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Now, Job 37, we have the final chapter of Elihu, thank God, and I'm getting pretty irritated with this guy, Elihu. Elihu is a false prophet. He is speaking lies in the name of the Lord in chapter 37. He's been speaking now for six chapters. And just to demonstrate to you, of course, that Elihu is a false prophet and that he is speaking that which is not right, go to Job 38 and just look at the very beginning of chapter 38. Now keep in mind when you read this that this guy Elihu has been talking straight, non-stop, uninterrupted for the last six chapters. And as we've gone through these six chapters, I've pointed out doctrinal error after doctrinal error in every chapter we've shown that these chapters contradict what the Bible clearly teaches elsewhere in God's Word and that this man Elihu is just plain wrong all the way across the board. But after he finishes speaking, and in fact he's in the middle of speaking, he's not even done with just this long-winded, rambling nonsense that God interrupts what Elihu is saying because we end chapter 37 in the middle of what Elihu is saying. Look what it says in chapter 38 verse 1. Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up now thy loins like a man, for I will demand of thee and answer thou me. Where was thou when I laid the fence? And he begins to ask questions to Job when he begins to speak to Job. Now if we look at this, it's very clear that God is speaking to Job, not to Elihu. It says in chapter 38 verse 1, then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? And whenever he talks to Job, he calls him thee and thou, he's saying you, gird up your loins like a man and you answer me. And he's talking about this other guy in the third person, it's obviously Elihu. Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? So that right there is God saying that what Elihu said is wrong. Now here's the thing, I didn't even need God to tell me that because just reading the six chapters and comparing scripture with scripture, it's obvious that Elihu's words are not lining up with what the Bible teaches. Not only that, but the whole book of Job is about Job going through suffering and misery. He has been covered in sores and boils from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet. And he's scraping and scratching himself of all these sores all over his body. Of course his kinship died, he lost all of his wealth. He's in great suffering and his three friends come to comfort him and instead of comforting him, they accuse him. They blame it on him and they tell him, well if you were living right, you wouldn't be going through all this. And if you would just get right with God, you'd be healthy. And if you'd get right with God, you'd get all your money back. And there are people that teach that today, it's called the prosperity gospel. And they teach you that as long as you live for God, you're going to have lots of money, you're going to have perfect health, and it's just a lie. The Bible says, many are the afflictions of the righteous, but out of them all, the Lord deliver them. And we see that all throughout the Bible, good godly people have suffered. They've had sicknesses, they've gone through pain, and they've lost loved ones to death or children, they've had all kinds of terrible things happen to them. So to sit there and say that any time something bad happens to you, it means that God's punishing you, that's not true, is it? Because a lot of bad things happen to good people, I mean that's life. And in fact, God often will purposely put us through bad times, just in order to try us and strengthen us. And Job is defending himself throughout the book against the accusations of his three friends. We know the beginning of the book, and we know the end of the book, that Job was without fault, and that it was the three friends that were falsely accusing him of being wrong. Look, when you read the six chapters of Elihu, they're saying the exact same things as the three friends. So if they're wrong, then he's wrong. Same exact attack on Job. Now let me just give you some principles for studying the Bible, okay? Now go if you would to 2 Peter, chapter number 1. 2 Peter, chapter number 1, obviously we all should be reading our Bibles, but when we read our Bibles and study our Bibles, there are a few principles that will help you understand the Bible, and understand what you're reading. Now the number one key to understanding the Bible is just being saved. Because the Bible teaches that when you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, the Holy Ghost indwells you. So when you're saved, the Holy Spirit lives inside you, and He will guide you into all truth, and as you read the Bible, the Holy Spirit will be your teacher. You know, it's amazing how many unsaved people have picked up the Bible and tried to read it, and it just didn't make any sense to them. And I remember my wife said that she had picked up the Bible before she was saved, and she read John chapter 1, and it didn't make any sense to her. And so she just quit reading it. And then after she got saved, the day after she got saved, I gave her a Bible and I said, hey, you know, start reading the Bible. Every day. And I told her, why don't you start in the book of John? Just coincidentally, you know, the same chapter that she had read many years earlier, she read John chapter 1 after being saved, and she understood it. It made sense to her. And I mean, keep in mind, she didn't grow up in church, had no other knowledge hardly of the Bible, but yet as a brand new believer, been saved for 24 hours, I handed her the Bible, she read John chapter 1, and I asked her what it was about, and she explained it to me, it made sense to her, she loved it, and she was excited about reading it because of the Holy Spirit being there to help her understand it. See, the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, their foolishness unto him, neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. So because the Bible is a spiritual book, you have to be saved to understand it. People that aren't saved, they don't understand it. That's why they darken counsel with words without knowledge, as Elihu did. Also the Bible says of the Jews, that do not believe on Jesus Christ, it says that when they read the Old Testament, that they have a veil over their eyes as they read the Old Testament, that they cannot perceive it, they cannot understand it. And he says when they turn to Christ, the veil is removed, and now they can understand what the Bible says after they turn to Christ. Here's what's funny though. A lot of Baptists today, when they want to understand the Old Testament, they go to Jews to try to get interpretations on the Old Testament. Seriously. I mean, I've heard them say, oh, we should bring in a rabbi and ask him about this, that, and the other because they, you know, they're Jews. They're going to understand it because they're Jews. Come on. They're Jews. They understand the Hebrew. But it's really not true. I mean, they, why would you go to somebody who's been reading the Bible blindfolded? Because that's what he said. When they read the Old Testament, they have a veil over their eyes, and the Bible says that the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not. So I think there was something about the blind leading the blind, and then they're both going to fall in the ditch. So why would I go to someone who the Bible says has been reading the Old Testament blindfolded and ask them to interpret it for me, and think that they're going to have a deeper understanding. Isn't that ridiculous? So, you know, when we talk about understanding the Bible, if you're saved and you read your Bible every day, God will teach you. You will learn something from the Bible. But let me just give you three principles when you study your Bible just to help you not be confused and just to get the most out of it, okay? Because the Bible says, study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. So let me just give you three ways to rightly divide when you're reading the Bible. Number one, you need to divide between that which is man's word and that which is God's word, okay? Now look down at your Bible there in 2 Peter, or did I say 1 Peter or 2 Peter? Yeah, 2 Peter, chapter number one, look what the Bible says in verse 20, knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. So the Bible's telling us that when we read the Scriptures, we know that it didn't come by the will of man. The Scripture came through holy men of God that spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. That's why the Bible says all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. So when we look at the books of the Bible, you know, Genesis through Malachi of that Old Testament, we need to understand that those Scriptures came by inspiration of the Holy Ghost. So the authors of those books were just pinning down what God moved upon them to write and what God moved upon them originally to speak, because of course it was spoken before it was written. But look at the next word in chapter 2 verse 1, but. But is a conjunction, so it's connected to what he just said. So he says that the Scripture, you know, came through holy men of God that were spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, but look at verse 1 there, it says, But there were false prophets also among the people. So there were a lot of false prophets also. And he says, even as there shall be false teachers among you who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction. Now, Elihu was one of those false prophets that the Bible is telling us, you know, were among the people. People who, you say, why do you call him a false prophet? Because he said, I'm going to speak for God. And then he said a bunch of things that were false. But he's claiming that it's God's word. He's claiming it's of the Lord. And so the Bible is very clear here that there are false prophets out there. What we have to understand when we're reading the Bible is that whenever the narrator of the Bible is speaking, that's by inspiration of the Holy Ghost, but sometimes the Bible will record the words of people that are telling lies. And so we have to differentiate when we're reading the Bible, okay, is this coming from God or is this man's word? Very important when we're reading the book of Job since we have so much error in the book of Job. We have all these guys that are attacking Job and Job's arguing with them. We have to be able to rightly divide and say, okay, that which Job spake, he was moved by the Holy Ghost. It was by inspiration of God. James 5 tells us that. The beginning and end of the book tell us that. Whereas these other guys are full of error. For example, the Bible even quotes the devil and we know that there's no truth in him. Whatever the devil says is a lie. So you can't point at what the devil said in the Bible and say, see, it's right there in the Bible. So when we're reading the Bible and saying the Bible, we need to be able to rightly divide between that which God is saying and that which man is saying. Here's the best example. Go to Luke 2. This is the best example of this that I can think of where people get mixed up between what God is saying and what man is saying in the Bible. Now, when we're reading the book of Psalms, you know, a lot of the Psalms are written by David, right? Not all of them. There are various authors in the book of Psalms. But when we're reading the book of Psalms, that's not man's word. That's God's word, okay? When we're reading the book of Genesis and the narrator is speaking, you know, the words of Moses as he wrote down Genesis, that's all God's word. But it might record what somebody says that's wrong. Now in the book of Luke, this is Luke talking, right? But it's God's word. God is speaking through Luke. It's given by inspiration of God. But watch how Luke records the words of someone who is in error. Now in Luke 2.33, okay, this is said of Jesus. It says in Luke 2.33, and Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken of him. So some things are being said about Jesus, and Joseph and Mary are marveling. They're just amazed about what's said about Jesus. So it says Joseph and his mother marveled. Now was Mary the mother of Jesus? Is Joseph the father of Jesus? No. So that's why it doesn't say his father and mother, it says Joseph and his mother marveled, okay. Now in all the modern Bible versions, the NIV, the New American Standard, the Living Bible, whatever the flavor of the month is for Bibles because they're constantly coming out with new ones, they will say in the scripture, his father and his mother marveled at what was said of him. Now that's false. That's not correct. The Bible never calls Joseph Jesus. It's always careful to point out, like for example in a genealogy in the next chapter, you know, being as was supposed the son of Joseph. People thought he was the son of Joseph, but it's always very clear to point out that Jesus was not the son of Joseph, Joseph was not his father. These modern Bible versions have introduced this lie that Joseph is Jesus' father. But what a lot of people will say, they'll say well but wait a minute, the King James calls Joseph Jesus' father if you jump down to verse number 48. Now look at verse 48, it says, and when they saw him they were amazed and his mother said unto him, son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? Behold thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. So what did his mother Mary just call Joseph in verse 48? Do you see that? So Mary says, your father and I have sought thee sorrowing. And people say, see right there, the King James is calling Joseph Jesus' father. See the Bible called Joseph, no, is that the Bible calling Joseph Jesus' father? That's Mary talking. See what I'm saying? So these are the type of things you have to watch for when you're reading the Bible. Is this God talking or is this just a person talking? Now when Luke's talking, the narrator, it's of truth every time. But when someone else in the story pipes up, it's not necessarily true. And in fact these people who are pushing these modern versions, they forgot to read the next verse, because look at the next verse. Mary says something that's in error. She says, son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? Behold thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing, verse 49 says, and he said unto them, how is it that ye sought me? Wish ye not that I must be about my father's business. So right away he's correcting her saying, wait a minute, when I'm here preaching the word of God in the temple, I'm about my father's business. That's in direct response to her calling Joseph his father. He cries, wait a minute, she says, oh your father and I, no wait a minute, I'm about my father's business. And he wasn't building furniture, because you know, Joseph was what? Joseph was a carpenter. And he's not building furniture, he's speaking the word of God. He's saying, didn't you realize, wished you not, didn't you know that I would be about my father's business. So this is a perfect example where people fail to rightly divide. And they take something Mary said, where she was corrected for it even, in the next verse, and then they just take it as gospel. You can't just take what people say in the Bible and just take it as, take what the Bible itself is saying as gospel. The narrator of each book, in Luke that would be Luke, in John that would be John, you know, whatever the case may be. But sometimes when there are quotes like, hey, Elihu said this, well it doesn't make what he said right. You say, is every word of the Bible true? Of course every word of the Bible is true, because it's true that Mary said that. What she said wasn't true. You know, it's true that the devil said that in Matthew chapter 4. But it doesn't make what he said true. You see how that works? So that's an important thing, to be able to divide between God's word and man's word. Secondly, we need to always divide between Old Testament and New Testament. Go to Hebrews chapter 8. Hebrews chapter 8. You say, why are you teaching us how to study the Bible? Because I'm so sick of listening to Elihu, I just, I can't, I'm just trying to spend as little time in that chapter as I can, you know. But anyway, honestly, I will get to it in a minute, but honestly it's just, it's a bunch of fluff. I mean, God even said of his words, you know, he's just darkening counsel. He's just clouding things up with all these words without knowledge. And that's why it's important to realize that just because he said it doesn't make it right. Okay. For example, in Jeremiah, another example on my first point, in Jeremiah, false prophets are constantly coming to Jeremiah and preaching lies to him. Hananiah is one of them. And Jeremiah rebukes him, you know, so you've got to be able to differentiate that. So number one, divide between God's word and man's word. Number two, you've got to divide between Old Testament and New Testament. And this is a big mistake that a lot of people make. They try to take stuff from the Old Testament and try to contradict that which is written in the New Testament. Now, let me just make this real clear. The New Testament has replaced the Old Testament. Okay. The New Covenant replaces the Old Covenant. Now a lot of people aren't comfortable with that statement that I just made, but honestly, that is what the Bible teaches. A lot of people try to teach that the Old Testament is still in effect and that somehow the New Testament is just overlaid on top of it. But read what the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 8. Let's just start in verse 13. He says in Hebrews 8, 13, in that he saith a new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. Does everybody see that? I mean, it's pretty clear what he's saying here. That's the Old Testament. We're in the New Testament now. Now that doesn't mean that the Old Testament is not profitable to be studied and to be learned from and even to be applied in many cases, but we have to rightly divide between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. Now look back if you would at verse number 6 of chapter 8. It says in Hebrews 8, 6, but now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. Now when we see the words covenant and testament, they are used interchangeably in the Bible. They both mean the exact same thing. Now the Bible is clearly telling us in Hebrews 8, 6 that the New Testament is better than the Old Testament. Now again, we're not saying that God's word is better than God's word was then. What's a covenant? What's a testament? It's an agreement that God made with man. It's an agreement that God made with people. If I were to make a covenant with you, a covenant would be like if I said to you, you know, I'm going to give you my car and you're going to give me $300 every month for the next 60 months. That would be a covenant. That would be an agreement or a contract. Okay, so there's the Old Covenant that God made with mankind at Mount Sinai. Everybody following? Galatians 4, he made that Old Covenant with man at Mount Sinai where he gave the law unto Israel and he told Israel, if you keep these laws and if you worship me, you will be my holy nation. You will be my peculiar people. You will be a light to the Gentiles. And he made that Old Covenant with the children of Israel, okay? And that Old Covenant was sanctified with the blood of animals. It was with the blood of goats and of calves that were sacrificed unto the Lord that sanctified that Old Covenant, that old agreement that he made with Israel. Okay, they broke that covenant. And when Jesus Christ came, they rejected the Lord Jesus Christ. And so upon the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, we enter the New Covenant or the New Testament. Now let's read on. Let's read verse 6 again just because it's such a key verse. It says, but now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant which was established upon better promises. For if the first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. For finding fault with them he saith, behold the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. So what he's saying here is that there was a problem with the Old Covenant. Now it wasn't that God was the problem, it wasn't that God's word was the problem. It says in verse number 8, for finding fault with them he saith. So they're the ones who broke the covenant. They're the ones who failed. That's why the first covenant had to be replaced with the second covenant. I mean I'm just expounding to you what the Bible clearly says in this verse. He says that if the first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for them, you wouldn't need the New Covenant. Finding fault with them he saith, behold the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. Look at verse 9, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. Now do you see that? When did he make this covenant? When did the Old Covenant come into effect? When he brought them out of Egypt, right? And that's when they went to Mount Sinai. And God gave the Ten Commandments, and God gave the first five books of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, unto Moses. So that's what we mean when we say the Old Covenant. We're talking about that agreement that God made with his people at Mount Sinai in the Old Testament. And he said there was a problem with that covenant. Here's the problem, it relied upon the obedience of the children of Israel. They were not obedient, therefore that covenant had to be replaced with the New Covenant. And that New Covenant is not according to the Old Covenant. So again, this isn't just the Old Covenant stays there, and we just add the New Covenant on top. No, it's a replacement. Because he says right there that the New Covenant, verse 9, is not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. God says, because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, sayeth the Lord. So what does it mean, I regarded them not? I no longer recognized them. I no longer considered them as my people anymore. I don't regard them as my people, because they didn't continue in that covenant. Now there's a New Covenant. Okay, and he says in verse 10, for this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, sayeth the Lord. I will put my laws into their mind and write them in their hearts, and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people. And they shall not teach every man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for also know me from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities while I remember no more. And that he sayeth the New Covenant, he hath made the first old, now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. Chapter 9, verse 1, that verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service and a worldly sanctuary, for there was a tabernacle made, and he goes on to talk about the candlestick and the offerings and the sacrifices and all, you know, it's a long book in the book of Hebrews. But I want to point out just some key things in chapter 8, that there is a difference between Old Testament and New Testament, isn't there? To sit there and say, oh, it's just the same thing. It's just the same covenant, just the same agreement. God's dealing with people in the same way, it just simply isn't true. Because the Old Covenant has been replaced with a New Covenant and the Old Covenant is decaying and waxing old and ready to vanish away, he said. And this is being written. And according to the New Covenant, God's agreement is not with the children of Israel, just meaning the physical seed of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, but rather the New Covenant is made with all of mankind. It's unto the Gentiles. Under the New Covenant, it basically has nothing to do with what nationality you are. It's for red and yellow, black and white to be a part of God's chosen people without even having to be circumcised, without having to go through joining the nation of Israel or anything like that, you could be of all nations. And if you just believe on Jesus Christ, the Bible says you're made nigh through the blood of Christ. And so now the natural branches of the Israelites have been broken off, the Bible says, because of their unbelief according to Romans 11, they've been broken off of that tree that represents the people of God, the people of the spiritual Israel, they've been broken off and then it says that we Gentiles have been graphed in, in their place. And what does it mean to graph something in? It's really amazing, but what they'll do is they'll take a branch of one type of tree and they'll actually attach it to a different tree. And they've been doing this for thousands of years, isn't that amazing? They'll cut off a branch and they'll carve out a spot for a branch from a different tree and then eventually it'll accept that branch. It'd almost be like if your arm had been chopped off and somebody else's arm were attached. I'm not saying that's going to work, but it's that type of a thing, except it's with trees. So it's really an amazing thing that they've been doing that for thousands of years. But that's basically what happened on the tree here, all the unbelieving Jews, all the unbelieving Israelites, God broke them off. He cut them off from being a part of his people and he graphed in the wild branches, which is what he refers to the Gentiles and all the nations besides the Jews that are graphed in and are the people of God. That's a big difference because he says, I will say to them, which in time past were not my people, you're the people of God. And I'll say to those that were in time past my people, you're not my people. So for example, I think the best way to explain this is like Nahum in the Syrian. Remember when Nahum in the Syrian got saved through Elisha and basically he's healed by Elisha and he says to Elisha that he's going to take some earth with him. He wants to take some of the dirt of Israel back home with him because he wants to worship God on that dirt. Because he just wants to worship the Lord and he doesn't want to worship the false gods of Syria anymore, but he doesn't want to move to Israel. So he says, well instead of moving to Israel, I'm just going to take a bunch of this dirt and just bring it with me to Syria. So he takes the dirt of Israel with him back home to Syria and he says, you know, I'm just going to worship the Lord over in Syria. And he also says, you know what, I'm high up in the military of my nation and so because of that, the king, he worships a false god and I have to basically go with him to his phony church is what Nahum says and hopefully God will forgive me for that, having to go with him when he bows down to his weird god. Now look, obviously Nahum is trying to make some compromises there in his life. Nahum is saved, he believes on the Lord, but he's not necessarily willing to get all the way in and just get on board with serving God and the house of God. I mean, don't you get that from that story? He's making a lot of compromises and we see that today, don't we? People who believe on Christ, but it doesn't necessarily mean that they want to join the church or get involved in soul winning, it doesn't mean they want to read the whole Bible, right? A lot of people are just half in, half out. Now a guy like Nahum in the Old Testament, who believes on the Lord and trusts the Lord as his savior, but you don't see him getting circumcised in that passage. You don't see him sticking around for the Passover. You don't see him joining the nation of Israel and becoming a part of that nation. So therefore, in the Old Testament, we would say of Nahum that he is not one of God's people. Now he's still saved, he's still going to heaven through faith, and we know that we will see Nahum in heaven. But was he part of the people of the Lord, part of the people of God? No, he's living in a foreign country, he's not circumcised, he's not part of that holy nation. He's saved, he's on the way to heaven, but he's not part of the holy nation. He's not part of God's chosen people, is he? He's not the elect under the Old Covenant. But under the New Covenant, would he be? Yeah, because under the New Covenant, you are elect based upon your faith in Jesus Christ whether or not you are Israelite, whether or not you are circumcised, whether or not you're part of that nation. So in the Old Covenant, of course there were lots of people outside the nation of Israel who were saved. We see that all throughout the Old Testament examples of foreign people who are saved by believing on the Lord. But under the Old Covenant, God's chosen people was associated with a certain geography and a certain nation and certain practices of being circumcised, being physically geographically there three times a year to be at the Feast of the Lord. That was part of being part of the nation. So we see that in the Old Testament, yes, people could be saved outside of the nation of Israel, of course. I mean, who in their right mind would think, oh, everybody just went to hell except Israel? I mean, good night. There were all kinds of saved people. But were they the people of God? Were they God's chosen people? Were they part of the elect nation? No. Whereas in the New Testament, there's no geography associated with it. There's no difference in the New Testament between the Jew and the Gentile. It's not like there's a difference like there was in the Old Testament between the man that's circumcised and part of the nation and the guy who's living over here amongst the heathen. Again, not talking about heaven and hell, but talking about who's a part of the people, the nation, who's able to enter into the congregation and so forth. Whereas in the New Testament, there's no geography associated with it. Big difference. Now you say, why does this matter? Why is this important? If people all day long who still are stuck on this thing that the Jews are still God's chosen people, what are they going to do? They're going to just barrage you with verses from the Old Testament. I got 30 verses to prove that the Jews are God's chosen people and it's like 30 verses from the Old Testament. Now these people are failing to rightly divide the word of truth. You know, when you're quoting stuff from before they were rejected as a nation and you're quoting stuff from Jeremiah and Ezekiel and Zechariah that's written before they're rejected and saying, oh Israel's the apple of my eye, oh yeah, you know, all these nations that are surrounding. He's listing nations that don't even exist anymore because he's talking about back then. And basically people fail to rightly divide. You can't find New Testament scriptures to teach that doctrine. People barrage you with 30 verses from Psalms, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah, all day long. They can't show you from the New Testament, why? Because under the New Covenant it's no longer valid. You say, oh, is God breaking his promise? No, he didn't break the promises, he transferred them. He said the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. They lost that. And now the promise is still to Abraham and his seed, but it's just that that seed is Christ. And if you're in Christ, then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. And people get real caught up in current events like on the news, stuff about Israel, because it's in the news right now, isn't it? Is it still going on, the warfare over there? I've been living in a bubble the last few days, blowing up Gaza. So all kinds of crazy stuff's going on over there. And it's like people are watching the news, and they got their Bible open, and they're like, yeah, it's all being fulfilled right before our eyes. I mean, look, what if we just named Arizona Israel? And then I guess every promise made to Israel would just apply onto Arizona. So a bunch of people from Poland moved to Palestine, and that's suddenly the Israel of the Old Testament. A bunch of Polish people. You say, why are you calling them Polish people? That's where I think 85% of the people that moved to Israel moved there from Poland. And they're all intermingled with that of Eastern Europe, and there's nothing wrong with being Polish, but Poland is not the Old Testament Israel. They make great sausage, I just had it for lunch today, but it doesn't make it God's chosen people, and I don't think they were making sausages either because they weren't into pork, but that's another story. What I'm saying is, to sit there and just name a country Israel, just all of a sudden just every Old Testament promise just applies to that nation of Polish Europeans that was founded by the United Nations and funded by Nathan Rothschild. That's just suddenly the apple of God's eye, even though they blaspheme Christ, even though 99% of them do not believe in Jesus Christ. Even though in order for me to become a citizen of that country over there, I would have to deny the Lord Jesus Christ for them to allow me to be a citizen. Did you know that? It's a fact. I would have to, because I can't have a bunch of rabbis prove that I'm really of Abraham even though I already proved it, but anyway, I would have to deny Christ and then I could become a citizen of Israel, because then I'd have the right of return if rabbis would accept me as a convert to Judaism and I'd have to deny that Jesus is God and that Jesus is the Messiah. That's not the people of God. And look, you'll notice anytime anybody wants to teach you that doctrine, they'll quote you a barrage of Old Testament scriptures or the only chapter they'll quote you from the New Testament is Romans 11, which they're twisting and misunderstanding and they're not getting in the context of chapter 9. 9, 10, and 11, you have to be taken together. And then thirdly, this, let's go back to Job now, we're finally going to have to face the music and listen to Elihu for a little while, but back in Job 37, the third principle I want to give you about setting the Bible is divide the story from the statement. Base what you believe on statements, not stories, because there are a lot of Bible stories where people do the wrong thing and then people will emulate that. Like for example, stories about people having multiple wives and then they'll say the Bible teaches polygamy. Well just because somebody in the Bible had multiple wives doesn't mean that God's telling us to do that. Just like you might see somebody getting drunk in the Bible like Noah. Well Noah got drunk, I'm going to go get drunk. That doesn't make any sense, does it? Because we have so many statements preaching against alcohol, warning us about alcohol, and then we have the story about a guy who got drunk. Look don't base what you believe on a story because the stories are there to show us good examples and bad examples. So you don't want to look at a bad example and just, oh I'm going to be like Noah. I'm going to get drunk. Well look, you know, you haven't been preaching for 120 years. You know, after you've been preaching for 120 years, go get drunk, alright? But you're not going to, so it's a moot point. He got drunk and look at the horrible thing that happened to him when he was drunk. And you know what, if you want to get drunk, just think about this. You might end up having happened to you what happened to Noah. Is that what you want? Because what happened when Noah got drunk? He got naked and somebody took advantage of him, you know, and all throughout the Bible we see that principle where people get drunk and then they're abused physically. And so that's just a really bad example. Lots of bad examples in the Bible. The Bible is filled with stories about human beings that are sinners. So again, quickly, when we rightly divide the word of truth, number one we divide between man's word and God's word. Make sure that it's God that's talking, not one of the characters in the Bible who's in error, like in Elihu. You know, Mary was a godly woman, wasn't she? But is everything she says always right? Nope, she called Joseph Jesus' father and had to be corrected, okay? Number two, divide between Old Testament and New Testament. The basis of what we believe needs to come from the New Testament. Oh, you throw out the Old, I didn't say throw out the Old Testament, but I'll say this, summarize which parts of the Old Testament have changed in the New Testament. Now here's the rule of thumb. Unless God specifically changed something in the New Testament, it's still the same way it was under the Old Testament. Unless it's been specifically changed in the New Testament, go with the Old. That's why I always tell believers, you know, new believers, read the New Testament first. Because it's more important. Because it's more applicable, okay? Not to say that all scripture is not profitable for doctrine, because of course it is. But the New Testament is the primary importance for us that are living under the New Testament. And so everything I believe has its basis in the New Testament, okay? Otherwise, you know, if there's some kind of a conflict between Old and New Covenant, we go with New Covenant because there are some things that have changed under the New Covenant. So we always want to make sure that we base our belief and practice primarily on the New Testament, but supported by the Old Testament, but primarily the New Testament. Especially Bible prophecy. People are stuck in Zechariah and Ezekiel reading all these dark, cryptic passages when they've got the book of Revelation right there, and they don't even, they just ignore it. And it's the clearest book. It claims to be the clearest book. And then we don't want to get mixed up on story versus statement. So rightly divide, those are the three ways to rightly divide. Man versus God, Old Testament versus New Testament, and story versus statement to make sure we understand the Bible properly. So when we apply that to Job 37, we realize, is this God talking or is this man talking? This is man, and it's somebody who God in the next chapter rebukes and says is wrong. Now basically he talks about the weather all the way up through verse 17. This is kind of what people just talk about when they don't really have much to say, they talk about the weather. So he's giving us a weather forecast, he's like a meteorologist all through this passage. And honestly, it's because he has no evidence against Job. There's no way he can condemn Job. So he just goes on and on. Finally God, I think God had to shut him up. God can't even wait for this guy to finish, he just has to interrupt the guy. Who is this guy? Thank God he interrupted him when we did or else the book of Job might have a hundred chapters of this guy. But let me just point out a major error in his doctrine starting in verse 19 because this is something actually that came up with the three friends quite a bit too. I notice that the three friends, Elihu, or I'm sorry, Eliphaz, the Temanite, Zophar, the Neamathite, and Bildad, the Shuit, they also made this same error quite a bit that Elihu makes. And look at verse 19. It says, Teach us what we shall say unto him, for we cannot order our speech by reason of darkness. Shall it be told him that I speak? If a man speak, surely he shall be swallowed up. Now here he's talking about prayer or speaking to God. And again, this is a theme that came up earlier with Job's three false friends. He basically says that if I speak to God, if I pray to God, he doesn't really care. Because there are just so many people on the earth, there are just so many millions of people, that when I speak to God, it just gets swallowed up. I mean it said, look, if I speak, is it going to be told him that I speak, he says in verse 20 there? You know, if I say something to God, is somebody going to tell that to God? Now this is something that again the three friends talked about, but this is very contrary to scripture. Go to Psalm 139. I'm going to show you a lot of reasons biblically why this is wrong with Elihu says. And earlier in the words of Elihu, and also in the words of the three friends, there's constantly this theme coming up of just we're nothing before God, and God just doesn't really care about us, and if we serve him it doesn't really give him any pleasure, and if we disobey him it doesn't really cause him any grief. God just doesn't really care. Because he's just so much greater and mightier than us, we're just like nothing unto him. We're like ants to him or something. Now a lot of times you'll hear people talk this way, and on the surface you might think that it sounds good like it's really giving a lot of glory to God. And I've heard preachers get up and say we're all just dirt, we're all scum, and we're trash, and God is so great. But here's the thing though, even though that sounds like you're being really humble and you're giving God a lot of glory, it's actually a lie. Because actually we are very valuable unto God. God actually loves us and God cares about each one of us. God is not just looking at us as just a mass of just a sea of people, and he just doesn't really care about the individual. Actually God loves and cares about each one of us individually, and we matter to him. And when we pray to God, listen to me now, when we as his children pray to God, he is listening and he cares about what we say to him. Look what the Bible says in Psalm 139, it's a perfect example. Beginning in verse 13 it says, For thou hast possessed my reins, thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Look at verse 16. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect, and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. So he's saying, even when I was in my mother's womb and I was being formed in my mother's womb, my members or body parts, some of them hadn't even formed yet. Maybe all the fingers weren't there. What the world would call a blob of tissue, which is actually a child that's being fearfully and wonderfully made in its mother's womb. God was there forming and fashioning David in his mother's womb. And every child is formed and fashioned by God in its mother's womb. It's not like God just starts a ball rolling of DNA, you know, when the seed of the man comes to the egg of the woman. It's not just that that starts a ball rolling and God just kind of takes his hands off and just lets it go. No, God says that he forms and fashions us in continuance throughout the process of pregnancy, forming and fashioning that child in its mother's womb. And science doesn't even understand most of what goes on with that process of gestation in the mother's womb and just the miracle of life. Just the miracle of pregnancy and childbirth is an amazing thing. Now look what it says in verse 17. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand. When I awake, I am still with thee. This is one person, David, speaking to God, saying that God's thoughts toward him are so numerous that the sum of them, and sum is a mathematical term, that the sum of them would be the sum of the grains of sand by the seashore. Now no one can number the grains of sand by the seashore. You know, it would probably be a number similar to that number on the board over there, you know, some huge 18 quintillion, I mean it probably goes beyond that. It's an amazingly huge, mind-boggling number, and God has had that many thoughts toward you. Even though there are billions of people in the world, that's how many thoughts God has had about you. God is such an infinite God that he can think about each of us individually, he can care about each of us individually, and the Bible tells us in Matthew chapter 6, flip over there, Matthew chapter number 6, he tells us that the hairs of our head, actually go to Matthew 10, there's a scripture on it in Matthew 6, but the one in Matthew 10 is better for this point. Look at Matthew 10 verse 29, it says, are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your father. Meaning God is aware of every sparrow that falls out of the sky. You know, God is able to comprehend everything that takes place in the universe because he's God. Matthew 10 verse 30, but the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye therefore, fear ye not therefore, you're of more value than many sparrows. So basically, anyone in this room, God could tell exactly how many hairs are on your head right now. Now some people that would be easier than others, no I'm just kidding, but anyway, you know, God has the hairs of our head numbered. That's amazing, doesn't that show that God cares, and that we're not just expendable unto him, we're not just cattle unto him, we're not just, you know, just pawns unto him in some game that he's playing. No he loves us, he cares about us, and he thinks about us, and he wants to hear from us, he wants to hear our prayers. Go to Revelation chapter 8. Revelation chapter 8, and while you're turning to Revelation 8, let me give you something from Malachi chapter 3. Go to Revelation chapter 8. Revelation chapter 8, I'm going to read for you from Malachi chapter 3, which is the last book before Matthew. It says in Malachi chapter 3, I'm in Zechariah like all these people who are worshiping Israel right now are stuck there, but they forgot about the New Testament, you know, how God took the kingdom of God from them, gave it to a nation, bringing forth the fruits thereof, did I mention that? Anyway, Malachi chapter 3 verse 16 says, then they that feared the Lord spake off in one to another, and the Lord hearkened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his name. So the Bible tells in Malachi 3.16 that when we talk about the Lord and when we pray unto the Lord, he has a book of remembrance where he keeps track of all that. He remembers all of that. Now think about your children. You love your children and you keep things. We have a drawer in our house of just all kinds of, our kids are constantly grabbing a piece of paper and drawing pictures and writing things down and we like those things. You know, we keep big boxes of them in our attic. We just have giant boxes just stuffed with just pieces of notebook paper of just drawings and notes and I love you dad and I love you mom and all those different things. And we care about those things and we want to hear from our children and we like them to speak. And look, just because we have eight of them, it's like well we have eight, if we lose a few, whatever, I mean we've still got six. Is that really the attitude? No, because obviously we love them all. Well God is so much greater than we are. It's not like he just maxes out at eight of what he can love and care about. He cares about all the billions of people. He knows who they are and his children, those that are saved, he loves and cherishes and writes down their words and cares what they say. But look what it says in Revelation 8.3. It says, and another angel came and stood at the altar, and keep in mind this is future events that have not yet happened, that are going to happen in the end of the world. It says in Revelation 8.3, and another angel came and stood at the altar having a golden censer and there was given unto him much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne and the smoke of the incense which came with the prayers of the saints ascended up before God out of the angel's hand and the angel took the censer and filled it with fire of the altar and cast it into the earth and there were voices and thunderings and lightnings and an earthquake and the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. So the Bible talks about here that God is having incense burned before him. When we think of incense, we think of a sweet savor. We think of something that smells good. People burn incense just to make the house smell a certain way. God has incense being burned before him with the prayers of the saints. All the prayers that we pray, the Bible teaches that God preserves those and those are going to be offered up before God and it's a sweet savor unto God in his nostrils, the prayers of his children. God loves us. God cares about us and these guys in the book of Job, they just have this really weird attitude about God whether it's the three friends or Elihu of just God doesn't care about us, God if we pray it just gets swallowed up. You know what I mean? It's like we just keep calling and we just keep getting a busy signal because he's too busy listening to the chosen ones or he's too busy listening to these people over here. Like we just call and we just can't get through. We can't get through. We were out soloning and this lady today said when she prayed she felt like she was leaving God a voicemail. I've never heard that one before but anyway we just can't get through and that's why they're just looking at Job and they don't have any sympathy for him. They don't have any compassion for him and I think part of the reason why the three friends and Elihu did not have the love that they should have had for Job is because they didn't perceive the love of God. The Bible says hereby perceive we the love of God. What does perceive mean? To understand it, to comprehend it, to realize it. The Bible says hereby perceive we the love of God that he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. When we perceive God's love, when we understand that God cares about us, God loves us as an individual. No matter who we are, it's not like God just thinks well you're not the pastor so you're not that important. You're just a church member. You're not that important. No. God cares about all of us. He loves all of us and he thinks about us and when we pray he always is. I mean you could just start talking to God anytime and he's just ready to listen. He's a very present help in time of need. When we perceive God's love toward us, that will allow us to care more about other people. The more we understand that God cares about us individually on an individual basis, then that allows us to be able to care about other people and follow that example, perceive the love of God. That's why the Bible teaches how people that are unsaved, they don't have love like people that are saved. Hereby shall all men know that you're my disciples if you love one another because that love comes from God. We love him because he first loved us. We love him that begat and we also love him that has begotten of him. We love the children of God and we love God and we love him because he loved us. So people who have this weird view of God, and there are people today that have this doctrine of a mean God or a God that's impersonal or a God that doesn't really care about the individual and he's willing to just trash us and sacrifice us for no reason. Did God trash Job for a while? Yeah, but he had a reason, he had a purpose, and he loved and cared about Job and exalted Job and he never had turned away his face from Job. A great example of this in the Bible also is Hagar. You know, Hagar is not really the coolest Bible character that people would emulate. You know, you don't hear a lot of churches preaching sermons like, hey, be like Hagar. But actually, Hagar was a godly woman and Hagar actually did end up succeeding in life and raising a godly son, Ishmael. A lot of people don't understand that story, but when you look at that story, she flees from Sarah and Abraham and she's upset, she's down, she doesn't know what to do, and you know what? God sends an angel to come talk to her. And he comes and talks to her and he encourages her. And you know what? She walked away and called that place Beer-Lehi-Roy and she said, thou, oh God, seest me. He was just so impressed that God saw her. You know, God's not just so worried about Abraham and Sarah and the big characters, but also, you know, he has time to look out for the Hagars of this world who are living a little bit of a messed up life. And she was just really moved by the fact that God even cared about her at all. That she called the name of the place Lehi-Roy after the fact that God sees me. And it said it was called that unto this day, you know, when it was written. Because that was something that God really wanted us to realize, that God sees us. You know, God cares about us. He loves us. He doesn't just care about the important people, whoever that would be, but he actually cares about the individual. And so I think that the reason why Job's three friends were so unloving to him and why Elihu was so unsympathetic with Job is because these guys do not perceive the love of God. When you read their words, you don't feel the love of God at all. The only thing they talk about is just God just being so strict, which he is strict, but wait a minute, what about his love? What about his compassion? You know, what about the other side of the coin there? So anyway, I think that's a key lesson that we get from the book of Job is that, you know, they have an image of an unloving God and a God who doesn't care and a God who just doesn't hear us when we pray. And thank God that we do not have a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. So he knows what we go through, he's been through it himself, he lived on this earth as a human being, he knows what it's like, and when we cry out unto him, he sympathizes with us. He doesn't just, that's your problem. I'm busy right now. No, he actually cares when we have a problem. So that's a comforting thing about the love of God. Next week we're going to get into the best part of the book of Job. We're done with the Lihuth, I'm ready to wash my hands of this guy for the rest of my life, but we're going to get into the best part of the book of Job. Chapters 38, 39, 40, 41, and 42 is the best part. I mean everything's been building up to this, so it's going to be a great passage. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father we thank you so much for your word, Lord, help us to rightly divide it, help us not to get carried off into error by failing to discern between your word and man's word, failing to discern between Old Testament and New Testament, or failing to discern between the story and the statement, Lord. And Lord help us not to make the mistake of a Lihuth, just getting the feeling that you don't care, that if we pray to you our words are just going to be swallowed up, it's not going to get through, and nobody's even going to tell you that we're talking to you. Lord, we know that you're a very present help, and so Lord help all of us to take advantage of that and to pray to you very often and to realize that you do care about the troubles of our lives.