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Job 15 verse 1, the Bible reads, then answered Eliphaz the Temanite and said, Should a wise man utter vain knowledge and fill his belly with the east wind? Now it's been a few weeks since we've heard from one of Job's three friends. The great thing about the book of Job is that as you get deeper into the book of Job, Job's friends talk less and less, and it's more of Job talking, because of course we know that what Job's friends have said in the book of Job is not right. Go quickly to chapter 42, I just want to remind you of that. Because of the fact that we haven't heard from his friends in a while. This is Eliphaz the Temanite's second time speaking. We heard from Eliphaz, then we heard from Bildad and Zophar. Now we're back to Eliphaz, this is his second time speaking. Let me just point this out to you in Job 42 verse 8, the Bible reads, Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up yourselves a burnt offering, and my servant Job shall pray for you. For him will I accept, lest I deal with you after your folly, in that ye have not spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job. So Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite went and did according as the Lord commanded them. The Lord also accepted Job, and the Lord turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends. So the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. So back to chapter 15, I just wanted to point that out to you again that God specifically states at the end of the book that Job's three friends have not spoken that which was right concerning the Lord. They did not tell the truth, what they said was wrong, and then God also says in that verse that what Job spoke was correct. Now in light of the fact that God says at the end of the book that everything that Job said about him was correct, and in light of the fact that Job is a prophet who is speaking as he's being moved by the Holy Ghost, it's not just man's word. The book of Job is in the Bible for a reason, it's God's word, and the Bible tells us that the scripture came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Job is called a prophet also in James chapter 5. He's referred to as one of the prophets that spoke God's word in the Old Testament. Now in light of that, look at verses 1 and 2 there in chapter 15. Then answered to life as the Temanite and said, should a wise man utter vain knowledge and fill his belly with the east wind. And what is he saying there, fill his belly with the east wind? Basically he's saying that he's got a lot of hot air. You know, you're full of hot air, you know, translation into modern day vernacular. He's saying that about God's word. What Job is saying is the truth. What Job is saying is right and it's God's word. And this says a lot about what type of people Job's three friends are. The Bible says, he that is of God heareth God's words, ye therefore hear them not because you're not of God. Now flip, keep your finger in Job there and flip over to 1 John chapter 4. And of course whenever Job's friends are piping up, they're pretty much insulting him in every chapter and most notably they're insulting what he's saying and he's speaking God's word, he's speaking the truth and yet they can't recognize that. They don't see the wisdom in his words. In fact, Job's words are foolishness unto his friends. They think it's foolish. They're saying, it's a bunch of hot air, it's vain words, it's foolishness. Look what the Bible says in 1 John chapter 4 verse 4. It says, year of God little children and have overcome them because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. They are of the world, therefore speak they of the world and the world heareth them. We're in chapter 4 verse 6. We are of God. He that knoweth God heareth us. He that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. And what is God saying there is the test for us to know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. He's saying when we speak God's word and people don't hear it, they don't understand it, they don't comprehend it, that tells you that these people are not of God. And the Bible tells us that he that is of God heareth us. He that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. And when you find a person where you just keep showing them things in the Bible, and you keep speaking to them truth out of the Bible, and they don't understand it, it's going over their head, or they're just rejecting it, just saying no that's not true. But look it says it right here in the Bible, oh that's not true. I understand that there are some issues that are controversial. There are some issues where there's a doubtful interpretation maybe. But there are so many things that are crystal clear in the Bible you can show to people and they just reject it, even though it's just crystal clear. And then you show them something else and then they reject that. And then you show them something else and they don't want to hear that. And when you see the truths of God's word just going over someone's head, one after the other, that's a pretty good sign that that person's not saved. That person's not of God. Because the Bible says, he that is of God heareth God's words, ye therefore hear them not, because you're not of God. And the Bible says, but the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for their foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. And the Bible talks about when unbelieving Jews read the Old Testament in their synagogue every week when they hear readings from the Old Testament, the Bible says that there's a veil over their eyes and they are unable to understand or comprehend the words. That's why these Jewish synagogues all over the city are preaching nothing but lies every week and the rabbis understand nothing of the truth of the Old Testament, because of that veil. But it says when they turn to Christ, the veil is removed, the veil is lifted, then they understand. That's why it's so foolish today for people to think that if we're really going to get a good understanding of the Bible, we need to go to the Jews and have them teach us the proper Hebrew interpretations and they're going to tell us about the Jewish customs. Well what do Jewish people believe about that verse? You know you'll show somebody an Old Testament verse about drinking. You know the one that says, look not on the wine when it's red, when it giveth its color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright, when it says thine eyes shall behold strange women and thy mouth shall utter perverse things. Okay, but what do the Jews, what do the Hebrews believe about drinking? How do they interpret that? Because after all, they're the Jews, yeah they're the Jews thousands of years later. You know, that speak modern Hebrew, which is an invention of the 19th century, a language that was invented in the 1800s because Hebrew, the biblical Hebrew became a dead language for centuries. And then it was reinvented in the 1800s and now it's the native tongue of people who live in Israel and so forth. So they don't know any more about the Bible than we do just because they're Jews, just because they speak modern Hebrew. That doesn't mean that they understand the words of Proverbs written thousands of years ago. That doesn't mean they're an expert on the Mosaic law and the Torah. In fact I can tell you right now that they for sure don't understand it because they are not saved and they have that veil because they haven't turned to Christ. That's why it's so dangerous, any doctrine that comes from, well the Jewish wedding custom goes like this, or well, you know the way that the Jews understand this verse, you know they think alcohol is fine, or they think this, they think that. I don't care what they think. When they confess the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, then I'll start caring what they think. And until then, they are not saved and God's wrath is abiding on them and they have the veil over their eyes whenever they look at what the scripture teaches and says. The test of salvation, according to the Bible, is one that heareth God's word. Now where does the Bible say the test of salvation is somebody who's living right? He that liveth right is of God. Now look, I understand that when a person gets saved there's a new creature, the new man, also known as the inward man, also known as the spiritual man, but the flesh still remains. And so now there's a battle. The Bible says the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary, the one to the other, so that you cannot do the things that you would. So the person who is saved has two natures, the old sinful nature of the flesh and the new nature of the new creature, the inward man, and these two war against one another. And people will often look at someone who's living a sinful life and say, well that person's for sure not saved because they're living a sinful life. And here's what they'll say, well if any man be in Christ he's a new creature, behold old things are passed away, behold all things are become new. Well let me ask this, does all things are become new mean all or some? All means all, right? So if that verse were just about lifestyle, then that would mean people would have to be sinlessly perfect after they got saved, because all things have become new. Well, but there's got to be some change, oh so some things have become new. I mean that's the way this verse would read in most people's minds. If any man be in Christ, he's a new creature, something better be new. You know, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature, some things will be new. That's not what it says, it says all things are become new, because God does not reform the old man. He creates a brand new creature when we believe on Christ. And that new creature, the Bible says, is without sin. The Bible says, whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he's born of God. Look, the reason that we sin today is because we walk in the flesh. And the Bible says that if we walk in the spirit, will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. But if we walk in the flesh, we're going to commit the same works that we committed before we were saved. That's why we need to put on the new man, put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Look, if you wake up in the morning and you don't read your Bible, you don't pray, you're not singing praises to God, you're in the flesh. And you go through your day in the flesh, you're going to commit sin and you're going to live like you did before you were saved, perhaps, because you're not putting on the new man. But that's why it's so important to read your Bible, to pray, to sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, so that you can be filled with the spirit, so that you can put on the new man, so that you can walk in the spirit and not walk in the flesh. But people often look at somebody and just declare them unsaved just because they're not living right. And the problem with that is that you start to teach people work salvation, when you start giving people that mentality of, well that guy's not saved because he does this, and these people aren't saved because he... You know what you're teaching the young people and teaching the unlearned, and what you're teaching people that don't know the Bible very well, that there's works involved with salvation. And guess what? There are no works involved in salvation. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also described the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. I'll tell you what the test is of whether someone's saved or not, it's what they believe. And I'll tell you the other test, it's when they understand the Bible. People who have no understanding of the Bible, you show them verses, well I don't believe that, I don't believe that, well then that's just because you're not saved. Because if you believe on Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit resides within you will hear and know the voice of the shepherd. When we really say of Eliphaz and Bildad and Zophar, and even later in the book Elihu that they heard and recognized the voice of the shepherd, did they hear God's word and understand it? Did they receive and accept God's word? No, that's why when we get to chapter 42, God says to the three friends, don't even bother praying to me. I'm not even going to hear you. He says you need to go to Job, my wrath is kindled against you. My wrath is upon you. Go speak to Job, have him pray for you because I will accept him. Now that tells you where these guys stand with God. And you've got to keep that in perspective when you're reading chapter 15. This is not a righteous preacher that we're listening to. This is a man who God became angry at because of these very words that he spake in chapter 15 and the other chapters where he spake. Some people have a very bizarre interpretation of the book of Job where they think that Elihu, later in the book, is the one who wrote the book of Job. And they say Elihu wrote the book and their evidence for that is that, well, God never said Elihu was wrong, they say. God just got mad at the three friends, he never mentioned Elihu. But here's what's so ridiculous about that. Elihu says the exact same thing that the three friends say. Flip over real quick, let me show you. Go to Job 34, Job chapter 34. And there are whole books and whole commentaries explaining the book of Job, teaching you that you know Elihu is the author of the book of Job and everything Elihu said was right and it's just the three friends that were wrong and so on and so forth. But Elihu says the exact same things as the three friends if people would read it. Because look for example in chapter 34 verse 35 and tell me if Elihu is right in the book here. Elihu is speaking God's word correctly. Job has spoken without knowledge and his words were without wisdom. Now is that consistent with what the Lord said in chapter 42? So how can anyone believe that Elihu wrote this book and that Elihu spake that which is right? Look it's just, you've got to get rid of these commentaries and study guides because a lot of this stuff is just off the deep end. Look at verse 37, for he addeth rebellion unto his sin. Now is this the same guy who said in chapter 1, in all these things Job sinned not? He's adding rebellion to his sin. He's multiplying his word and everything Elihu says reads the same way. It's an attack on Job and it's just like a broken record from what the three friends said. So let's get into chapter 15. I just wanted to drive that in and emphasize that we're listening to a guy that can't even recognize the spirit of God. He can't understand the word of God. He's speaking that which is false concerning the Lord and he accuses Job of being full of hot air basically, you know, filling his belly with the east wind. Look at verse 3 of chapter 15. Should he reason with unprofitable talk or with speeches wherewith he can do no good? Yea, thou castest off fear and restrainest prayer before God. For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty. Thine own mouth condemneth thee and not I. Yea, thy own lips testify against thee. Now so far has he really told us what was wrong with what Job said in the first six verses? He's basically just hurling insults at him, just you're full of hot air, man I don't even have to condemn, you just condemned yourself. I mean everything that you just said just condemned yourself. But has he really given any substance like well here's exactly where you're wrong Job. No he's just hurling a lot of just you're wrong insults and then look what he says in verse 7. Art thou the first man that was born or wast thou made before the hills? So now he's just kind of just insulting Job like well you are just young and look what he says in verse 10. With us, look at verse 10, with us are both the gray headed and very aged men, much elder than thy father. Saying look, you're not the first man that was born, you're not older than hills. With us, the people that agree with us are the gray headed men, much older than thy father. They agree with us, they're on our side. So again these are the typical kind of talking points that you'll hear from people that are in opposition to God's Word. These are the type of things that they'll say. They'll turn things into a personal attack. You know instead of just, you show them scripture and then instead of dealing with the scripture that you're showing it just becomes well but you're this. And then you show them scripture and then they'll say like you know how old are you? Now I get this a lot because I'm a young preacher. But it doesn't matter how old you get. I mean Job was no kid. Job has 10 children. So he must have been of some age. You know I used to get this even more when I was younger but you'll get this when even when you're in your 30s and 40s. You know you'll get people who just basically you prove them wrong from the Bible. You show them what the truth is so then they just pull that out. Well how old are you? Yeah. Well before you were born, you know I was in Bible college and I was in seminary before you were born so you know once you get a little older you'll understand you know. And these type of arguments and you know especially if you're a child or a teenager you're going to hear a lot of those type of arguments where people just basically act as if you have no knowledge, you have no ability to reason or to rationalize because you're just so young and with us are the gray headed men much elder than thy father. Now you know look around our church and you won't really see a lot of gray headed men in our church, honestly. And you know look around on Sunday morning and there aren't a lot of gray headed men and you say well that just proves that you know Pastor Anderson is not preaching the truth because if Pastor Anderson preached the truth we'd have an auditorium filled with gray headed men that would all be nodding in approval. But you know what the reality is today that unfortunately our older generation has become for the most part completely apostate. They've completely forsaken the ways of the Lord and in fact that older generation unfortunately is part of the reason why our nation is in such a mess now that they're in charge and running things. The hippie generation, the baby boomer generation, you know has taken the helm of our nation and they've taken the helm of the churches and colleges in our country. And honestly, when someone who's older is right, you know it's a blessing to learn from them and to sit at their feet and gain wisdom and knowledge that only experience can give and that only time can give. But there's no fool like an old fool and today in Arizona we have an elderly population that is comprised mostly of complete fools and it's sad. It's a sad thing. And the Bible says that the hoary head is a crown of glory if it be found in the way of righteousness. And we should always be respectful toward those that are older and we should rise up before the hoary head. The hoary head, some of you that are losing your hair would be in trouble. But you know, some of you have the hoary head but it's not as hairy as it used to be. But you know, we're supposed to rise up before the hoary head but listen to me today. When we have an elderly population today that just rejects the old paths, rejects the King James version, rejects the hymns of the faith and brings in all the worldliness and rock and roll, and they elect politicians that are just going to pay for their drugs, that's their main thing, who's going to buy my drugs? You know, that's why I'm an elect. It doesn't matter if he's a communist, if he's a homosexual, if he was born in another country, none of that even matters. Who's going to provide my drugs for me? Then we live in a generation where we can't just look at the elderly for advice because a lot of times they're fools, unfortunately. Now I thank God for godly elderly men and they're few and far between. We need to show them respect and love them and listen to them. But unfortunately we can't just say, well, if the older generation says it, let's just go what they say. I mean, I was just out soul winning an hour ago and had an elderly old man who's going to New Life Community Church tell me that the King James Bible is filled with mistakes and how the Texas Receptus is not the best manuscript. And you know, the other manuscript, I said, oh, can you name one of the better, can you name one better manuscript? Oh, well, codexes, you know, just trying to just throw out a fancy sounding word. And the man knew nothing about the text. And the man just has rejected the King James version, goes to a rock and roll type church, worldly church, and he scoffed at brother Quinn as Quinn tries to give him the gospel, scoffed at it like, I've been reading the Bible so long. I mean, this is like less than an hour ago. I mean, he looks at a youth like Quinn and says, you know, Quinn's like, hey, can I show you how you can know for sure, if you die you go to heaven? I already know all that. And Quinn asks him, you know, do you believe that a person can lose their salvation? I don't know. That's a good question. Can I show you what the Bible says? Oh, I already know all that. And then it's like, oh, well, you know, the King James version, oh, oh. Because he's going to some watered down liberal NIV, and look, it's weird. It's bizarre. Wouldn't you expect the elderly generation to be the ones that are like King James, you know, let's sing on Christ the solid rock I stand, blessed assurance, Jesus mine, rock of ages, cleft for me, amazing grace, how sweet the sound. They go to these liberal fun centers. They accept homosexuality, it's just, what in the world? And then young people are rising up and saying, give me that old time religion. It doesn't make any sense, but that's the world that we live in. It's a topsy-turvy world that we live in today. So we want to be careful that we don't do this to young people. You know, I mean, obviously yes, people as they get older should get more knowledge and get more wisdom. And obviously when we do find a godly, righteous older person, they can probably give us a lot of wisdom and a lot of teaching that we should profit from. But we need to be careful that whatever age we are, we don't look at somebody who's younger than us and say, well, you know, you're wrong because I'm older. Now, you're wrong because I'm dad is a good, that works, you know, or you're wrong because I'm mom, that works, because that's authority that's given by God, you know. But to sit there and say, well, you know, you don't know anything about the Bible, you're 15, you know, you're 17, you're 20, you don't know anything. But you know what I used to always say to people when they would say that to me when I was a teenager? I would always say to them, well, this book's older than both of us. You know, I'd be out soul winning as a teenager and I've got the truth, they're not saved, and they say, well, you're just a child. You know, I'd say, well, you know what, this book is older than both of us. It's not about what I think, it's about what this book says. And by the way, my grandfather was one to Christ because of the efforts of a five-year-old boy. A five-year-old boy gave my grandfather the Gospel, and he didn't get saved right then and there, but he was so impressed by this kid who came to him and quoted him the Romans wrote and gave him the Gospel at age five, he was so impressed by that that he said, where do you go to church, and he visited the church and the pastor came to his house a few days later and warned the Lord. So God can use a five-year-old boy. You know, God can use, the Bible says, let no man despise thy youth. See what I'm saying? But be thou an example of the believers in word and conversation and charity and purity, faith, spirit, I don't know, I got that a little mixed up, but when you stand up here, sometimes you mess up verses. But the Bible tells us that we should not look down on people for being young. And look, if a young person speaks the truth from God's word, we need to just receive it from whatever source it comes. If it's the truth, if it's God's word. But those that reject the truth will often play the age card. And here's the thing, they don't even have to be old to play this card. Because notice what they say in verse 10, with us are the gray-headed. Like you don't even have to be the gray-headed, just well, Dr. Bob Jones Sr. used to say, well, you know, Dr. Lee Roberson, you know, Dr. Jack Hyles, Dr. John R. Wright, you know. And just basically just appealing unto gray heads in order to prove what is the truth. And what we ought to be appealing to is God's word. You know, what does the Bible say? And I've constantly run into this, where I'll show somebody the truth from the Bible, plain and simple, and here's what they'll say to me. Are you telling me that all these old-time preachers are wrong? I mean, you know, are you telling me all these old guys, all these great heroes, are you telling me they're all wrong? Look, if they're wrong, they're wrong. If the Bible says it, they're wrong. You know, I mean, we just have to get to the place where the Bible's our final authority. But when people don't have a lot of substance to their argument, they don't have a lot of scripture to back up what they believe. And look, that's how these three friends of Job are, because every chapter where they speak, it's like a broken record. You know, and I go to prepare my sermon for chapter 15, and it's like, wait a minute, weren't we, didn't we do this back in chapter 5? I mean, can you please bring something new to the table so I can have something to preach about? And they just keep saying the same things over and over. So his argument's a little lean by the time we get to chapter 15. He's running out of material. So that's why he has to spend like the first, you know, nine verses just attacking Job. And then he has to start talking about how, you know, all the old timers, they're all, they're all on our side. They all agree with us. You know, we all agree, it's just you that's wrong, even though he's got the Word of God on his side. We're going to find ourselves in that position sometimes. We need to understand that first of all, if we have the Word of God on our side, we don't let people spin us around with these type of arguments of, well, these, all these famous preachers agree with us, all these old guys agree with us, all the colleges and seminaries agree with us, therefore we're right. And look, it's the same thing that atheists will use about evolution. All the scientists agree with us. All the major universities agree with us. You know, all these people agree with us. You creationists, you know, you're the only ones that believe this and it's just because you're not educated. But look, the Word of God trumps all that. All these colleges and scholars and so-called scientists. We need to get to the place where the Word of God's our authority. Don't let anyone shake you from what you believe that you read in the Bible. You know, and I don't care how old you, I don't care if you're 3 or 93, if you read the Bible and you see what the Bible says, that is the end of the story. And the only way anybody should ever shake you from that is if they can show you something else in the Bible that will, you know, interpret that verse differently. If they can say, well no, because you need to look at that verse in light of this verse. But if it's anything other than that, don't let them shake you with commentaries and study guides and this old timer and this person over here, this expert over here and this Jewish rabbi and this Hebrew scholar. Look, the Bible's got to be our final authority. And then on the other side of that coin, we should be sure that we never use this type of argumentation. You know, someone comes to us and then we tell them, how old are you? Talk down to people. We shouldn't talk down to people and despise their youth. You know, we should talk to people with respect regardless of their age and if they're young and inexperienced and they show us something from the Bible, you know, if what they're saying is incorrect, we should just kindly show them in the Bible why it's incorrect. Not just say, well you're just a kid, you know, you're just young. Get away from me. You bother me. You know, you bother me. We need to take the time to show them why they're wrong from the Bible if they're in error and not to just say, well you're young. Just shut up and do what I tell you to believe. By the way, it's good for young people to understand why they should believe the things that they believe. A lot of young people grow up believing the right things, but they don't know why. They don't know where it derives from in scripture. And then what happens is later someone comes along and says, well, why do you do that? Why do you believe that? Why not do this? And they're like, huh, yeah, why do I do that, you know? I mean a lot of young people probably grow up saying, oh, I don't drink. We don't drink. But then they might grow up and somebody will say, yeah, you know, Jesus turned the water into wine, you know, a little wine for thy stomach's sake. I mean somebody should open up a bar and just call it like stomach's sake, pub and grill, you know, because we know that's why everybody drinks, you know, is for their stomach's sake. You know what I mean? I mean I don't understand why they don't incorporate this into beer commercials. You know, just show all these testimonials of all the people whose stomachs have been healed by drinking alcohol. You know, I mean that's what's going to motivate you to drink. I didn't start drinking until I realized how good it was for my stomach. And you know what the proof is that it's good for your stomach, your stomach gets bigger. Right? Because, you know, the beer belly, see, you drink it for your stomach's sake, your belly gets bigger. No, because actually what he's telling him to drink, he's telling him to mingle juice with his water, because the Bible used the word wine instead of juice, and that's proven by the fact that in Isaiah chapter 65 verse 3 I believe it is, it talks about wine being in the cluster of a grape. That's not an alcoholic beverage, otherwise you'd be carted when you buy produce. You know, and the Bible says that it's wine in the grape. That proves that it's not just only referring to an alcoholic beverage. And wine in the Bible is a word that can mean either or. It can either just mean a fruit juice or a fermented beverage. You say, how do you know? You know, you read the context. That's why it says look not on the wine when it's red, meaning there's one wine that's good to look at and one that you don't look at, okay? But when young people grow up and they don't understand why we believe what we believe, they will be shaken later. On all kinds of, that's just one, they'll be shaken on all kinds of issues. All kinds of doctrines. Their faith will be shaken when they don't understand why. So we should not only teach our children the what of God's word, we should teach them the why. And take them to scripture and show them, look, this is what the Bible says. This is why we do this. This is why we believe what we believe. This is the source of everything that we believe. Now when you teach a lot of false doctrine, you're afraid to point people to the source. Like the Roman Catholic Church, you know, let's keep it in another language. Let's keep people illiterate. Let's not tell them what it says. But when you have the truth, like we have the truth, you encourage people to read the Bible. You encourage people to read it for themselves. You're comfortable saying, son, daughter, read this. Learn it. You'll see that what we're teaching you is right and it lines up with this. And so these are the type of arguments that people will use when they don't have the truth on their side. A lot of personal attacks, trying to make it about you instead of making it about the word of God. People will start appealing unto other authorities. Look at verse 11. So now he changes gears in verse 11. Are the consolations of God small with thee? Is there any secret thing with thee? Why doth thine heart carry thee away? And what are thy eyes? Look, they don't even have any sin to accuse them of. So it's just like, what secret thing are you into? What kind of secret stuff have you got going on? You know, somebody literally, I just preached a sermon a few weeks ago about divorce and someone emailed me and said, you know, I'll bet you've got some secret sins that you're, and that's why you preach this way. I've got a pretty strong feeling that you've got some secret sin in your life that you're hiding. And then he just put like a smiley face and I'm like, what in the world? But you know what? We live in a day and the Bible told us that in the last days that men would be false accusers, right? I mean, he said, this know also that in the last days perilous times shall come for men shall be lovers of their own selves, proud, good night, I can't quote the Bible tonight. Men should be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, traitors, false accusers is on that list, okay? And it's in 2 Timothy 3. I don't know why I'm mixing that up, I've quoted that a million times, but false accusers. He said in the last days there'll be false accusers and Romans 1, when it's talking about the worst reprobate kind of people, one of the sins that characterize them as false accusers and yet today it seems like people are just really quick to just make a false accusation. Well, you're hiding secret sin because you preached against divorce. You know, you got some secret sin in your life. Okay, you know, I know I got married when I was 19, but I was secretly divorced before that. I mean, what do they think? What do they think is this big sin that I'm hiding? But you know, you've got a secret sin in your life, I suspect, and look, what are they doing in the book of Job if they're not being a false accuser? The whole crux of their argument is, look Job, if you were living right, God would be blessing you because things are going wrong for you, that's proof that you've sinned. So what sin are you hiding, Job? You know, what is it that's in your life that we don't know about because we know you must be wicked because if you were righteous, they say, things would be going good. You know, the prosperity preaching. You know, it sometimes reminds me of what we see in the book of Acts when Paul is arrested and they're going to examine him by scourging to see what he did wrong. I mean, they don't even know what he did wrong, but they just arrest him and they're going to beat him, like, tell us what you did. They don't even know why he's arrested in the book of Acts. And today, sometimes police have this mentality where they'll pull you over and, you know, it's like, well, what do you suspect me of? You know, well, you're just acting suspicious. It's like, okay, well, you know, what do you suspect? Well, I don't know, but something, some criminal activity, you know. It's like, well, what's the probable cause? You know, what do you think? But look, it's false accusers is what we see in the last days. We need to be careful that we don't just make railing accusations. And in fact, this is one of the things that will get you kicked out of the local church according to 1 Corinthians 5. Because in 1 Corinthians 5, he says, now I've written unto you not to keep company if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, covetous, idolater, railer, drunkard, or extortioner with such and one know not to eat. And he said, for what have I to do to judge them also that are without? Do not ye judge them that are within, but then that are without? God judge it, wherefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person. He says if a Christian is a drunk or a fornicator, but then he also puts in a railer. He says put that wicked person away from amongst you. And they cast that young man out of the church in 1 Corinthians 5, but then he got back right with God, and then he was brought back into fellowship. But you say, what's a railer? A railer, every time the word railing is used in the Bible, you know, it's when they're making railing accusations. It's somebody who lies and bears false witness against their neighbor. And just accuses people of doing it. And we've, I mean, we've seen it before. In our church we had someone that was doing this, trying to create strife and lying about people and gossiping and so forth, and had to deal with it. And so this is something that we need to be careful of. You know, when there's real sin, when there's real wickedness going on, it needs to be called out, it needs to be dealt with. But we need to be careful that we don't just repeat things that we hear about people. Or just attack people and just guess that they're doing wrong, and just make railing accusations that are not based on facts. People should be innocent until proven guilty. We should look at it as, okay, in the mouth of two or three witnesses all receive an accusation. But not our knee-jerk reaction to just believe and repeat every accusation we hear. Because a lot of good people are falsely accused. Now if we get multiple accusations, two or three witnesses, then that should be looked at for sure. But we need to be careful not to be in the category of being a false accuser. Or to be like Job's friends where we see bad things happen to people and just assume that they're in sin. So that's what he asks. He says, well, you know, is there a secret thing with thee, Job? Verse 12, why doth thine heart carry thee away, and what do thy eyes wink at? He's saying, you know, what have you been looking at? What have you been thinking about in your heart? You know, implying that he has some kind of wickedness in his thought life. And later on in the book of Job, Job is going to respond to this and say, I made a covenant with mine eyes. How then should I think upon a maid? And he says, look, I have not lusted after women in my heart. He brings that up later in the passage because they're acting like, well, if he doesn't have any sin that we can see, it must be in his heart. He must have some ungodliness down there that we don't know about. Look at verse 13, that thou turnest thy spirit against God, and let us such words go out of thy mouth. What is man that he should be clean? And he which is born of a woman that he should be righteous. Behold he putteth no trust in his saints, yea the heavens are not clean in his sight. How much more abominable and filthy is man which drinketh iniquity like water? Now let's stop and analyze that for a second. Is man abominable and filthy in the sight of God? Not when he's saved. Now is the unsaved man abominable and filthy? Well the Bible does say in Psalm 14, the fool that said in his heart there is no God, and it says they are corrupt, they've done abominable works, there's none that doeth good. The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy, there is none that doeth good, no not one. And that's quoted in Romans chapter 3 when it says there's none righteous, no not one. He says they're all gone out of the way, they're all together become unprofitable, there's none that doeth good, no not one. But then it says being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. My question to you is, are we as children of God, as born again, saved saints of God, are we considered abominable and filthy in God's sight? No, of course not. And so this is not correct to say that well all men are abominable and filthy. No they're not. Now unsaved man goes into this kind of sin and abomination and is looked upon as filthy in the eyes of God. The Bible says our righteousness is as filthy rags. You know if we're unsaved and we're trying to present our works and our righteousness unto God, he says it's as a filthy rag. But once we get saved and we're adopted as children of God, I don't think that we should think of ourselves going forward as just scum and filth and abomination. I mean we're children of God, we're regenerated. We are a new creature in Christ. And so I've heard a lot of people say, you know, we're just scum, we're just dirt, we're just filth, we're just wretched in the eye. I mean I can see that when you're unsaved, but when you're saved you shouldn't have that view of yourself. You should view yourself as a child of the king. And I'm not saying to be prideful or puffed up, but at the same time we need to recognize who we are in Christ. That we are God's children, that we are joint heirs with Christ, that we are ambassadors and kings and priests. I mean it's not pride to be, to basically glory in the fact that we're his children and glory in the fact that he saved us and glory in the fact that we're ambassadors of him and glory in the fact that we are saints because he gets all the glory because it's not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing the Holy Ghost. So it's not pride to say I'm a child of God, I'm clean in the eyes of God. I mean Jesus said to his disciples, you're all clean, except the son of perdition, Judas Iscariot, he said that they were all clean. So this whole idea that we as saints, that God puts no trust in his saints and that we're all abominable and filthy, I would not be comfortable saying that about God's people, about the children of God. I don't think that we are abominable and filthy. We are clean through the word which God spoke unto us. The Bible says in verse 17, I will show thee, hear me and that which I have seen I will declare, which wise men have told from their fathers and have not hid it, unto whom alone the earth was given and no stranger passed among them. The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor. Look at verse 20, the wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, is that really true? That all wicked people endure a lot of pain in their life? The Bible says in Psalm 73 that it's the wicked that prosper in this world. So does every wicked person just endure pain and suffering all the day long? No way. A lot of people who are not saved prosper in ungodliness and wickedness. Now they're going to be punished when they go to hell. We should never envy them because their latter end is death and destruction and eternal perdition in the lake of fire. But to say that sometimes they're not doing well in the short term would be a lie. Now those that are saved cannot prosper living in sin because the Bible says, whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. So those of us that are saved, if we go out and live in sin, we're going to fail, we're going to suffer, we're going to be punished. But those that are not saved, man, they prosper all the day long. And so this teaching that the wicked man travails with pain all his days is not legitimate. The number of years is hidden to the oppressor. A dreadful sound is in his ears and prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him. He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness and he is waited for of the sword. He wandereth abroad for bread saying, where is it? He knoweth that the day of darkness is ready to end. Now does that describe most wicked and unsaved people that you know? Where's my next meal going to come from? I'm just so terrified of death and hell and destruction. Look, a lot of unsaved people are wealthy, they're eating, they're drinking, they're being married. I mean, we can all think of unsaved people we know that have no respect for the Lord or his word, that are prospering, that are eating great food right now, that are going to bed with a big smile on their face. But that doesn't change the fact that they're going to go to hell, that they're not saved. That's the truth. This is not the truth. This is just totally losing sight of heaven and hell and just teaching that everything comes to you in this life. And it's not the case. Verse 24, trouble and anguish shall make him afraid. They shall prevail against him as a king ready to battle, to the battle. For he stretcheth out his hand against God and strengtheneth himself against the almighty. He runneth upon him, even on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers. He covered his face with fatness and maketh colops of fat on his flanks. Basically, what is it saying about the wicked? He's so greedy, he just makes himself fat as he just gluttonously and greedily just feasts upon all the good things of life. It's like a minute ago, you just said he can't even find bread. I mean, can anybody figure this out? You know, a minute ago, he's saying, you know, oh man, he's wandering about looking for bread in verse 23. How did he get so fat then if he can't even find bread? Three verses later, he's got colops of fat upon his flesh. A minute ago, he didn't even have bread to eat. But again, this is not what God's saying. This is what somebody who's in opposition to God's word says. You know, just whatever argument works, just try to, oh, that's not working, I'll just switch to something else. That's another thing. When people are sometimes arguing against the truths of God's word, it's like they can't stay focused on one tack, on one thing, it can't stay focused on one. You know, you'll show them something and be like, here's what the Bible says, right? And it's like, well, what about over there? What about this? You know, why do we have to go somewhere else? What about what we're looking at? Well, but yeah, but you're pastor of this and that. It's just like, what? You know, they can't stay on one topic, on one thing. You know, on one hand, he's arguing over here about the guy's so, you know, destitute he doesn't even have bread, a minute later the guy's just morbidly obese. Verse 28 says, he dwelleth in desolate cities and in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps. He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue. Neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth. He shall not depart out of darkness. The flame shall dry up his branches and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away. Now, there are some bits of truth here in what he's saying about, you know, how wicked people are going to go to hell, they're not going to depart out of darkness, they're going to be in the fire of hell, the flames and the darkness. I mean, there's some truth here, but by and large what he's saying is false. I mean, even people that are wrong will often say something right. I mean, it's pretty hard to give 35 verses without saying something right, you know, in chapter 15 here. So just because we see something in a life as a speech that's right, we don't want to be like, wait a minute, maybe this guy was right. Or look at Elihu later in the book, oh well, here's something good that Elihu said, he must be right. Look, truth plus lie equals lie, right? I mean, when you mix in enough lies, the whole thing becomes a lie, even if there are some individual truths that are spoken. You know, if you look at every false religion, there's some little truth mixed in. You know, I mean, think about it, we can name any false religion and we find some truth. You say, well, what about Buddhism? Well, you know, what goes around comes around. That's sort of like what the Bible says, whatsoever man soweth, that shall ye also reap. Okay, everything else in Buddhism is wrong. But they got karma right, you know, in Hinduism and Buddhism, right? Because obviously the Bible does teach that we will reap what we've sown. You know, you say, what do the Muslims have right? That there's only one God. I mean, the Muslims believe that there's only one God. There is only one God and Mohammed is his prophet. That's where they're wrong, because Mohammed is not his prophet. So they got the first half of their creed is right, but the whole sentence is wrong. When you say there's only one God and Mohammed is his prophet, because if your God has a prophet named Mohammed, your God is Satan. Because the prophet Mohammed did not confess that Jesus Christ rose again from the dead in the flesh. He believed that Jesus Christ did not bodily rise again and that Jesus is not the Son of God. Okay, but you could name any, you know, you say, what do the Catholics write about? You know, they're against abortion. Don't let it bother you that, you know, most people who get abortions are Catholic if they're, you know, don't let that bother you. I saw a statistic that said that the biggest, you know, percentage of Christians, quote unquote, who get abortions are Catholic. But the Catholic Church is great on abortion. Great stance on abortion, you know, it's just all their members going out and aborting their children, you know, but don't let that confuse you. What are the Catholics? The Catholics are right on the Trinity. But that doesn't matter because they have so much wrong, they have so much false teaching that they've corrupted the Gospel, they're not saved because they think that salvation's by works. You know, you say, what do the Mormons write about? I don't know, white shirt and tie? That's cool, right? You know, what do the Mormons write about? Short hair on men? They're pretty good about that, yeah. What do the Mormons write about? This is a tough one, you know, what do the Mormons write about? Yeah, they at least use the King James, right? Even though they don't believe it, even though they say it's not translated properly. Every Mormon will say, well the Bible's God's Word as long as it's translated properly and that's not the King James. But here's a King James, you know? And by the way, did you know that there's a Joseph Smith translation that they don't even use? Translated by their founding prophet and they don't use it. That's how the community of Christ, which is an offshoot, uses the Joseph Smith translation. But why doesn't the Latter-day Saint church use the Joseph Smith translation translated by their founder? I'll tell you why, because it's a piece of junk, that's why. And there's a second reason why, because it's easier for them to deceive Christians if they have something in common. You got a King James? We got a King James. I mean, if they had a Joseph Smith translation, it's like, whoa, why do you have your own Bible? Why do you have a Bible that's been changed? That would set off too many red flags. But we could name Jehovah's Witnesses, what do they have right? They knock your door, they knock doors, right? I mean, what else do they have right? Almost nothing. I mean, they don't believe Jesus died on the cross. They believe he died on a stick, even though it says the print of the nails, plural, in his hand. It would only take one nail to attach him to a stick. They don't believe that Jesus bodily rose from the dead. They don't believe that believers go to heaven. They don't believe in hell. I mean, what do the Seventh-day Adventists write about? I'm sure they're right about something, I mean, look, it doesn't matter if there's truth mixed in, there's always going to be truth mixed in with the lie. But it's still a lie. When you look at what the devil says in the Bible, he usually mixes in a little truth. Because like, for example, when he lied unto Eve and beguiled Eve in the Garden of Eden, what did he tell her? You shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And what did God say at the end of the chapter? The man has become like unto us. So there was a grain of truth, but he lied and deceived about why they weren't supposed to eat of the fruit. So what I'm saying is that just because something that Eliphaz says is true, it doesn't mean that the rest of what he says is true. And just because some preacher or teacher somewhere is right about something, that's not a guarantee that they're going to be right about everything else. The Bible's got to be the final authority. Let's finish up here quickly. It says in verse 31, let not him that is deceived trust in vanity, for vanity shall be his recompense. It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green. He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive. For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery. They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit. Some of these things that he's saying are true. They're correct. He's just talking about the wicked people are going to be judged. That's true. And I feel like the biggest thing that we can learn from this chapter from start to finish, from start to finish, just to kind of just put it all together for you, verses 1 through 35 is this. That the word of God has to be our final authority. Not what a gray haired guy said. You know, not anybody but God himself and his word, and then the other thing that we take away from the chapter is that people who are not saved, they don't understand God's word. They don't recognize God's word. They don't hear God's word for what it is. We as God's children, we hear it. We understand it. It doesn't make sense to us. We need to read it, and study it, and know it so that we can be firmly grounded in what we believe. When the eliphases come along, they're not going to shake our faith. They're not going to talk us into something else. You know, we need to be founded upon a rock. We need to be steadfast and unmovable, and the only way to be steadfast and unmovable is when we know that this book is God's word, and we actually know what the contents of this book are. Because it's not enough to say, the Bible's God's word! We have to know what it says, and it's a big book. It's going to take a lot of reading. We need to read the whole thing cover to cover. Every word of God. Man should not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. We need to read every word in this book, no matter what age you are. If you're a child who's old enough to read, start reading the New Testament cover to cover. At least get that under your belt. You're old enough for that. If you can read, start working on that New Testament. Read the Bible. Learn it. Know it. Study it. And then when people come along to try to shake your faith and try to talk you out of what you believe, you'll be unmovable. You'll be steadfast. Thank God next week, chapter 16, we're going back to Job for a few chapters. When Job speaks, it's a much better chapter. It's always more interesting. I look forward to preaching the ones that Job speaks because he preaches such great truth and because we as people that are saved, we listen to what Job says is powerful, so deep. These three friends, it's a little bit just empty, you know, because it's not coming from God. It's coming from the heart of man. That's why, I don't know, were you kind of scratching your head through some of these verses of this chapter? What in the world? Why? Because that's how man is. He doesn't make sense. And that's why Job has to straighten him out in the next few chapters. But let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word and we thank you for the Holy Spirit that indwells all of us as believers. Thank you for the Holy Spirit that will guide us into all truth and that will show us things out of your word. And Lord, open our eyes that we may behold wondrous things out of your law. Help us to study the Bible, help us to read it every day. For those who are not in the habit of reading their Bible, help them to start tomorrow. Get just all they need is a bookmark and just start reading it. And Lord, please just help us to understand it and believe it and help no one to be able to shake our faith because we know what the Bible says and it is our final authority no matter if the whole world is in opposition to us. And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.