Stop Complaining, God is Just!
Job 34
March 13, 2016
We are now studying the final human discourse of the book of Job.
(Certainly God has yet to speak)
We heard from Job and three of his friends repeatedly.
31 chapters of this book carried us through that mess of a debate.
And when the smoke cleared nothing was solved.
• Job’s friends had repeatedly sought to condemn Job without cause.
• Job had sort of pushed back so hard against their accusations that he actually
began to accuse God of being unjust.
It was a mess.
And this stalemate is what produced this sermon from Elihu.
Elihu was the youngest of the friends and therefore
Was hesitant to stand and speak to the situation.
But because of his:
• Holy Zeal
• Spiritual Wisdom
• Genuine Humility
• Deep Conviction
• Absolute Impartiality
Elihu was compelled to enter the conversation.
You can easily divide what Elihu has to say up into 4 main points.
Each of these points is devoted to two things.
1) Defend God’s character
2) Rebuke Job’s complaining
LAST WEEK we listened as Elihu told Job to
Stop complaining because God was great.
Elihu quoted Job’s rant which was recorded in Job 13
• About how God could find nothing on Job,
• So God invented things against Job,
• And then punished him for it.
And specifically Job was angry because
God wouldn’t give an account of why He was doing such things.
Elihu stepped in to tell Job that he was not right in uttering such things
Because God is greater than man.
That is to say, God’s ways are higher than man’s, God’s wisdom is greater than man’s, God’s purposes are better than man’s.
If you take the things God does and why He does them…
And you take the things man does and why he does them…
And you set them both side by side.
You’ll see that God’s ways are always enormously greater.
It was the concept behind what Isaiah said:
Isaiah 55:8-9 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.”
Then Elihu explained to Job that God had been speaking to him.
• God had been speaking through terrifying dreams.
• God had been speaking through intense pain.
Both of those, Elihu reasoned, were for the purpose of crushing pride
And leading man to repentance and ultimately redemption.
It was not destructive in nature, it was redemptive in nature.
Therefore, Elihu was very adamant with Job that
He shouldn’t complain about God bringing hardship into his life
When all God was doing was working on Job’s behalf.
Elihu told Job to stop complaining because God is great.
TONIGHT we move to the second point of Elihu’s lecture, which we would summarize as: STOP COMPLAINING, GOD IS JUST
If you will remember Job had been flirting very heavily with this line.
Job actually reached a point where he began to believe that
He, and not God, was the just one.
His thinking went like this:
• I know I am innocent
• I also know God is punishing me
• So if God is punishing the innocent, that must mean that God is doing
something that is not right.
Therefore, it is me and not God who is the just one in this situation.
You will actually see Elihu recount Job’s words to him in this matter,
And correct Job for saying them.
So after defending God’s greatness, Elihu stands to defend God’s justice.
Before we get into that, I want to make sure we are all on the same page when we talk about “Justice”.
• What exactly is it?
• What is Elihu talking about when he mentions it?
The justice Elihu is referring to is spelled out throughout the chapter.
(10-12) “Therefore, listen to me, you men of understanding. Far bit it from God to do wickedness, and from the Almighty to do wrong. For He pays a man according to his work, and makes him find it according to his way. Surely, God will not act wickedly, and the Almighty will not pervert justice.”
It is clear from that passage that according to Elihu,
God does not offer improper judgments.
The word for “justice” in the Hebrew is MISHPAT (mish-pot)
And it speaks of a proper judgment.
Elihu is saying that God is not corrupt.
We further see his meaning later:
(17-19) “Shall one who hates justice rule? And will you condemn the righteous mighty One, Who says to a king, ‘Worthless one,’ To nobles, ‘Wicked ones’; Who shows no partiality to princes Nor regards the rich above the poor, For they all are the work of His hands?”
From that verse we have an even better understanding
Of what Elihu means when he says that God is just.
To Elihu, the opposite of justice would be partiality.
A just judge would rule with justice regardless of the person,
A wicked judge would show partiality based on who was being judged.
Elihu strongly holds that God does not do this.
Deuteronomy 10:17 “For the LORD your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who does not show partiality nor take a bribe.”
2 Chronicles 19:7 “Now then let the fear of the LORD be upon you; be very careful what you do, for the LORD our God will have no part in unrighteousness or partiality or the taking of a bribe.”
• Job had begun to claim that God was perverting justice and that he was wrongly oppressing him.
• Elihu takes strong offense so as to say that God never perverts justice.
3 things
#1 THE ISSUE
Job 34:1-9
Now you should notice that Elihu has changed his primary audience,
At least momentarily.
• Chapter 33 was directed at Job.
• The beginning verses of chapter 34 are directed at Job’s friends.
(1-2) “Then Elihu continued and said, “Hear my words, you wise men, and listen to me, you who know.”
It is possible that Elihu could be speaking sarcastically here since these three men had been humiliated by Job, but that isn’t necessarily the case.
Elihu is angry at them to be sure, but nothing has suggested that
He would fail to offer them the respect that the aged deserve.
What we see is that Elihu takes issue with their inability to address Job’s claims. And Elihu wants them to rethink their stance.
(3-4) “For the ear tests words As the palate tastes food. “Let us choose for ourselves what is right; Let us know among ourselves what is good.”
If you’ll remember
• Part of the reason Elihu was mad at the three friends was because
they had “condemned Job”.
• But the other reason he was angry was because “they had found
no answer”
Here he wants them to consider the answer.
(5-6) “For Job has said, ‘I am righteous, But God has taken away my right; Should I lie concerning my right? My wound is incurable, though I am without transgression.’”
There again Elihu quotes Job.
Job 9:20-24 “Though I am righteous, my mouth will condemn me; Though I am guiltless, He will declare me guilty. “I am guiltless; I do not take notice of myself; I despise my life. “It is all one; therefore I say, ‘He destroys the guiltless and the wicked.’ “If the scourge kills suddenly, He mocks the despair of the innocent. “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?”
It is clear that Job claimed that God was unjustly punishing him.
Elihu reiterates that claim to his friends.
Then Elihu says:
(7-8) “What man is like Job, who drinks up derision like water, who goes in company with the workers of iniquity, and walks with wicked men?”
Now this is another one of those statements that I told you about earlier
Where we would wonder if we agreed with Elihu.
• We know that Job was “upright and blameless, fearing God and turning away from evil.” God made that abundantly clear.
So it seems strange to us that Elihu could make such a statement.
We agree that few people have drank as much “derision” (scorn) as Job,
But the concept of him walking with wicked men baffles us a little.
It tends to make us think maybe Elihu isn’t right.
But as we said, God did preserve his sermon, and did not rebuke it so we really don’t want to get into the habit of questioning those who speak in Scripture, especially when God doesn’t correct them.
Let me help you understand what Elihu is and isn’t saying.
• Elihu isn’t saying that Job physically ran around with the wicked and did wicked things.
• Rather, Elihu is saying that Job’s words put him in the company of wicked men.
Let me take you to the end of the chapter real quick.
Job 34:36 “’Job ought to be tried to the limit, Because he answers like wicked men.”
This is the issue.
Elihu is merely saying that Job’s negative words
Sound more like the words of a wicked man than they do a man of God.
And to further emphasize his point,
Elihu quotes Job one more time.
(9) “For he has said, ‘It profits a man nothing when he is pleased with God.’”
Now first you should know that
Even Job admitted that these types of words are the words of the wicked.
Job 21:14-15 “They say to God, ‘Depart from us! We do not even desire the knowledge of Your ways. ‘Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him, And what would we gain if we entreat Him?’”
Job knew that it was the wicked who said there was no value in pleasing God.
And yet Job did say:
Job 9:29-31 “I am accounted wicked, Why then should I toil in vain? “If I should wash myself with snow And cleanse my hands with lye, Yet You would plunge me into the pit, And my own clothes would abhor me.”
So Elihu is right.
• Job was speaking like wicked men.
• He had said that he was righteous and God had afflicted him unjustly, and therefore there was no use serving God.
And if you are following along, Elihu is angry that
Job’s other friends were not able to accurately refute Job for this.
THAT IS THE ISSUE.
So Elihu calls these three men and basically says, “Have you not heard the words that Job has spoken? Do you not have an answer for him?”
And of course, the truth was, they didn’t.
That is The Issue
#2 THE ANSWER
Job 34:10-15
Now because they had no answer for Job,
Elihu gives them the answer here.
(10a) “Therefore, listen to me, you men of understanding.”
I’m about to give you the proper answer to Job’s foolish words.
And we can break this section down into three important things
That Elihu wants these friends to remember.
1) REMEMBER GOD’S JUDGMENT (10-11)
(10-11) “Therefore, listen to me, you men of understanding. Far be it from God to do wickedness, And from the Almighty to do wrong. “For He pays a man according to his work, And makes him find it according to his way.”
Elihu reminds these three friends that God is an honest Judge.
• He does not “do wickedness”
• He does not “do wrong”
• Instead, “He pays a man according to his work”
And of course you know that this is a universal truth of Scripture.
Hebrews 9:27 “And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,”
Paul said:
Romans 2:5-11 “But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS: to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation. There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God.”
Jesus said:
Matthew 13:47-50 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind; and when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach; and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away. “So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
He said again:
Matthew 16:27 “For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and WILL THEN REPAY EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS.”
Revelation 22:12 “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.”
You get the point.
God judges, and He judges righteously.
Now certainly He doesn’t always do it in this life (which was the error of Job’s friends) but God does judge righteously.
Job had attested that there was no value in pleasing God,
Elihu says that is absolutely not true.
The value will be clearly seen at the judgment.
At the judgment,
God will not punish the righteous, nor will He acquit the wicked.
There is value in pleasing Him.
Remember what the writer of Hebrews said to those struggling Hebrews?
In chapter 6 he was warning them of the danger of apostasy.
He had told them that those who claim to have a relationship with God and then fall away cannot possibly be brought to repentance, and then he likened them to ground that refuses to use the rain God provides and thus ends up being burned.
But then the writer of Hebrews said this:
Hebrews 6:9-10 “But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way. For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints.”
You can hear his point.
God isn’t unjust. God doesn’t forget the fruit you demonstrated.
Your faithfulness to God and His people will not be forgotten.
Jesus said:
Matthew 10:42 “And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward.”
There is value in pleasing God because God is just.
Remember His judgment
2) REMEMBER GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY (12-13)
(12-13) “Surely, God will not act wickedly, And the Almighty will not pervert justice. “Who gave Him authority over the earth? And who has laid on Him the whole world?”
We already know that God does not pervert justice,
But here is a question you should ponder.
Who determines what justice is?
You?
When Elihu asks “Who gave Him authority over the earth?”
He is asking, “Who put God in charge?”
“Who is God going to answer to for the way He operates?”
And of course you know that the answer is no one.
• God put God in charge.
• God answers to no one.
• And justice is defined by God, not you, and not Job.
Justice is defined by what God does.
Therefore it is impossible for God to act unjustly.
Whatever He does, that’s what justice is.
Remember God’s judgment, remember God’s sovereignty
3) REMEMBER GOD’S MERCY (14-15)
(14-15) “If He should determine to do so, If He should gather to Himself His spirit and His breath, All flesh would perish together, And man would return to dust.”
Typically men say that God is unjust
When God does things that they don’t think they deserve.
Pain or suffering or affliction and man cries out, “That’s not fair!”
All they really reveal is that they have a skewed understanding of “FAIR”.
Elihu reminds here that if it weren’t for God,
Man wouldn’t even have a life to live, much less a “fair one”
Remember when James was warning about making all these plans in arrogance without consulting the will of God?
He wrote:
James 4:15 “Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.”
This is an area where our American understanding works against us.
We are all familiar with the statement from The Declaration of Independence:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Now as far as humans relate to humans we certainly agree.
No human has the right to steal life from another human, etc.
But understand that God is under no obligation
To provide any of those things.
He does provide them however out of His mercy.
But we can’t shake our fist at God and say He’s treated us unfairly
When our entire being is nothing more than a gift from Him.
This was the argument Paul made when defending God’s justice.
TURN TO: ROMANS 9:10-18
It has never been a matter of God being fair.
If God were fair, we wouldn’t have life at all, and if we did,
We’d most certainly be condemned to hell because of our sin.
But God, because He is merciful, has given us life and offered us mercy.
So we never have the right to complain to Him for getting a bad deal.
We have been given a tremendous deal.
Elihu tells Job’s friends that this is how they should’ve answered.
• You should have reminded Job of God’s judgment.
• You should have reminded Job of God’s sovereignty
• You should have reminded Job of God’s mercy
But Elihu was angry at Job’s friends because they told him none of that.
All they did was try to prove that Job had sinned enough to deserve it.
The Issue, The Answer,
#3 THE REBUKE
Job 34:16-37
Elihu now turns his focus back to Job
In order to once again correct the misguided grumblings of Job.
If I could give you a quick summary of Elihu’s rebuke here, it is this:
He rebukes Job for wrongly accusing God
And in the process taking up the words of the wicked.
• Job complained that God was unjust and there was no value in pleasing Him.
• Elihu reminds Job that not only is that absolutely untrue, but only the wicked
who deserve judgment would say such a thing.
Elihu will start out by reminding Job of:
God’s impeccable record of justice and impartiality.
(16-20) “But if you have understanding, hear this; Listen to the sound of my words. “Shall one who hates justice rule? And will you condemn the righteous mighty One, Who says to a king, ‘Worthless one,’ To nobles, ‘Wicked ones’; Who shows no partiality to princes Nor regards the rich above the poor, For they all are the work of His hands? “In a moment they die, and at midnight People are shaken and pass away, And the mighty are taken away without a hand.”
I know in our day it has become common place to criticize and lambast our leaders, but in Job’s day that was not the case.
If there was anyone whose good side you wanted to be on, it was the rulers of the day.
• They had the ability to make life really good for you
• They had the ability to take your life from you.
Perhaps no one received more partiality than the rulers of the day, and yet Elihu reminds Job that God certainly wasn’t one who gave it.
• God has absolutely no problem calling a king a “Worthless one”
• God has absolutely no problem calling a noble a “Wicked one”
• God didn’t favor the “princes”
• God doesn’t favor the “rich above the poor”
They are all equal to Him because they are all “the work of His hands”
If you want a good example of this, I’ll show you one of my favorites.
• King Jehoshaphat was king of Judah, and Ahab was king of Israel.
• They wanted to go in together and fight against Aram.
• Jehoshaphat asked that they first inquire of the Lord,
• So Ahab called all his prophets and they all prophesied very favorably.
1 Kings 22:5-6 “Moreover, Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “Please inquire first for the word of the LORD.” Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said to them, “Shall I go against Ramoth-gilead to battle or shall I refrain?” And they said, “Go up, for the Lord will give it into the hand of the king.”
But Jehoshaphat could tell that they were only there to flatter the king
For their own evil purposes.
1 Kings 22:7 “But Jehoshaphat said, “Is there not yet a prophet of the LORD here that we may inquire of him?”
I love King Ahab’s response:
1 Kings 22:8 “The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the LORD, but I hate him, because he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.” But Jehoshaphat said, “Let not the king say so.”
Well Micaiah comes and first sarcastically says
The same thing all the other prophets said,
But Ahab knew picked upon the sarcasm and told him to speak the truth.
1 Kings 22:17-18 “So he said, “I saw all Israel Scattered on the mountains, Like sheep which have no shepherd. And the LORD said, ‘These have no master. Let each of them return to his house in peace.'” Then the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Did I not tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil?”
And this was just one of many examples where God would send one of His prophets to do anything but flatter the king.
• Isaiah did it with Ahaz
• Jeremiah did it with Zedekiah
• John the Baptist did it with Herod
God does what no man does, He is totally impartial,
Even with the most powerful of the world.
Job has no right to question God’s justice
When it is obvious that God does not show partiality.
Elihu goes on to explain why God is able to ALWAYS JUDGE SO ACCURATELY, and it is because God is OMNISCIENT.
He knows man perfectly and so He always judges man perfectly.
(READ 21-30)
You can see that God knows these wicked rulers.
He knows everything they do,
And so God has absolutely no problem punishing them.
In particular for their oppression of the poor.
The point is obvious, you can’t question God’s justice.
It is always on display.
And then comes the rebuke of Job.
Elihu here quotes Job again.
(31-32) “For has anyone said to God, ‘I have borne chastisement; I will not offend anymore; Teach me what I do not see; If I have done iniquity, I will not do it again’?”
He is reminding Job of how he approached God and demanded that God tell him what he did wrong so that he could fix it.
Job 7:20-21 “Have I sinned? What have I done to You, O watcher of men? Why have You set me as Your target, So that I am a burden to myself? “Why then do You not pardon my transgression And take away my iniquity? For now I will lie down in the dust; And You will seek me, but I will not be.”
Job 13:23 “How many are my iniquities and sins? Make known to me my rebellion and my sin.”
Certainly asking God to search your heart
And reveal your sin are not bad things.
But it is evident here that, at least from Elihu’s perspective,
That is not what Job was doing.
Job wasn’t honestly asking for God to show him his sin.
Job was daring God to find sin in him.
Job was convinced that he had done nothing deserving of such treatment So he demanded God to show him what the problem was.
Elihu here is dumbfounded, basically saying, “Have you ever heard anyone talk to God like that?”
And Elihu asks Job (33) “Shall He recompense on your terms, because you have rejected it?”
That is to say, “You have rejected God’s terms by calling them all into question. Do you really expect God to have to answer to yours?”
And then he tells Job “For you must choose, and not I”
Again saying: “You are going to have to figure out if you are going to submit to God, or if you are going to try and force God to submit to you.”
And let’s hear your answer: “Therefore declare what you know.”
Elihu is calling Job on the carpet for his arrogant demands of God.
And if that were not enough, he reminds Job of what his words sound like.
(34-37) “Men of understanding will say to me, And a wise man who hears me, ‘Job speaks without knowledge, And his words are without wisdom. ‘Job ought to be tried to the limit, Because he answers like wicked men. ‘For he adds rebellion to his sin; He claps his hands among us, And multiplies his words against God.'”
It is important to note that these are NOT Elihu’s words.
He is merely saying that this is what any wise man would say to your demands.
• Anyone who heard what you said would determine that you speak “without knowledge” and “without wisdom.”
• Anyone who knows anything would hear your words and say that you ought to be “tried to the limit” because you talk “like wicked men.”
• Anyone who knows anything and heard you would say that you are adding “rebellion” to your sins and multiplying your “words against God.”
And so Elihu’s rebuke of Job becomes clear.
STOP COMPLAINING, GOD IS JUST
• You shouldn’t open your mouth and call God into question like you
have, that is something the wicked do.
• Furthermore God doesn’t deserve your attacks, His track record of
justice is impeccable.
SO WHAT DO WE TAKE AWAY FROM THIS?
1) Regardless of what you face in this life, know that God is not treating you worse than you deserve.
• After all, He didn’t even have to give you life to begin with.
• And anything beyond eternity in hell is certainly more than we deserve.
2) A heart that grows bitter against God for trials in life is not a heart that demonstrates righteousness.
• God has called His children to give thanks in all circumstances, not to grumble when things go poorly.
3) Never lose sight of who God is and what He deserves. Your difficulties do not change the fact that God deserves glory.
• We certainly would say that Elihu felt compassion for Job in his suffering, but there was no way Elihu was going to let Job malign God because of it.
And that is an important distinction.
God is just, He always does what is right,
And at the end of your life it will be more than evident
That you have been treated far better than you deserved.
Don’t be like the wicked who only complain about God,
Be like the redeemed who are grateful for God,
And glorify God.
STOP COMPLAINING, GOD IS JUST
Romans 9:14 “What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be!”
