's not arbitrary You know, the world looks upon God as being some sort of a despot or dictator. And there's one little girl in Sunday school said, God is someone who, when he sees somebody enjoying himself, he says, now you cut that out, you know. This is the idea that the world has about God. Why does God allow tidal waves? Why does God allow airplanes to crash, you see? Why does God allow this to happen? Why doesn't God give us the answer to the epidemic of age, you see, this sort of a thing? The world looks upon God as being some sort of a frowning despot, you see, some sort of a heavenly dictator who just hurls these lightning bolts down into people's lives just to remind them who's boss. This is the idea that the world has about God, you see. You have some sort of a tragedy. It's called an act of God, isn't it? A lot of people get killed, a lot of destruction. That's an act of God. But you know, you can see a beautiful sunrise or sunset. That's not called an act of good. Mother nature gets credit for that. And these days of discrimination, I think we fellas ought to rebel. If there's a mother nature, there ought to be a father nature. But no, we have father time. He's the one who walked around with a big side, you know, and not the one, not the side that was up here this morning, but he walked around with a big side and just cuts people down and father gets credit for that, mother gets credit for sunset. Well, this takes me into next week. But anyway, if we could have only been with Job and said, Job, now you don't know about the New Testament, but I got one right here in my pocket. And let me turn over to a precious promise that Job you need at this time. This is going to be a temporary thing, Job. And secondly, God gives us things as he sees that we have need of those things. God doesn't just hurl lightning bolts into our life and we have to say, well, things were going so well. How could God allow this to happen? Because it's something that's needed for the moment. Whether it's some personal sort of a thing, some bit of chastisement or discipline or whatever the situation might be, God allows those things. So there in First Peter chapter one of verse number six, you have those two safeguards that the Christian needs to hang on to, that the Lord is still in charge. He still knows what's going on. And when the purpose has been accomplished, the situation will change, and I'll get out into greener, more sunshiny places. Well, here we are back then in Job chapter number twenty-two. Back in Job number twenty-two, and remember how the pattern works. Eliphaz is going to speak first, and then Job is going to answer him. And so Eliphaz has some of these things that he says in Job chapter twenty-two, and in verses twelve and thirteen and fourteen, He reminds Job that God sees all. And he seems to be saying, now Job, I don't know what the sin is in your life. Apparently there is sin in your life, or you wouldn't be in the desperate situation that you are in. And I don't know what it is, because it's God who looks upon the heart, you see. But I want you to know that God always sees everything. He says that in Job chapter twenty-two and verse number twelve. Is not God in the height of heaven? Behold the height of the stars, how high they are, all exclamation point to see. And thou sayest, how does God know, can he judge through the dark cloud? Now we don't know if Job said that, but Eliphaz thinks that Job said that. And how many times do we not accuse our friends and our neighbors and our loved ones about saying things that maybe they didn't say at all? You know, the word of God says, judge not lest you be judged. And later on that same chapter, Matthew seven says, well, you judge them according to their fruits, but so many times there, in Matthew seven, verse one, so many times we judge people's motives. And we're told not to do that because you and I don't know the whole story. We don't know why they said that. We don't know why they did that. We don't know what the motivation is. Well, he just loves the applause of men or she just wants to be noticed. We don't know that that's true, you see. And so we're told not to judge one another. But this is what Eliaphas is doing his feet to Job. And he says, you think Job you can get away with it because you think that God's busy somewhere else. That God lives so far away he can't see what's going on. Not only can he not see what's going on, he can't even see the motivation of your heart. And Job, this is the way you've been operating. And bless your hearts, I don't think that was the case with Job at all. Anyway, that's what he says. Verse fourteen there, thick clouds are covering to him that he seeth not. and he walketh in the circuit of heaven. He doesn't pay any attention to what's going on down here below. And so this is what Eliphaz wants Job to know, that God sees all. Now it's given to you here in Job twenty-two in a negative sense. And I wonder if there aren't people in nineteen ninety-seven who think that this is true, that I can get away with something. Now you remember God's people had to go over and serve some time over in Babylon, because they'd been abusing the law of the Sabbath. And remember that they would allow the land to remain idle every seven years and so forth. But probably there was some fellow who says, Boy, if nobody is planting anything, I can really corner the market. And so he says, I think I'll plow my ground. I think I'll sow some grain. And I think all of his neighbors... stood right there at the fence or the hedgerow waiting for the lightning bolt to strike this guy dead because he was breaking the law of the savage, you see, seven-year law. But you know, no lightning bolt came. And the earth didn't open up and swallow him alive down to the pit. And he sowed the grain and he harvested the grain and he made a killing that year because he was the only guy producing anything. So can you imagine what happened the next time the seven-year period came around? There were probably more guys Well, nothing happened to him. I guess God is way up there in the circuit of heaven. I guess God is way up there behind the dark cloud. Either God doesn't see what's going on or God doesn't care what's going on. And so then there was a lot of farmers, you see, and they were abusing it, but they weren't getting away with anything, were they? God said, you owe me these seven Sabbaths. And God took them all away until he got all the Sabbaths back again. There was a preacher out in Oklahoma, and I heard him say one time, everybody in my congregation tithed. I said, boy, that's quite a statement to make. He said, some of the people give it to the Lord willingly, and with the other ones, the Lord has to take it from them. Well, I'd rather do it voluntarily than involuntarily. But I think that's true. I think that's true. Used to be a fellow during the Second World War, when we common people, we coolies, you know, we couldn't get We couldn't get tires. And this fellow used to take his car and round up kids for Sunday school. And he said to his wife, sooner or later, these tires are going to wear out. But I'll go as long as I can using my car to pick up kids for Sunday school. And back in those days, if you got fifteen thousand miles of a set of tires, you were doing good. And during the Second World War, you know, if you did get a chance to buy a new tire, you told the guy, leave the paper wrappings on it. I can get a mile or two out of the paper wrappings. And this fella got sixty-two thousand miles on that set of tires. I said, I read about folks in the Old Testament who had iron shoes. The Lord gave you iron tires, you see. And he was driving a big Chrysler, which was heavy on tires, you see. But you know, when you give voluntarily to the Lord, isn't it amazing how the Lord stretches things and makes things last and so on and so forth? But you know, when you do it voluntarily, the Lord honors that. But so many times the Lord doesn't say, now if you do this, I will do that for you. He wants you to trust him. He wants to honor him. But as we often say, God is no man's debtor, and you commit something to the Lord. It's amazing how it'll last or how you'll prosper with it or how it'll be used in the service of the Lord, whatever it might be. But we live, you see, in a world today that says God is in the circuit of his heavens. Either he doesn't see what I'm doing or he doesn't care what I'm doing. And so the sinner gets more and more bold all the time. Try this and try that and say this and say that. And because there's not an immediate lightning bolt coming down from heaven to strike the person out into eternity, he thinks either I've gotten away with it or the Lord gives me a special sort of a relationship with him or the Lord just sort of pats me on the head and says, well, I really don't approve of that, but if that's what makes you happy, go ahead with it. And we live in this sort of an age today. that doesn't give much credence to what God says about sin. Anyway, that's the way Eliphaz is coming at Job this particular morning. God sees this. But now, that's on a negative sense. You remember over in the book of Malachi, here it's given in a positive sense, and we bring it in for contrast. That's what Eliphaz says back there in Job twenty-two. But then you read in the book of Malachi chapter three and verses sixteen and seventeen. Malachi three, sixteen, and seventeen, then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another. It doesn't say they spake one about another. It says they spake one to another. What do you suppose they talked about? If they loved the Lord and feared the Lord, what do you suppose was the main topic of their conversation? I think they talked about the Lord, you know. Whatever's in your heart, the Bible teaches, is going to come out. And I was riding on an airplane one day with somebody and we were talking about something or other and he says that if I ever told you about my golf game and I'd never to this day I don't know how we switched gears from what we were talking about to his golf he didn't want to talk about what we were talking about he wanted to talk about his golf game usually I get seated beside some grandmother who has nineteen grandchildren and and I can't open the window and escape from this airplane so I have to see all but anyway I think they talked about the Lord and the Lord harkened your verse was on this day and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts. And that day when I make up my jewels, and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Now that's in a positive sense. Back in Job twenty-two, God looks down. God sees from the circuit of heaven the ones who are not doing what he would have them to do. But God also sees something else. He sees people who are doing what He wants them to do. And a book is written. Now, whether that's an actual literal book or not, I don't know. I don't think God needs to write things down to remember them, do you? But it may be given to us as an assurance that God's not going to forget this. This is an assurance that God is going to remember these things because He writes these things down. So you have that in Malachi. Then you go to the last book of the New Testament. And another thing is written over there, as we know, in the book of Revelation, in chapter number twenty, Revelation chapter number twenty in verses twelve and fifteen. Revelation twenty, verses twelve and fifteen. I saw the dead, small, and great stand before God, and the books were open. There's more books open. And another book was open. which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works. You can imagine that great day. And the unrepentant one, the unsaved one, stands before God. And God can read from these books, you see. Here's the book of your life. Isn't it not true that on such and such a date and such and such a place with such and such a person you did this? And the person I think is going to have perfect recall. When in the Word of God you find people in eternal torments, there's not a one of them there that makes an excuse. There's not a one of them there that says, I got a bum rap. There's not one of them there that says, well, I'm here because of my parents, because of the teachers, because of society, because of whatever. There's nobody that blames anybody else in eternal torments and glory. And you never see anybody in eternal torments with anybody else. And I've had fellas tell me, I don't want to get saved because I'm going to spend hell with my buddies and we're going to sit around drinking and playing cards all the time and there won't be any Christian to come along, tell us we're doing the wrong thing. I said, my friend, you don't find anybody with anybody else in hell in the Word of God. In outer darkness, how can you see anybody else, you see? But the redeemed, you never see them alone in glory. Don't you read about the myriads and the myriads and the myriads, you see? They're always in fellowship. Well, anyway, they were judged out of these books. And she gave up it, verse twelve, verse fifteen, whosoever was not found written in the book. The book of life was cast into the lake of fire. So there's another book. And when somebody gets saved, the name is put in the book, you see. And there's the book of the redeemed. There's the book of the redeemed. Whosoever was not found written in the book. So people will talk to you today. And they'll say, oh, I read about somebody who put her baby in a pillowcase and smothered the baby and then threw the baby into the dumpster, you know, that personal burn in hell forever. And you can say, no, she won't. No, she won't. If she goes to hell, it's not because of what she did, it's because of what she didn't do. She didn't get saved. But we live in a world today that says, hell, you see, is deserving of people who have done bad things, and they'll be judged out of those things which they have done. But a person goes to the lake of fire, you see, because of what they haven't done. They haven't received the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, we go back here now to Job chapter twenty-two, and the life is revised. Job, God sees all. And then still in Job twenty-two, verses fifteen through seventeen, I think this has to do with the flood of Noah's day. Verse fifteen of Job twenty-two has so marked the old way which wicked men have trodden, who were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflowed with a flood, who said unto God, depart from us, and what can the Almighty do for them? And this is frightening because this, dear friends, is what people are saying today. They're saying to God, depart from us. Depart from us. And they're saying, we don't want prayer and school. We don't want the remembrance of God and anything patriotic. They're saying to God today, depart from us. I wonder if God ever will. You and I as believers might be in for a frightening future. Might be in for a frightening future. My brother who recently retired from being principal of a fifteen hundred pupil elementary school in Daytona Beach area, he says, you know, I can't let the kids out for Christmas break anymore. I can't let the kids out anymore for Easter break because those two words have religious connotations. He said, I have to let them out at Christmas for mid-winter break. I can't call it Christmas, mid-winter break. And he says, I have to let them out at Easter for spring break. I said, spring break is associated with the college kids come down and sometimes do vile things. He says, I know, but I can't call it Easter because that has religious connotations. And the world today is saying, see, we don't want God in any sort of thing at all. Where do you find it from? The oldest book in the Bible, saying to God, depart from us. Depart from us. And we just, as believers, we pray, God, please don't do it. Please don't depart from us, you see. We may be in for some desperate times ahead. The truth of the flood, but then also on the upbeat note, in verses twenty-one down through verse twenty-six of Job twenty-two. Aquaint now thyself with him and be at peace. Thereby good shall come unto thee. Receive, I pray, the Elisha, says the Job, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart. If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up. Thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles. Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust, and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks. Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defense, and thou shalt have plenty of silver. For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, and shall lift up thy face unto God. Now here, Eliphaz promises Job something from the hand of God that, as far as I can tell, God didn't promise. And we have to be careful about making promises to people under the auspices of the Almighty that God has made. Don't put God in the corner, you see, concerning these things. Now anything that God has said, you can say to people. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Him that cometh unto me, I will know why he's cast out. What God has said, you can promise to people. But don't promise things to people that God hasn't already promised to see. That may not be the will and the way of God. But anything that God has said, you can say. Now, here again, the age in which we live today calls the Christian judgmental. And when a Christian comes up and says, that's the wrong lifestyle. You can't do this. This is forbidden in Scripture. And very often the person will say, hatred is not a family value. I don't hate you. I'm telling you this because I love you, you see. But they'll say, don't be judgmental. But where God has been judgmental, dear friends, you can afford to be judgmental. You say, I didn't say that. That's what God has said. That if a person does this, this is going to be the result. Or this is the thing to look out for. something that you have read in the Word of God that God has said or God has promised, you can pass along to other people. But don't be like Eliaphas and promise things to people that God hasn't promised. Maybe that's not the way God goes, you see. And so here Eliaphas, you see, is telling Job, now Job, whatever that secret sin is that you've got, if you just confess it and turn from it and abandon it and so on and so forth, that God will make you a very wealthy man again, He'll give you lots of gold and a lot of silver and all these other sorts of things. And I don't think God ever said that. God's going to do it, but I don't think God ever said it. And so I think maybe life has said, well, it doesn't do any good to holler at Job. He just remains more adamant. And so I'll try to beguile him. I'll try to entice him. I'll try to lead him to the good life that you used to have. And if you straighten up this mess in your life, then God will lead you back into your prosperous way again. So anyway, that's what he life has said. Now Job, of course, has to reply to that, and he replies in chapters twenty-three and twenty-four. And Job's problem is this, apparently, in chapter twenty-three and verse three, Job says, O that I knew where I might find him, exclamation point, that I might come even to his seat, exclamation point. Now, he says that in verse three, but then you come down in that same chapter to verse number ten, and here's a little bit of a bright light. Job twenty-three, verse ten. He knoweth the way that I take. When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. He says, My foot hath held his steps. His way have I kept and not declined. Neither have I gone back, and neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips. I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. Amen to that. Oh, that I might know where to find him. Then you see, you turn over the book of Romans, chapter ten. The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thine heart. Where to go to find God? Young fellow used to be, came up through our Sunday school, and he called up one day and said, well, preacher Phil, I'll call, say goodbye. And I said, where are you going? Going out to California. Well, you know now how I feel about California, but I said, where are you going out to California for? He says, because out there you can find God. I said, come on now, you've gone up through the Sunday school. You know that God is omnipresent. He's no more in California than he's. Oh, no, no, he said, I misspoken. I misspoken. I heard that it's easier to find God in California than it is in Florida. I said, you know, that's not true either. But he went. He went. He got into some of the Eastern religions and all sorts of terrible things that evolved from it. But people say, you see, oh, that I might know where to go to find him. But then he says, no, it's not a case of my going to find him. It's a case, you see, of him coming to find me. He came to seek him to save that which is lost. Luke nineteen, you see. He came to seek him to save. And a precious thought to me is that that is found in the Gospel by John chapter nine. And here's the fellow who was born blind and the Lord healed him as a blindness. You remember, go wash in the pool of Siloam, which he did. And then the Church leaders came by, the synagogue leaders, I should say, they came by and they said, give God the glory. For this man, referring to Christ, is a sinner. And the fellow says, I can't argue the theology of it nor the philosophy of it, except this one thing I know. Whereas once I was blind, now I see. And I can't enter into the philosophy of it with you and the theology of it, but I know what he did for me. And then they put him out of the synagogue. And his mother and father didn't stand by him because they said, anybody who believes in this Christ is going to be excommunicated, you see, which they did to this stuff. Then as the chapter nine of John closes, you find the Lord comes back again from where he was to talk to this blind fellow. Why? Because that's the fulfillment of Psalm twenty-seven, verse number ten, where it says, When my mother and father forsake me, then the Lord will lift me up. And so the Lord just doesn't wander back again to talk to this formerly blind fellow. He has to come back to fulfill the Scripture because his parents won't have anything more to do with him because they don't want to be communicated from the synagogue either. And so the Lord to fulfill that passage of Scripture comes back and finds a fellow again and he calls him Lord. And that's a wonderful way that turns out. The Lord is compelled to come back again to talk to him and this sort of a thing. So Job says, oh, that I might know where to go to find him. Then he says, no, wait a minute, now he comes to find me. He comes to seek and to save that which is lost. That's the thing he gets into. Then get over to chapter twenty-four, chapter twenty-four and verse number one, why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days? Why can't people understand these sorts of things? Why doesn't God act in this particular way? And I refer you again to Second Peter that I mentioned a lesson or two ago, Second Peter chapter three and verses eight and nine. Second Peter three, verses eight and nine. But beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is what the Lord is a thousand years and a thousand years is one day. Lord is not slack concerning his promises, some men count slackness, but is long suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. We live in a hurry up age, don't we? And if you don't believe it, if you leave after the meeting and you take your car and you have to stop for the red light down here at the corner, when the light changes green, you hesitate a half a second. And you're going to have people behind you that want to go, you see. Especially if there's some of those sand trucks that... And if you don't want to go, they can see to it that you go. Well, we live in a hurry-up age. Come on, let's get going here. Someone has said, why is it that the second car in line always sees the green light sooner than the first car in line? We live in a hurry-up age. And we as Christians have to be careful. We don't get involved in this sort of thing. Lord, I prayed about this thing today. I want it done by seven o'clock tomorrow morning. And it may be you may pass off this earthly scene before you see that prayer resolved, you see. And here's the Lord who promised to Adam and Eve, the seed of the woman, you know, and so forth. And so when she had a baby, she says, I have gotten a man. I've gotten Jehovah from the Lord. Oh, it's going to be quite a few generations before he comes. Well, Lord, you said that I produce him, and here I have a child, and this must be him, you see. We live in a hurry-up age, you see. Don't give up praying simply because it seems as if God is impatient with you, you see. You keep praying about things. Well, that's what Job worries about. We need to hurry along. Now we have Bildad who comes along in chapter twenty-five. Chapter twenty-five, Bildad speaks, and especially in verse number three, Job twenty-five, verse number three. You notice how short Bildad speech is. It's a whole chapter by itself, but it's only six verses long. Now is the whole thing winding down? Is Bildad saying, well, I've said everything to Job that I can think of to say, and he's just not going to chase. I'm not going to waste my breath on him anymore. I'm going to go out and work with somebody that's a little bit more productive, where there's a little bit more promise made. So his whole speech encompasses only six verses. On the back of that, you look in vain for Zophar. He's given up completely. And maybe he says, well, I've been digesting these speeches from these other two guys. And Zophar doesn't say anything at all in this third discourse. But the short little speech the Bildad makes, you see, in chapter twenty-five, he says simply in verse number three, is there any number of his armies, and upon whom doth his light not rise? In other words, God is reaching out and so on and so forth. And then you compare that with verse six of that short little chapter, how much less man that is a worm, and the son of man who is a worm. God reaches out, even though when God gets us, it's no great benefit to him. sometimes even after we're saved we have to say Lord you didn't get much and you got me I still have a lot of selfishness I still have attitudes maybe that aren't right sometimes I think things that I ought not and Lord even as a redeemed person he didn't get any great prize you see didn't get any great prize and these sorts of things you notice the use of the word worm there this reminds you of somebody else doesn't it from Psalm twenty two behold I'm a worm an old man. Would he devote that sacred head for such a worm as I? But I found a hymn book the other day. They don't say worm anymore. Now they say for such a sinner as I. I don't mind being a sinner, but I hate to be a worm. And after that somebody said, Phil, you were talking about that. Let me show you this hymn book. And they changed the word again. Would he devote that sacred head for such a one as I? I don't want to be a worm, you know, and I want to be a sinner. So we kind of upgrade ourselves, you know. But the scripture is, I am a worm and no man. And Bildad seems to have this, you see, that this is the way the Lord works. Well, that's what Bildad says, short-lived. And then Job answers him in chapter twenty-six. And in verses one through four, he appeals to God for help. Job answered, this is chapter twenty-six, How hast thou helped him that is without power? How savest thou the arm that hath no strength? How hast thou counseled him that hath no wisdom, and how hast thou plentifully declared the thing as it is? To whom hast thou uttered words, and whose spirit came from thee? Dead things are formed from under the waters, and the inhabitants thereof. Job is naked before him, and destruction, he says, hath no covering, and so forth. Job says, please give me help. please give me help you're giving me a lot of advice please give me help and then hurrying along we have God in nature you see verse number seven verse number seven he stretches out the north over the empty place and hangeth the earth upon nothing now if you know anything about Greek mythology they couldn't abide the thought that the earth is without some kind of support and so they had Atlas there you remember and Atlas carried the world a great globe on his shoulders Because something has to support something else all the time. And yet God hangs the earth upon nothing. But once again, we can't believe the Bible. We have to trust in these other things. He hangeth the earth upon nothing. Verse number eight, he bindeth up the waters in his thick cloud, and the cloud is not rent under them. And you come over to verse number ten, he encompassed the waters with bounds until the day and night come to an end. All the rivers run into the sea, your Bible says, and yet the sea is not full. Why? Because God has established precipitation. There's a continual circle, isn't there, of these things. Verse number thirteen, by his spirit he had garnished the heavens, his hand had formed the crooked serpent. Well, that's what Job says. And the last thing is this. Then in chapters twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty and thirty-one, you have a great long discourse by Job. Eliphah, it's not his turn yet. He's not going to speak again, you see. And Bildad has sort of given up the ghost, and Zophar apparently has gone home because his wife's been calling him. He doesn't appear anymore. And so then Job is left free, you see, in chapters twenty-seven through thirty-one, to mention a number of different things. Of course, we won't go through them, but in chapter twenty-eight, in verse number twelve, Job twenty-eight, verse number twelve, Where shall the wisdom be found, and where is the place of understanding? Then verse number twenty, whence then cometh wisdom? He asked the same question again. Where is the place of understanding? And then in verse twenty-eight, unto man, he said, behold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding. So Job here is concerned about wisdom, and you know that you can turn over to the book of Proverbs to chapter number eight, and there you have wisdom personifies. And if you take out the word wisdom and put in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, it fits perfectly in almost every situation in Proverbs chapter eight, you see. The Lord Jesus Christ is wisdom personified. And then you're thinking of something, aren't you? Over in first Corinthians chapter one in verse number thirty, the Lord Jesus Christ who is made unto us wisdom. He's unto us wisdom and righteousness and so on and so forth. All right, so this is what This is what Job's concern with. Where shall wisdom be found? Where is the place of understanding? Whence then cometh wisdom? Where is the place of understanding? Ah, he says, Now I know. By revelation, finally comes to verse twenty-eight. Behold, the fear of the Lord. That is wisdom. And they depart from evil is understanding. So that takes us, you see, all the way up to the situation. Now, Lord willing, if the Lord gives us the hour tonight, we want to see what Elihu has to say. He hasn't spoken yet. And he comes along, and somewhere or other he has appeared, and he's been sitting in the great circle and listening to these other fellows speak. And he apparently is younger than they are, and he's rather disgusted because he hadn't heard anything worthy of writing notes about. And so he's going to have his say tonight at seven thirty if the Lord gives the time to us. Now we'll bow together in prayer. Our Father and our God, we thank you again for the communication of the Word. And Father, we're always amazed that you would want to communicate with us for any reason. And yet, Father, we thank you for the written word of God. We thank you, Father, for the living word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, who once said, Have I been so long with you and you have not known me? We thank you, Father, for the revelatory truths that the Holy Spirit gives to us. And, Father, we pray that this might continue to be so. May we be seeking Christians. May we not be content with our status quo and spiritual things. But Father, may we always desire to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We commit and commend, Father, the ending of this meeting and pray that the Holy Spirit might continue to be our teacher. Be with us the remainder of the day. And once again, may the Lord Jesus Christ have the preeminence in all things. For I pray these things in his name and for his sake. Amen.