Really Bad Advice, Part 2

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ.

If you have a basis in which you counsel someone, make sure it's a word of God and not your assumptions. I know I've seen it all. I know what works and what doesn't. Be careful with that.

They spoke the world view. Some of you believe it. How many of you have ever used the word karma?

It's not true. See, if you do good, will you always get good? You see, Jesus did good. How'd it work out for Jesus? Tell me. How'd that work out?

But he did good. You see, we have to be careful with stuff like that. That's not the way the world works.

Sometimes it does, but not always. 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. 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.

Gotta 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 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. That's his faithfulness. He said, but I'm still going to argue my way.

He said, verse 17, listen carefully to my speech and let my declaration fill your ears. Behold, now I have prepared my case. I know I'll be vindicated. See, one thing Job does know, he doesn't know why, but Job knows he's not wicked. See, he knows that Job understands that.

It's why he said, I'll be vindicated. He picks it all the way up in Chapter 14 in verse 16, and he said, he's talking to God and he says, for now you number my steps. You do not observe my sin. My transgression is sealed up in a bag and you wrap up my iniquity. Look, if there's some sin I've done, you've hidden it from me because I don't know of a sin. He said, I don't know what to talk to you about, what I have done.

Now Eliphaz, in Chapter 15, picks it up. His second speech in Eliphaz says in verse two, should a wise man answer with windy knowledge? You bag of hot air, Job.

I mean, that's always that you're a bag of hot air. All you do is talk. He said, should a wise man answer with windy knowledge and fill himself up with the East wind?

Should he argue with useless talk or with words which are not profitable? Job, shut up. We know the way this works. Wow. He says in verse five, your guilt teaches your mouth and you choose the language of the crafty.

You're trying to make a case, Job. You're a smart man, but you know you're wicked and so do I. He says over in verse nine, what do you know that we don't know? What do you understand that we don't understand? He said, look, I know how this works.

Verse 17, I will tell you, listen to me, what I have seen, I declare. I understand life. That's how you get really bad advice.

You can get really bad advice that way. How many times do we say something like this? Maybe you've said it. Here's what you need to do. You need to go with your gut.

Right. You need to follow your heart. Anyone ever say it to someone?

You need to follow your heart. Well, let's see. Jeremiah 17 nine, the heart of a man is desperately wicked.

It is deceitful above all things. Yeah, you need to follow that. You see, that's what you need to follow. We say stuff like this. He said, look, I know the way the world works.

I've seen it. That's the way this is. And then he goes on and he says in verse 20, the wicked man withers in pain all of his days. Every day for the wicked man is pain.

Really? He says, and they're numbered as years stored up for the ruthless. Verse 29, he will never become rich, nor was wealth endure and his grain will not bend down to the ground. The wicked will never prosper. I don't know. I think that the the mob started in the 1920s.

How's it doing? About 100 years later, the poor, impoverished guys, huh? Yeah, they're just impoverished now. That's what he's saying. It's just ridiculous what he's saying. So Job responds, chapter 16 to Eliphaz, he said, I have heard many such things. Sorry, comforters, are you all? You came to give me comfort?

You're sorry. He said, is there no limit to windy words? How many more windy words do I have to hear?

He said, or what plagues you that you answer? I too could speak like you. If I were in your place, I would compose words against you and shake my head at you. I could strengthen you with my mouth. And he said, and the solace of my lips could lessen your pain. I could do better with you than you're doing with me.

I could talk just like you talk, but I think I could give you some comfort. But you're not giving me any. He said, I could do this better than you do. He says that in chapter 16, he goes, I want justice.

That's what I want. Verse 19. He said, even now, behold, my witnesses in heaven and my advocate is on high.

My friends are my scoffers. My eye weeps to God. Look, God knows the truth. I just appeal to God. He knows the truth.

He could be my advocate. He goes on in Chapter 17, verse one. My spirit is broken. My days are extinguished.

The grave is ready for me. Verse six. But he has made me a byword of the people. He said, I am the one to whom men spit. Just imagine this, who Job was.

The most respected man. And now he's out in the city dump. He's got all these sores over his body. His kids are all dead and he's scraping sores. And as people walk by, men spit on them. Could you imagine what that'd be like for someone, the anguish of something like that?

I couldn't imagine it. Job says, that's the way my life is. He said, boy, I'll tell you what, I'd rather die. Verse 14. He said, if I if I if I call to the pit, you're my father and to the worm, my mother and my sister.

He said, where now is my hope? Look, I'd like to just go to to the grave. The grave could be my father. The worms could be my family.

I just want to get out. Then build that the shoe comes in and says, how long will you hunt for words and show understanding that we can talk? Job, you have no idea what you're talking about. You see, once again, they come in. And so from chapter verse five all the way down to verse 15, all that build that does is he keeps telling Job, you don't understand the wicked. Let me explain the wicked to you and how God judges their lives. Job responds.

Chapter 19. He said, how long will you torment me and crush me with your words? These 10 times you've insulted me. You're not ashamed to wrong me. See, the problem with your thinking is this, Bill, that I'm not wicked.

That's the problem. They keep saying you are wicked. He keeps saying, I am faithful. You are wicked. I am faithful.

He says, look, you know how bad my life is? Look at verse 17. My breath is offensive to my wife. Wow. That's offensive.

Just imagine how sick he was. He said, I am lonesome to my own brothers. Even young children despise me. I rise up and they speak against me.

Children. He said, all my associates abhor me and those I love have turned against me. My bone clings to my skin and my flesh and I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth. Pity me. Pity me.

Oh, my friends. He said, for the hand of God has struck me. Why do you persecute me as well as God? What anguish. Now, out of all that verse 25. As for me, I know my Redeemer lives and at the last, he will take a stand on the earth. And even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh, I shall see God see his faith again. No matter how bad the anguish is, he keeps coming forth in faith. Then chapter 20.

So far gets a second speech. And so far says to him in verse two, therefore, my disquieting thoughts make me respond even because of my inward agitation. You're bothering me. I he said, I listen to the reproof, which insults me. And the spirit of my understanding makes me answer. Do you know this from old, from the establishment of man on the earth, that the triumph of the wicked is short and the joy of the godless momentary? Job, this is a principle we're talking about. Wicked people can't prosper and you're not prospering. So the deduction's easy.

You're wicked. Well, then, verse 27 of the same chapter so far says the heavens will reveal your iniquity. The earth will rise up against them. The increase of his house will depart. The possessions will flow away in the day of the anger. You think God's angry with you, job?

You're right. He is. But he's angry with you because you're wicked. Job responds and says, listen carefully to my speech. He said, don't you guys won't listen to what I'm saying?

He said, let me go on one more chapter. Verse eight sort of gives you an indication. He said their descendants are established with them in their sight, their offspring before their eyes. He's talking about the wicked.

Their houses are safe from fear. Neither is the rot of God on them. He said the wicked's ox mates without fail. The cow calves and does not abort.

He said in verse 12, they sing with a timble and a harp and rejoice at the sound of the flute. They spend their days in prosperity and suddenly they go down the shield. They don't even die a slow death. They get to die quickly. They have it all and then they get to die quickly. That's the wicked.

That's Job's point. Eliphaz comes in Chapter 22. And when he comes in in verse four, he said it is because of your reverence that he reproves you, that he enters a judgment against you. Is it not your your wickedness great and your iniquities without end?

Job, we're right back to it. You are wicked and you've got to come to grips with this. Verse 21, yield now and be at peace with him there. He said, thereby good will come to you.

You've got to repent here. Job replies, Chapter 23, verse four. I would present my case before him and fill my mouth with his arguments. He said, verse six, would he contend with me by the greatness of his power?

Verse eight, he said, behold, I go forward. He's not there backward. I can't perceive him. And when he acts on the left, I cannot behold him. And when he turns in the right, I cannot see him.

If you've ever really suffered, you felt that. Where is he? Where is God? I look for him. He's not there.

Job says, I'd love to talk, but he's not there. All I feel is the anguish that I have. That's all that happens. Chapter 24, he goes right back with it and says, I know how the wicked act. I know all about this.

Then build that in Chapter 25 comes in. He shouldn't have. It's just nonsense. Bill, that just comes in, has nothing left to say. So Bill, that says dominion and all belong to him who establishes peace in his height. And if there are any number of his troops and upon whom he said he does not like, he said, and upon whom does his light not rise? How then can a man be just before God? How can he be clean when he's born of a woman, even if the moon has no brightness and the stars have no pure insight? How much less a man, he said, that maggot, the son of man, that worm.

So he says it and Job says. What help are you? Like what? You've got nothing here. What help are you? He said, have you saved the arm without strength? What counsel? He said, you have given one without wisdom.

What helpful insight have you helped anybody? That's just ridiculous. What are you talking about? So starting in verse 27, Job makes his last response. Job talks and this is what he says. Verse three, he said, for as long as life is in me and the breath of God is in my mouth, my lips certainly will not speak unjustly, nor will my tongue mutter deceit. Far be it from me that I should declare, he says, you write, till I die will not put away my integrity from me. I am faithful and you will never be able to steal that from me.

Chapter 29. Job says, let me tell you about my faith and what James said about faith. What do you say? Faith without works.

Is what? Dead. You see, it's dead. Job says, you want to see, does my life back up when I believe? Verse 12, because I delivered the poor who cried for help and the orphan who had no helper, the blessing of the one ready to perish came upon me and I made the widow's heart sing for joy. I put on righteousness and it clothed me.

My justice was like a robe and a turban. And he said, I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame. I was a father to the needy and I invested the case with which I did not know. He said, I helped everybody, especially the helpless. I helped them all. Verse 21, to me, they listened and waited and kept silent for my counsel. After my words, they did not speak again and my speech dropped on them. They waited for me as for rain and opened their mouth as for the spring rain.

People love to hear what I had to say because it was right. Then Chapter 31. Verse one, I made a covenant with my eyes. How then could I gaze at the Virgin? He said, I never ogled women.

Never. He said, I didn't do that. He said in verse five, if I walk with falsehood and my foot has hastened after deceit, let him weigh me on acrid skills and let God know my integrity. Verses 16 and 17, I have kept the poor from their desire. He said, if I have kept the poor from their desire or caused the eyes of the widow to fail or have eaten my morsel alone and the orphan has not shared it. If I've done anything not like that, God can judge me if he likes.

So Job finishes it all and basically says what? I'm faithful. I'm not going to change. Not all advice is good advice. I mean, this is a long example. I get it.

Thank you for setting through it. But the idea behind it is this is just terrible advice and it's all based on presuppositions that are wrong. Some points we learn from this one assumptions reduce our understanding and our insight. Please don't make assumptions.

If you have a basis in which you counsel someone, make sure it's a word of God and not your assumptions. I know I've seen it all. I know what works and what doesn't. Be careful with that.

They spoke the world view. Some of you believe it. How many of you have ever used the word karma? How many of you ever use that word? Yeah, it's not true.

It's not true. See, if you do good, we always get good. You see, Jesus did good. How to work out for Jesus.

Tell me how that work out. But he did good. You see, we have to be careful with stuff like that. That's not the way the world works.

Sometimes it does, but not always. Secondly, pride blinds us to grace and compassion. You can see it with his friends.

Eliphaz, I have seen. He has no compassion. He doesn't offer any grace. Three, bad counsel can make things exponentially worse. You can actually make someone's situation worse when you give them bad counsel. Fourth, when you're receiving counsel, always consider the source when you get it. Always consider the source.

Be careful when people tell you, well, I think. Make sure that what they think is in line with the truth of the word of God. And Job's a great example of this. Cling to the truth, no matter what the consequences are. Job would not give ground.

He would not, no matter what. I am faithful. I am faithful.

A sidebar of that is this. Words to live by. Life isn't fair. So don't expect it to be. Life isn't fair. Don't expect it to be. Whenever life is fair to you, I know when it's fair to me. I like to use a Norweinian term.

View it as linea. You see, life's not always fair. It's not always fair in the office. It's not always fair in the workplace. It's not always fair with your neighbors. It's not always fair at school. It's not fair.

So don't expect it to be. And the last thing I want to say is this. There are many circumstances in life, and this is what the book of Job shows us, you'll never understand.

Some things you will, but there are a lot of things that are going to happen in your life, ways in which you've suffered, and you will never understand. Does Job understand why he's suffering? No.

How about this? But will he understand? No. God will never explain it to him. Never. We'll see that in a future week. God won't explain it. See, because God's not into explanations. God's into promises. See, he doesn't want to give you an explanation that you can understand it.

He wants to give you a promise that you can believe it. Romans 8.28. All things work together for good. That's what God said. Now, no matter what your circumstances and how you're suffering, does it come under all things? Everything, right? All things work together for good.

And when you're suffering, not like Job, but in your own way, what's your response? What? This can't be good. He didn't say it was good. He said all things work together for good.

You see how this works? He said God was not into explaining things to us. He's into giving us promises and asking us to trust him. That's what Job has to learn.

Let's pray. Father, what a dialogue between so-called friends and Job. But it reveals the heart that we often have. We pick up knowledge and we speak it dogmatically, but it's not necessarily true. And then out of our own pride, we will hold our course no matter what.

And we'll cling to our own ideas and our own principles. Father, they were wrong that can be convinced that Job was wicked. Job now realizes at the end of his life that he was wrong because he thought you were angry with him and you were not. Father, I pray that we understand something here. You are a sovereign God. You have oversight over everything that happens to us. You can take even the worst things of our lives and redeem them for good. And you promised us you would.

And you've asked us to believe you. That's my prayer for all of us. In Christ's name, amen. 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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