Introduction:
How to Help Sufferers Who Are in a Bad Place (Job 32-37):
- Deal in Truth . (Job 32-33)
- Deal in God's Word, not Man's .
- Deal with what is Said , not what you Suppose.
- Address their Conduct . (Job 34)
- Point out Worldy behavior.
- Point the way Forward .
- Ask about their Walk with God. (Job 35)
- Are you Maturely responding to suffering?
- Are you crying About God or crying To God?
- Leave room for Mystery . (Job 36-37)
- We must be okay with not knowing Everything .
- We must Act on what we do know.
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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01:13-01:17
Open up those Bibles to the book of Job, chapter 32.
01:20-01:22
While you're turning, I just want to pause for a moment.
01:22-01:30
I'm going to ask that you would please pray for me to clearly and accurately communicate the word of God.
01:31-01:35
And I will pray for you to be ready to receive it.
01:36-01:39
We've got a lot of ground to cover today, but we are going to get through this together.
01:40-01:41
All right, let's pray.
01:46-02:01
Father in heaven, as we turn to your Word, it is your Word that encourages us and challenges us and grows us.
02:01-02:10
And I'm just asking now, Father, that once again, your Word would do your work.
02:11-02:16
So often we have a way of thinking about things that are wrong.
02:19-02:23
And by Your grace, You've corrected wrong thinking with Your Word.
02:24-02:30
So I pray, Father, that there'd be a lot of bad thinking corrected today in all of our lives.
02:31-02:35
Let us tune in, Father, to what You want to teach us.
02:36-02:37
We pray in Jesus' name.
02:37-02:48
And all of God's people said, "Job was a godly and wealthy man.
02:49-03:09
And Satan questioned Job's motives for worshiping God." God permitted Satan to take everything away from Job, including all his wealth and 10 kids.
03:12-03:20
Then when that wasn't good enough for Satan, he was permitted to take Job's health.
03:21-03:23
It was covered with loads and sores.
03:23-03:30
And last week, Pastor Taylor walked us through a giant chunk of scripture, did an amazing job doing it by the way.
03:30-03:40
But we saw Job had three friends who Taylor and I call the three stooges, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar.
03:41-03:45
They showed up to encourage Job.
03:47-03:48
And that didn't go so well.
03:51-04:04
Well, when we get to chapters 32 through 37, we're going to see, it seems like these chapters cover a lot of the same content as chapters three through 31.
04:07-04:08
But there's a big difference.
04:08-04:11
And I get a front load with this, because if we miss this, we'll miss the whole thing.
04:15-04:39
You see, Job's three friends said, "Job, you're suffering because you sinned." And this young man that we're going to talk about today, Elihu says, "No, Job, you are sinning because you are suffering." You see the difference?
04:41-04:52
In other words, the three friends said, "Job, it's your sin that led to your suffering." But we know, because we got a peek behind the curtain, we know that's not true.
04:53-04:57
But Elihu comes along and goes, "No, here's the problem, Job.
04:57-05:02
You are sinfully responding to the suffering that you're experiencing.
05:04-05:10
It's sort of like, imagine you have a bucket, okay?
05:10-05:17
And in this bucket, there's like a handful of dirt, but it's filled with water.
05:18-05:31
Now, if that bucket was just sitting up here, undisturbed, and you walked by and looked at the bucket, you would think that the water was pure, right?
05:31-05:32
You would think the water was clean.
05:34-05:44
But if you picked up that bucket and gave it a little shake, you would agitate that dirt and it would come to the top and you'd be like, oh no, no, no, there's dirt in that bucket.
05:47-05:54
And see, that's what Elihu comes along and is saying to Job, because he's saying your heart is like that bucket.
05:56-06:02
When things are good, when things are calm in our lives, we look pretty clean.
06:03-06:17
But it's when we get agitated, when we experience the stress of suffering, that has a way of kicking the dirt up and revealing that there's still some stuff in our heart that we need to deal with.
06:17-06:20
That's Elihu's point in these chapters.
06:22-06:23
So let's look at verse one.
06:24-06:28
It says in chapter 32, and keep your Bibles open.
06:28-06:32
We're gonna be bouncing, we're not gonna cover all these verses, but we're going to cover several of them.
06:32-06:33
So keep your Bibles open.
06:33-06:35
We're gonna be jumping around, all right?
06:36-06:45
It says, "So these three men ceased to answer Job because he was righteous in his own eyes." So a couple of big problems here.
06:46-06:50
After everything that was discussed in chapters three through 31, we have two problems.
06:50-06:53
After all of that, they got nowhere.
06:55-07:01
And the other problem is after all of that, Job was still self-righteous.
07:03-07:15
Look at verse two, it says, "Then Elihu, the son of Barakal, the Buzite of the family of Rom, burned with anger." So we're gonna, we meet Elihu here.
07:16-07:17
Like, who's he?
07:18-07:25
Well, look at verse two, it says, "He burned with anger at Job because he justified himself rather than God.
07:25-07:34
He burned with anger also at Job's three friends because they had found no answer, although they had declared Job to be in the wrong.
07:35-07:36
So who is Elihu?
07:36-07:38
Well, apparently he's an angry little fella.
07:41-07:42
Just angry at everything.
07:43-07:45
What are you so angry about, Elihu?
07:48-07:50
Because of the problem stated in verse one.
07:51-07:53
Because after all that talk, you got nowhere.
07:53-07:56
Because Job, you're still self-righteous in your own eyes.
07:56-07:57
Look at verse four.
07:57-08:05
Now, Elihu had wanted to speak to Job because they were older than he.
08:06-08:10
Or I'm sorry, he had waited to speak to Job because they were older than he.
08:10-08:16
And when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, he burned with anger.
08:16-08:17
Well, we're not surprised about that.
08:19-08:28
So Elihu was basically, he's like, look, you guys are older than me, so I respectfully waited and didn't interrupt you.
08:30-08:34
But now I have to say some things because there has to be an answer for Job.
08:38-08:44
And what you have in chapters 32 through 37 from Elihu, you have four speeches from him.
08:46-08:50
There's no back and forth, there's no interrupting, There's no objections.
08:51-08:57
Elihu gives compelling rebukes that set the stage for the Lord when he finally speaks to Job.
09:00-09:09
Now, I could spend a year just on these chapters, and I encourage you to go back and read them because there is so much amazing content in here.
09:11-09:19
But like Pastor Taylor last week, really what I want you to do is learn something from the way that Job is being approached.
09:24-09:32
There's a lot of people in this church that are suffering right now that I'm aware of.
09:34-09:43
And I am confident that there are many more people in this church that are suffering, and I have no idea that they even are.
09:44-09:46
And that means, my friends, it's up to you.
09:47-09:49
Friends, it's up to you.
09:49-09:55
Small group, it's up to you to comfort these people around you that are suffering.
09:56-10:14
So the question on the table today is, how do we help sufferers who are either angry at God because of their suffering, and there's no shortage of those people, or they're tempted to get angry with God because of their suffering.
10:16-10:18
So Elihu did a lot of things right.
10:19-10:21
And I just wanna go through these verses.
10:21-10:27
We're gonna fly through, pull out some verses, get a big overview, but I encourage you to read these in depth.
10:27-10:33
But on your outline, how to help sufferers who are in a bad place, all right?
10:35-10:36
Number one, write this down.
10:36-10:41
This is where it has to start, it has to continue, it has to end.
10:41-10:44
Number one, deal in truth.
10:46-10:48
You have to deal in truth.
10:48-10:49
Like, well, what do you mean by that?
10:50-11:00
Well, with these four points on your outline, I'm gonna give you the principle, and then I'm going to show you a couple very practical tips on how to carry out that principle, okay?
11:00-11:01
That's kind of how this outline is structured.
11:01-11:03
So number one, deal in truth.
11:03-11:04
Like, what do you mean?
11:04-11:08
First of all, letter A, deal in God's word, not man's.
11:11-11:13
Look at verses six through eight.
11:14-11:22
It says, "And Elihu, the son of Barakul, the Buzite answered and said, "I am young in years and you are aged.
11:23-11:25
"Therefore I was timid and afraid "to declare my opinion to you.
11:26-11:30
"I said, let days speak and many years teach wisdom.
11:31-11:45
"But it is the spirit in man, "the breath of the Almighty that makes him understand." In other words, what Elihu was saying is you got to deal in God's word, not man's word.
11:47-11:48
This is where it has to start.
11:48-11:52
When you're counseling somebody who's suffering, it has to start here.
11:52-11:54
What is your source of authority?
11:57-12:01
Elihu was saying, you know what, for you guys, you know what your source of authority is?
12:01-12:03
Your age, your experience.
12:03-12:04
You're like, well, we've been around, Job.
12:04-12:05
We know what's going on.
12:05-12:08
Let us tell you, we know some things because of our age.
12:10-12:11
Elihu says, "No, no, no, no.
12:11-12:16
"For me, my source of authority is what does God say?" Jump down, look at verse 15.
12:17-12:26
He says about the three stooges, the three amigos, he says, three blind mice, whatever you wanna call them, he says, "They are dismayed.
12:27-12:28
"They answer no more.
12:30-12:38
"They have not a word to say." Elihu's saying, "You guys have nothing to offer Job.
12:39-12:41
All your counsel got nowhere.
12:43-12:45
I do a lot of counseling as a pastor.
12:47-12:51
And do you know who are the hardest people to counsel?
12:52-13:02
You know, the hardest people to counsel are people who are also seeing a secular therapist.
13:07-13:09
That's what the three stooges were to Job.
13:10-13:11
They were like three secular therapists.
13:14-13:16
But they're the hardest people to counsel.
13:17-13:25
I remember a couple of years back, I'm counseling a couple and the woman was also seeing a secular therapist at the time.
13:25-13:27
And I'm trying to counsel him from the word of God.
13:27-13:29
And she says, "You know what, Pastor Jeff?
13:29-13:41
"My therapist told me that I just need to learn "how to forgive myself." And I said, "With all due respect, that's not a thing." And her eyes got huge.
13:41-13:47
She goes, "It's not?" I said, "You need forgiveness from God," which he provided through Jesus Christ.
13:47-13:52
"You need forgiveness from any others that you wronged and you need to make restitution to.
13:52-13:55
But what is this idea of I need to forgive myself?
13:56-13:58
It's not a thing." Look down at verse 21.
14:00-14:06
Elihu goes on, he goes, "I will not show partiality to any man or use flattery toward any person.
14:08-14:18
And all I hear is saying, "Look, Job, I'm gonna say some things, "but I'm not going to fall into the trap "that many bad counselors fall into." And that's people pleasing.
14:20-14:21
Do you see that?
14:21-14:23
Showing partiality, using flattery.
14:24-14:26
That's a lot of really bad counseling.
14:28-14:30
And you see that in a lot of secular counseling.
14:30-14:38
Now, I'm not saying every secular therapist the devil, I'm not saying that, just a lot of them.
14:41-14:55
But it's this idea, you go to see this therapist, and usually it's because you are like Job, you're sinfully responding to suffering, and the therapist tells you, "Look, it's not your fault.
14:56-15:05
"It's not your fault, it's your dad's fault, "it's your boss's fault, it's your cat's fault, that's somebody's fault, but it's not your fault.
15:06-15:07
That'll be $200.
15:10-15:15
Look, I don't mean this harshly, but we're dealing in truth.
15:17-15:25
At some point, you have to take responsibility for how you're responding to what's happening to you.
15:29-15:30
So forget the psychobabble nonsense.
15:32-15:40
You've got to get to where Elihu got, and that is, "What does God say?" Letter B, how do we deal in truth?
15:41-15:42
This is also key.
15:42-15:45
Deal with what is said, not what you suppose.
15:46-15:48
That's something else Elihu did very well.
15:49-15:51
Deal with what is said, not what you suppose.
15:52-15:56
Look at chapter 3, look at verses 8 through 11 in chapter 3 where he talks about this.
15:57-16:04
Elihu says, "Surely," he's talking to Job, "Surely you have spoken in my ears, and I have heard the sound of your words.
16:06-16:07
You say," you see what he's doing?
16:11-16:14
He says, "You say, 'I am pure without transgressions.
16:14-16:14
I am clean.
16:14-16:15
There is no iniquity in me.
16:16-16:19
Behold, he finds occasions against me.
16:19-16:20
He counts me as his enemy.
16:21-16:39
He puts my feet in the stalks and watches all my paths." So Elihu here summarizes Job's position, but I want you to see very clearly what he did was Elihu addressed Job's words.
16:42-16:47
Elihu didn't blindly accuse Job like the three stooges did.
16:49-16:55
Elihu says, "Job, look, my response is based on what you said.
16:57-17:05
"And what you said," this is a paraphrase, "but Job, what you're saying is, look, I'm sinless "and God's out to get me "and he won't tell me what his problem is with me.
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"That's what you said, Job.
17:07-17:10
"That's what I'm going to address." Do you see the difference?
17:13-17:16
That's why when people come to me for counseling, I take a lot of notes.
17:17-17:18
I'm constantly writing things down.
17:18-17:18
Why?
17:20-17:23
Because I don't wanna jump to some wild conclusion.
17:23-17:27
I want to address what they actually say.
17:29-17:33
That's why I wanna sit down with them and say, okay, I need some clarification here.
17:34-17:46
Now, earlier you said this by saying that, did you mean, or earlier you made this statement, can you explain to me exactly what you meant by that statement?
17:46-17:51
You see, I'm not dealing with sins that I'm supposing they might have had.
17:55-17:58
Like Elihu, I need to deal with the sins that I'm witnessing.
17:58-17:59
We're dealing in truth.
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That's what Elihu did.
18:04-18:08
He addressed what Job said.
18:10-18:12
Oh, and by the way, do you know what he said about what Job said?
18:13-18:16
Elihu goes, "Job, you said God is silent.
18:18-18:19
"You're wrong about that.
18:21-18:24
"God does speak." You can read verses 14 through 30.
18:24-18:26
We're not gonna do that right now.
18:27-18:33
But Elihu says, "God does speak." And Job, one of the ways that God speaks is through suffering.
18:37-18:56
Like Job, like Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, In our church, we fall into the same wrong mindset that we think suffering, anytime we suffer, it's either God's punishing us for something or God has abandoned us.
18:59-19:00
And it's not true.
19:01-19:11
And in these verses, you'll see Elihu says, "You know what, Job, sometimes God allows suffering "in your life in order to prevent pride." Ask Paul about that, 2 Corinthians 12.
19:13-19:14
Elihu says, "You know what, Job?
19:15-19:22
"Sometimes God allows suffering "because somehow He uses that to rescue you." He says that in verse 18.
19:24-19:25
But the big picture here is this.
19:25-19:29
Elihu was concerned that God was being misrepresented.
19:30-19:38
All these people saying, "All these things were God." He goes, "No, that's not who God is, "and that's not who He works, "and I'm not gonna sit here and listen "to God being misrepresented.
19:39-19:40
"I'm not listening to that.
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I'm gonna correct that.
19:43-19:54
So I encourage you when you're encountering somebody who is suffering, and they're angry, they're blaming God, take a page from Elihu.
19:57-19:59
Like, what does God say about that?
20:01-20:08
And don't deal with your assumptions about why you think they might be suffering, deal with the facts on how they're responding to it.
20:08-20:12
All right, so how to help sufferers who are in a bad place.
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Number one, you gotta deal in truth.
20:15-20:20
Number two, write this down, address their conduct.
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Address their conduct.
20:27-20:29
That's chapter 34.
20:30-20:32
Address their conduct, what do I mean by that?
20:34-20:35
Don't dismiss their feelings.
20:37-20:38
We've talked about that before.
20:38-20:42
So many times people say to me, well, Pastor Jeff, I feel like this, but I know what's wrong to feel like that.
20:42-20:44
Feelings aren't right or wrong.
20:44-20:45
Feelings are feelings.
20:45-20:47
You can't help how you feel about something.
20:47-20:50
The question is, what are you thinking that's making you feel that way?
20:51-20:52
But feelings aren't right or wrong.
20:52-20:55
So don't dismiss their feelings.
20:56-20:57
Also, don't assume motives.
20:58-21:02
That's, when the Bible says don't judge, that's what it's talking about, by the way.
21:03-21:04
God says don't assume people's motives.
21:06-21:20
What we are called to do, what we are commanded to do, and really the only thing we can do, is address conduct, actions, attitudes, and like Elihu with Job, addressing words.
21:23-21:35
If someone's responding poorly to suffering, if somebody is sinning in the way they're responding to suffering, you need to remind them how God's people act.
21:37-21:40
This is not how God's people act.
21:42-21:44
They're like, well, hang on, Pastor Jeff, hang on.
21:44-21:54
What if the person that I'm trying to help, who is sinfully responding to suffering, what if that person's not a Christian?
21:56-21:58
You're like, what should I tell them then?
22:01-22:03
What should you tell somebody who's not a Christian?
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Any ideas?
22:10-22:12
Yeah, how about that Randy? How to become one?
22:13-22:14
How about share the gospel with them?
22:15-22:22
Because here's the thing, no amount of biblical counsel you give them is going to do any good because the things of God are spiritually discerned.
22:23-22:30
You can't hold non-Christians to a biblical standard because they don't have the knowledge and they don't have the tools to carry it out.
22:30-22:31
They don't have the Holy Spirit.
22:31-22:38
So when somebody comes to me for counseling and they're not a Christian, there's only one thing that I talk to them about.
22:38-22:42
How to come into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
22:43-22:47
And until we get there, I've told people, I'm like, I can't help you until you get there.
22:51-23:02
But if you're dealing with a Christian, you need to lovingly, lovingly point out their sin and lovingly show them that they know better.
23:03-23:05
You're like, well, how do we do that?
23:06-23:07
Well, let's see what Elihu did.
23:07-23:11
Letter A, point out worldly behavior.
23:14-23:15
Point out worldly behavior.
23:16-23:17
Look at verses seven through nine, where are we?
23:17-23:18
Chapter 34.
23:20-23:22
Point out worldly behavior.
23:22-23:31
If you're dealing with a Christian, if you're dealing with somebody that says they know God, but they're not acting like it, Look, you have to lovingly point that out.
23:32-23:33
Look at verses seven through nine.
23:34-23:43
He says, Elihu says, "What man is like Job, "who drinks up scoffing like water, "who travels in company with evildoers "and walks with wicked men?
23:43-23:56
"For he has said, 'It profits a man nothing "'that he should take delight in God.'" Elihu says, "Job, you're making mockery of God your diet.
23:58-24:01
"You are just drinking that up.
24:03-24:29
"You're listening," he says, "Job, you're listening to worldly people "and you're adopting their mindsets." And Elihu here is saying, "Job, you're talking like somebody that doesn't know God." Job is so, the book of Job is so interesting to read Because the first couple chapters, remember the first couple chapters?
24:29-24:33
He suffered worse than just about anybody.
24:39-24:41
And your heart kind of breaks for the guy.
24:42-24:50
But then you get to these long stretches where he talks about God so irreverently.
24:51-24:55
It's just that some of the things he says quite frankly, pretty disgusting.
24:59-25:05
But what I'll allow you here is saying, "Job, hey, hey, hey, you don't get a pass, dude.
25:07-25:17
"Suffering doesn't allow you to be irreverent towards God." So you need to knock that mentality off now.
25:18-25:22
You don't get a pass to be rude towards your God.
25:23-25:28
So point out the worldly behavior, but you've got to do this, letter B, point the way forward.
25:30-25:31
Point the way forward.
25:32-25:39
Yes, when somebody comes to you and they're sinfully responding to self-suffering, yes, the first thing you need to do is listen.
25:40-25:42
Yes, absolutely, you need to care.
25:43-25:46
But you have to lovingly show them the path forward.
25:48-25:53
It's not enough to just identify sinful behavior.
25:55-26:18
You know, if somebody is responding to their suffering in a sinful way and they come to you and you're like, "Hey, you're wrong," and thinking about God like that and talking to God like that, and then you're done, you've only done half your job.
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You have to walk them through what repentance looks like.
26:27-26:28
Okay?
26:30-26:31
And that's exactly what Elihu did.
26:31-26:33
Look at verses 31 and 32.
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He says, "For as anyone said to God, 'I have borne punishment.
26:39-26:41
I will not offend anymore.
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Teach me what I do not see.
26:44-26:54
If I have done iniquity, I will do it no more.'" "verses give you the ingredients for repentance." That's what Elihu did.
26:54-26:58
He goes, "Look, Job, the first thing you need to do "is say, you know, I've sinned.
26:58-27:04
"I have offended a holy God." Has to start there.
27:04-27:08
He goes, "Second, show me my blind spots." That's repentance.
27:09-27:15
"God, show me, please, if I have blind spots, "if I'm sinning and I don't even realize it, "you need to call me out on that.
27:15-27:20
"Show me my blind spots." And the third ingredient of repentance he gives, He goes, "I'll stop.
27:21-27:31
"I'm gonna stop doing the thing that dishonors God." Help them to replace their sin with a godly behavior.
27:31-27:33
That's what repentance looks like scripturally.
27:35-27:38
Pray with them, check in on them, send them a text.
27:38-27:39
How are we doing?
27:39-27:40
Did you think some more about what we talked about?
27:43-27:50
But remind them, look, when we're talking about suffering, We can't change the past.
27:54-28:00
And I so badly wish that I could undo the suffering that some of you have experienced.
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I wish I could do that.
28:03-28:04
I wish I could just take that away from you.
28:04-28:06
I can't do that.
28:11-28:18
There's only one thing that we can do when we suffer, and that's move forward in a Christ-honoring way.
28:19-28:20
It's all we can do.
28:23-28:29
Thirdly, how do you counsel somebody who is sinfully responding to suffering?
28:30-28:30
They're in a bad place.
28:31-28:34
The third thing you need to do is ask about their walk with God.
28:37-28:39
Ask about their walk with God.
28:39-28:41
How's your walk with God right now?
28:45-28:56
You see, Job worshiped God because God is worthy of worship, and Job proved that back when.
28:59-29:04
And you get to this point in Job and you see that his suffering kind of sidelined his walk.
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Look at chapter 35, excuse me.
29:07-29:09
Look at verse 3.
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He says, "Job, you ask, what advantage have I?
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How am I better off than if I had sinned?" Elihu's saying, "Job, you asked, why be good?
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If I'm gonna suffer anyways, if I'm gonna suffer as if I've sinned and God's punishing me, then why bother being good?
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Why bother trying if I'm just gonna suffer anyways?
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Ask him about their walk with God.
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Ask what?
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Well, according to Elihu, here's a good place to start.
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Ask letter A, are you maturely responding to suffering?
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Are you maturely responding to suffering?
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Look at verse five.
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I love these verses.
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He says, "Look at the heavens and sea, "And behold the clouds which are higher than you.
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"If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against him?" Meaning against God.
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He goes, "And if your transgressions are multiplied, "what do you do to him?
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"If you are righteous, what do you give to him?
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"Or what does he receive from your hand?" Do you see what he's saying?
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First of all, let me tell you what he's not saying.
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He's not saying, "Oh, you know what, Job?
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"The way we live doesn't really matter." He's not saying that.
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What he is saying is, "Look, Job, "you get no leverage with God by the way you act.
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"Understand that." What he's saying is, "Your sin is not going to damage God." And the other side of the coin, Job, Your righteousness is not going to put God in your debt.
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Elihu here is calling Job out on his immaturity.
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Basically saying, "Oh, you think you're gonna teach God "a lesson by this attitude, really?" You're like, "Who does that?" Like, a lot of people do that.
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that you're suffering, and somehow in your mind, you think you're gonna teach God a lesson.
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I'll show him, and you're gonna sin.
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All right, fine, God, you're gonna allow me to suffer?
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I'm just gonna start drinking again.
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Oh, okay, God, you're gonna allow me to suffer?
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Well, I'm gonna go back to that lustful relationship I was involved with that I repented from, but I'm just, I'm gonna call her up again If you're just going to allow me to suffer this way, God, your way, your way didn't get me anywhere.
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So I'm going to do things my way.
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I'll show you.
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It's as if as if God is in heaven responding to that crying in a corner.
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Oh, no.
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What am I going to do?
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He's sending.
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Cancel Christmas.
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What am I going to do?
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I can't believe he's sinning.
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You see how immature that is?
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Fine, God, I'm just going to...
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God doesn't need to change.
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You and I need to change.
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Has God disappointed you?
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I'm not going to ask for a show of hands.
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Has God ever disappointed you?
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Well, I need to remind you that He's not a vending machine.
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He is an infinitely wise and loving Father.
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And He's going to see to it that your suffering is ultimately going to be a blessing.
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And if you're mature, you're going to receive it that way.
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That's why Elihu calls out this immature mindset.
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Ask about their walk with God, let her be.
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This is so huge.
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This is so huge.
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Look, if you tuned out at all at any point, tune back in.
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Because concerning your walk with God and your suffering, this hits us all right between the eyes, letter B. Are you crying about God or are you crying to God?
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Look at verse 13.
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He says, "Surely God does not hear an empty cry, nor does the Almighty regard it." You read the context, you get what he's saying.
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If you read the context here, what Elihu was saying is, "Look, Joe, hey, hey, people are suffering everywhere, have you noticed?
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Everybody's suffering with something." The problem is people aren't crying out to God in prayer.
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The problem is people are just crying.
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It's like this.
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Imagine there's this dad, He's got a little eight -year-old son that goes, "Dad, I want a social media account." And dad says, "Son, no.
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"No, you're not getting a social media account." Now, parents, get this.
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It can be a dangerous place for kids.
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There's a lot of predators online.
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And it can be used as a means of trafficking.
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And dad doesn't want to expose his eight-year-old son to this.
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Dad knows he's too young, he's too immature, and he's too vulnerable.
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So no, you're not having a social media account, son.
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So what does the eight-year-old do?
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He goes to his friends.
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Dad won't let me have a social media account.
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I don't understand why.
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Dad won't let me have a social media account.
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I'm so mad at my dad.
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I want this social...
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I say social media, what are we talking about here?
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What's the popular one now?
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What's the popular social media account?
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I'm so proud of you for not knowing.
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Facebook, TikToks or whatever, and your Instagrammas or whatever it's called.
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But the kid's like with his friends, and he's like, "Dad, Dad's so mean.
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"Dad won't let me have a TikTok account.
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"I can't believe it, I'm so mad.
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I just, I don't know why dad's doing this to me.
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My dad's so mean.
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That was Job.
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Do you think, like, you could grab that kid for a second and hey, did you talk to your dad about why?
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At any point in your bellyaching to your friends, did you ever think to go to your dad and say, dad, you don't want me to have a social media account, will you tell me why?
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You don't think the dad would sit down and say, "Son, let me explain some things to you.
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"There are a lot of really dangerous people out there, "and I love you so much, "and it's my job to protect you right now." So the answer's no.
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Someday later, yes, but right now you're too young.
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You don't think dad would have explained that?
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But the kid never went to dad asking because the kid was too busy bellyaching.
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And church, we are just like that.
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We are just like that.
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Have you tried, sufferer, with whatever you're suffering with, have you tried really asking God about it?
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Or have you just been complaining to your friends about it?
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Whatever suffering you're going through right now, I just want to ask you, who have you been talking to about it?
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Honestly, have you spent more time talking to God about it, or have you spent more time complaining to people about it?
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Which one?
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That's what Elihu's pointing out here.
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Do you think maybe you'd get some answers if you said, "You know what?
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I'm not talking to anybody about this but God, and I'm going to enter a season of fasting and prayer and intentionally going after God and His Word.
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I'm gonna enter a season where I'm seeking nothing but God's face and asking Him why I'm enduring this and seeking comfort to endure this.
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Do you think maybe you'd be in a better place spiritually if you did that?
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I think so.
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And finally, number four.
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How do I, what's the heading on the outline?
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I can't even remember.
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I think I wrote the thing.
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Oh, okay, how to help sufferers rid of bad plays.
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It's been a long 49 years.
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How to help sufferers rid of bad plays.
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Number four, leave room for mystery.
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Leave room for mystery.
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This is something else that Elihu was so great about.
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This is in chapters 36 and 37.
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Two things here.
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Letter A, we must be okay with not knowing everything.
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Look at verse two.
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Elihu says, "Bear with me a little while "and I will show you." This is chapter 36, verse two.
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Did I say that?
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Bear with me a little, and I will show you.
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I have yet something to say on God's behalf.
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You're like, well, what is it that he wants to say on God's behalf?
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Well, look down at verse 26.
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It's a theme, it's a theme.
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Look at verse 26, he says, "Behold, God is great, "and we know him not.
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"The number of his years is unsearchable, It's unsearchable.
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Jump to chapter 37, verse five.
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There's a theme.
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God thunders wondrously with his voice.
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He does great things that we cannot comprehend.
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There's a theme, look down at chapter 37, verse 23.
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The Almighty, we cannot find him.
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He is great in power, justice, and abundant righteousness.
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He will not violate.
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Do you see what he's saying over and over?
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He keeps going back to this.
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goes, "Hey, hey Job, God is way bigger "than we can understand." And here's the truth, my friends.
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Even if, even if God did explain everything to you, you wouldn't be able to process it.
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You know what I mean?
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It's sort of like friends I have in the church that do something computer for a living.
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You know, those of you guys that your job has something to do with computers.
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I'm just gonna be honest with you.
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I'll publicly confess this now.
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Even when you explain to me what you do, I have no idea what you do.
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It's happened to me so many times.
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I'm like, hey, tell me what your work day looks like.
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And one of these computer guys is telling me, and she's like, whew.
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I'm like, wow, I went to Bible college because I only had to buy one book.
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Like that thing that you got going on, I have no idea what you're saying, was like what do you do?
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And then they tell me, I'm like, I'm sorry, was that English?
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Like what does that even mean?
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And you know God's like that.
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Even if God could explain to you "Everything that's going on, "why he's allowing this suffering in your life." I'm not sure that we'd be able to process that.
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I can't explain why God is allowing you to suffer right now any more than my dog could explain why we go to the vet.
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But I get the same advice for you as I do for the dog.
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Just be okay with not knowing everything, all right?
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How about you trust the one in charge, who loves you and promised to take care of you?
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We must be okay with not knowing everything.
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One more.
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Letter B, we must act on what we do know.
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Leave room for mystery, yes, but, but, but, we must act on what we do know.
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Look at chapter 36, verse five, he says, Behold, God is mighty and does not despise any.
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He is mighty in strength of understanding.
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Jump down to verse 10.
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He opens their ears to instruction and commands that they return from iniquity.
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A lot of you here is saying, here's some things we do know, Job.
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God is powerful.
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He loves you.
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He knows everything.
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He wants to teach you some things and he wants you to turn from your sin.
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Do you understand that?
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"Yeah, yeah, we understand that.
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"Okay, well that means I can act on that." In chapter 36, we're not gonna read these verses, but chapter 36, verses 29 through 33, Elihu talks about a thunderstorm.
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And he says, "Thunderstorms bring destruction "and they bring blessing at the same time." And you think about it, if you've ever sat and watch the storm, it looks out of control, doesn't it?
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The wind, the lightning, the heavy rain, it looks like everything's out of control.
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But it's that storm that brings growth.
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So let me ask you, is it possible that something can look out of control, but still accomplish a purpose?
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Remember way back in chapter one when Job lost his wealth, when Job lost his children, we saw that Job responded to that by saying, "God doesn't do anything empty." Job said, "God has a purpose for everything." Is it possible that God knows something you don't?
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And the suffering that He is allowing into your life right now is to accomplish a purpose that couldn't be accomplished any other way.
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Is that possible?
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Once again, we have to think of the chaos of the cross, don't we?
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See, that's an advantage we have.
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The Job, the three stooges, and Elihu, they didn't have this.
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But we live on the other side of history, of the cross of Jesus Christ.
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That's the ultimate example of something that looked like chaos that had a mighty purpose.
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Here's the sinless, perfect Son of God who was just teaching people about righteousness, about heaven, about how to sincerely follow the Lord.
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And they trumped up a bunch of bogus charges so that they could publicly humiliate him and beat him and execute him.
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And the disciples, they scattered, all of them, but John, they scattered.
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And I imagine if we were standing at the foot of the cross on that day Christ was crucified, we would be so tempted to think, this is such an out of control mess.
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How could God possibly allow this to happen?
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But once again, we have to land here, my friends, just because I don't understand right this moment what God's doing, doesn't mean that God is unjust.
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I'd like you to bow your heads as the worship team makes their way back forward.
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And we're going to worship.
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Bow your heads.
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You're going to be encountering somebody probably today, if not sometime in the next couple of days that is experiencing suffering and they are in a bad place.
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Pastor Taylor showed us last week, there's a lot of ungodly ways that we could handle that.
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But Elihu in these chapters shows us there is a way that you can exalt Jesus Christ in a way that you counsel people.
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The Father in heaven, I wanna pray for those right now.
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who are going to have audience with somebody who is suffering.
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And I thank you God.
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Elihu's counsel wasn't perfect.
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There ever only was one perfect person on this planet.
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That was you in the flesh.
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But Elihu really does teach us a lot of amazing principles that we need to get back to.
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if we're going to exalt you in the way that we encourage others.
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So Father, we thank you that you are powerful.
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Father, we thank you that your ways are unsearchable.
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And I pray, Father, you would give us hearts of faith that are able to hold onto that when nothing else makes sense.
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We pray in Jesus' name, amen.
Small Group Discussion
Covering Job 32-37
What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
Read Job 32:1-5. Why was Elihu so angry? What was the root cause of his anger?
Read Job 32:21-22. How do people show partiality and use flattery when they counsel? Why did Elihu refuse to do this?
Read Job 34:7-9. How can you point out someone’s sinful behavior in a straightforward, but tactful, way?
Read Job 36:26, 37:5, and 37:23. How would you communicate the truth that “we can’t understand everything God is doing” in an effective way to someone who is hurting?
Breakout
Pray for one another.