In Job chapter 30, this is one of the last few chapters where Job is speaking to his
three friends.
In chapter 29, he was talking about how good he had it before these calamities had come
upon him.
Just how much respect he had, how much physical prosperity he had, just how people treated
him and how they looked at him.
Now in chapter 30, he's talking about how bad things are now, just how much things have
changed.
Chapter 31, he's just going to say to his three friends for the last time that he is
innocent of any wrongdoing and he lists off all the sins that he did not commit and tells
them that he's innocent and then at the end of chapter 31, they're going to finally just
leave him alone and walk away from the conversation.
Then we're going to enter a whole new section of the book of Job.
So in chapter 30, he's lamenting how bad his condition is.
Of course we know that Job is covered in boils from the sole of his foot all the way
to the crown of his head.
He has these itching, burning boils all over his skin.
He's scraping himself for relief.
His ten children have died.
His wife has told him to curse God and die.
All of his business is gone.
He's lost all of his wealth.
He has nothing and then when his three friends come to comfort him, all they do is just insult
him and tell him that it's his fault that these things are happening to him.
So he's pretty much at the lowest point that a person could be and he's expressing that
to his three friends in Job chapter 30.
He says in verse 1, but now, because he's saying but now, as opposed to in the last
chapter when he's talking about how good things used to be, but now they that are younger
than I have me in derision whose fathers I would have disdained to set with the dogs
of my flock.
So Job, as he often does, is exaggerating a little bit in this, but he's definitely
not exaggerating about how bad he has it because he does have it that bad, but he's talking
about how these people that look down on him are people that are so lowly that even their
father, meaning someone who is even higher in rank than they are, their father, basically
he wouldn't even put them with his dogs.
And now they have him in derision.
They look down on him.
He said, I'm so low they're looking down on me.
He says the dogs are the flock because when you have a flock of sheep or goats, they'll
have dogs there just to help with the herding and so forth.
And dogs in the Bible are not an animal that is given great status.
Now we look at a dog today in 2014 and we say a dog is man's best friend and we think
dogs are wonderful animals.
But honestly, throughout history and throughout the Bible, dogs are looked at as being a low
animal as far as just being kind of a dirty animal.
And when you think about a dog, the Bible uses the word dog, believe it or not, to refer
to sodomites.
The Bible actually calls homosexuals in the Old Testament, calls them dogs.
That's just God looking for a derogatory term to refer to sodomites.
He'll use that word, dog.
So that shows you that the dog is not real high on the totem pole as far as animals go.
And he's saying, these people are so vile, I wouldn't even set them with the dogs in
my flock.
They look down on me now.
He's saying, I have no respect, I have no honor, no dignity left.
Verse 2, he says, Yea, whereto might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom old age
was perished?
For want and famine they were solitary, fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate
and waste, who cut up mallows by the bushes and juniper roots for their meat.
They were driven forth from among men.
They cried after them as after a thief, to dwell in the cliffs of the valleys and caves
of the earth and in the rocks.
Among the bushes they braid, under the nettles they were gathered together.
They were children of fools, yea, children of basemen.
They were viler than the earth, and now am I their song, yea, I am their byword.
So again, he's just talking about just the lowliest people of mankind.
People that are such derelict, such just criminal, derelict, he said they're viler than the earth.
When he says the earth there, he's referring to the actual, the soil itself.
He's basically saying they're viler than dirt.
When the Bible used the word dirt, it's talking about excrement, and when the Bible used the
word earth, it's referring to what we would call dirt.
So he's saying these people were viler than dirt.
I mean these people lived out in the wilderness, they're driven from mankind, if they ever
came to town they'd be driven away because they're thieves, they're just derelict, scummy
kind of people that just eat whatever they can find and just live homeless and all this.
Now here's the thing about homeless people.
There are people that are homeless people that aren't bad people, so we should never
look at a homeless person and just judge them and say hey, this guy's just a bad person,
this guy's just a drug addict or a derelict, because we don't know the situation that led
to that person becoming homeless.
If you looked at Job in Job chapter 30, if you looked at Job you might have looked at
him and said he's a derelict, he's homeless, he, you know, whatever, and formed all kinds
of conclusions about him, sort of like his three friends were.
And the Bible says judge not after the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.
And so we never want to just look at somebody who's a derelict or homeless and just assume
that they're a bad person, assume that they are there because of sin in their life.
But that being said, let's face it, many people today are homeless because of sin in their
life.
You know, we don't want to just live in this weird dream world where every homeless person
is a victim and every poor person and every person that's living under an underpass is
there through no fault of their own, they're just a little down on their luck.
Now are there people that are down on their luck?
Of course.
Are there people who are there because of circumstances that are beyond their control?
Yes.
And that's why we should not just judge people based on the appearance.
But let me say this, many people today that are homeless, face the fact, are there because
of drugs.
That is the biggest reason.
When you talk to them and when you speak to the homeless, many times it will become apparent
to you very quickly that they are there through a lot of sinful behavior that got them to
that point.
Again, not all of them.
We don't want to just stereotype and say, hey, they're all this way.
But we'd also don't want to be the way our society is that just puts blinders on to reality
and just nope, nope, every poor person's a victim.
Every homeless person's a victim.
Now some people are poor because they choose to live the life of a derelict.
They don't want to get up in the morning.
They don't want to take responsibility.
They don't want to go to work.
They want to take drugs.
They want to drink.
They want to be a fool.
And they have put themselves in that position.
Many people that you talk to that are homeless, they do not have their mental faculties about
them.
And I'll tell you a big reason why.
Because they've taken drugs and they've destroyed their brain with drugs.
And let me tell you something.
You young people, you kids, you need to listen to this.
Don't ever play around with drugs.
Don't ever experiment with drugs.
Don't ever take drugs.
You say, well, I'm just taking some soft drugs.
But a lot of times you'll get soft drugs and the dealer that will give you those soft
drugs will put something else in that.
So that you'll really like the stuff he gives you and then you'll go back for more.
And I told the story about my neighbor who was just completely out of his mind for several
days.
And he told me, he said, you know, all I did was smoke marijuana.
But he said, I think that somebody put something else in the marijuana.
And so he ended up taking some kind of a hardcore drug when he thought that he was
just smoking marijuana.
He took something much more hardcore, ended up just frying his brain.
You know, I've never talked to him since then.
I haven't seen him around.
But the last time I talked to him, he was completely out of his mind.
Now I don't know if his mind is going to come back.
I don't know if he's back to normal.
I haven't seen him around the neighborhood.
I don't know where he is.
I don't know what happened to him.
And I hope that someday I'll be able to see him in the neighborhood and walk up to him
and talk to him and he's going to be back to his normal self.
But there are many people who, they take drugs, they take drugs, they take drugs, and then
they get one bad batch of drugs.
One bad batch of cocaine or one bad batch of whatever, and they fry their brain permanently
and irreparably on drugs.
And then they spend the rest of their life living in filth, living in the dirt, wandering
around.
The type of people that Job's talking about.
Isn't that what he's talking about?
People are just wandering around, they're dirty, they're viler than dirt, and they're
just eating whatever they can find and they're just driven from society because they're
just thieves and they don't work, they don't do anything.
That's where sin leads you, my friend.
Sin can often take you to a life of complete failure.
And by the way, it's not always drugs, it's often alcohol that turns people into drunks.
And I can tell you about many people I've known who became a drunken homeless derelict.
I know a guy personally.
He used to love to collect classic cars and he had all these classic cars and he always
had money and he was always a high rolling kind of guy.
That guy today, because of being a drunk, what the world calls an alcoholic, what the
Bible calls a drunkard, he today, if you look to them, looks like a homeless person.
He spends a lot of time homeless or living at his dad's house as a 50, 60 year old man.
He's with his dad, he's homeless, he's just a drunk.
He's a derelict.
Okay, that's where sin takes you.
In the end, it just destroys your life, it takes you down a downward, and that's not
where you think it's taking you, but you just snort one more line of cocaine and then boom,
your brain is gone.
Again, a good friend of mine, his brother, snorted cocaine for a long time.
Wealthy man, successful man, snorted a lot of cocaine on the weekends and he just fried
his brain one time and now he wanders the streets of Sacramento as a non-violent defender,
as a homeless person, as a derelict.
So when you look at people by the side of the road that are derelict, sometimes you
can just look at them and it is obvious to you that they are a drug user, or it is obvious
to you that they're a drunkard, all the signs are there, and you know what, it should be
a warning to you of the dangers of sin, because we're all human, and any of us, if we get
into sin, could go down a bad path and end up in a place like that.
It should be a warning unto us.
But what's Job saying?
Why is he bringing those type of people up?
I'm just trying to help you get a picture of who he's talking about.
Just really derelict, sinful people who are just not parts of society, they're not working,
they're not doing anything with their life.
He says, I'm their song, in verse 9.
He's saying basically, they're making fun of me.
They're criticizing me, they look down on me, that's how low I am right now.
And he says, I am their byword, they abhor me, in verse 10 there, often in the Bible
abhor means hate, it also just means to look at with disgust.
He's saying they abhor me, they flee far from me, he's saying they want nothing to do with
me, and spare not to spit in my face.
Now what does byword mean?
At the end of verse 9 he says I'm their byword.
A byword is basically when somebody's name is used just to refer to a bad condition.
For example, if you wanted to call someone a traitor, you wanted to say that they're
a traitor, you might call them what?
A Benedict Arnold, right?
Or to be more spiritual you might call them a Judas Iscariot, right?
So if someone's a traitor you'd say, oh that guy's a total Judas Iscariot.
Or hey, that guy's a Benedict Arnold.
Why?
Because Benedict Arnold, I mean most people, if I were to ask someone to stand up right
now and tell me the whole story of Benedict Arnold, just kind of articulate to me who
he was, what his treason was, okay, I mean how many people could do that right now?
You know, a couple people.
But here's the thing, how many people said Benedict Arnold when I said somebody who's
just a byword for a traitor?
How many people would have thought of Benedict Arnold?
Way more people.
A byword is something where it gets to the point where you might not even know the story,
but one thing you know for sure, Benedict Arnold was a traitor.
You know what I mean?
And so a traitor, that guy's a Benedict Arnold.
That's a byword.
And you can think of other examples of just people who've been so famous for something,
and sometimes even at a job there'll be somebody who becomes a byword.
I remember we were soldering microphones one time, and this guy Tom, he accidentally soldered
this thing before he put the cover on, so then he had to unsolder it, put the cover
on, and then solder it again.
So then from then on that just became pulling a Tom.
Don't pull a Tom now, somebody'd start to solder, ah, don't be Tom.
Don't be Tom.
And it just never ends.
That's why you don't want to be a byword.
Or people will say like this, a Jim Jones.
What do they mean if they say, hey, he's like a Jim Jones?
Like a cult leader, right?
He's like a Brigham Young.
He's like an Ellen G. White.
He's like a Joseph Smith.
But anyway, they say he's like a Jim Jones, or he's like a David Koresh.
You throw these names out there, and what do you mean by that?
You're basically just using them as the worst possible example.
So Job is saying, I'm their byword.
Like man, don't end up like Job, you know, you don't want to be Job.
That's what people were saying.
They're using him as just the worst example.
Even derelicts, he was the derelict of derelicts.
You know, even the vilest people are saying, you know, yeah, at least I'm not Job.
So he's just trying to really emphasize how bad he has it here and how low he's got.
Isn't it amazing that God allowed one of his children, in fact the most righteous man living
on the earth at that time, to get this low?
Think about that.
But we think that, oh, God's just going to always bless us and always we're going to
be just doing, everything's going to be great, we're going to be healthy, wealthy, safe all
the time.
We're not going to go through anything.
But look, this proves right here that Christians can go through some really bad times.
Now I want to point out, especially in verse 16 where he says this,
And now my soul is poured out upon me.
The days of affliction have taken hold upon me.
He's saying, I'm going through right now days of affliction.
And the Bible says in Psalms, many are the afflictions of the righteous, but out of them
all the Lord delivereth him.
Now is Job eventually going to be delivered from this affliction?
Of course, if you read the end of the book of Job, he's blessed, everything's great,
but he goes through these days of affliction that are worse than anything I've ever gone
through, worse than anything you've ever gone through, and it's probably worse than anything
we can imagine.
All the children dead, wives basically spitting in your face and telling you to curse God
and die.
Friends forsake you.
You're the derelict of derelicts.
You're dirty, you're covered in sores, you're in physical pain, emotional pain.
You feel that God has totally forsaken you.
It's pretty much the worst afflictions imaginable, and Job's going through it, and he's one of
God's people, he's a righteous man, he's a godly mind, yeah he's going through it.
Now what's a synonym in the Bible of affliction?
Go to Mark 13.
Go to Mark 13, in case you don't believe me, but a synonym of affliction is tribulation,
and I'll just prove that to you from the Bible so that you can see what I mean by this.
There are many places we could prove this from the Bible, but Mark 13 is a good place
because the Olivet Discourse is where Jesus takes an entire chapter in the four gospels
and he teaches on Bible prophecy, he teaches on the end times, he teaches on the end of
the world.
He does not teach on the end of the world in every chapter, but he's provided us with
one chapter in each of the four gospels, really in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, because John covers
it in Revelation.
But in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, he sets aside an entire chapter that just deals with the
end of the world, the end times, and things of that nature.
And of course the end times revolve around a major event known as the tribulation.
It's something that you hear a lot about whenever you're studying end times prophecy,
and it says in verse number 24 of chapter 13, it says, but in those days after that
tribulation, okay, now the that tribulation is obviously referring to some tribulation
that he already talked about, right?
Because he's saying in those days after that tribulation, after what tribulation?
Well back up and read about it in verse 19.
In verse 19 it says, for in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning
of the creation, which God created unto this time, neither shall be.
So he says at that time there's going to be great affliction, such as was not since the
world began.
Now if we were reading this in Matthew 24 verse 21, it would say, for then shall be
great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of this world, no, nor ever so be.
So it's the same quote, it's the same statement in Matthew 24 and Mark 13.
One of them's using tribulation and one of them is using affliction.
And then he even refers back to it in verse 24 of Mark 13 as after that tribulation, referring
to the word affliction.
Go to 1 Thessalonians chapter 3, just go a few pages to the right in your Bible.
1 Thessalonians chapter 3 is another good one that shows us that affliction and tribulation
are synonymous.
It says in 1 Timothy 3-2, and sent to Mothius our brother and minister of God and our fellow
laborer in the Gospel of Christ to establish you and to comfort you concerning your faith.
Look at verse 3, that no man should be moved by these afflictions, for yourselves know
that we are appointed thereunto.
For verily when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation
even as it came to pass, and you know, he's saying you shouldn't be surprised that you're
going through afflictions because we told you that we're appointed unto tribulation.
Because tribulation and affliction are used synonymously throughout the Bible.
These are just a couple of examples to prove that to you.
But here's what's so funny.
People will often quote 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 9, flip over, 1 Thessalonians 5, 9.
This is the verse that's often quoted by those who believe in a pre-tribulation rapture,
those who believe that Christians will be removed from this earth before the great tribulation.
This is their go-to verse, 1 Thessalonians 5, 9.
I heard a story about a pastor, the pastor told me this story, he went out to dinner
with another pastor, and he said, he said, I want you to give me one great verse for
each doctrine that I name for you.
He said I'm going to give you a doctrine, and I want you to give me one powerful verse
that explains why we believe in that doctrine.
He said, okay, you know.
So he said, the virgin birth, and he said, behold a virgin shall be with child, a virgin
shall conceive and bring forth a son who shall call his name Immanuel.
He said, okay, give me one on the inspiration of the Bible, for all scripture is given by
inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, 2 Timothy 3.16.
You know, give me a verse on the deity of Christ, Hebrews 1a, but unto the son he saith,
thy throne, O God, is forever and ever.
Give me a verse on justification by faith, you know, Romans 3, you could say, therefore
we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
Somebody throw a doctrine at me that we believe.
Give me a doctrine.
What's that?
Baptism.
Yeah, Jesus when he was baptized went up straightway out of the water, buried with him by baptism
into his death, okay?
That shows the baptism by immersion, doesn't it?
Buried by baptism.
Jesus, when he was baptized, came up straightway out of the water.
They went down, both of them into the water, Philip and the eunuch, he'd be baptized.
Any of those verses would work.
Or you know, baptism, how about the fact that baptism is after salvation, you know?
What doth enter me to be baptized?
If thou believeth with all thine heart, thou mayest.
You said eternal security, you know, we could say John 10.28, and I give unto them eternal
life and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
Give me another one.
Acts 2 31, this spake he of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell,
neither did his flesh seek corruption.
You know, any doctrine that we stand on that we believe, we should have a scripture that
backs up that doctrine, and we just have one clear scripture.
Just baptism by immersion, buried with them by baptism.
They went down both into the water.
You know, salvation by faith, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not
of yourselves the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should oppose.
He of Christ, you could throw 1 Timothy 3 16, boom, whatever you want.
You know, I mean, there's so many examples we could give, okay?
So he did this at this restaurant, you know, he was hitting him with all these doctrines.
He said, pre-tribulation rapture, and it's just silence.
And he said, take your time, you know, we're still waiting for the food, take your time,
it's alright.
Eventually, after several minutes of thinking, because it had to be one powerful verse, not
like, well, we know this, and we know this, and because this, you know, just one verse
that just says it.
I mean, is there a verse that says Jesus is God?
Absolutely.
Is there a verse that says that, you know, we have eternal life, and that we shall never
die and never bear?
Is there a verse that just says that when they are baptized, they go down underwater?
There's a verse like that.
Okay, is there a verse that just flat out says everything that we believe there ought
to be?
Otherwise, it's not one of our key doctrines at all.
It's obviously nothing that's that important, you know, if we don't have a clear scripture
that just tells us that that's what we believe.
But the pre-trib rapture, there is no scripture that says that the rapture is before the tribulation
because it's a lie, and that's why there's no scripture.
Now if somebody said, you know, well give me a clear scripture on the post-trib rapture,
you know, Matthew 24, 29, immediately after the tribulation of those days, you know, Jesus
Christ comes in the cloud, etc., boom, there it is, you know.
Or if you say, well, no, that's three verses, you know, 29 through 31, okay, you just want
one verse, how about confirming the souls of the disciples and exhorting them to continue
in the faith and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God?
How's that?
Acts 14, 22, how's that one verse for you?
But anyway, this guy at the restaurant, after he thought for several minutes, he finally
came back with his one powerful verse for the pre-trib rapture as 1 Thessalonians 5.9.
This was it.
For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.
There you have it folks, pre-trib rapture.
Or you'll, and I've had many people quote this to me as the verse, this is the verse
why we know there's a pre-trib rapture because God has not appointed us to wrath.
The other one they'll point to is sometimes 1 Thessalonians 1.10 that Jesus delivered
us from the wrath to come.
But notice, they don't say tribulation, they say wrath, okay?
But here's what's so funny about this verse.
In 1 Thessalonians 5.9, it says, look down at your Bible there, it says, for God hath
not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.
What did it say in chapter 3?
Put it back over.
Verse 3, that no man should be moved by these afflictions, for yourselves know that we are,
same word, appointed there unto.
For verily when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation,
even as it came to pass, and you know.
So in chapter 3, he clearly tells us, we are appointed to tribulation.
We are appointed to afflictions.
And then in chapter 5, he says we're not appointed to wrath.
So isn't it funny how they love to quote the not appointed to wrath and completely ignore
where it says we're appointed to tribulation?
Same word, appointed to tribulation, appointed to affliction, not appointed to wrath.
So do you think it's a coincidence that chapter 3 says we're appointed to tribulation, chapter
4 deals with the rapture, chapter 5 says we're not appointed to wrath.
Isn't that the biblical order?
Tribulation, then the rapture, then God pours out his wrath afterward.
That's why we believe in a post-tribulational pre-wrath rapture, a rapture that comes after
the tribulation but before God pours out his wrath.
That is what the Bible actually teaches.
That's what the Bible actually says.
But they selectively, it's funny, I remember when I first learned 1 Thessalonians 3 by
memory, I memorized the chapter, I remember thinking, I've never heard a sermon out of
any of these 13 verses.
I mean I've been in church my whole life.
I've been an independent Baptist my whole life and I have never in my entire life heard
any sermon on any of these 13 verses in 1 Thessalonians.
Why are preachers today neglecting entire chapters of the Word of God?
Especially the New Testament.
I mean you think, there's only 260 chapters in the New Testament.
Why are entire chapters being neglected and ignored?
I'll tell you why.
They fly in the face of what's being taught.
The popular doctrine of the pre-trib rapture.
So this argument that says God would not pour out his wrath on his own people, well of course
God's not going to pour out his wrath on his own people, but is God going to allow his
own people to go through affliction?
Is he going to allow his people to go through tribulations?
Absolutely.
And there's going to be a great tribulation someday such as was not since the beginning
of the world to this time, no nor ever shall be.
And you say, well surely God would not allow his children to go through that great tribulation.
It's too much tribulation.
But hold on.
Is it worse than what Job went through?
I don't believe that Christians that are living in the time of the tribulation, I don't think
they're going to have it as bad as Job did.
I mean that would be pretty tough to beat what Job went through.
I don't think anybody is going to go through what Job went through.
I think Job went through the worst of all worlds.
I mean of health, of just physical pain, of just losing children, losing the respect of
his wife and his friends.
Okay, Christians in the tribulation are going to suffer great affliction and tribulations,
but still it's not going to even be what Job went through.
So to sit there and say, well God would never do that to his people, or God would never
allow his people to go through that.
Does that really match up with what we read in Job?
Because Job is saying, and go back to Job chapter 30 if you would, Job says in chapter
30, and now my soul is poured out in me.
I mean he's saying I'm done, I'm just poured out here.
He says, now my soul is poured out upon me.
The days of affliction have taken hold upon me, and I will submit to you tonight that
Job's days of affliction were severe affliction, severe tribulation that Job went through.
And yet Christians today think, oh God would never allow, God would never allow his children
to go through that.
He allowed Job to go through worse.
And you say, well the Bible says it's tribulation such as was not right.
It's tribulation that the world has never seen.
But on an individual basis, Job's personal tribulation was worse than what individuals
will be facing being beheaded or imprisoned in the tribulation.
The vast majority of Christians will not go through the level that Job went through.
So what does that tell you?
It tells me that God does allow his people to suffer.
The Bible says, for unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe
on him, but also to suffer for his sake.
So to say, hey we as Christians aren't going to suffer, we're not going to go through hard
times, we're not going to go through afflictions, we're not going to go through trials and tribulations,
is just a lie of the prosperity gospel.
It's a Joel Osteen style message, it's a Kenneth Copeland, Joyce Meyer style message that just
tells you live your best life now, and God wants you to be happy every day.
It's not reality, my friend.
Now thank God for all the joy that we have in our lives and for all the good things that
he gives us, the pleasures and the blessings and the prosperity that he blesses us with
and that we live in America, that we have good food to eat.
But to say that we're not going to be persecuted or suffer or that we couldn't possibly go
through even something similar to what Job went through is a lie.
Why is the book of Job even in the Bible?
It's an example.
The Bible tells us why the book of Job is in the Bible, in James 5 it says, it is an
example of suffering, affliction, and of patience.
And that is an example for us today in the New Testament.
James 5, the New Testament book of James tells us that the book of Job is our example of
suffering what?
Affliction.
Take, my brethren, the prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord as an example of suffering,
affliction, and of patience.
You say, why do you make such a big deal about the word affliction in Job chapter 30?
Why are you spending so much time on that one word?
Move on to something else.
Because James 5 says that the whole point of this book is that Job is an example of
suffering affliction.
So we need to pay attention to the affliction.
And what does the word affliction mean?
Look up the word affliction throughout the Bible.
How is it used?
I showed you what it's used, synonymous with tribulation.
And we go through, every believer goes through trials and tribulations.
And then one day there will be a great tribulation.
Christians today are not spared from tribulations.
Christians of the past have not been spared of tribulations.
And the Christians of the future in the time of the great tribulation will also not be
spared.
But they will be delivered either through the rapture, if they can survive the tribulation,
which many will survive and make to the rapture because the days will be shortened, or they
will be martyred for Christ.
And the Bible says, be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
He says, behold the devil shall cast some of you into prison.
Is everybody going to prison?
No, he said the devil shall cast some of you into prison.
He said, ye shall have tribulation ten days, be thou faithful unto death, and I will give
you a crown of life.
So I just wanted to make a point about that term affliction.
That's what Job's going through.
He's going through bad times, tribulation, affliction.
That's what that means.
It uses the word affliction also about the children of Israel when they're in Egypt.
When they're in bondage and they're being whipped and forced to work and they're slaves.
That was called a time of affliction for them.
The Bible says in verse 11, well let's go to verse 10 just to get the context.
They abhor me, they flee far from me and spare not to spit in my face.
He's talking about these really derelict people, these dirty homeless criminal type.
He says because he has loosed my court, meaning God has loosed my court, and afflicted me.
So again, you see how this is a key word folks?
God has afflicted me.
They have also let loose the bridle before me.
Upon my right hand rise the youth.
They push away my feet.
They raise up against me the ways of their destruction.
They mar my path.
They set forward my calamity.
They have no helper.
What is he saying there?
He's saying the young people are persecuting him.
They're kicking him while he's down as it were.
And he says they have no helper.
What does he mean by they have no helper?
He's saying they don't need any help.
I mean the young people themselves are persecuting me and are making fun of me and attacking
me, assaulting me, hurting me.
This guy has no dignity left.
I mean he's in the dust, he's in the dirt.
He's been humiliated.
He says they have no helper, verse 14, they came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters,
in the desolation.
They rolled themselves upon me.
Terrors are turned upon me.
They pursue my soul as the wind and my welfare passeth away as a cloud.
And now my soul is poured out upon me, the days of affliction have taken hold upon me.
My bones are pierced in me in the night season and my sinews take no rest.
What's he saying with that, my sinews take no rest?
He talked about this in other parts of the book of Job, how he's having trouble sleeping
at night.
Now you can understand why he's having trouble sleeping at night because he's in so much
pain.
I mean he's laying there and his sinews, which is, the sinews would be connective muscle
type tissue, you know you've got your tendons, your ligaments, your sinews, it's just tissues
that have to do with controlling your joints and so forth through the muscular system.
And he's saying my sinews take no rest.
He talked about earlier in the book how all night he would just wish that it would be
morning because he just passed through nights of suffering.
And often when you're going through sickness or pain or injury, night is when things hurt
the most.
And the reason why is that when you lie down to rest at night, your body goes into a repair
mode.
Throughout the day, your body will kind of make the pain go away and help you to function
a little bit just because our bodies are designed to help us get things done and function throughout
the day.
And so the pain will subside throughout the day and allow us to work and do things.
But then when we lay down at night, our body realizes, okay, we're resting now.
So then your body goes into a repair mode.
So for example, if you do any kind of really hard exercise or maybe you go to a job where
you physically work harder than you normally work.
Maybe you're not used to swinging a sledgehammer and one day you're asked to swing a sledgehammer
for eight hours.
And you're using muscles that you're not really used to using.
At the time, you're tired, you're struggling to do it, but you feel okay.
It's not painful.
But then what will happen is you wake up the next morning, right?
Oh, man.
Or let's say you go on a really strenuous hike, for example.
For example, to the top of the tallest mountain in Arizona.
At the time, you're feeling, yeah, we did it, all right, great.
But then the next day, you're going to be in pain.
You will be in pain this coming Tuesday morning if you go on the hike on Monday.
Why?
But you say, why does it not hit you until a day later?
It's called delayed onset muscle soreness because it's when your body goes to repair
that sometimes you'll feel the worst pain.
And I don't know about you, but I've sometimes woken up in the middle of the night in pain.
Who's ever just woken up in the middle of the night in pain?
And when you went to bed, you felt fine.
You go to bed, you feel okay, right?
And then you just wake up because you're in so much pain.
Your muscles are just hurting or your bones are just hurting, maybe because you did something
really strenuous.
I know I've really done stuff that was strenuous and then just woke it up in the middle of
the night just in severe pain.
Job isn't even getting any relief at night.
He's covered in boils, but even his muscles are hurting at night.
I don't know why his sinews are hurting at night, but this guy is a physical wreck.
When you're covered in boils from head to toe and then when you go to bed at night,
it's not enough the pain of the itching and burning from these boils on your body, these
pus-filled boils that you're scraping with a piece of pottery, but also even his joints
and his muscles are just hurting and inflamed and waking him up in the middle of the night.
He can't even sleep at night.
He's saying, my bones are pierced in me in the night season and my sinews take no rest.
By the great force of my disease is my garment changed.
It bindeth me about as the color of my coat.
He's saying, my disease is so bad, remember he's got these boils head to toe, that his
clothing is binding him about.
What does it mean to be bound?
If I said that someone was bound, or the Bible talks a lot about binding or people being
bound, usually binding is tying somebody up, if you're bound.
His clothing is restrictive unto him or binding unto him, binding him about.
You have to picture that if you had these type of sores on your body that he has, that
he's scraping himself and he has these boils, which are filled with pus and there's bleeding
involved, you can imagine how your clothing would cling to that.
You know, have you ever had a wound and then you get, you know, your clothes stick to it?
Now, ripping off a Band-Aid is not that hard because a Band-Aid, which was only invented
about 100 years ago, by the way, the Band-Aid is an invention of 100 years ago, Band-Aids
are designed to come off without hurting you.
So that's why if you feel the little bandage part on the Band-Aid, it feels kind of plastic-y
a little bit.
It's designed not to stick to your wound, that's why.
That's why the only part that's bad about the Band-Aid coming off is the adhesive.
It just rips all the hair out of your arm or whatever.
That's why you have to remove it quickly.
Don't be one of those people that just slowly peels it back, you know, you just got to just
yank it off, all right?
But what I'm saying is that Band-Aids usually are designed, and obviously there are a lot
of other Band-Aids that would predate the Band-Aid that weren't necessarily as good
about this, or maybe they were, maybe they weren't, depending on the bandage, but you
don't want a bandage to just be fabric, because if you just put fabric on a bloody wound,
the scab is going to become part of the fabric, and then when you rip off the fabric, you're
just reopening the wound.
And basically, I think that's what he's saying, is that basically his clothing is bound, he's
being bound in his clothing.
By his disease, the force of his disease, it's corrupting his clothing.
The blood or the pus is going into the clothing and binding it unto him, is what I believe
this is referring to.
Because he says, by the great force of my disease is my garment changed.
It's affecting his garment, or clothing.
It bindeth me about as the collar of my coat, okay, you know, the collar is something that's
pretty tight onto your skin, and basically it's tight onto him, clinging to his wounds.
I mean, you say, good night, why are you painting such a horrible picture?
Well we're just trying to learn the chapter, we're trying to understand what Job's going
through.
There's a reason why it's in the Word of God.
God wants us to understand what kind of suffering Job went through as an example of suffering
affliction of patience.
It says in verse 19, he hath cast me into the mire, and I've become like dust and ashes.
I cry unto thee, now he's talking directly to God, I cry unto thee and thou dost not
hear me.
Now we know that God hears Job when he calls unto him, but this is how Job feels.
I mean, Job doesn't know how the story's going to end.
Job is not reading this thousands of years later, knowing how it's all going to turn
out.
I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me, I stand up, and thou regardest me not.
Thou art become cruel unto me, with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me.
Thou liftest me up to the wind, thou caused me to ride upon it, and dissolvest my substance,
for I know his substance refers to his goods, his possessions, his money, his food, whatever
he owns.
For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.
Albeit he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction.
Did not I weep for him that was in trouble?
Was not my soul grieved for the poor?
When I looked for good, then evil came unto me, and when I waited for light, there came
darkness."
So basically Job's calling out to God, saying, you know, why aren't you listening to me?
Why have you forsaken me?
And even Jesus on the cross said, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
And that's how Job feels right now.
And he's saying, God, what is going on?
And he's saying, when I saw people that were poor, when I saw people that were suffering,
he says in verse 25, did not I weep for him that was in trouble?
And did not my soul grieve, was not my soul grieved for the poor?
And you know, what he's saying is, God, why would you do this to me whenever I saw people
going through bad stuff?
I didn't just laugh at them, I didn't just blow them off and say, tough for you, buddy.
He said, I cared, I wept for them, I grieved for them, I felt bad for them, God.
Why are you doing this to me?
And the reason he brings that up is because the Bible does command us to rejoice with
them that rejoice and to do what?
To weep with them that weep.
And the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 13, it says, remember them that are in bonds as
bound with them, and them which suffer adversity as being yourselves also in the body.
He said, you know, when you look at people that are, you know, you look at your brothers
and sisters in Christ, you look at other Christians that are going through hard times, they're
suffering, maybe they're bound, like being in prison.
He said, remember them that are in bonds as bound with them.
I mean, when you think of those that are your brothers and sisters in Christ, that are imprisoned,
you should, you know, in spirit be bound with them.
And them which suffer adversity, those who are going through hard times, as being yourselves
also in the body, like you were in their place, you were in their body, you were in their
shoes.
We need to sympathize with those who are going through bad times, and Job's saying, I did
that, you know, why is this happening to me?
And of course we know why it's happening, because God's just testing him, and he's going
to come out like gold, and he's going to come out better.
But this is a lesson that we need to learn, that when we see people going through bad
times, we need to have sympathy with them, and we need to weep with them, with them that
weep.
We should not be just cold and heartless and uncaring, and when we see our brother and
sister in Christ struggling, maybe they lose a child, maybe they lose a job, maybe they're
just going through illnesses, we need to care about that person.
We need to do the good deeds for them, of course, but not only that, in our heart we
need to care, and in our heart we need to feel bad for them, and say, man, I can feel
what it would be like to be in that position.
That's what we need to try to understand, weep with them, and rejoice with them that
rejoice, and weep with them that weep.
When we see people going through hard times, we need to learn to sympathize with them,
and not to just coldly sit back and say, well, better them than me.
We need to be with them in spirit.
The Bible says in verse 26, when I looked for good, then evil came unto me, and when
I waited for light, there came darkness, my bowels boiled and rested not.
The days of affliction, there's that term again, prevented me.
I went mourning without the sun, I stood up and I cried in the congregation.
I'm a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.
My skin is black upon me and my bones are burned with heat.
So what does he mean when he says I'm a brother to dragons?
Is he teaching evolution there, you know, when he says I'm related to owls?
Is he talking about being a distant cousin because of billions of years of, no.
Obviously the Bible, I was just witnessing to a guy this afternoon that was a scientist,
you know, and he was defending to me evolution, he was defending all the biogenesis and spontaneous
generation and all the crazy stuff that is taught today in the name of science.
The Bible calls it science falsely so-called.
He's defending all this stuff to me, and why am I bringing this up?
Oh yeah, and I told this guy, I said, you know what, I said, it's impossible to believe
both the Bible and evolution.
You can't, because the Bible just defeats evolution in chapter one.
I mean, you either have to believe in evolution or you can believe in the Bible, because the
Bible says everything brings forth after its own kind, and he said he made the animals
and they brought forth after their own kind, and he made the plants and they brought, it's
almost ridiculous how many times it says after their kind.
I mean, when you're reading Genesis 1, you're almost like, okay God, I get it, it's after
their kind, because he just keeps repeating it.
After his kind, after his kind, after their kind, okay, it's after their kind, I get it,
but why did God keep repeating it?
He knew the lies that they come up with.
He knew what they'd say.
God knows the end from the beginning, and he put so many verses in there just to make
sure that anybody without excuse, that anybody who believes evolution just knows that they're
denying the word of God.
They're just denying the scripture.
They're denying Genesis, because he clearly said over and over again, you think that's
a coincidence?
That he just makes a big deal after his kind?
And a couple hundred years ago, you'd wonder, what's the big deal about that?
Now we know why he repeated it so much.
It's for us in these last days to understand the fraud that is evolution.
And they always say, oh, we found evidence of evolution, because this little bug went
from being brown to black.
That's not a different kind.
It's still a beetle.
It's so stupid, like, look at this, we finally found evidence of evolution.
This bug didn't have spots, and now it has spots on it.
And yet creationists will say, I saw an article like that, it was about a walking stick bug.
You know those stick bugs, they look like a little stick?
And it was like the stick bug had changed from eating one kind of leaf to another leaf.
It's still a bug, it's still eating leaves.
And then I scrolled down the bottom of the news article, and the first comment said,
and yet Christians will still cling to the Bible, even in the face of this irrefutable
proof of evolution.
I mean, talk about fools.
But I told this guy, I said, you cannot believe in the Bible and evolution.
They cannot both be true.
And people will come up with all this stupid stuff, wow, microevolution, shut up.
You know what I mean when I say evolution.
I'm talking about your stupid theory that animals turn into humans.
It's a fraud, it's a lie.
Human beings are made in the image of God and are not even close to being an animal,
except you live like an animal.
That's why you want to believe that.
You want to believe you're an animal to excuse your animalistic behavior.
But the Bible says here, you know, my brother, he said the dragon, let me find the scripture,
I'm a brother to dragons and a companion to owls.
What he's saying is basically he's living amongst wild animals and he's just mentioning
animals that are nocturnal also, and animals that are just wild animals.
You know, owls are not what you see and think of from perhaps a Tootsie Roll commercial
or something.
You know, owls are actually fierce creatures.
You know that?
I mean, if you see an owl, because I've been to a couple of fairs and, you know, amusement
parks and places where they have animal shows and they'll have birds of prey.
And when you see an owl in real life, it's a fearsome creature.
You know, we think of it as just kind of sitting there saying who, and just like, you know,
just a cuddly creature.
But actually it's a fierce predator.
And so it's a wild animal.
Now you say, well what is the Bible talking about with a dragon?
And some of the people will make fun of the Bible, oh, the Bible talks about dragons and
unicorns and oh, the Bible, you know.
When in reality, the Bible's just using language that we're unfamiliar with sometimes.
Because the Bible is written thousands of years ago and the words that we use keep changing.
Even the English scripture was only translated in this current form that we have with the
King James in 1611, which is over 400 years ago.
So some of the words that we use today about creatures, they didn't even exist back then.
For example, the word dinosaur was not invented until the 1800s.
So people will say, oh, why doesn't the Bible mention dinosaurs?
But the Bible does mention dinosaurs, it doesn't call it dinosaur because that word hasn't
even been invented yet.
Even the Bible will talk about creatures such as behemoth that fit the bill of being a dinosaur,
gigantic, you know, land creatures and so forth.
And when the Bible talks about dragons, this could be another creature that could be classified
as a dinosaur, depending on how you want to classify it, because of the fact that a dragon
is simply a large reptile.
You know, a giant reptile would be referred to as a dragon and even today there are species
of giant reptiles that are referred to as the dragon.
I believe it's called a Komodo dragon, is that right?
And so that's just the name.
We're not talking about something that has wings, like really fat belly.
Really fat belly, really small front appendages like this, giant wings, giant belly, breathes
fire.
Okay, that's not necessarily what we're talking about.
Although an animal breathing fire is a reality, there are animals that breathe fire.
If you just study biology, you will learn that there are bugs that can blow themselves
up like a Muslim extremist.
You know what I mean?
Literally.
There are bugs that they have these two chemicals that they store and when they mix them, you
know, look out.
You know, it's like Hamas or something, they just blow up, blow themselves up like a suicide
bomber.
There are other creatures that can breathe fire.
It does exist.
So is it possible that in the past there could have existed a large fire-breathing reptile?
It is possible.
Do I believe that that ever existed?
I have no clue.
I'm not going to sit here and tell you it exists.
I know it does.
It could have existed.
We don't know that it existed.
But whatever the dragon was, it's just referring to a large reptile is what it's referring
to.
Whatever a dinosaur refers to, a large reptile.
Okay, so it's possible that there could be references to dragons that are actually referring
to dinosaurs.
It's possible.
What exactly the Bible is referring to as a dragon, we don't know, but it is just a
normal member of the animal kingdom, not a mythological or demonic creature.
Okay.
Now, the dragon is referred to Satan, Leviathan also refers to Satan in the book of Isaiah,
and Leviathan picturing Satan, the dragon picturing Satan, but also the serpent pictures
Satan.
But yet isn't the serpent a real animal?
I mean snakes are just real animals, okay.
But these are used to picture and represent Satan.
Just like Jesus Christ is the lamb of God or the lion of the tribe of Judah, Satan is
the serpent, the dragon, Leviathan, etc.
And so that's what this is referring to.
These are animals.
We don't know exactly what a unicorn was in the Bible.
It's possible that it could have been a rhinoceros.
It's possible that it was a horse with a, you know, a spiral deal coming out of its
forehead.
I mean we don't know what it was, okay.
You know, I don't want to destroy some little girl's dream, okay, on her notebook, but it's
possible.
We don't know.
But whatever it was, it's a real animal, and guess what, there are a lot of animals that
are extinct.
So some of these could be animals that are extinct or it could even be referring to animals
that are still living.
Maybe it's a komodo dragon or a rhinoceros, who knows?
Who cares?
But what we know is that it's a wild animal, and that's all he's saying.
When he says, I'm a brother to dragons, I'm a companion of owls, he's saying he's been
driven to the wild beasts, to live amongst beasts.
He's homeless, he's outdoors, that's what he means by that.
He says in verse 30, my skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.
My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep.
When he refers to the harp and the organ, he's referring to musical instruments.
And he's saying, I'm not singing.
I'm not rejoicing here.
I'm not singing happy songs, I'm weeping and mourning.
The Bible says, is any Mary among you?
It says, let him sing psalms.
Is any afflicted?
Let him pray.
Is any Mary?
Let him sing psalms.
Is any sick among you?
Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him
with oil in the name of the Lord, and so forth.
So he's just saying, look, I'm mourning, I'm weeping.
My organ is turned into the voice of them that weep.
He's just impressing upon us in this chapter from start to finish 31 verses of just, look,
I am in a horrible condition, I'm in a horrible situation, I'm miserable, I don't have any
joy, I'm not singing songs right now, my clothing is clinging to my wounds, I'm diseased, I
can't sleep at night, everybody's looking down on me, no one respects me anymore, my
wife doesn't respect me, not even the worst, derelict, hobo, homeless junkie by the side
of the road even has any respect for me.
They spit in my face, kids, young people assault me and have no shame.
But yet people think today, oh, Christians would never be allowed to suffer.
Do you believe it?
No way.
Why do I come to church pastor Anderson and hear a sermon on Job 30?
Because all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable, and the profitability
of this chapter, amongst other things, is just to show us the severity of Job's suffering,
so that it can encourage us, when we're going through suffering, we can always think, you
know, Job went through worse, how did he handle it?
What did he do?
He's my example.
And it will always be worse than what you go through.
This is rock bottom in this chapter, and that's what God's trying to teach us.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, please just help us to be prepared for suffering in our life, Lord.
I pray that you would bless us, Lord.
I pray that you'd protect us and give us our daily bread, Lord, that you'd help us to prosper
and have a roof over our head and have food and clothing, Lord.
Bless us, keep us safe, protect us, but Lord, we know that there will be some suffering
in life, Lord.
It's going to be inevitable, Lord.
Keep us strong.
Help us to stay true to you.
Help us not to be like the fools of the prosperity movement, where as soon as something bad happens,
we say, you know, oh God, I don't know what to do, and God, why did you allow me to do
this?
Lord, please just help us to realize that you've already told us it's going to happen,
and help us to be prepared for it and to be strong, Lord.
Help us to be like Job through the trials and to stay true to you, and in Jesus' name
we pray, amen.