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On Job 34, we're continuing the words of Elihu. Elihu is going to be speaking from chapters 32 through 37 and I just want to remind you of this as I get into the sermon tonight that Elihu's words are false. Job has been going back and forth with his three friends and his three friends have been accusing him of all kinds of wrongdoing and telling him that what he's saying is wrong. Now this guy Elihu comes along and he steps in and basically says, you guys haven't done a good job of answering Job but I'm going to answer Job and all Elihu really does is say the same things that the three friends said. In fact, when we get into chapter 35, some of it's even a direct quote almost from the three friends. It's verbatim what they said and of course we know at the end of the book that God was angry at the three friends and said they did not speak that which was right concerning me as my servant Job hath. And so at the end of the book, God tells us Job was right, the three friends were wrong. Well this guy Elihu, he's saying all the same things as the three friends. If we jump to the very end of the chapter, look at verse 35. It says, Job hath spoken without knowledge and his words were without wisdom. Well we know that Job was a prophet and that what he spoke was the word of God. So Elihu is saying that the word of God that Job spake is without wisdom, it's without knowledge. So again, just reiterating to you that this chapter is spoken by Elihu who is attacking Job and he is an ungodly man who's making false accusations against Job. So when we listen to what Elihu says, we need to take it with a grain of salt. Now you say, well why is this chapter even in the Bible then if it's this guy that's wrong? Well we can still learn from this chapter because we can understand why he was wrong, what he was wrong about, and that's the whole purpose of the book of Job. It's back and forth between a guy who's right and some guys that are wrong and we can compare what they say and we can understand it. By the way, being a false accuser is a major sin in the Bible and it's one that we don't think about that much or talk about that much and it seems like people are so quick to make false accusations today at the drop of a hat and it's a grievous sin in the Bible. First of all, it's one of the Ten Commandments, thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Over and over again when God is listing lists of really bad sins, he throws false accusers into that list. This guy says in verse number 7 of chapter 34, what man is like Job who drinketh up scorning like water, which goeth in company with the workers of iniquity, and walketh with wicked men. Look, he has no evidence of that. In fact, we know that not to be true from having read the whole book of Job, but yet this guy is just throwing railing accusations at, just accusing him of doing this. Now, the Bible teaches that any time somebody made a false accusation, it would be done unto them that which they wanted to be done unto someone else. So for example, if someone in the Bible was a false witness against someone who, let's say they said, hey, this guy stole something that was worth a hundred bucks, so then he has to pay four hundred bucks. Well, if it's found out that that person was a false witness, the false witness has to pay four hundred bucks, you understand? And if somebody says, oh yeah, I saw him commit the murder, and it turns out that was a false witness, the person who testified that would be put to death, since they were seeking to have someone else put to death. So we need to be careful not to just repeat things that we hear and just throw accusations at people unless we've really done due diligence and really know that what we're saying is true. We need to make sure that we're not guilty of bearing false witness against our neighbor. It's a major sin, it's a big deal. It's something that I don't put up with. People sometimes come to me with false accusations against others, as the pastor. And you know what? If somebody comes to me with a false accusation against somebody and they lie about somebody in the church and I find out that they're lying, I'm not going to let it go until that person apologizes and admits and says, I lied. I won't let it go. And I'll take two or three witnesses and I'll bring it before the church if I have to. False witness and false accusations is something that should not be ever tolerated. And that's really what the whole book of Job is, a bunch of people making false accusations against Job. And Job is righteous. Now go to 1 Timothy 5, let me show you this in the New Testament. This doctrine in 1 Timothy 5, toward the end of the New Testament, let me get there myself. But in 1 Timothy 5, God deals with the subject of false witness and people bringing a false report and so forth, and it's covered in Deuteronomy as well. And the passage in 1 Timothy 5 is actually referring back to Deuteronomy 19. If you want to put your finger in Deuteronomy 19, you can, just so that you can see how these two Scriptures go together. But in 1 Timothy 5, it says in verse 19, against an elder, receive not an accusation but before two or three witnesses. Them that sin rebuke before all that others also may fear. Now back in Deuteronomy 19, it says in verse 15, you can listen in or follow along, it says, one witness shall not rise up against any man for any iniquity or for any sin in any sin that he sinneth, at the mouth of two witnesses or at the mouth of three witnesses shall the matter be established. If a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him that which is wrong, then both the men between whom the controversy is shall stand before the Lord, before the priests and the judges which shall be in those days. And the judges shall make diligent inquisition and behold, if the witness be a false witness and have testified falsely against his brother, then shall ye do unto him as he had thought to have done unto his brother. So shall thou put the evil way from among you. That's what I just explained, but look at the next verse. And those which remain shall hear and fear and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among you. And I shall not pity, he's saying don't pity the false witness. Whatever he was trying to do to somebody, it needs to be done unto him. And then it says, that I shall not pity, but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. So in the Old Testament passage he says, look, if there's a false witness, do to them whatever they wanted to be done unto the person that they're accusing, and when that happens he said, others will hear and fear. Others will hear and fear. Remember that phrase? Look back at 1 Timothy 5, 19, against an elder, receive not an accusation but before two or three witnesses. Imagine that sin, rebuke before all that others also may fear. Same teaching. He's saying, look, people who bear false witness or bring a false accusation need to be rebuked before all that others may fear, okay? This is a serious matter, isn't it? So we need to be careful that we do not get in the business of bearing false witness against our neighbor, you know, passing on things that we don't really know are true. Now look, if somebody's done wrong, then it needs to be dealt with, but it needs to be established. It shouldn't just be a gossip or a hearsay or just a rumor, you know, it should be based on some type of evidence, right? And whether it be in the criminal justice system or just even in the house of God, we don't want to just condemn people without there being any evidence of any wrongdoing. It's important that we follow scripture in this matter. So going into Job 34 with that understanding, it says in verse 1, furthermore, Elihu answered and said, Hear my words, O ye wise men, and give ear unto me, ye that have knowledge. For the ear trieth words as the mouth tasteth meat. Let us choose to us judgment, let us know among ourselves what is good. For Job hath said, I am righteous. Now, did Job say that? Yes, but you know what? God also said that about Job, God said that about Job. God said that Job was an upright man, which upright and righteous are similar words there. Yes, Job said he was upright, but God also said that he was righteous. And then it says in verse 5, you know, Job has said, I am righteous and God hath taken away my judgment. Should I lie against my right? My wound is incurable without transgression. He's saying, hey, look, you know, I'm without transgression here. I haven't done anything wrong. But here's the thing. We know from reading scripture and from chapters 1 and 2 that he hadn't done anything wrong. So he's right about that. Look at verse 7. What man is like Job, who drinketh up scorning like water, which goeth in company with the workers of iniquity, and walketh with wicked men? Now, we already dealt with the fact that this is a false accusation, but let's stop and look at what Job's being accused of. Job is being accused of basically hanging around with and going in company with wicked men. You say, well, you know, what's wrong with that? Why would he be guilty just from hanging around with bad people? But in reality, hanging around bad people, going in company with wicked men is a sin in and of itself. Just all by itself. Go if you would to Proverbs 13. But while you're going to Proverbs 13, of course there's the famous scripture that says in Psalm 1, blessed is the man who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. His delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night. So the Bible does warn us not to go with the wicked. Now look at Proverbs, and really we could go to almost every chapter in Proverbs on this subject, because this subject is dealt with so many times in Proverbs, but just to start with, look at Proverbs 13, 20. It says, he that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. Proverbs 28, Proverbs 28, verse number 7, Proverbs 28 says, who so keepeth the law is a wise son, but he that is a companion of riotous men shameth his father. Go back all the way to chapter 1 of Proverbs. Chapter 1, just the very beginning of the book. It says in Proverbs 1 verse 10, my son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. If they say, come with us, let us lay weight for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause, let us swallow them up alive as the grave and whole as those that go down into the pit, we shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil, cast in thy lot among us, let us all have one purse, but watch the warning in verse 15. My son, walk not thou in the way with them, refrain by foot from their path, for their feet run to evil and make haste to shed blood. He's saying, look, don't even walk with these people, don't even go in the way that they're going, remove yourself far from these kind of wicked, ungodly people. Don't be a companion of fools. Don't go around with riotous men. Now if you would, let's look at this in the New Testament, okay? Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 5, I'm going to show you a few places in the New Testament where God warns us of just hanging around wicked people. And that's what Eli was saying about Job, you know, you're going in company with wicked men. You're hanging around with scornful men. Look if you would at 1 Corinthians chapter 5 where the Bible warns us against being around wicked people. It says in verse 1, it is reported commonly that there is fornication among you and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife. And ye are puffed up and have not rather mourned that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. For I verily as absent in body but present in spirit have judged already as though I were present concerning him that hath so done this deed. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ when ye are gathered together in my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Your glorying is not good, know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump." Look, this guy who is actually committing fornication with his father's wife, you're not getting rid of this guy. You're puffed up, you're prideful, and you think it's okay. And you know what? Some people actually think that somehow it's a badge to them or it's meritorious to them that they actually would just welcome people who are living in open fornication to go to their church and they would actually brag about it like, you know, we're just so loving, we're just so godly, we're just so much like Jesus that we just want to open our arms to every homosexual and every person who's living in sin and just welcome into the church. But he says that puffed up attitude is actually a sinful attitude and that leaven will leaven the whole lump. Now look, you say, oh Jesus was a friend of publicans and sinners, right. Jesus Christ sat down with unsaved publicans and sinners and prostitutes. Listen, they weren't saved. And you know what he was doing? He was giving them the gospel. He was loving them and showing them the gospel and helping them to be saved. You know what he was not doing? Hanging around with backslidden people that were saved. Because here the Bible explains it real quick. It says in verse number 9, I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators. Now this is obviously before 1 Corinthians, right. Before 1 Corinthians, Paul had written another epistle to them, okay, it's not something that's in scripture, but in a previous letter he had written unto them saying hey, don't company with fornicators. But he wants to clarify what he meant by that. He says I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators, yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world or with the covetous or extortioners or with idolaters, for then much she needs go out of the world. But now I've written unto you not to keep company if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator. So he's saying look, I don't want you to misunderstand me. When I wrote to you in an epistle saying don't company with fornicators, I wasn't saying hey you can never company with anybody out in the world who's unsaved who's a fornicator, because he's saying you pretty much have to leave the world. Because he's saying the world's filled with fornicators. But what he's saying is the people that we should not keep company with are men that are called brothers that are a fornicator, there's a big difference. Let's say there's a guy at your work and this guy's living in fornication with his girlfriend and he's not a Christian. There's nothing to say that you can't take that guy out to lunch. Let's say you guys work together, who is always eating lunch with coworkers at your job? Put up your hand if you have a job like that. I used to have a job where I'd always work with at least one other guy and we'd always go to lunch together every day. The Bible's not saying hey don't go to lunch with an unsaved fornicator, because Jesus did dine with publicans and sinners and even the prostitutes. You know what? The harlots, obviously that's fornication and yet he dined with them. The difference is when you have somebody who's a Christian in the church, someone who's called a brother and then they get into fornication, the Bible says you should not hang around with that person. You say what's the difference? The difference is that the unsaved person, they're not expected to know better. Whereas the person who's a child of God, they know better, they're grieving the Holy Spirit that's in them, they're grieving their conscience and that's a grievous sin. The problem is that other people will emulate that. If you just have people in the church that are living together but they're not married, you're sending a message to the rest of the church, hey this is tolerated, this isn't that bad, this is okay, we accept this. You know, no we're not going to accept that, we don't accept fornication. So he says look, I've written unto you not to keep company if any man that's a brother be a fornicator. What's a fornicator? Obviously that's someone who is having relations with someone that they're not married to. Then it says or covetous. Now I don't want you to misunderstand what he means here by covetous because if you say well anybody who ever covets, well that would be every single human on this planet because covet is such a broad word because covet simply means desire or lust. So this could be anything from desiring a better house, desiring more wealth than what you have, desiring a better car, you know obviously coveting your neighbor's wife is a very serious kind of covetous thing. You know there are all types of thoughts and desires that could be classified as this, but you know when the Bible talks about the person who is covetous, you have to ask yourself what does he mean by that, a brother that's covetous? Well first of all, if he's telling you to get rid of and not hang around with a brother who's covetous, you know what that means? The covetous would have to be something that you can see from the outside. Because if it was just this guy who had a bad thought, how would anyone ever know that? See what I mean? If somebody just thought to themselves, wow I wish I had a lot of money, I wish I drove that car, I wish I had a different wife. That's all just in the thought, okay? Whereas obviously these other things that are listed here, fornication, covetous, idolater, derailer, drunkard, extortioner, in order to judge these things you'd have to know that they happened. So you say, well how in the world do I know if somebody's covetous? But you know what? There are some people, you'll know they're covetous when you get around them, because you know what they do? They come to church and you know what they talk about? Money. And they talk about things and they brag about, and who's been around people like that? They brag about cars that they buy, they talk about how much they cost, they tell you how much their RV costs, they tell you how much their motorcycle costs, they tell you how much jewelry that they have costs, they tell you how much their vacation home costs, and they talk about how they're going to get a better one, and then they ask you about your car and your, I guess it's an RV, I mean it's kind of a piece of junk, but you know, I've been around people like that, and you know what? It does infect the body of Christ. When you get a person like that who's really materialistic and they want to show off possessions and talk about possessions and brag about things and talk about how they want to get more and try to get you to want to get more, you know what? When you get around people like that, you know what, I'll confess my sin to you. When I've gotten around people like that, sometimes I'll catch myself thinking things like, well maybe I do need a better house. You know, because they're telling you this house, you know, and I start thinking, maybe it is time for a new car. I mean, it does infect you, I'll be honest, I'm not above it, and I think that that's what God's saying here. You know, somebody who's just going to infect you with covetousness by talking to you about the things of this world, just desiring more money and more toys and more RVs and boats and yachts and cars and trucks and motorcycles and clothes and purses and jewelry, and you know, just having this attitude of lusting after just things, things. And we live in a materialistic society. This can creep in and it does infect. Obviously fornication can be infectious because we'll get an attitude that says, hey, it's not a big deal. He mentions other sins, he mentions fornicators, covetous, idolater, you know, what's an idolater? You know, someone who basically is praying to images or carving images, any kind of a graven or molten images. It says the extortioners, we talk about railers, drunkards, okay, so if somebody's a drunk, if somebody's a railer, what's a railer? Well, a railer is somebody who makes railing accusations. Basically it kind of goes back to the bearing false witness, just making railing accusations about people that aren't true. He says these type of people, you got to put yourselves away from these people because a little leaven leavens the whole lump, and he says in verse 13, but them that are without God judgeth, therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person. Why? Because we don't want to go in company with wicked men because we will become wicked by hanging around wicked people. I mean, what's happening to our youth today? Well, you know, they go down to the public fool system or even they go to Christian school and they start hanging around with bad kids that are a bad, corrupting influence on them. They're so young and impressionable, it's just easy for them to get into sin through their friends that they're hanging around with. So we need to be very careful that we don't hang around with the wrong people. Let's go to 2 Thessalonians 3. Now, I had a guy tell me one time, I preached a sermon, this is when I first started the church back in 2006, in the early days of our church, and there was a guy visiting from out of town and he was a really nice guy and I went out to lunch with him after the service and we talked a lot. He was a computer expert guy and I had some trouble with my computer. So he said, oh yeah, I've got nothing to do, I'll come over and help you with the computer. He was a real nice guy but he told me, he said, you know what, we got to talking about something and he said, I don't think that we as Christians are ever asked by God to separate from other Christians. I mean, he said, we should separate from ungodly false prophets and false teachers. But he said if anybody is a brother in Christ, if anybody is saved, if that person is saved, you know, we should have fellowship with that person, you know, no matter what. No matter what. He just had this idea that separation from the world is good but that separation from other believers, no. And look, there are a lot of people who believe that way. Now that's not compatible with what we just read in 1 Corinthians 5, is it? But let me just show you even more clearly in, but you say, well that guy, he wasn't saved. You know, you say that guy that was committing fornication with his father, he wasn't saved. But look how clear this is in 2 Thessalonians chapter 3. It says in verse 6, now we command you brethren in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly. Now isn't that right there saying that there are some brothers that need to be separated from? He says, look, you need to withdraw yourself from every brother that walketh disorderly and not after the tradition which he received of us. For yourselves know how you ought to follow us. For we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you, neither did we eat any man's bread for naught. Naught means nothing. He's saying we weren't just on a free ride, you know, we worked hard. He says we didn't eat any man's bread for naught but rot, rot means that they strove or worked hard, they labored. He said but rot with labor and travel night and day that we might not be chargeable to any of you. He's saying, you know, we didn't owe you any money or anything because I mean we went and we worked hard and just paid our own way. He says not because we have not power, he's saying, you know, we could have taken something from you but he said we wanted to make ourselves, verse 9, an ensemble unto you to follow us. For even when we were with you this we commanded you that if any would not work, neither should he eat. And by the way, can somebody send that to our government who thinks that we need a socialist program to feed everybody and take care of everybody? The Bible says that if a man won't work, he shouldn't eat. It's that simple. Now are there people who need help? You know who needs help? People that are handicapped. People that are elderly. You know, I mean people, I mean look, if somebody's blind, if somebody's mentally disabled, you know, we were out soul winning today and we talked to a young man that was mentally disabled and you know, I believe he got saved. I'm not sure though just because his level of understanding was questionable but you know, we spent a long time talking to this guy and you know, he was a sincere man. I believe that he got saved but he was very mentally disabled. You know, guys like that, you know, you want to help him out because you know, he's not able to just, and I'm not saying the government should do it, I believe that Christians should do it and you know, people should do it out of their own charity and their own love and their heart and not by being compelled to do it by the government. But you know, Christians and churches, you know, you want to reach out and help somebody, especially you want to help them with the gospel too, you know, and by the way, if you get to talking to somebody like that, take your time and talk to them. Don't say, oh this guy, you know, he doesn't get it, you know, and just blow them off after 30 seconds, you know. Take the time, you know, and I mean some people, they're just not going to get it because they're just mentally not all there but honestly, if somebody is sincerely listening and wants to hear, you know, you should spend time with that person because Jesus died for that person. When we go out soul winning, we're looking for that one person. We're not looking for 100 people, we're looking for one that we want to win to Christ. So you know, guys like that, they need help, you know, there are people that are elderly or handicapped or that need help but you know, able-bodied men are commanded by God to work and the Bible says that if they are not willing to work, you know, neither should they eat. And he says, you know, we tried to put an example forth in front of you of working hard and he says in verse 11, you know, we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, okay, and he defines working not at all. Like these guys aren't going to work at all, they don't even have a job. He says we hear that there are some that walk among you disorderly, working not at all but are busybodies. Now, have you ever noticed how busy people who don't work are? Now, you know, you'd think that they would just have tons of time but he says, you know, they're busybodies. What does that mean? That they meddle in other people's business. You know, busybodies and stuff like that. So he's saying, look, you know, them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ that with quietness they work and eat their own bread but gee, brethren, be not weary in well-doing and if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man and have no company with him that he may be ashamed. Watch this. You count him not as an enemy but admonish him as a brother, okay. So we're talking about save people here. He's saying, look, admonish your brother. Sometimes you might even have to separate from people. First of all, anybody who's not obeying, you know, the epistle of Paul here and basically there are people out there who say, hey, you know, the epistles of Paul aren't scripture. You know, I wouldn't have any company with that person who claims to be a Christian but rejects the Apostle Paul. You know, there are people out there like that and, you know, the Bible says that, you know, this is the word of God that Paul has written unto us. It was by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. And so we should separate from believers sometimes if they're living in sin, if they're in these major sins like fornication, extortion, whatever, or these type that are just not working at all and so forth. But go to Job 34 where we were. So that's the big thing that Job is being accused of in chapter 34. He's being accused by Elihu of going in company, verse 8, with the workers of iniquity and walking with wicked men. The workers of iniquity is a term that you'll see throughout scripture. Usually it's talking about really bad people like even reprobates, okay, when you see the term workers of iniquity a lot of the time. Of course, the most famous times in Matthew 7 when he says, depart from me, you workers of iniquity. I never knew you. But there are a lot of scriptures that actually call those that are reprobate also workers of iniquity. It's just people who just are very serious about, you know, the evil and the sins that they do. So he's accusing Job of just hanging around with the worst kind of people. Not true. He says in verse 9, for he hath said, talking about Job, it profited the man nothing that he should delight himself with God. Now Job never said that, did he? Oh man, it profits nothing to delight yourself. That's not what he said. So his words are being twisted here, okay. It says, therefore hearken unto me, ye men of understanding, far be it from God that he should do wickedness, and from the Almighty that he should commit iniquity. For the work of a man shall he render unto him, and cause every man to find according to his ways. Yea, surely God will not do wickedly, neither will the Almighty pervert judgment. Who hath given him a charge over the earth, or who hath disposed the whole world? If he set his heart upon man, if he gather unto himself his spirit and his breath, all flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust. So he's saying, God doesn't make mistakes, God doesn't do anything wrong. But look, Job didn't say that God did anything wrong. So this is kind of a straw man argument. Have you ever heard that term, a straw man? It's when you're arguing with somebody and they pin some argument on you that you didn't even make. Like for example, we have the film After the Tribulation, and a lot of people will just basically they'll spend, they write whole articles online and preach whole sermons based on the sermon after the tribulation, saying how, you know, we're saying that Jesus Christ basically comes down in the rapture, we go up in the clouds to meet him, and then just come right back down to the earth immediately. Like we don't even go to heaven at all. Like we're just caught up in the clouds and just right back down. There's nothing even remotely like that in that movie, right? That's not what we believe at all. We believe clearly that Christ comes in the clouds at the rapture, and then we're caught up together with him in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and then we're going to be in heaven with the Lord. He said I'm going to prepare a place for you, I'm going to come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am ye may be also. We talk about the great multitude that's in heaven in chapter 7. So there's nothing like that in that movie, but see what they'll do, they'll write a whole article against the movie After the Tribulation about why that doesn't make any sense that Christ would catch us up in the clouds and take us right back down. So that's called a straw man argument, because what they're doing is they're making this fictitious enemy that's not what the movie was even about. They just say well here's what the movie was about, and they just make something up, and then here's why that's wrong. And they spend a lot of time just tearing down that straw man instead of actually going after the real argument that was made. So that's basically what Elihu is doing here. He says well Job said, and he just puts all these words in Job's mouth that Job never really said, and now he's going to explain to us why those things are wrong. Oh well thank you Elihu for explaining to us that God is not a sinner, but Job never said he was a sinner, so this is all totally irrelevant. See what I mean, this type of arguing? But you'll encounter this a lot with people who are wrong, they'll just make these straw man type arguments where they build up this paper tiger and then demolish it. But it says in verse number 16, if now thou is understanding, hear this, hearken to the voice of my words, shall even he that hateth right govern? And wilt thou condemn him that is most just? Is it fit, now listen to this statement, is it fit to say to a king, thou art wicked, and to princes ye are ungodly? Yes. Yes, Elihu. What are you talking about? And then he says next, how much less to him that excepted not the person of princes, nor regardeth the rich more the poor? So he's saying hey, if it's wrong for you to ever even tell a king or a prince that he's wicked, how much less is it acceptable for you to say that God's wicked? Well you know what, we should never blaspheme the Lord, but is it fit to say to a king, you're wicked? Here's the thing, if you study the Old Testament, many times prophets were sent from the Lord to approach the kings of Israel and to approach the kings of Judah and to say to them, you're wicked. Now look, here's an example, look, it would take all night to go through all the examples, but just go to 1 Kings 21, let's just look at one of the most famous examples. Now for a New Testament example, although technically the New Testament did not begin until the death of Jesus Christ, but anyway, in our New Testament we read about John the Baptist saying unto King Herod, he had his brother Philip's wife become his wife, and he said it is not lawful for thee to have her. But all throughout the Old Testament, prophets are constantly being sent by God to rebuke the kings of Israel, to rebuke the kings of Judah, and to rebuke even foreign kings, and he'll say, the Spirit of the Lord came upon him and he prophesied against this guy, prophesied against this king, prophesied against the king of Tyre, prophesied against the king of Zion, prophesied against the king of Babylon, preach against this king, preach against that king, preach against this king. Let's just look at one example, what did I say it was? 1 Kings 21, this is probably the most famous example because it's Elijah, and he's going to confront King Ahab, who was a wicked king. And it says in verse 17, and the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite saying, arise, go down to meet Ahab, king of Israel, which is in Samaria, behold he's in the vineyard of Naboth whither he has gone down to possess it. And thou shalt speak unto him saying, thus saith the Lord, hast thou killed and also taken possession? And thou shalt speak unto him saying, thus saith the Lord, in the place where dogs lick the blood of Naboth, shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine. And Ahab said to Elijah, hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee, because thou has sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord. Now is he telling this guy he's wicked? You've sold yourself to commit evil in the sight of the Lord. What verse am I on? Somebody help me out. I'm losing it. Alright, verse 21, behold I will bring evil upon thee and will take away thy posterity, and will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, and will make thine house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the provocation were with us provoked me to anger and made Israel to sin. And of Jezebel also spake the Lord saying, this is wife, the dog shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. Him that dieth of Ahab in the city, the dog shall eat, and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat. And then the word of God just gives us a commentary saying, but there was none like unto Ahab which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up. So the commentary there from the Holy Ghost is telling us that everything Elijah just said was right. He did. It used the same word. He sold himself to do evil. That's one example. We could go through just, you know, guys that you've never even heard of like Oded the prophet, you know, unless you've read the whole Bible cover to cover, which if you haven't, shame on you, you know, you should read the whole Bible cover to cover at least once a year. But you know, all throughout the Bible kings and princes are rebuked by prophets that are sent by God that are filled with the Holy Ghost. So to sit there and say, hey, you know, you shouldn't say to a king, thou art wicked. And I like what he, well I don't like what he says, but it's funny in chapter 34 verse 17 of Job where he says, shall even he that hateth right govern? Now hold on a second. Is there anybody who hates that which is right who governs? Are you kidding? Obama. Yeah, exactly. But not just Obama. I mean, look, leaders throughout history, pretty much everybody who's running our country probably hates what's right based on the things that they say and do. And so if the people who are running our country hate that which is right, I mean, this guy's living in a really weird twilight zone where he thinks, oh, nobody who hates right governs and we shouldn't say to kings they're wicked. But there are people who have this mentality. I mean there are people who believe that every single king or ruler or president or congressman or whatever has been placed there by God. That is not a scriptural teaching. Now I see where people are coming from when they believe that, but they're just wrong. They're dead wrong. And to prove them wrong, and first of all, let me tell you where people get that. Where people get that is that Daniel, the only thing that even comes close to that at all in the Bible, is in the book of Daniel, Daniel makes a statement about God lifting up one and putting down another. And God giving people great authority and giving them a kingdom, and then he's also able to chop people down. And he tells that to Nebuchadnezzar, because Nebuchadnezzar is really prideful and thinks that he's there just because of his own grading. But just because the Bible says, hey, God lifts up one and puts down another, that doesn't say every single one has been lifted up by God and every single one who goes down was taken down by God. See, that's a big jump from just saying, hey, this is something that God does to just saying, hey, this is what He always does every person, every time. Those are two different things. That teaching is not in the Bible. So that's where people are getting it. Here's the refutation of it, okay? The Antichrist. Who puts the Antichrist in power? God? The Bible says the dragon gave him his power and his seat and great authority. He's not deriving his power from the Lord, like God put him, no. He derives his power from the dragon. The dragon puts him in power. And if we want to go back in time, the Bible says in Hosea, they have set up kings, talking about Israel, they've set up kings, but not by me. He's saying, look, they didn't consult me. What we see is that there are a lot of wicked people who are in power and you can't just say, well, God put Adolf Hitler in power. God put Joseph Stalin in power. God put Mao Zedong in power. I mean, look, in that preacher that's in that New World Order Bible where it's showing all the ones that are telling you to obey the government, the preachers who are telling you to just obey the government no matter what. No matter what. One of them says, even Mao Zedong was used by God. Even Joseph Stalin. Now, somebody needs to take that guy out and just beat him to a pulp for even saying that. I mean, that is just the worst, I mean, does anybody realize how bad Mao Zedong was? Mao Zedong literally executed 18 million innocent people during peacetime. He was murdering and massacring all kinds of people during all kinds of wars that lasted for years and years and years and years and years and years. But just during peacetime. Just peacetime, execute 18... and you know what? He tortured people today. He didn't just kill people, no, tortured people. And you know what he said, you know what Mao Zedong said when he watched people being tortured at his command? He said, I wish my dad were still alive so that he could be tortured like these people. That's what Mao Zedong said. He said, I wish that my dad were alive so that he... I mean, how wicked, how evil of a person. And this guy was evil from the beginning. I mean, as a kid he was evil. He was just bad, wicked, evil, murdering and killing and massacring even before he'd even come to power. I mean, that's how he got to power. Just through murder and terror and wickedness. I mean, evil, horrible, wicked person, literally probably responsible for more death than any person who's ever lived. That's quite a distinction. I mean, responsible for the deaths of what? 50 million people or some crazy amount. 60 million people, yeah. Let's not cut him off of 10 million deaths. I mean, 60 million. But even just the most conservative historian will tell you that 18 million peacetime, let alone the people that are starving to death because of his policies. Let alone the people that he's murdering during wartime. Let alone the people that are being tortured and buried alive. But he was put in power by God. He was doing the will of God. If you're living under his reign, you're supposed to honor him, love him, pray for him. That's not what the Bible teaches. Now, again, people can take verses and take them out of context and run with them. But you know what? Whenever you're studying the Bible, you've got to take the whole Bible. You've got to take the whole Bible and you've got to compare scripture with scripture. Who here believes the Bible has no contradictions in it? Amen. There are no contradictions in the Bible. Therefore, everything has to agree. So you can't just take one verse and run with it if it disagrees with another verse. You have to look at both verses and say, okay, these are both true and that's how you interpret the Bible. You've got to believe that it's all true. And if you've got one scripture over here saying that, yeah, God does lift up kings and bring them down, but then you've got other scriptures talking about ungodly kings who are there against the will of God and who are being given their power by Satan. Even in Daniel, it talks about Satan putting people in power. And Isaiah talks about kings that are ruling in the power and in the spirit of Satan over Tyre and Zidane and so forth. So you've got to put the whole package together. Is there a verse that talks about honor the king? Yeah, there is. But then there are other places that talk about evil, reprobate kings that should be cursed and dethroned. So you've got to get the whole scripture and take it all as a package deal and not just get overly simplistic views of the Bible. And when you're getting up and saying, hey, Mao Zedong did some good things for China, you know, you need to just shut up. I mean, you know nothing. And you know what? I don't claim to be an expert on every subject, but if there are subjects that I know nothing about, I should just not talk about those subjects. That's my opinion. I don't have to be an expert on every subject, but if I don't know about something, I better just not talk about it. You know, but people get up and they publicly just talk all about things that they don't understand and know nothing about. And they make these horrible statements like that and it's ridiculous, you know. And of course, you know, there are people out there who think that we must obey government no matter what they tell us to do. You know, and that is not a biblical doctrine. But anyway, I don't want to get off on that. He says in verse number 18, is it fit to say to a king, thou art wicked. This is in Job 34. And to princes, you're ungodly. Well, if they're wicked and ungodly, then yes. You know, that's what all the prophets did. That's what John the Baptist did. It says, in a moment shall they die, verse 20. And the people shall be troubled at midnight and passed away and the mighty shall be taken away without end. For his eyes are upon the ways of man and he seeth all his goings. There is no darkness nor shadow of death where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves. For he will not lay upon man more than right that he should enter into judgment with God. Saying, you know, he's not going to punish somebody more than they deserve so that the guy could turn around and reproach God. He shall break in peace his mighty men without number and set others in their stead. Therefore he knoweth their works and he overturneth them in the night so that they are destroyed. He striked at them as wicked men in the open sight of others because they turned back from him and would not consider any of his ways so that they caused the cry of the poor to come unto him and he heareth the cry of the afflicted. Now again, Elihu here is making the exact same argument that the three friends made. God always punishes wicked men and they always get chopped down and they always get what's coming to them. Again, Mao Tse Tung lived to be an old man. He died in his 70s. So why didn't God cut him? Why did God let him rule for decades? Because God does not always chop down the wicked kings immediately. A lot of times they do live out their whole life, but he's in hell. My friend Mao Tse Tung has been in hell for, you know, I don't know. I'm not really an expert on history, but I'd say he's been in hell for about what, going on 40 years, somewhere between 30 and 40 years. What did he die in the 70s? 76. All right. Yeah, he died in 76. So yeah, he's been in hell for quite a while. So he's got what's coming to him. Okay. But here's the thing. At the time, he's just getting away with it for decades and dying. Even Joseph Stalin lived to be an old man, you know. So everybody doesn't always get chopped down in this life and everybody doesn't always get rewarded right away either. Sometimes the reward is delayed, sometimes the punishment is delayed, but it is surely going to come. He says in verse 29, when he giveth quietness, who then can make trouble? When he hideth his face, who then can behold him? Whether it be done against a nation or against a man only, that the hypocrite reign not lest the people be ensnared. But see here's the thing, sometimes the hypocrite does reign and the people are ensnared. I mean our country has been ruled by hypocrites for how long? And just let me just, you know, I know, sorry Elihu, I'm going to say something bad about our government, okay Elihu, I hope you don't mind, but I mean our leaders are hypocrites. I mean if you think about, and it's not just Obama. Bush was a total hypocrite. Bush just said, oh I'm a Christian, I'm born again. But here's the thing, Bush then said, oh Muslims are going to heaven. We all have different paths to the Almighty. That's not Christian doctrine. Christians don't believe that all religions go to heaven. Christians believe in heaven and hell. Even the most basic tenet of Christianity is that no man cometh unto the Father but by Jesus. Okay, that's one of the most basic teachings of Christianity. But he'll get up and say, oh God bless you and I'm a Christian and this and that, and then he'll turn around and the way that he governs and the way that he rules is wicked and ungodly. And then the same thing with Obama. Obama claims to be a Christian. When he's not putting on a funny hat at the wailing wall and going like this with the Jews, when he's not being autistic at the wailing wall with the Jews, or when he's not being a Muslim whatever, taking his shoes off and praying, or when he's not being an atheist. I mean everybody's like, oh Obama's Muslim. You're giving him too much credit like he actually believes in God. You know what I mean? I mean look, Islam is a bad religion, don't get me wrong, it's a false religion. It's a wicked religion. But you're giving him too much credit even calling him a Muslim, he's a Satan worshipper. I mean he doesn't believe in Islam, he doesn't believe in the Quran, he doesn't believe in the Bible, he doesn't believe in any of it. He just takes orders from Lucifer, okay? He probably goes to that big owl in San Francisco and bows down to it, if anything. Molech. You know, and look, Jimmy Carter, oh I'm a born and gay Christian. No he's not. None of these guys are, I mean Bill Clinton was a Baptist. You know what I mean? But when he's not being a whoremonger, you know, when he's not desecrating everything that's righteous and holy and good in this world, you know Obama claims to be a Christian but Obama actually got up and he actually mocked the Bible. He mocked Leviticus, he mocked the Sermon on the Mount, and you know, why would he do that if he actually believes in it? Because he doesn't. Okay. People claim a religion, look, every president that we've ever had has been a Christian. Guess what? The majority of people in America are Christian, so if you want to get elected, you say, I'm a Christian. Okay, that's just how it works. And I'm not saying the majority of people in America are saved, but I'm saying the majority of people in America classify themselves as a Christian, the vast majority. So therefore, if you want to get elected, you say, I'm Christian. That makes you a hypocrite, because why don't they just say what they really believe? I believe in the Big Bang, I believe in evolution, I don't believe in God, I'm working toward a one-world government. That's not going to get them elected, that's why. They're hypocrites. He says in verse 31, surely it is me to be said unto God, I have borne chastisement, I will not offend anymore. That which I see not, teach thou me, if I have done iniquity, I'll do no more. Those sound like great things to say to God, but nothing to do with what Job said. Should it be according to thy mind, he will recompense it, whether thou refuse or whether thou choose. And not I, therefore, speak what thou knowest. Let men of understanding tell me, and let a wise man hearken unto me. Job had spoken without knowledge, and his words were without wisdom. My desire is that Job may be tried unto the end, because of his answers for wicked men, for he addeth rebellion unto his sin. To what sin? So he's first accusing him of sin, now he's saying you're adding rebellion unto sin. He clappeth his hands among us, and multiplieth his words against God. So again, just a lot of false accusations out of Elihu's mouth, kind of strange that anybody would think that Elihu is right here, since he says a lot of false things in this chapter doesn't he? He says a lot of things that just don't line up with scripture. And part of the reason why this chapter is here is for us to just understand people that are not of the truth, the type of things that they're going to hit you with, and the type of things they're going to say, and so that you can be aware of it and understand it. We know that Job was a prophet of God, and that his words were the words of God. Anybody who says his words were without knowledge, that's the guy who's false. So we can see some of the things that he had to say in this chapter, and we're going to get into more in the next chapter where he just really just starts talking exactly like the three friends in the next chapter. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, thank you so much for your word, Lord, and even a chapter like this that probably isn't preached very often just because it's a chapter that's spoken by one that is false. Lord, we know that all scripture is given by inspiration of yourself, Lord, and that it is profitable for doctrine, Lord, and so I pray that we would be profited by what we can learn from Elihu's wrong answers, and help us to also take Job as a role model and an example in our lives of just patience and suffering for you.