Really Bad Advice, Part 1

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. If you want to learn how to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ, click the link in the description below. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana.

Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's Word meets our world. I don't know if you know this or not, but all advice is not good advice. Okay, there is both good advice and bad advice. And bad advice is, oh, it's really bad.

Maybe we should have warning signs like they do a highway construction, danger, bad advice ahead so that we wouldn't listen. Sophocles said that there is nothing more hateful than bad advice. And if you've lived in this life, someone has given you bad advice, haven't they? I've had people give me bad advice. You know what that bad advice sounds like. Look, go ahead and marry him.

He'll change after the wedding. And then there's good advice. Proverbs 1215 says the way of the fool was right in his own eyes, but a wise man is he who listens to counsel. Proverbs 19 says, listen to counsel, accept discipline that you may be wise for the rest of your days. Proverbs 27, iron sharpens iron. So one man sharpens another. And then this verse, Proverbs 27 again, faithful are the words of a friend, but deceit for the kisses of an enemy.

That sounds good. Faithful are the words of a friend. But you have to understand something. This is in the Book of Proverbs. That means it's a principle. It's not a promise. You see, it's not a problem, a promise at all.

There are friends who can give absolutely terrible advice. You may have some. Job had three, and that's where I want to continue our study this morning. Go with me to Job, Chapter four.

The Book of Job, Chapter four. Job has experienced unimaginable suffering. It's just beyond our belief that you could lose what he lost. He lost all of his possessions. He lost all of his servants. He lost all 10 of his children. He lost the relationship he had with his wife. Then he he lost his health and then he lost the respect of everybody who ever knew him. And then Job suffers so deeply and so immensely that out of his pain, he curses the day that he was born and he curses the night that he was conceived.

He said, I wish I'd never been born at all. And so his friends show up, his three friends. They hear that he's suffering in the scripture says almost ironically, they come to offer him sympathy and comfort. That's why they said they came in for a while. They did pretty good.

They stayed quiet for seven days and didn't say a word. And now they open up their mouth. And things get a lot worse than they were before they spoke.

There's where we're at right now in Chapter four. Eliphaz, who's probably the oldest, speaks first. And he kind of smooths the path. He kind of does a little bit.

He sort of butters Joe up a little bit. He says to him, if one ventures a word with you, will you become impatient? But who can refrain from speaking? Behold, you have admonished many and you have strengthened weak hands.

Your hands have helped the tottering to stand and you have strengthened feeble knees. Job, all we're here for is to do to you what you've done to so many others. Now, remember, he's one of the great wise men of the East and God said he's the most righteous man on Earth. But there's that word in verse five, but Eliphaz wants to make his point. He said, now it has come to you and you are impatient. It touches you and you are dismayed. It's not your fear of God, your confidence and the integrity of your ways, your hope. Remember now, whoever he said, whoever perish being innocent.

What's that? Just first question. And you're going to see this run the whole morning. Whoever perished being innocent. You see, if you're innocent, you don't have to worry about this. He then says, or where were the upright ever destroyed? By the way, I could think of a thousand places. How about you?

Just a thousand places. I mean, the question seems nonsensical almost in a way. Who's more pure and innocent than Jesus Christ?

I mean, come on. But that's he starts out with. And then he says something.

According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity and those who sow trouble harvest it. Notice his frame of reference. I've seen this.

Be really careful, people, when someone gives you advice and tells you that's their frame of reference. Now, we don't say what I have seen you here now in our culture. Let me tell you what I think. And then we just espouse something.

We just espouse it. I want to tell you what I think. That's what he's doing. He says, look, I've seen this.

I know how this works. Over in Chapter five, verse two, he says, For anger slays the foolish man and jealousy kills the simple. I have seen the foolish taking root and I've cursed his abode immediately. Joe, by not listening to me, you're foolish.

I've seen this. That's the trouble with a fool. You can't give him good advice.

I'm giving you good advice. The fool won't want to take it. He says in verse eight, I've got a remedy.

But as for me, I would seek God and I would place my cause before him. Look, you need to get right with God. That's the whole thing here. You need to just get right with God.

That's your problem. He's going to go deeper in a moment. And he says. In verse 17, behold, how happy is the man to whom God reproves? So do not despise the discipline of the Almighty. God is punishing you. God is disciplining you.

You see how this case is built. That's what's going on here, Job. You see, that's what God is going to do for you. Job responds in Chapter six and says, Oh, that my grief were actually weighed and laid in the balances together with my calamity.

For then it would have been heavier than the sand to the seas. Therefore, my words have been rash for the arrows of the Almighty are within me. They're poison, he said.

My spirit drinks. The terrors of God are arrayed against me. Job has no trouble with this. He understands where it's coming from. Job is going to reveal here he has his own weakness in this. Now, he's not as bad as his friends, but Job's belief is God is angry with me. God is angry with me. I don't know why, but he's angry. You see, now, is that true?

You read Chapter one. Is that true? Was God angry at him? No, he's not.

Not that case at all. But Job says, Look, how else could this happen unless the Almighty is angry with me? He said, verse eight, Oh, that my request might come to pass, that God would grant my longing. Would that God were willing to crush me and that he and that he would lose his hand and cut me off. But it is still my consolation and I rejoice in unsparing pain that I have not denied the words of the Holy One. I wish I was dead. I wish and listen, I pray you never have to experience that, but people do experience so much pain and suffering that they wish they were dead.

That's what Job is saying, I just wish and he suffered at every single level possible. But notice, I have not denied the words of the Holy One. That's the theme and all these chapters we're going to look at. They're going to keep saying to him, you are wicked. And Job's going to keep saying, I am faithful. You are wicked. I am faithful.

And it just goes back and forth and back and forth. And that's the dialogue that they have. He said, I have kept the faith here. I have not denied the words of the Holy One. Notice in verse 24 of Chapter six, Teach me and I will be silent. Show me where I have erred.

How painful or honest words. But what does your argument prove? He said, Come on, point it out. What did I do?

You're my friends. Point something out that I've done. He then speaks to God in Chapter seven. And to God, he says in verse three, So I'm allotted months of vanity and nights of trouble appointed to me. Verse five, My flesh is clothed with worms and a crust of dirt.

My skin hardens and runs. My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle and have come to an end without hope. Remember that my life is but a breath and my eye will not again see good. I am a dead man walking.

I know it. I know that I know the way I'm suffering. He says in verse 11, Therefore, I will not restrain my mouth. I will speak in the anguish of my spirit. I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. Job saying, Look, I'm going to die anyway. I have nothing to lose here.

I'm just going to tell you what I think. What can I lose? What else could be done to me?

Virtually nothing. In verse 16, I waste away. I will not live forever. Leave me alone for my days are but a breath. Verse 19, Will you never turn your gaze away from me?

He says, Nor let me alone until I swallow my own spittle. Just leave me alone. God, let me be.

Let me die. Have I sinned? What have I done to you?

Oh, watcher of men. Why have you set me as your target so that I am a burden to myself? Why are you angry? I don't understand. The friends say we understand. We know why. Because you're wicked.

That's why. So build that jumps in in Chapter eight and says, wait, let's first look up and think about God for a moment. Verse three. Does God pervert justice or does the Almighty prefer pervert what is right? If your son sinned against him, then he delivered them into the power of their transgression. Don't miss that.

There's a thumb in your eye. You know, I just told that man. You know why your kids are dead? They deserved it.

God killed them because they're wicked. Wow. Who could say that to someone suffering like Job? He said, if you would see God and implore the compassion of the Almighty, if you are pure and upright, surely now he will rouse himself for you and he will restore you to his right of state. You've got to repent. Same lesson.

He said, look, let's look back for a moment. Verse eight. Please inquire of past generations and consider the things that are searched up by the fathers. This is the way it's always been, Job. Righteous people get blessing and the wicked people get cursing. You know what's so ridiculous about that?

The fact that it's blatantly false. But what's really ridiculous is we haven't come anywhere. Here we are 4000 years later. And there'll be a prosperity preacher who get on television and tell you that if you want nothing but good in your life, man, you just get right with God. Now, usually they say you get right with God.

If you so enough money in their garden, then you really get right with God. But normally that's what they say. But the point of it is, if you're right with God, everything is going well.

And only when you're bad could anything bad happen to you. It's not true. It's no truer now than it was 4000 years ago.

It's not true at all. As a matter of fact. His conclusion, verse 20, lo, God will not reject the man of integrity, nor will he support the evildoer. And you are an evildoer. Job responds in Chapter nine. He said, In truth, I know this is so. But how can a man be right before God?

What are we talking about here? He said, I don't even know how I how do you approach God? I want to make my case before him. I want to know why he's angry. He said, But look at verse 19. He said, It is a matter of power. Behold, he's the strong one. If it's a matter of justice, how can I summon him? Job saying, I want justice. But how do I say that to God?

Interesting. He says in verse 24, something fascinating, he says, The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He covers the faces of its judges. If it is not, he.

Then who is it? Job now counters their argument. They say God always judges immediately the wicked.

They'll say it the whole way through here. And God says and Job says to them, What world do you live in? How the wicked doing out there, by the way? I think they're doing OK.

I think they're doing really well. This is Psalm 73 with Asoph. Asoph said, I didn't even know how to act when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. They have everything in our culture. Asoph kept saying that thing you notice most about the wicked is they're fat.

It's a great line. But the point of it is because most people don't have enough to eat, but the wicked do. He said everything about their life's better. They live.

Let's say it this way. They live in better houses. They drive better cars. They eat in better restaurants.

You see, they get better medical care than the poor. That's what the wicked do. That's Job's line.

He goes, Come on. Why do you keep saying that? That that's the way it works. He said in verse twenty nine, I am accounted wicked. Why then would I toil in vain? Why do you account me as wicked?

Verse 33, an important verse. There is no umpire between us. Who may lay his hand on both of us. Oh, yes, there is. Is there an umpire between God and man who can put his hand on God and put his hand on man?

Yeah, there is. It's Jesus Christ, the son of God. Job says, interesting first book ever written over to about 2000 B.C. and he says, You know what man needs? He needs a mediator between him and God.

Wow. Talk about prophecy. That's exactly what man has in Jesus Christ.

He then speaks out to God in Chapter 10. And he said in verse two, I will say to God, Do not condemn me. Let me know why you contend with me. Why are you angry with me?

Why is that the case? He says in verse fourteen, if I sin, then you would take note of me and you would not acquit me of my guilt if I am wicked. Woe to me. And if I am righteous, I dare not lift up my head.

Come on, God. I don't know how to handle this. Verse 17, You renew your witness against me and increase your anger toward me.

Hardship after hardship is with me. There it is. You're angry. Why? Why are you angry with me? What have I done?

Nothing's changed. This past week, I was watching the Weather Channel and they were shown catastrophes of weather and I sort of like watching things like that. And they were showing Hurricane Irma in 2017. And Hurricane Irma in 2017 was a Category five hurricane.

It stayed cat five for three days. Very unusual for a storm to stay that strong that long. And one of the places that it went, it went just north of the U.S. Virgin Islands, just north. In fact, the eye wall, the south part of the eye wall covered one of the U.S. Virgin Islands. And the story was about two American families living on the Virgin Islands. And one of the families lived down the mountain a ways by midpoint. And he had a house constructed of concrete and steel.

He said, I knew no matter what the winds would be, it wouldn't be a problem. By the way, the winds on that island that day were 155 to 185 miles an hour. So you get some sense of what they went through up the mountain was another house, just like your house and mine, a wooden house.

You see, sort of put together in a normal way. And and so the story goes that the woman in the top house had a husband and a daughter, and she was looking out the window down her house and she saw the end part of the roof of the house blow off. Now, when it blew off, she got a phone call from the landlord who lived across the street and said, the roof of your house is going to blow off. You've got to get out of there. And she said, we don't have anywhere to go.

I don't know what we can do. So she said after she hung up, the phone rang in just a minute or two and it was the guy who lived down the mountain. And he said, my son and I will come up and get your family, be ready in 10 minutes and we'll bring you to our house. Now, remember, it's 155 to 185 mile an hour winds. So the family, then the wife, the daughter and the father go out onto the porch or the veranda, they called it. And it's 50 feet long. And they got out on one end. And soon as they got out there, the wind blew all three of them, all 50 feet and crashed them on the wall on the other end. What makes that story is the first thing she said when that happened to her family. She said this. God, what have we done that was so bad that you're going to kill us in this storm?

That's her first thought, her first thought, what did we do that was so bad that you would kill us in this storm? People think this way. That's what people think it really works like.

So nothing's really changed from the time of Job. That's the way you see it. He says in verse. So after Job speaks, Zophar gets involved in Chapter 11 and said, shall a multitude of words go on gathering and a talkative man be acquainted, shall your bow silence men, and you shall scoff none at rebuke.

You've got to love this. I'm sensing you're just blowing smoke at us. I think you're just talking.

Why? He said, for you have said my teaching is pure and I am innocent in your eyes. Job never said that, by the way. Zophar just made that up.

He said, but that's not the way it works. He says in verse 11, for he knows false men and he sees iniquity without investigating. An idiot will become intelligent, he said, when the fall of a wild donkey is born a man. Now, this is a nice poetic way of saying, Job, you are an idiot. To think the way you think you're an idiot. You see, the only reason someone gets punished like you're being punished is because you're wicked.

Everybody knows this. So you pick it up down to verse 20 of chapter 11 and it says, but the eyes of the wicked will fail and there will be no escape for them and their hope to breathe and no hope for them to breathe their last. The idea behind it is he's just reinforcing their point. Job answers and said, truly, then he said, you are the people. And he said, and with you, wisdom will die.

Got to love Job's line there. If what you just said wisdom. Then when you die, it's over. There's no if you represent the people, there'll be no wisdom in the world at all. He said, I have intelligence as well as you.

I'm not inferior to you. And who does not know such things as these? Look, I get that. I get people can reap what they sow.

I don't understand that principle. That's not what I'm talking about here. He said, look, you have to understand I am a joke to my friends. The one who he said, the one who called on God and he answered him, the just and the blameless man. He said, that's me. Justin blameless man. And I'm a joke.

Everybody's made me into a joke. Wow. He said, look, I know God is great. He said in verse 13, for with him are wisdom and might to him belong counsel and understanding.

Look, I get it. And then from verse 14, all the way to the end of the chapter, he says, I know all the things God does. God's great. I have no problem with God. I know who God is. I'm faithful to God. He says in Chapter 13, verse one, behold, my eyes have seen all this. My ear has heard and understood it. What you know, he said, I also know I'm not inferior to you, but I would speak to the Almighty and I desire to argue with God. It's just a great line.

I love God. I know who he is. I know how great I'd like to argue with him. Because, he said, I don't know why he's angry at me, but it's not because I'm wicked. He said, but you smear with lies and you are worthless physicians. He said, oh, that you would be completely silent. He said, that would become your wisdom.

I liked you guys better when you were quiet. Just shut up and sit there. You see, you made it worse. Then he says, I'll show you how faithful Job is. Look at verse 15, a great verse. He says, though he slay me, I hope in him. Nevertheless, I will argue my ways before him.

Even if he slays me, I'm going to trust him. You've been listening to Pastor Bill Gebhardt on the Radio Ministry of Fellowship in the Word. If you ever miss one of our broadcasts, or maybe you would just like to listen to the message one more time, remember that you can go to a great website called oneplace.com. That's oneplace.com, and you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online.

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