Bildad Becomes Brutal

John chapter 18. I'm sorry Job chapter 18. Ah See you should pay attention Job chapter 18 and as you turn to Job chapter 18 I'm gonna read to you a series of verses in the book of Ephesians that will set the tone for our time in discussion in Job Chapter 18. Okay Ephesians chapter 4 reads this way Verse 29 let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment So that it will give grace to those who hear Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with all malice Be kind to one another tender-hearted forgiving each other just as God in Christ also has Forgiven you Now these verses set the tone for Job chapter 18 You'll notice that there are Verses specifically about communication and conversation and Sandwiched in between those verses is a command do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God And there's a reason for that You know when God gave us his word.

He didn't just throw it out there and hope that things would land in the proper place No, he has them there in a proper place for a specific reason So it talks about the conversations that we have with one another and the words that we use In between there is a command that says do not grieve the Holy Spirit It tells us that the Holy Spirit's a person third person of the triune nature of God himself But it also tells us that we can grieve we can cause pain we can cause sorrow To the Holy Spirit And the question comes how do we do that?

It happens by the words We choose to use in the attitude behind those words Why is that simply because our Conversation is the clearest indicator of our spiritual condition Very important Socrates said these words Speak friend That I may see you speak friend That I may know you he was right And Isaiah chapter 6 verse number 5 it was Isaiah who said woe is me for I'm a man of Unclean lips and I dwell among a people with unclean lips Why did he say that? Why couldn't he say? I'm a man with an unclean heart and The people I dwell with have unclean hearts Isaiah didn't say that He said I'm a man of unclean lips Why?

because the words that we use Truly are the clearest indicator of our spiritual condition the words we use show us the condition of our heart That's why the Bible says in Matthew 12 verse number 34 for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks Matthew 12 37 Says by your words you shall be justified and by your words you shall be condemned In Romans 3 it says their throat speaking of the unbeliever is an open sepulchre with their tongues they have used to seat the poison of asps is under their lips whose mouth is full of cursing and Bitterness Paul is discussing the depravity of man looking at the conversation of a man because from the heart a man speaks Did you know maybe you didn't that you speak on average of 18,000 words a day It's equivalent to a 54 page book every day Some of us a little bit more than others, but on average 18,000 words a day In A year You will speak 66 volumes Each volume being 800 pages long in other words In your lifetime one-fifth of it will be spent in speaking One-fifth of your entire life is spent talking Speaking Commanding Using your words The clearest illustration of this is the Apostle Peter Peter as you know what as the Bible says follow Christ from a distance mark 14 tells us It's always bad to follow Christ from a distance If you're gonna follow Christ you follow him up close, right?

But Peter would follow at a distance and because he followed at a distance it would cost him greatly So the Bible says these words in Matthew chapter 26 verse number 69 Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard and a servant girl came to him and said you two were with Jesus the Galilean But he denied it before them all saying I do not know what you are talking about When he had gone out to the gateway another servant girl saw him and said to those who were there This man was with Jesus of Nazareth And again, he denied it with an oath.

I do not know the man a little later the bystanders came up and Said to Peter surely you two are one of them for even the way you talk gives you away that he began to curse and Swear I do not know the man and immediately a rooster crowed No one dare Associate Peter with Jesus after he began to curse and swear Because followers of Jesus don't talk that way. Oh Your accents giving you away. Oh, you were Jesus of Nazareth. Oh you were with the Galilean we saw you So, how do I get you to believe that?

I am NOT one of his to speak in such a way that you'll never be confused that I'm one of his and No one ever confused that again until of course the book of Acts But there he's filled with the Spirit of God and was using the great mighty way We forget about the power of words we forget about how we use our words and Peter becomes the quintessential illustration of the spiritual condition of a man and How our words are used in such a way To show that we're a follower of Christ Or we're not a follower of Christ So we grieve the Spirit of God When there's bitterness and anger and clamor Slander We use unwholesome words The Talmud says this I thought was quite interesting The righteous need no tombstones for their words are their monuments That's profound The righteous don't need a tombstone Because the words they've spoken throughout their entire life mark the character and the condition of that individual So Paul says Let no unwholesome word proceed out of your mouth.

It's where we get the English word rotten All right That which is rotten is worthless and useless So no let don't let any worthless word any useless word any rotten word proceed from your mouth Now I'm sure that a lot of you have fruit baskets in your house You put fruit in them and every once in a while you leave them there a little too long and they begin to rot Sometimes they get white spots on them. Sometimes they get brown spots But if you leave them there too long they begin to ooze all kinds of gunk right and You pick it up and it's really mushy and then it begins to infect all the other fruit of the basket And in the bottom you had this little syrupy kind of nasty stuff.

That's there Maybe you guys are cleaner than I am. I don't know but that's just what happens You don't want to eat it. You don't want to touch it. You want to get rid of it, right? Because it smells It's rotten It's good for nothing That's the word that Paul uses in Ephesians 4 verse number 29 let no rotten word no filthy useless worthless word proceed out of Your mouth that's why the psalmist said in Psalm 141 verse number 3 said I watch O Lord before my mouth keep the door of My lips wouldn't that be a great prayer to pray every day a Great prayer to pray before you ever engage in the conversation with somebody.

Oh, Lord set a watch over my mouth and And keep watch over the door of my lips Colossians 3 8 says but now you also put off all these anger wrath mouths blasphemy filthy communication out of your mouth Ephesians 5 says but fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness Let it not be once named among you as become a saints neither filthiness nor foolish talking or jesting Which are not fitting but rather of giving Thanks Paul says look make sure if you want if you the command is don't breathe the Holy Spirit Well, the way you do that is make sure that there's nothing rotten that comes out of your mouth Nothing, that's useless worthless Because it's rotten It's filthy but That which is edifying that which builds up that which lifts up right that which strengthens So instead of words coming out of your mouth that are worthless and useless Use words that are fruitful for somebody else to lift them up to build them up So Moms Today as you talk to your children with the words unwholesome words or Were they edifying words?

Were you building your children up or were you tearing them down? Were you lifting them higher or ripping them apart? Right. Well, how about your marriage? Let's say your husband forgot Valentine's Day yesterday What were your words like were they Unwholesome words were they corrupt words were they worthless words or did you use that opportunity because he forgot Valentine's To build him up and lift him up anyway see We forget that all of our conversations Speak loudly about the spiritual condition of our heart So Paul says don't let the unwholesome word come out the words that are edifying Words that are necessary that they might minister grace to those who hear them So think about your conversations today.

Did it minister grace? Did it did it bless the person who heard you today? I? Mean think about this This one verse will revolutionize your marriage Just this one verse Will revolutionize the way you interact in your family. Oh, by the way, it will revolutionize our church. Think about that Maybe we should put that on the doorframe before we leave every Sunday morning Let no unwholesome word proceed out of your mouth as you proceed from these premises Maybe that would be a good reminder for all of us, right?

because if so There's going to be the grieving of the Spirit of God And we don't want to grieve God's Spirit He dwells within us, right? In fact, he dwells in the heart So when you use words that are unprofitable that are filthy that are useless words What you're doing is saying they're coming from the location where the Spirit of God has taken up residence In my heart there to be holy words because he's the Holy Spirit there to be pure words because he is sanctified pure and set-apart and If he lives and reigns within my heart and the words that come out of my heart through my mouth the mouth gate Should be pure and holy words and so he says very clearly that all Bitterness Bitterness That's smoldering resentment Which causes you to brood?

and hold grudges Now I know that's none of you guys in here tonight. Those are the people that didn't come tonight. That's not you guys, right? We don't stew and and sit and brood over Conversations or situations that that will cause me to be bitter. You're not that way. Are you of course not? And Paul as he writes to these believers, what's it gonna stand you got to put away Your bitterness. I saw Hebrews 12 a few weeks ago that a root of bitterness defiles many Not just one Not just two It defiles many so if you are you you're a bitter person and You begin to sit in your situation and think about revenge and think about how you can get back and how you can get even And and just just begin to snarl on the inside You're gonna defile everybody around you Why because see that's what rotten fruit does It defiles all the other fruit in the basket, doesn't it?

Leave all the fruit in there long enough. Guess what? It's all gonna be rotten. None of it's gonna be worth eating It's all gonna be worthless So if you have a bitter attitude guess what husband gets it son gets it daughter gets it, right? How many of you go home at the church on Sunday and just fillet the people you saw Sunday morning on church at church? Just filleted. Maybe you fillet the pastor. I don't know Maybe fillet the ushers of the greeters of the parking lot people Maybe you go home and say do you know him?

Do you know where he made me park? I don't want to park there ever again. How dare he tell me where to park or how dare he tell me where to sit? Speaking of an usher or parking lot attendant guy, right? But we find it very easy to go home and sit around the table and begin to talk about our conversations at church And if you find it very easy just to fillet and shred and and rip apart people See pastor, where are you going? Hold on? Hold on you just see it all unfold right before your eyes That bitterness how about this wrath That's wild rage You have wild rage You have wrath Do you blow your stack and start throwing things around?

No, not not you guys How does anger that's that settled inward resentment and then there's clamor that's violent outburst And then there's evil speaking whispering and slanderous and then there's khakia malice General form a general word used for all kinds of evil evil words Those are all a definition of what's unwholesome Those are the things that grieve the Spirit of God Listen if you if you just keep that in mind the things that come out of my mouth are going to grieve God's Spirit or Not grieve his spirit, please his spirit If they're pleasing to the Lord, they'll be pleasing to the one that I'm speaking to If it's not pleasing to the Lord chances are it's gonna tear to shreds the people I'm speaking to And it reveals the condition of my spiritual life Instead he says Be kind to one another Tender-hearted forgiving each other just as God in Christ also has forgiven Kindness tender heartedness and Forgiveness is To be the quality of our words.

So why do we say that? Because you see this was the intention of the three friends of Job This was their intention, how do we know that? Well gotta go back to Job chapter 2. So if you got your Bible turn back to Job chapter 2 For those of you still in Job 18 Put your finger there. If you're in John 18, that was my mistake my bad I Remember Job chapter 2 verse number 11 Now when Job's three friends heard of all this adversity that had come upon him They came each one from his own place Eliphaz the Timonite build ad the Shuhite and Zophar the Mathathite and they made an appointment together to come to sympathize with him and to comfort him Purpose they made an appointment.

Hey guys, we gotta get together We got to go see Job We got to figure out how we can sympathize with Job. They'd heard everything that had taken place, right? They so they weren't there when the fire came down out of heaven. They weren't there when when the armies came and destroyed And killed his family. They weren't there when when Job received this affliction from Satan They weren't there for all that they heard about it I mean after all he's the greatest man in the East, right? If something happens to the greatest man of these Word gets out now word probably didn't get out right away because they couldn't text their friends or email their friends There was no phone calls to be made It was by word of mouth But by the fine time they received the information they said we're gonna make an appointment We're gonna go see our friend because we had to comfort him.

We had to sympathize with him So it says verse 12 when they lifted up their eyes at a distance and did not recognize him they raised their voices and wept And each of them tore his robe and they threw dust over their heads toward the sky They didn't know how bad it was But when they saw him When they're able to put their eyes on the man's condition With all the open sores oozing with pus with a head shaved and and scratchy and itchy Sitting there in a in a ash heap all by himself with nobody else around They saw him from a distance.

All they could say was whoa We didn't expect this. This was nothing like I thought it was gonna be we had heard some things About what he had lost we had heard about his health, but oh my word. I can't believe how he looks Looks horrible Begin to weep And they began to tear their robes out of mourning for their friend Because they were coming to sympathize with them to to comfort him that's what they wanted to do first 13 And they sat down on the ground with him For seven days and seven nights With no one speaking a word to him but they saw that his pain was very Great.

I wish we could just stop right there We can't because we're going through all the conversations, right? But what changed? What happened? My man so far bill dad Eliphaz guys what what changed sitting there for seven days and seven nights. Did you sleep? Did you not sleep were you awake the whole time we know you didn't say anything you just sat there And this was the best thing you could do at the time And you came to sympathize you're doing that you came to comfort. Well, you haven't used your words yet So you haven't comforted him yet, but you're trying to be there to be a support to him because no one else is No other friends are there His wife isn't there So he came at the right time for the right motive To say the right things to do the right things But all of a sudden All that changed they went from wanting to comfort him To condemning him They they came to build him up And began to rip him to shreds They came and began to speak unwholesome words to Job and they didn't even think twice about it In fact the conversations began to grow with more and more intensity as time went on So when you come to Job chapter 18, you have bill dad and bill dad is is brutal to say the least So brutal he concludes by saying job.

You're like everybody else. You just don't know God What kind of statement is that that's definitely an unwholesome word That's definitely not something job needs to hear at this point especially because he's the greatest man in the east or by the Lord's words on the planet and He is upright God fearing right turning away from evil That's who he is So they begin to open their mouth and begin to speak and by the time we come to chapter 18 Now, you know why we had the introduction that we did There wasn't tenderness Kindness Forgiveness There was anger Malice Bitterness Outrage That they wouldn't see it his way their way that Job somehow was was blinded to the reality of what was happening in his life That Job was a wicked wicked evil man and if he would just repent he'd be okay and Because you don't repent we got to keep hammering you with the fact that you are wretched that you're a sinner Where you're gonna go because you're a sinner and we're gonna hammer you until you can't even lift your eyes again.

They came to comfort him They came to sympathize with him They saw him and were taken way back Because he looked so much worse than they could ever conjure up in their minds And now now They got to help him see why he is the way he is It's very simple You're wicked You're hiding your sin It's caught up to you You need to repent And Job says I don't think so And they said yeah Take it from us Job. That's the way it is And Job says no, I don't agree You guys in my mind are not very wise at all And that sent build that off the deep end so three points build ad Attacks build ad accuses and Then build ads argument Versus one to four hours attack Then build dad the shoe height responded how long will you hunt for words?

Show understanding and then we can talk in other words. You have no understanding job. It's your fault. We're at a Ratta impasse here job. It's you You don't have understanding job You keep hunting for more words you keep wanting to speak say things that aren't true But simply job you just don't understand what's happening we do you don't why are we regarded as beasts and Stupid in your eyes. Well, you read it, you know why Why do you treat us like beasts like we're trying to shred you apart because that's what you're doing You're just tearing them apart with your words What why do you say we're we're stupid job Yeah, I think that build dad was offended.

I think build dad was what took what job said Personally You see he couldn't he couldn't see the agony and the misery and the pain in job He could only hear and see what he wanted to hear and see And as soon as job said that you guys aren't as wise as you think you are back in chapter 17 He calls them all miserable comforters Tells them they are are worthless physicians Bill dad's offended. I mean after all we came all this way We made an appointment we got together And we came here for you job, and that's how you're gonna speak to us.

I don't think so job I'm not gonna let you get away with that one. Oh You before who tear yourself in your anger for your sake is the earth to be abandoned in other words They see job is angry Now job wasn't angry job probably was intense He speaks with intensity. He speaks with passion. I mean, he's the one in pain, right? He's the one who's lost everything. He has nothing And so when he speaks he's gonna speak with some kind of intensity and passion about his voice But they they would take it as anger toward them.

They took it personally Because they stopped sympathizing long ago They stopped wanting to comfort him long ago As soon as he said something that they didn't agree with or didn't like they took an offense Now they're on the attack That's what build that is He says for your sake is the earth to be abandoned or the rock to be moved from its place in other words Job look you're trying to convince us that this is happening to you and You're righteous But you see that goes against the way things are You're asking God to abandon the way he set up the universe.

You're asking God to abandon the way he's He's orchestrated everything. We know Job that the righteous are blessed and the wicked are punished We know that but you're asking God to turn that all upside down and go about it another way We just don't agree with that job, but they weren't right Because Job is a righteous man and he was suffering greatly Paul was a righteous man. He suffered with a Messenger of Satan in his side for his entire ministry There are many people who are righteous people who suffer immense pain and a lot of the wicked people They just get off scot-free Until they have to face the final judgment So all build that does is attack Job Then he begins to accuse him verse number five.

Indeed. The light of the wicked goes out and The flame of his fire gives no light the light in his tent is darkened and his lamp goes out above him Bill Jad is Addressing the miserable condition of wicked people the lights gonna go out Job your lights about to go out and Darkness is going to consume you for seven his vigor stride. This is the wicked man His vigor stride is shortened bigger stride is shortened. Excuse me and his own scheme brings him down This is what happens to the wicked man job.

And this is you that there was once where your where your stride was strong and and and long and and when you walked you walk with pride and Strength, but now now everything is shortened because you just can't do it anymore. You've lost your strength You've lost your vigor. You've lost the ability to be strong. Why you can't do it anymore, Job And is it your own scheme your own craftiness your own twistedness your own wickedness is Bringing you down and I'm not sure how much lower you can go job except in the grave He says in verse number eight He talks about his his wickedness and trapping him for he is thrown into the net by his own feet and he steps on the webbing a snare seizes him by the heel and a trap snaps shut on him a Noose for him is hidden in the ground and a trap for him on the path The fate is inescapable no matter where you go No matter where you step no matter where you're at You're gonna be caught in a trap why because if you're wickedness your fate is inescapable job.

You're going down This is the guy who came to comfort him This is the guy who came to to sympathize with him verse 11 all around terror Terrorists frighten him and Harry him at every step. His strength is famished and calamities ready at his side His skin is devoured by disease the firstborn of death devours his limbs He is torn from the security of his tent and they march him before the king Terrors king of terrors is death. It's the king of all terror, right? Hebrews 2 talks about how how Satan holds us bondage by the fear of death That's the ultimate terror in life He talks about Job's calamity.

He talks about him being his skin being devoured by a disease Job you're going down the path of all wicked people. This is what happens to them Until you get to the king of terrors death itself verse 15 There dwells in his tent nothing of his Brimstone is scattered on his habitation His roots are dried below and his branch is cut off above in other words Because the root is destroyed the branches are destroyed Brimstone being scattered on his habitation speaks of the fire coming down upon Job's home Memory of him perishes from the earth and he has no name abroad.

This will happens to wicked The memory's gone There's no name no reputation left, but that's not Joe see He's characterized Job wrongly Job's memory will continue. We're reading about Job now, right? James talks about the patience of Job Even the world talks about the patience of Job and they have no idea who Job is. They call him job The book of Job right? They know Job is But it's all right there you see the memory carries on why because his name is a great name Speaking of his character. It's great He's driven from light into darkness and chased from the inhabited world.

In other words Wicked men are banished from this place He has no offspring or posterity among the people nor any survivor where he sojourned in other words job You've lost it all all your kids your legacy. It's gone There's no one there to follow you job. It's over Those in the West that is those who have gone after him are appalled at his fate And those who are in the east have gone before him are seized With horror when the observer sees this is their reaction Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked and this is the place of him Who does not know God?

That's how that ends In other words Joe, this is how it ends for the wicked This is what's happened to you. Guess what Job? Conclusion you probably don't even know who God is It's Let no one hold some word proceed out of your mouth Only that which is good and edifying to those who hear That she might minister grace to them They had a great intention when they started out But when Job didn't see things the way they saw him saw them they became angrier and angrier a Joke They just couldn't get him to see their side They were the ones who who they just could not listen to his pain They could not hear his pain because they were so preoccupied with their own reputation that you're calling us stupid You're calling us worthless physicians.

They're more concerned about their reputation than Job's condition They're more concerned about Job seeing things their way than really understanding the way things are with Job in reality So sad So sad Job He'll respond to this and we'll look at it next week in chapter chapter 19 But as he sits there I can't help but think about the spirit of Bildad Living today That same spirit That judgmental condemnatory critical attitude filled with anger and malice bitterness and wicked wickedness Being spoken To others It surfaces in those closest to us It surfaces in our marriages in a conversation with our spouse That's where the the spirit of Bildad rises up to its highest point We can become very critical of husband or wife We can become very critical of our children or children other parents And we can begin to pass judgment on them not really knowing all the situation before them Happens with parents to children coaches with their teammates doctors and physicians with their patients teachers with their students Very easy to be critical But the way things are instead of really trying to understand Why are things this way?

Why have you responded this way? How can I sympathize with you in your situation? Help me understand what you're going through what you're thinking What's happening with your emotions? Let me know let me in So somehow I can minister grace To those who hear So important Now If build that really believed that Joe didn't know God This is the wrong way to handle it If you really believe that that Joe didn't know God and just didn't want to use it as a put-down He'd really sit back and think you know what Joe.

I'm concerned about your relationship with with the Living God Let me talk to you about about our God That wasn't his approach Not at all Isn't it interesting that the Bible says I think it's Luke chapter 4.

Yeah Luke chapter 4 verse number 22 Luke writes all bore witness and wondered at the gracious words Which proceeded out of the mouth of the Messiah? The gracious words A great study is to do Christ's interaction with the unbeliever all throughout the Gospels His interaction with them is Different than the unbelieving Pharisees the the legalists the ritualistic people It's different Because he talks to them in a way that helps them understand their condition And Even with a rich young ruler when he when he walked away the Bible says that the Lord felt love for him in his heart Because he did he had compassion Matthew chapter 9 He looked at the multitudes and as he saw the multitudes had great compassion for them as he wrote it to Jerusalem He wept over Jerusalem knowing their spiritual condition And the bill dad was really concerned about Job not knowing God He had the classic opportunity To begin to present the true and living God to him first of all by modeling to him a Godlike response to his condition and Then speaking to him as God would speak to him about his eternal soul But he didn't do that Not at all He just wants to lash out at Job when you say this is the end of the wicked person who don't know God and Job This is where you're at.

And so the conclusion is you don't know God either Not trying to help him understand who God is if you think about this a I think of the fact that that It's imperative that we do come to know God, right Then we come to know him in a in a way in which he is known in Scripture I Thought about that and I thought about how well do we know God? Right, I told you before there there are four principles in life that that should govern everything you do I'm gonna give them to you again. I gave them to you earlier in our in our series I gave them to you during our study of the book of Daniel But it's this to be is always more important than to do right Who I am is always more important than what I do.

So to be Character is always more important than what I do conduct The number two is what happens in me is always more important than what happens to me What happens in me is always more important than what happens to me because God is at work in my heart Continually the inner man is being renewed day by day Even though the external man's fading away.

The the internal man is being renewed day by day So what happens in me is more important than what happens to me. That's number two number three being faithful is more important than being successful and number four Knowing God is more important than knowing anything or anyone else Knowing God is more important than knowing anything or anyone Else Knowing God is everything in Job knew his God Did he understand everything about God no, he didn't But for a man who didn't have theology books For a man who didn't have a Bible Okay for a man who didn't have great Bible teachers He knew a lot about his God And that's evident by his testimony we'll see it again next week when he knows that his Redeemer will stand on the earth his Redeemer lives That next week So he knows he has a Redeemer He knows he will stand on the earth He knows that a Redeemer lives so he understands probably a death and a resurrection of the Redeemer you understand something But the fact of the matter is is that every one of us needs to be in the process of getting to know our God so I thought about this and I and I wrote some things down and you know we We say that we know that God is love But that's the case.

Why are our lives so insecure? That's a good question If we truly know that God is love and That love is an unconditional love. Why is my life so insecure? Could it be that I really don't know the God who is the God of love? If I know that God is Is all wise That God is wisdom He's given me the spirit of wisdom Then why is it I act so foolishly all the time That's a good question Do I really know the wisdom of God If I say that I know the power of God that he's omnipotent that he's the Almighty God the as you new Testament calls in the Pantocrator as the Old Testament calls them El Shaddai the Almighty God Why is it I live in so much fear?

If He is Almighty he is all-powerful He's a creator of heaven and earth. Why is it I would even begin to fear anything anyway? But we do So I ask myself how well do I know my God if I believe that God is all-knowing that is omniscient Then why is it I don't know where to go tomorrow And God knows if God is omniscient why is it I don't know what decision to make If God is awesome Which he is why do I live as if he's insignificant in my life? If God is Forgiving Why is it I find it so difficult to forgive others Do I really understand the forgiveness of God?

And that's always a tough one because whenever we put our series of forgiveness on the radio it is the number one listened to spot and Always people want to hear more They want CDs.

They want how can they listen to this again and again and again? Because forgiveness is important Tenderheartedness kindness and forgiveness But if we do believe that God's a forgiving God and God forgives me of all my sin Why is it I have a hard time forgiving other people. Do I really understand God's forgiveness? Do I really understand how he's forgiven me And if I truly believe that God is sovereign and know him it's up Why is it I? Murmur and gripe and bellyache all the time when things go awry Those are good questions.

It's very practical questions Questions that that would help us to understand that I need to somehow know more about my of my God Because I want to live for my God See the more I know my God the more he rubs off on me, right? The less I know him the less he rubs off on me knowing God is not about an intellectual awareness of God Everybody's got that everybody knows there's a God who exists. They might not know his name But they know there's a God there's a creator. They understand that so it's not about an intellectual awareness It's not about gaining a whole bunch of information about God I know a lot of people who have a lot more information about God than I do, but they don't even know who God is It's all about how God rubs off on you it's a conformational thing He conforms you to his image when you know God you talk like God You respond like God you speak like God You just follow God Now you do it perfectly no, none of us does it perfectly but there's this ever-increasing growth in my life Where I'm beginning to look more and more like my God I'm beginning to to be able to speak more and more like my God would speak Because I know who he is How he responds and what he says You see the problem with Bildad, Zophar, and Eliphaz is they really didn't know God very well, and they thought they did And the guy they thought didn't know God Really did know God Intimately see and they wanted to condemn him Because in their minds They he didn't know the God they knew like they thought they knew him But they really didn't know him not very intimately at all So when Paul is in that Mamertine prison in Rome just about to be Be killed He asked for Timothy to send the scrolls to come to come to him quickly come before winter and bring the scrolls and the parchments Why because the depth of his heart all that I may know him The power of his resurrection the fellowship of his sufferings Paul you're gonna die next week relax dude.

You're gonna be in his presence You don't know everything then nope bring bring the parchments bring the scrolls I Need to feed more I Need to learn more. I want to learn all I can before he takes me home to be with him That's what it should be for us right a longing Being driven to the word to hear the word spoken to read the word written And to be able to understand all that my God is My prayer for you and for me If as we come to know God There'd be less and less unwholesome words that come from us and More and more wholesome words good words kind words tender-hearted words So we can minister grace to everybody around us.

I Throughout the conversations probably a lot different than it does in chapter 18 But Job Job will respond as he always does Patiently articulating his belief Is God let's pray father. We thank you for tonight. What a joy it is to be able to To look into the Word of God As we gather together in the middle of the week, we realize Lord that it's a few more days until Sunday first day of the week We're making it through till we get to the end of this week And our prayer father is that the word spoken Word preached from the book of Job and the book of Ephesians Will be a word that would touch us all Move us and motivate us to live for the glory of our King And then I give glory to your name every day Or go before us We don't want to converse with others like like build it does he's so brutal so unkind Maybe with kindness and tenderness and forgiveness speak to those round about us But they would know the true condition of our heart we don't want to grieve the Spirit of God at all We want to please the Spirit of God So may the Word of Christ dwell in us richly Be at home in our hearts So when we open our mouth Your words God's words the Word of God comes out to minister grace to those who hear in Jesus name