Judgment Without Mercy
Job 15
November 8, 2015
As you know we are working through the dialogue
Between Job and his friends.
It is important that you always remember the premise behind this book.
Job was a righteous man.
• God Himself said on two occasions that Job was “righteous and upright,
fearing God, and turning away from evil.”
We know without a doubt that Job did not suffer as a result of his sin.
Job’s suffering was for an entirely different purpose.
That is key because it helps us understand
The terrible error being made by Job’s friends.
Since they day they came to console Job, they have done anything but.
They have routinely gone on the offensive against Job
To make it their personal mission to find out what Job’s sin was.
They just knew Job must have done something to bring this on himself
And they wanted to know what that was.
And they would not accept anything from Job but a full confession.
The more Job defended himself the more upset his friends have become.
At this point in the book they have all three lashed out at him
And now we are about to cycle through it again.
In short they won’t quit until Job comes clean.
And the longer Job holds out the more severe their accusations become.
Now throughout their rantings against Job we have said they have three major problems.
1) Their Lack of Compassion
2) Their Unwarranted Condemnation
3) Their Blatant Misrepresentation of God
These three realities are seen
Every time these three friends open their mouth.
But having talked about these realities at least in a broad sense,
Tonight I wanted to push a little deeper in one of these areas.
Tonight I want to specifically focus on
The lack of compassion that these men reveal.
In short, they have no mercy.
Certainly this is a massive problem.
As God Himself is merciful and our calling is to be like Him.
What I want to do tonight is first work our way through this text and just examine what has really become familiar speech from Job’s friends.
We basically hear the same old thing.
You’ve probably figured out by now that
The conversations in Job are actually pretty redundant.
• You’re still going to hear how stupid Job is
• You’re still going to hear how sinful Job is
• You’re still going to hear how stubborn Job is
What they reveal however is that Job’s friends
Had a tremendous amount of judgment
And yet were totally void in the mercy department.
James 2:12-13 “So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.”
Job’s friends certainly did not heed such advice.
But let’s listen in on yet another accusation of Eliphaz
And then take a closer look
At what it means to have judgment without mercy.
We can break down this dissertation of Eliphaz into three main critiques of Job.
#1 WHAT YOU SAY ISN’T WISDOM
Job 15:1-6
It’s really not hard to understand what Eliphaz is saying here.
• Job has just finished his longest discourse thus far.
• Job defended his wisdom to his friends after Zophar blatantly called Job stupid.
• Job said:
Job 12:1-3 “Then Job responded, “Truly then you are the people, And with you wisdom will die! “But I have intelligence as well as you; I am not inferior to you. And who does not know such things as these?”
Job told Zophar that he wasn’t stupid,
But that he knew just as much as them.
And Job then commenced to explaining what he knew.
• He knew that sometimes the wicked sin and get away with it.
• He knew that sometimes the righteous suffer.
• He knew this was obvious even in creation.
• And He knew that God was sovereign over all of it.
Furthermore Job was a little frustrated with God because of it.
We actually heard Job air those frustrations through chapter 14.
In response to Job’s claims to be wise and his rant against God, Eliphaz speaks up to tell Job that he is not wise like he thinks.
In short, Zophar was correct, you really are stupid.
Listen to Eliphaz’s rhetorical questions to Job.
(2-3) “Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge and fill himself with the east wind? Should he argue with useless talk, or with words which are not profitable?”
In other words, “Job you claim to be wise
But your speech is not the speech of a wise man.”
You have “windy knowledge” and “useless talk” and “words which are not profitable”
Those are not the sayings of a wise man.
What you say is actually the sayings of an irreverent and sinful man.
(4-6) “Indeed, you do away with reverence And hinder meditation before God. “For your guilt teaches your mouth, And you choose the language of the crafty. “Your own mouth condemns you, and not I; And your own lips testify against you.”
Eliphaz is applying that basic and true principle:
“The mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart”
Since Eliphaz thinks Job’s speech to be useless and stupid,
He takes the next step and applies that foolishness to Job’s heart.
So now, not only has Eliphaz condemned Job’s speech, but also his heart
• You think you are wise like us.
• You think you know what you’re talking about.
• But what you say isn’t wisdom.
#2 WHAT YOU SUPPOSE ISN’T TRUE
Job 15:7-16
Now you remember Job’s point that
Sometimes the wicked do prosper and sometimes the righteous do suffer.
That was Job’s belief and he said that
even creation supported those claims.
Well Eliphaz tells Job here that he obviously doesn’t understand anything
(7-11) “Were you the first man to be born, Or were you brought forth before the hills? “Do you hear the secret counsel of God, And limit wisdom to yourself? “What do you know that we do not know? What do you understand that we do not? “Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us, Older than your father. “Are the consolations of God too small for you, Even the word spoken gently with you?”
It’s not difficult to pick up on Eliphaz’s scorn.
“Boy Job you must think you’re really smart. You must think you really have God figured out. And you must think you’re the only one who knows anything about Him.”
But guess what Job:
• You weren’t the first to be born.
• We have men among us older than your father
• We know what we’re talking about
The problem isn’t that we are wrong, it’s that you don’t like the truth!
“Are the consolations of God too small for you, Even the word spoken gently with you?”
Job, you just don’t like the truth.
And that is evident in the way that you attack God.
(12-13) “Why does your heart carry you away? And why do your eyes flash, That you should turn your spirit against God And allow such words to go out of your mouth?”
According to Eliphaz the reason that Job is so upset with God
Is because he doesn’t like the truth of God regarding his judgment.
It is true that there are people today who just don’t want to hear the truth.
Paul spends much of Romans 1 talking about people
Who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.
They just don’t want to hear what God has to say.
The problem is that that isn’t Job.
The other problem is that
Eliphaz uses that as an excuse not to show mercy.
He is convinced that Job is getting what he deserves.
(14-16) “What is man, that he should be pure, Or he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous? “Behold, He puts no trust in His holy ones, And the heavens are not pure in His sight; How much less one who is detestable and corrupt, Man, who drinks iniquity like water!”
Does that argument sound familiar?
It should.
It’s the truth that the “angelic messenger” taught Eliphaz back in chapter 4.
Job 4:17-21 “Can mankind be just before God? Can a man be pure before his Maker? ‘He puts no trust even in His servants; And against His angels He charges error. ‘How much more those who dwell in houses of clay, Whose foundation is in the dust, Who are crushed before the moth! ‘Between morning and evening they are broken in pieces; Unobserved, they perish forever. ‘Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them? They die, yet without wisdom.”
That’s the same argument.
Even angels aren’t pleasing to God, so how could man possibly be?
And especially a man like you Job “who drinks iniquity like water”
And so the point of Eliphaz is that Job’s assumption that
He is suffering even though he is righteous just isn’t true.
Eliphaz would say “You aren’t righteous and you deserve what you’re receiving, you just don’t like it”
What you say isn’t wisdom What you suppose isn’t true
#3 WHAT YOU SUFFER ISN’T SURPRISING
Job 15:17-35
And in reading that section it’s easy to hear Eliphaz’s point.
The wicked suffer because they are wicked.
In fact Eliphaz lays out several specifics about the suffering of the wicked
And if you listen closely you can hear some
Very obvious links to the things Job has experienced.
• Things like writhing in pain
• Or living in terror
• Or a destroyer coming upon him while he is at peace
It’s obvious that Eliphaz is making a veiled accusation against Job here.
BUT HE OUTLINES THE LIFE OF THE WICKED.
We see the sufferings of the wicked:
(20-24) “The wicked man writhes in pain all his days, And numbered are the years stored up for the ruthless. “Sounds of terror are in his ears; While at peace the destroyer comes upon him. “He does not believe that he will return from darkness, And he is destined for the sword. “He wanders about for food, saying, ‘Where is it?’ He knows that a day of darkness is at hand. “Distress and anguish terrify him, They overpower him like a king ready for the attack,”
According to Eliphaz the wicked are in constant pain, full of terror, without hope, destined for the sword, and knowing that the worst is yet to come.
He even explains why the wicked have it so bad
(25-28) “Because he has stretched out his hand against God And conducts himself arrogantly against the Almighty. “He rushes headlong at Him With his massive shield. “For he has covered his face with his fat And made his thighs heavy with flesh. “He has lived in desolate cities, In houses no one would inhabit, Which are destined to become ruins.”
Eliphaz says the reason that the wicked are suffering is because they have acted arrogantly and defiantly against God.
But if you notice he is even specific as to how.
“For he covers his face with his fat and made his thighs heavy with flesh”
In other words, he has lived in gluttony and wanton pleasure.
(Fat = well fed)
In Job’s day there wasn’t a greater evil in the world than gluttony.
How could a person eat to such an extent when people starved all around him?
He is accusing Job of being such a person.
A person who lived in wanton pleasure and in defiance of God
And so God has attacked him for it.
And Eliphaz reminds Job that God will win this battle.
(29-30) “He will not become rich, nor will his wealth endure; And his grain will not bend down to the ground. “He will not escape from darkness; The flame will wither his shoots, And by the breath of His mouth he will go away.”
That is to say, the rich won’t survive.
God will judge them.
And so Eliphaz’s advice to rich and arrogant people like Job?
(31-35) “Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself; For emptiness will be his reward. “It will be accomplished before his time, And his palm branch will not be green. “He will drop off his unripe grape like the vine, And will cast off his flower like the olive tree. “For the company of the godless is barren, And fire consumes the tents of the corrupt. “They conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity, And their mind prepares deception.”
Eliphaz tells Job that he should not have trusted in his wealth,
Because now it has failed and all he can expect is judgment for it.
NOW, LET’S ANALYZE WHAT ELIPHAZ HAS SAID.
• He said God will judge those who seek only to get rich in this life.
• He said their riches will not save them.
• He said their punishment will be swift.
There is no way we can argue with that.
Psalms 49:10-20 “For he sees that even wise men die; The stupid and the senseless alike perish And leave their wealth to others. Their inner thought is that their houses are forever And their dwelling places to all generations; They have called their lands after their own names. But man in his pomp will not endure; He is like the beasts that perish. This is the way of those who are foolish, And of those after them who approve their words. Selah. As sheep they are appointed for Sheol; Death shall be their shepherd; And the upright shall rule over them in the morning, And their form shall be for Sheol to consume So that they have no habitation. But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol, For He will receive me. Selah. Do not be afraid when a man becomes rich, When the glory of his house is increased; For when he dies he will carry nothing away; His glory will not descend after him. Though while he lives he congratulates himself – And though men praise you when you do well for yourself — He shall go to the generation of his fathers; They will never see the light. Man in his pomp, yet without understanding, Is like the beasts that perish.”
Or listen to Jesus:
Luke 12:13-21 “Someone in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” But He said to him, “Man, who appointed Me a judge or arbitrator over you?” Then He said to them, ” Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.” And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man was very productive. “And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ‘And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.”‘ “But God said to him, ‘ You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’ “So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
Luke 16:13-15 “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things and were scoffing at Him. And He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.”
I mean you get the point.
Eliphaz was right on here.
What he was speaking (at least in a generic sense) was the truth.
SO WHAT WAS THE PROBLEM?
Well obviously his assessment was misapplied to Job.
But beyond that, his problem was that his judgment lacked mercy.
Jesus spoke what was true about the rich in this world.
Luke spent a lot of time addressing it.
And yet Luke also reveals Jesus’ mercy to a rich man like Zacchaeus.
(Jesus choosing to eat with that man)
And it wasn’t just Zacchaeus,
It was all manner of tax collectors and sinners.
Jesus spoke the truth about the judgment of the wicked
But at the same time never failed to hold out His hand
In mercy to them as well.
THIS IS WHERE JOB’S FRIENDS WERE FAILING MISERABLY.
It was judgment with no mercy.
Do you want to know who else was just like Job’s friends?
The Pharisees
They also were filled with judgment and no mercy.
Remember the woman caught in adultery in John 8?
• They dragged that woman into the open court and arrogantly claimed,
“Moses commanded us to stone such a woman. What do
you say?”
Jesus said, “Good idea, in fact, let’s stone all the sinners!”
His point was made.
EVERYONE NEEDS MERCY
BUT WOE TO THE MAN WHO REFUSES TO GIVE IT.
In fact Jesus said:
Matthew 5:7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”
In short the reason people don’t offer mercy
Is because they’ve never been given mercy.
Either that, or they never appreciated it.
Remember this person?
Matthew 18:23-35 “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. “When he had begun to settle them, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. “But since he did not have the means to repay, his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment to be made. “So the slave fell to the ground and prostrated himself before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you everything.’ “And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt. “But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe.’ “So his fellow slave fell to the ground and began to plead with him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you.’ “But he was unwilling and went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed. “So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened. “Then summoning him, his lord said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. ‘Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?’ “And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him. “My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.”
And yet, that was the Pharisees.
That was Job’s friends
They either didn’t think they needed mercy,
Or didn’t value the mercy they had received.
Jesus told the Pharisees:
Matthew 12:7 “But if you had known what this means, ‘I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT A SACRIFICE,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.”
He said the same after eating with Tax Collectors
Matthew 9:10-13 “Then it happened that as Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, “Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?” But when Jesus heard this, He said, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. “But go and learn what this means: ‘I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT SACRIFICE,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
You’re heavy on the judgement but light on compassion and mercy.
OR GO READ LUKE 15.
Three parables.
The lost sheep, the lost coin, the lost son
Do you know what sparked such direct and penetrating stories from Jesus?
Do you know the scene behind the parables?
Luke 15:1-3 “Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him. Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” So He told them this parable, saying,”
And then followed the lost coin, the lost sheep, and the lost son
Jesus was continually confronting the Pharisees
Because they were full of judgment and short on mercy.
Want another example?
Look at Jonah.
He was flat out angry that God had chosen to forgive the Ninevites.
Jonah 4 “But it greatly displeased Jonah and he became angry. He prayed to the LORD and said, “Please LORD, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity. “Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life.” The LORD said, “Do you have good reason to be angry?” Then Jonah went out from the city and sat east of it. There he made a shelter for himself and sat under it in the shade until he could see what would happen in the city. So the LORD God appointed a plant and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort. And Jonah was extremely happy about the plant. But God appointed a worm when dawn came the next day and it attacked the plant and it withered. When the sun came up God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he became faint and begged with all his soul to die, saying, “Death is better to me than life.” Then God said to Jonah, “Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?” And he said, “I have good reason to be angry, even to death.” Then the LORD said, “You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight. “Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?”
That is the only book in the Bible that ends with a question.
You are supposed to ponder it.
You are supposed to apply it.
• Do you suppose that you ought to have a little mercy in your judgment?
• Do you suppose that you ought to show compassion to those who may not deserve it?
AND THAT IS THE PROBLEM WITH JOB’S FRIENDS.
They have no interest in affording Job
A single drop of compassion or mercy.
They have actually reached the place
Where they are rooting for Job’s judgment.
In their mind Job is getting what he deserves and they couldn’t be happier
And that is a sad, sad, reality.
We live in a world where a church will protest the funeral of a military person and parade with signs that says “God Hates Fags”
We have people who actually delight in the message of judgment,
And talking about how angry God is at certain people.
And when you ask people about their eagerness to preach judgment they quickly respond, “You just don’t like the truth!”
THAT’S NOT TRUE.
• I just like the truth that God is merciful to sinners who don’t deserve it.
• I like the fact that Jesus ate with tax collectors
• I like the fact that Jesus associated with prostitutes
• I like the fact that Jesus mingled with fishermen, Gentiles and the lowly
And Jesus did it without ever condoning their sin.
• He told that woman caught in adultery, “Go and sin no more”
• Somehow Matthew knew he had to leave the tax booth behind.
• Somehow Zacchaeus knew he had to give up his possessions.
• Certainly Jesus told the Rich Young Ruler to sell his.
Jesus warned about the judgment
More than any preacher who has ever lived.
But Jesus never rooted for judgment.
Jesus never hoped for it.
His goal was always mercy and compassion.
His goal was always salvation.
John 3:16-17 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.”
Twice we heard Him say to the Pharisees, “Go and learn what this means, “I desire mercy and not a sacrifice.”
That is the problem with Job’s friends.
• All they can see is ways where Job must have obviously offended
God as though he didn’t do the right thing.
• And they fashion themselves to be on the side of God, having
done all that God required.
And God’s answer is, “I desire mercy and not a sacrifice”
WE CAN AND SHOULD LEARN FROM THIS.
James 2:12-13 “So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.”
When we confront this world, we know that judgment is real.
We preach the judgement and wrath of a holy God.
But that is not what we root for.
Heaven doesn’t rejoice when a sinner
Gets what they’ve got coming to them.
Heaven rejoices when a sinner repents.
Job’s friends had judgment without mercy
And we must make sure that this is not us.
Matthew 5:7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”
