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Now in Job chapter 6 verse 1 the Bible reads, But Job answered and said, O that my grief were thoroughly weighed, and my calamity laid in the balances together. For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea, therefore my words are swallowed up. Now just to quickly bring you up to speed in the story, of course Job's lost everything. His children, his ten children, have all died. He's lost all his wealth, he's lost his servants, and if that were not enough, his body has been stricken with a horrible disease where he has boils all over his body from head to toe, he's scraping himself with a potsherd. So he's in extreme physical pain, he's lost everything financially, even his wife has turned on him and said to him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God and die. You know I mean that's a pretty harsh thing for his wife to say while he's in his darkest hour. Pretty much everything that could have possibly gone wrong in his life has gone wrong, and his friends have come to comfort him. But instead of comforting him, basically his friends showed up, they sat with him for about a week, they didn't say anything, and when they finally started to talk to him after they listened to him a little bit, grieving, they basically start to attack him and say, you know, all this stuff's happening to you basically because you're in sin, because you've done wrong. The Bible made it real clear in chapters 1 and 2 that Job was a perfect and an upright man that feared God, eschewed evil, he was the greatest man living on the earth at that time. But yet his friends are accusing him of having been involved in sin and that's why these things are happening. And of course there are still people that teach that doctrine today that teach you that if anything goes wrong in your life it's because you're sinning. You know and if you live for God, everything's going to go well. You know the prosperity gospel, the health and wealth gospel which is not biblical. But in Job chapter 6, Job responds to the first attack from his friend. In chapters 4 and 5, Eliphaz was attacking him, and he was attacking him pretty strongly. So now Job is responding in verses 1 and 2 saying, oh that my grief were thoroughly weighed and my calamity laid in the balance together. He's saying, I don't think you understand, you know, how bad my situation here is. I wish that you guys would understand the amount of pain that I'm in and the amount of suffering that I'm going through because basically they're showing him no sympathy. I mean you think that they would just be nice to him, comfort him, try to help him, but instead they're just accusing him of things that they have no way of proving just because it just doesn't seem like they have any sympathy for him. Now go to Hebrews chapter 4. Keep your finger there in Job chapter 6 and go to Hebrews 4 in the New Testament and I'll read for you a famous passage there at the end of chapter 4 of Hebrews. In verse 14 it says, seeing then that we have a high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. Look at Hebrews 4.15. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly under the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. So the Bible's telling us here that Jesus Christ knows the feeling of our infirmities and what that's saying is that he is able to sympathize with us. Okay, what Job's friends were unable to do, but obviously a good friend is going to be someone who can sympathize with other people when they're going through a hard time. You know, Job has just had 10 of his children die and his friends are talking about, well you know, a lot of times people sin and God kills their children and everything, I mean just saying things that are completely insensitive, saying things that show no sympathy, no feeling of what Job's going through, but the Bible tells us that Jesus does feel what we're going through. He's a friend that sticketh closer than a brother and Jesus Christ when he was on this earth was tempted, the Bible says, in all points like as we are. The word tempted means tested. You know, like we think of attempting something. If we attempt something, that means we're going to try to get it done. And so when the Bible says that he was tempted in all points like as we are yet without sin, meaning that he was tested, he was tried, he was tempted, and he went through the types of suffering that we go through. There are three different occasions where the Bible tells of Jesus weeping, crying. When he was in the garden of Gethsemane, he was definitely showing the fact that he was a human being when he wept and said, you know, Father, if there be any way that this cup can pass from me, nevertheless, not my will but thine be done. He was in agony, the Bible says. He dreaded going to the cross, okay? He despised the shame. Now we know that Jesus Christ was 100% God in the flesh, but he was also 100% man. And that's the interesting thing about Jesus Christ, how he was God in the flesh. The Bible says great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, okay? So Jesus Christ is a friend that can sympathize with us. When we're going through our times, we can go to him in prayer and he understands the pain and the suffering that we're going through. And not only that, but this should show us how we should be as friends. We shouldn't be like Job's three friends, you know. We should have sympathy for people when they're going through a hard time. Now it's hard sometimes to sympathize with people when they're going through something that you know nothing about. You know, if you're single and somebody's going through marriage problems, you don't know what that's like. You know, if you don't have any children and someone loses a child, you don't know what that's like. You know, but we need to try to have a feeling for people and understand that people are going through a hard time and people are suffering. And that should cause us to be gentle with people and go easy on people, okay? You know, a lot of times when people are going through hard times, they do a lot of crazy things. You know, sometimes for example, you know, somebody is maybe in a real dangerous situation. They might say something. They might blurt something out that's, you know, maybe they blurt out something that's, you know, that's profane. You know what I mean? And then you're just like, oh man, I can't believe you said that. It's like, well, you know, you don't know what it's like when somebody has a gun pointed at your head or, you know, whatever situation you're in. I'm just saying sometimes we're really quick to judge people who are going through things that we know nothing about, you know. For example, you know, there are people that go through a lot of struggles that other people have no idea about. You know, some people struggle because they're not able to have children. You know, we see that a lot in the Bible. And you know, always eventually God answers their prayer and they eventually have a child. But you know what? Sometimes that's a struggle that's not understood by people who are not going through it, okay? And then maybe when somebody's going through a struggle like that, they might say and do a lot of things that are hurtful to someone else, but it's because of what they're going through, the suffering they're going through. I'm not condoning anyone sinning or doing wrong. But we need to give people some slack, is what I'm saying, when they're going through hard times. I mean, when people are struggling and going through pain and suffering and anguish, we should be there to support them and be kind to them and not just be real quick to just judge them when they're not acting perfectly or responding perfectly. Even to this day, I've heard preachers look at what Job said in chapter 3 and in chapter 6 and say, well I don't think Job is really handling this right. It's like, wait a minute, his 10 children have just died. He's covered in sores from head to toe and God never rebukes Job and says that Job didn't handle it right. In fact, God praises Job for how he handles it. Now obviously Jesus handled everything perfectly because he's God in the flesh, but he still suffered, he was still in pain, it was still hard. But Job's a human being, okay? So to sit there and attack Job when honestly Job is handling this better than any of us would handle it. We wouldn't be perfect. We might say some wrong things or have some wrong reaction to things when we're going through hard times. So it says in Job 6 there, he just wishes that his calamity would be weighed. He just wishes somebody would understand the grief that he's going through and his suffering that would be there for him and just be touched with the feeling of his infirmities. It says in verse 3, for now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea, therefore my words are swallowed up. He's saying, you guys aren't even listening to me. My words are just swallowed up, I'm telling you the pain and the suffering I'm in and it just goes right over your head and you want to just attack me and just criticize me because you think I must have done something wrong to bring this on myself. Later on in the chapter, he asks them to tell him in verse 24, jump down to chapter 6 verse 24, he says, teach me and I'll hold my tongue and cause me to understand wherein I've heard. So in chapters 4 and 5 they're accusing him of having sinned, he's like, okay, what did I do? What sin have I committed? Well we don't know but we just know you must have done something, you know, for all these bad things to happen to you because bad things just don't happen to good people. Well yes they do, biblically they do. But again look at verse 4, Job is continuing his complaint, he's continuing to talk about his suffering. He says in verse 4, for the arrows of the Almighty are within me. The poison whereof drinketh up my spirit, the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me. Doth the wild ass bray when he hath grass? Or loweth the ox over his fodder? He's saying, look, I wouldn't be complaining, I wouldn't be saying these things if I weren't going through serious suffering. He says in verse 6, can that which is unsavory be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg? Now it's interesting, in verse 5 what he says seems to be applicable to the discussion. He's saying, look, when animals complain it's because something's wrong, you know, they're not going to be lowing when they have food to eat and everything's going well. So chapter 5 makes sense, but then chapter 6, it kind of seems like where's chapter 6 coming from? But you have to understand that Job's very angry and you can feel Job's anger in this chapter. I mean, later on he just pretty much just lays into his friends later in this chapter. He's telling them they're deceitful, he's telling them they're wicked, he's telling them they don't fear God. I mean, he gets mad and you can see why Job's mad, because of what was said to him in chapters 4 and 5. But it's almost like what I get from verse 6 is that he's just basically asking questions that have a real obvious answer. You know, he's just asking all these questions like basically saying, look, I'm not an idiot here, you know. And he says, you know, hey, can that which is unsavory be eaten without salt or is there any taste in the white of an egg? But then he connects that to verse 7 when he says, the things that my soul refuse to touch are as my sorrowful meat. He's saying at this point I'm willing to eat anything. You know, he's just in so much suffering, he doesn't have anything, he's lost everything, he just, you know, when you're hungry, the Bible says, the full soul loatheth in honeycomb, but to the hungry soul, every bitter thing is sweet, okay. The Bible says in verse 8, oh, that I might have my request and that God would grant me the thing that I long for, even that it would please God to destroy me, that he would let loose his hand and cut me up. He's basically just saying, look, I just wish that I would just die. I wish God would just finish me off. I mean, if God's going to kill all my children, if he's going to take away all my finances, if he's going to cause me to be estranged from my wife, if he's going to cause me to be covered in sores and boils, why doesn't he just kill me? Why doesn't he just finish me off, he's saying. In verse 10 he says, then should I yet have comfort, yea, I would harden myself in sorrow. Let him not spare, for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One. What is my strength that I should hope and what is my name that I should prolong my life? Is my strength the strength of stones or is my flesh of brass? He's saying, look, I'm a human being. There's only so much I can take. He's saying, I'm not stone, I'm not brass, I can't just handle anything. And you know, when we read this we can see that Job is really being pushed to the limit here. I mean, he's pushed all the way to his limit. He's just saying, look, I'm done, I mean, just kill me, just finish me off. You know, I'm a human being. I can only handle so much. I mean, I'm not stone, I'm not brass. But you know, the Bible tells in the New Testament, it says that God will not tempt us above that we're able, but it says that he'll always provide a way of escape that we'll be able to endure the temptation. But you know what though, God will often push us to the very limit. He doesn't tempt Job above what he's able because Job maintains his integrity to the end, Job stays right with God all the way to the end of the book, he stands by God's word, he stands by his faith all the way through all these chapters of his suffering and going back and forth with his friends. What we see from chapter 6 here, that Job is at the limit. I mean, he's pushed to a point where he doesn't think he can keep on going. And you know, the Bible tells us in Isaiah chapter 40, they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. And so the Bible teaches that sometimes we're going to get to a point where we feel like we can't go on any further and that's where God can renew our strength. That's where God will keep us going and he will keep us in the fight and we see here that Job is at that limit, I mean, he's at that breaking point. He doesn't think he can keep going, but yet he does, yet he continues on. So these are normal feelings, you know, and he's not the only person in the Bible that felt this way. I mean, Jonah prayed for God to kill him, Elijah prayed for God to kill him, okay, Jeremiah wished he was dead at one point. I mean, this is a common thing in the Bible with men of God and the reason why it's so common is because God is constantly testing us and pushing us to our limits. And the more you live for God and the more you serve God, the more God's going to test you. The stronger you are, the more he knows he can test you and refine you. And Job later in the book says, when I am tried, I shall come forth as gold. You know, Job was even a greater man after he went through these trials and tribulations. It's obviously very difficult, it's not fun, but the Bible says, you know, weeping may endure for the night, but joy cometh in the morning. God is sometimes testing us, trying us, purifying us, and look, if you want to serve God with your life, if you want to do great things for God, you're going to go through things like this. You're going to go through testing and trying times that really push you to your limit and see what you're made of. But in the end, the Bible says, you know, we glory in tribulation because tribulation, you know, worketh experience and experience hope and hope maketh not a shame because as we go through hard times and God gets us through those times, we get stronger. We build more endurance for next time, okay? So we see that this is just a part of the Christian life and this teaching that says that if you live for God, everything's going to go great for you is a false doctrine. I mean, it's great for the TV preachers to get a lot of money and donations by just giving people a feel-good message and telling people what they want to hear, but when it comes to reality, it just isn't there. You know, you're going to go through suffering in the Christian life and that's what we learn most of all from the book of Job. You see, Job was a great man of God. He was not just, you know, we think of Job just for the story, but it's clear from the rest of the Bible that Job was a prophet, Job was a preacher, and even when his friends were attacking him in chapters 4 and 5, they brought up the fact that he had preached the word of God to a lot of people. Even his enemies brought that up. And in chapter 6 here, look at the end of verse number 10. It says, then should I yet have comfort, yea I would harden myself in sorrow. Let him not spare, for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One. So Job is saying, I have not concealed the words of the Holy One. What is he saying? That in the past he has preached a lot of God's word and he never hid God's word, but he preached God's word boldly. He was a prophet, he was a preacher. He did not conceal the words of the Holy One. Now look, if you're a preacher who conceals the words of the Holy One, you're probably never going to go through anything like this. You know, there are all kinds of preachers today that conceal the words of the Holy One. They only preach on the parts of the Bible that are popular. They pick and choose, they cherry pick passages that people want to hear, things that fit in with our American culture in 2013 that are going to get them the right response that they're looking for from their audience, that are going to get them fame and accolades and praise of men, and they conceal the words of the Holy One. But look, if you're a preacher who does not conceal the words of the Holy One, you're going to endure persecution. The Bible says, Yea, in all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. And we see that whenever a preacher preaches the word of God with boldness, he's persecuted. Now if it's not in one way, it's in another. Persecution comes in different forms. You know, a great preacher friend of mine, you know, has just had his church building broken into last week again. You know, it's been broken into repeatedly, okay? And other preachers go through other types of suffering, you know, when they're preaching the word of God boldly. A lot of times, you know, they'll be arrested. A lot of times people in the church will vandalize their property or other people in the community might vandalize the church, vandalize their house. You know, people have been attacked, assaulted. They might be lied about in the media. They might be lied about on the internet. You know, there's always going to be persecution when you're living for God. If you do nothing for God, well then, you know, you might just be able to just cruise through life. But you're not doing anything. You're not accomplishing anything for God. So that's what we see in verse 10 about Job's preaching that he did not conceal the words of the Almighty. Now, as we're reading this, I'm sure you noticed that the book of Job is a very poetic book. And if you notice where the book of Job lands in the Bible, you know, it's not chronological, okay? Because the book right before Job is the book of Esther, okay? Which is obviously way after the captivity of the children of Israel and Judah has already been enforced. And then, you know, the book after it is Psalms, which is written mostly by David, okay? And Job lived long before either of those people, okay? The reason why Job is where it is in the Bible is because although the books of the Bible are in chronological order, they're also broken into sections, okay? So there's the section of the first five books of the Bible that's the Law of Moses, okay? And those books are in chronological order within themselves. And then next we get into, you know, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 1 Kings. Those are all the historical books all the way up through Esther. So from Joshua to Esther, those books are roughly in chronological order. That's the historical books just telling the history of the children of Israel in the Old Testament. But then when you get to Job, you're into the poetic books. And the poetic books are Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon. And those five, you know, are roughly in chronological order within themselves. And then after the poetic books, you get into the major prophets. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel. Those are in chronological order, those five. And then you get to the minor prophets and those twelve are in chronological order with each other, okay? But not with the rest of it. So it's broken first by category of book, then it's in chronological order within that category. The reason I bring that up is that the book of Job is a poetic book. And we can see that especially when Job is talking, not as much when his friends are talking, his friends don't really wax as eloquent as he is, but when we're reading the chapters where Job is speaking, it's very poetic, okay? Just like Psalms is poetic, just like Proverbs and Song of Solomon are poetic. But what's interesting is how the modern Bible versions, how they just completely destroy the book of Job. Okay, now the reason that we only use the King James Bible at this church is because of the accuracy of the King James Bible. We want to know what God said and these new versions, there's a few things wrong with them. Number one, they're coming from, in the New Testament, completely wrong manuscripts. They're coming from newly discovered manuscripts that are completely corrupt, that are the Egyptian style or Alexandrian style manuscripts, and they have a lot of discrepancies, a lot of false doctrine, a lot of missing verses, and so they have a lot of problems. But also just the translation of the new versions, whether it be the NIV or the ESV or the New Living, it leaves something to be desired. Which is why even a lot of worldly people, even a lot of people who don't even believe the Bible, who just look at it as literature, they look at these new versions as a joke. Because of the fact that they read like really poor literature. Now the King James Bible is so beautiful and especially in these poetic passages, you know, the Bible really waxes eloquent. You know, you read these in the new versions and they just completely have lost the poetry and the beauty of what's going on in the story here with the book of Job. You know, just one funny example. I mean, you know, there's lots of examples. I mean, just if you read the book of Job in the new versions, you'll see what I'm saying. But just one major example, you know, is in the Jehovah's Witness Bible, okay, in Job chapter 6. I mean, this one's funny, but if you look this up in a Jehovah's Witness Bible, and by the way, the Jehovah's Witness Bible, the New World translation, is a complete fraud. I mean, it shouldn't even really be called a translation because they just make changes that have no basis in Greek or Hebrew. I mean, they just make changes. And you know what? A lot of cults will come out with their own Bible like this, okay? Because they want to teach strange doctrines that are so far out from what the Bible teaches, they have to come up with their own Bible version to do it, okay? And the New World translation is only used by Jehovah's Witnesses. It's their false translation. You know, the Mormons did the same thing. A lot of people don't know this, but the Mormons, Joseph Smith was working on, with Sidney Rigdon, the Joseph Smith translation, okay? Now he didn't finish it, so they don't use it. The Mormons today use the King James version, but a lot of that Joseph Smith translation of Genesis is in their book, The Pearl of Great Price. But there are other sects and cults of Mormonism that do use the Joseph Smith translation. The only reason the Mormons don't use it is because they want to pretend to be mainstream Christianity. They want to try to fit in with mainstream Christianity, so they want to use that King James version to get their foot in your door. But then later they'll whip out The Pearl of Great Price, and Genesis 1 in The Pearl of Great Price says, in the beginning, the gods created the heaven and the earth. And the gods said, let there be light, and there was light. And the gods saw the light that it was good. You know, basically showing that the earth is being created by multiple gods, whereas of course in the Bible, it's a singular god that's creating the heaven and the earth. The Mormons believe that there are millions of gods. You know, this new Hebrew roots movement that's so popular today, where the Judaizers trying to bring us back under Sabbath keeping, dietary restrictions of the Old Testament, also keeping the feasts and the Feast of Tabernacles and the Feast of Trumpets, and they basically just want to say a lot of Jewish words and a lot of Hebrew words, you know what I mean? Just to sound more spiritual. There's nothing more spiritual about speaking Hebrew than speaking English. English is a pretty spiritual language, my friend. So is Spanish, so is German, you know, it's what's being said that matters, not what language you say it in. Just because you're saying something in French doesn't make it romantic, you know what I mean? And just because you're saying it in Hebrew doesn't make it spiritual, all right? You know, you just think you just swear, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, you know? I'm not impressed, all right? So what I'm saying, you know, German, my wife speaks German, that's definitely not the language of love. It's more, you know, it's the language of Hitler, no I'm just kidding, but anyway, you know, German's not really a romantic, I love German though, but my wife doesn't even like to speak German with me. I speak German to her and she responds to me in English most of the time. But anyway, what I'm trying to say is that these cults, they always produce their own version of the Bible, and this is something you've got to be aware of. You know, when they're saying, oh, we're the only ones that have the right Bible, and it's basically this one that only we use and it just happens to be translated by us, and no one in the world agrees with it except us, okay? You know, that should tell you that something's wrong with that picture, and that's what's wrong with the Mormons, the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Hebrew roots, they have to come out with their own Bible version because of the fact that they don't accept the name Jesus. You know the name that, there's none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved? They don't believe in it. You know, so they've got to change it to Yeshua and Yahweh and, you know, they just include a lot of just HaChflem type words, you know, mixed in. But you know what? You'll notice that a lot of people today who teach a lot of false doctrine, they won't come out with their own Bible version, but they'll just translate it on the fly behind the pulpit. You know what I mean? Like they'll have no Bible to back up what they're saying but just, oh yeah, in the Hebrew it says this. Just trust me. You know, kind of like I preached on Sunday morning. You know, or in the Greek, just trust me, it's there. You know, and they just translate it on the fly, their own little running translation as they go. But listen to what the New World Translation does with the beautiful poetry of Job chapter 6. Look down in your Bible, if you would, in verse 6, it says, Can that which is unsavory be eaten without salt, and is there any taste in the white of an egg? Listen to Job 6, 6 from the New World Translation. Will tasteless things be eaten without salt, or is there any taste in the slimy juice of marshmallow? Now look, you probably don't even believe me that that's what it says, but that's literally what it says. You can, and I'm going to set it right here, you can come look at it after the service. It says right there, instead of is there any taste in the white of an egg, which actually makes sense, it asks the question, is there any taste in the slimy juice of marshmallow? Okay. Now maybe you'll find out tomorrow, you know, with the candy jams or whatever. But you know, this kind of ruins the book of Job and if you read the rest of the New World Translation, you know, it seems like it was translated by Google Translate. You know, it's like they just typed it in and whatever came out, and that's how a lot of these modern versions sound to me. A lot of passages from the NIV, it seems like they just put the Greek into Google Translate. You know, it just sounds so wooden and hollow and fake and just poor, it's just a poor translation. And nothing can ever match the King James Bible, even in the world's eyes, everybody knows that this book, you know, all the other phony Bible versions are all just like bowing down before it, like Dagon fell before the Ark of the Covenant, okay? That's how the King James Bible is. But jump down if you would to verse 15. Actually look at verse 14, it says, to him that is afflicted, afflicted means someone who's going through suffering or tribulation. Tribulation and affliction are often used interchangeably in the Bible. It says to him that is afflicted, pity should be showed from his friend, but he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty. He's saying, look, you guys have forsaken the fear of the Almighty. You don't fear God, because God teaches in the Bible that when someone's afflicted, we should show pity on that person and not kick somebody while they're down, okay? And that's what Job is basically speaking to them pretty harshly here, accusing them of forsaking the fear of the Almighty. He says in verse 15, my brethren, and he's referring to his three friends, my brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, and as the stream of brooks they pass away, which are blackish by reason of the ice, and wherein the snow is hid. What time they wax warm, they vanish. When it is hot, they are consumed out of their place. Now what is he saying here? When he refers to a brook here, he's talking about a seasonal body of water. He's referring to a little brook or a little creek or a little stream, as we would call it, and he's saying that these things are seasonal. In the wintertime when there's a lot of snow and a lot of rain, these things will begin to flow and into the spring they flow, but then when it gets hot, when it gets summer, they're dried up, they're gone. And he's saying my friends are deceitful, they're like a brook. They're clear, cool, and refreshing in a certain season. But then when the hard times come, when it gets hot, when the heat is turned up, they're gone. They're dried up. They have no help. That's what he's using this brook here to show. Now let's go to the New Testament and see what the Bible teaches about this in 2 Timothy chapter 1. Of all the books of the New Testament, 2 Timothy is probably the one that deals the most with what we would commonly refer to as fair weather friends, right? And a fair weather friend is somebody who's there for you when things are going good, and when you have money, and when you're healthy, and when you're a fun person to be around, they're there for you. They love you. They want to spend time with you. But as soon as the money runs out, they're gone. Or as soon as you're suffering, they're gone. Or as soon as maybe you're not so nice to be around. And look, sometimes when people are suffering, they're grumpy people. Who likes to be around people that are just grumpy and negative and complaining? But look, if it's your friend, you know what? Sometimes you do need to stick by people when they're going through that. You know what I mean? Somebody's child dies. Somebody who's going through horrible illness, sometimes they might snap at you or get angry at you or be rude to you. But we ought to be patient and long suffering, especially when we know that people are going through a tough time and have patience with them. And be there for our friends even when the heat is up in their life. Not be a fair-weather friend where we only want to be around people that are fun to be around, that are doing well, that are successful people. We don't want to be around them when they're suffering. Look at what the Bible says in 2 Timothy. He brings up the fact, Paul here is writing to Timothy and he's praising one of his friends who has stood with him. Look what it says in verse 15. This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me. So first he's talking about the friends that have turned on him. And even names a few, of whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes. He's saying look, Phygelus and Hermogenes have turned on me. They've turned away from me. And all of them in Asia have turned on him. Now why was everybody turning on Paul? Probably the biggest reason is because he's writing this from prison. And because he's been thrown in prison, they don't want to be associated with him anymore. They don't want to end up in prison. And a lot of people have that attitude of, you know, I don't want to be associated with somebody who's going to prison because I don't want to be the one that's going next. But then in verse 16 he brings up a positive example. He says the Lord gave mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus. For he oft refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chain. So Hermogenes and Phygelus are ashamed of his chain. They're ashamed of the fact that he's put in prison. They don't want to be there for him in his hour of need. Whereas Onesiphorus oft refreshed him, was not ashamed of his chain. But when he was in Rome, so we see that Paul is imprisoned in Rome as he's writing this, when he was in Rome he sought me out very diligently and found me. So he didn't just happen to run into Paul and help him out. No he went there, he sought him out, he tried to figure out which prison he's in, where he can be visited, bring him refreshment and be an encouragement to him. The Bible says in verse 18, the Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day and in how many things he ministered unto me at Ephesus thou knowest very well. So look, this guy was ministering to him at Ephesus when things were going good and he's ministering to him at Rome where things are going bad. You know, this is our true friend. This is a guy that's just always there for him. Why Jealous and Hermogenes were his friends in the past, in Ephesus, they were there man, but they're fair weather friends. They were that deceitful book that dries up when the heat cometh. Go later in the book to chapter 4 of 2 Timothy, just on the next page probably in your Bible. 2 Timothy 4.9 says, Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me, for Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world and is departed unto Thessalonica, crescents to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia. So again he's listing three people that have forsaken him, that have left him, that have quit on him. Look later in the same chapter, verse 16. At my first answer, no man stood with me, but all men forsook me. I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. So Paul here is praying to God that he'll forgive people for turning on him because he understands why people have turned on him, but that doesn't make it right. Jonasiphorus is the example of a good, godly friend that was there with him through thick and thin. But this should show you that when you're doing right, when you're serving God, and when you're being persecuted and going through hard times, people will turn on you. I mean look how many people are turning on Paul, Phygelus, Hermogenes, he lists off three other people that have forsaken him, Demas, Crescents, Titus, and then he's saying, you know, no man stood with me, but he says in verse 17, notwithstanding, the Lord stood with me. And that's pretty much the only person who's standing with Job at this point. His wife told him, curse God and die. His three friends said, well, you know, if you quit living such a wicked life, you know, these things wouldn't happen to you. And he's like, what have I done? I haven't done anything wrong. It says in verse number 17 there, not with saying, the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear, and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion, and the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom, to him be glory forever and ever, amen. And these verses are why I do not believe what the history books tell us that supposedly Paul was thrown to the lions or executed or beheaded in Rome. When I was in Christian school, when I was in Bible college, when I was in Sunday school as a kid, they always taught us that Paul was beheaded at Rome, you know, that he was basically martyred in Rome. I don't believe that. I don't believe that the scripture teaches that, because if you look earlier in the same chapter, look what Paul says in verse 6 of chapter 4 of 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy 4, 6 says, for I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. Now, when he's talking about his departure, he's talking about departing this life. He's talking about dying. He often uses the word departure to refer to that, like in Philippians 1, when he says, you know, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain, he said, I have a desire to depart and to be with Christ. And here he says, the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I've finished my course, I've kept the faith. He's referring to the fact that his life is coming to an end. He's saying, look, the time of my departure is at hand. I'm ready to be offered. My life's about to end. But in the same chapter, he says at the end of verse 17, I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion, and the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom, to whom be glory forever and ever amen. Does this sound like a guy who's about to be executed by the Romans? Yep, I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion, I'm being beheaded instead. Yes! Now look, this is before the invention of the guillotine, so being beheaded is not a pleasant way to go, because this is something that would take multiple strokes with the sword, not to be too graphic or anything. But what the Bible is showing us here is that Paul knows he's about to die, but at the same time he believes that he's been delivered from being executed by the Romans, and that he will continue to be delivered. That's why I believe that he probably died of natural causes, and there's nothing in the Bible to teach otherwise, and so that's what I believe based on this passage. Go back to the book of Job. So the Apostle Paul went through a lot of suffering in his life, just like Job did. Paul went through some serious suffering too. Paul was beaten with rods multiple times, he was flogged with a cat of nine tails multiple times, similar to what Jesus went through, he went through that I believe five times. We look at him being shipwrecked, he's going without food, he's spending a night and a day in the deep just out at sea, he's constantly in prison, he's in fastings off, he's constantly going through suffering and pain, but in the end he's blessed. God gives him a real long ministry where he preaches the gospel all over the lands of the Gentiles and Asia Minor, and he accomplishes a lot for God, and at the end of the book of Acts we find him basically in a comfortable situation. He's in prison, quote unquote, but it's like house arrest. He's got his own dwelling place, his friends can come see him, and he's basically just preaching the word of God to his friends. Everybody shows up at his house, he's just teaching people the Bible, preaching them the word of God all the way to the finish line, you know, is what the book of Acts indicates, which is compatible with 2 Timothy 4. And just like Job, his latter end was blessed even though he had to go through a lot of suffering throughout his life, and that's how our life's going to be. We're going to go through suffering, we're going to go through our times, but God's going to bless us in the end, and we're going to be blessed of course in heaven. But back in Job chapter 6, after we get through this illustration that he uses, this poetic illustration about the brook being like his deceitful friends. He says in verse 20 for example, they were confounded because they had hoped, they came hither and were ashamed, for now ye are nothing. You see my casting down and are afraid. Did I say bring unto me, verse 22, or give a reward for me of your substance, or deliver me from mine enemy's hand, or redeem me from the hand of the mighty? He's saying, look, I didn't invite you here. I didn't say, oh, can you come bring me money? Can you come help me out? Can you come deliver me? He said, look, I didn't ask you for help. You show up to comfort me, great. I'm glad to have you, but then now you're attacking me. You're criticizing me, you're judging me, and I've done nothing wrong. And he asks again, verse 24, teach me, and I'll hold my tongue and cause me to understand what I've heard. How forcible are right words. But what does your arguing reprove? He's saying your words are not right, I'm not convinced by anything that you're saying. How forcible are right words. But what does your arguing reprove? You know what the rightest words that exist are the words of this book. I mean, you want to talk about right words? It's every word in this book from start to finish that God spoke. You know, it's all the scripture that's right words. And you know what? The Bible teaches that God's word is forcible. God's word is powerful. The Bible says, for the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. You say, well, how do you even know the Bible is really God's word? How do you know it's not a fraud? Because it's powerful, because it's forcible, because it's alive, because it's quick. God's word has power unlike any other book, unlike any of the imitations, unlike anybody's words or poetry that they've ever written. God's word has so much more force behind it. I mean, the power of God's word is something that I've always realized from the time I was a kid all the way until now. God's word's always been powerful. When people speak God's word, there's power behind it. It has authority behind it. I remember when Jesus preached in John chapter 7, I love that part where they go to arrest him. The officers go to arrest him and they just get so enthralled with what he's preaching, they end up not arresting him and they just listen to the sermon. And then when the sermon's over, they go back to their bosses and they say, you know, why haven't you brought him? What are you doing? And they just say, never man spake like this man. And you know what? Never book spake like this book. No book. No book can even come close to this book. I mean any of the imitations, whether it be the Book of Mormon, whether it be the Koran, whether it be the Tao Te Ching. Put it next to the Bible, no book is as forcible as this book. No book has the power of this book, not even close. They're all imitations. The Bible says in verse 26, do ye imagine to reprove words in the speeches of one that is desperate, which are as wind? You overwhelm the fatherless and you dig a pit for your friend. He's saying, look, you guys aren't good friends. You're attacking me. You're part of the persecution. You're part of my suffering. You're part of my trials here. You're not helping me. Now therefore be content. Look upon me, for it is evident unto you if I lie. Return I pray you, let it not be iniquity. Yea, return again. My righteousness is in it. Get out of here. Return to where you came from. I didn't invite you here. Why are you even here? I thought you were here to help me. Is there iniquity in my tongue? Cannot my taste discern perverse things? He's saying, look, if I were living in sin, I would know it. He's saying, is there iniquity in my tongue? Cannot my taste discern perverse things? Now look, that's an important verse because when we go through suffering in our life, sometimes we are being punished by God. Sometimes we are being chastened and chastised by God. Sometimes when bad things happen to us, it's because we are sinning. It's because we have done wrong. But as the book of Job clearly teaches us, sometimes it's just a trial or tribulation where God's testing us and where we've done nothing wrong, as Job had done nothing wrong. The Bible's crystal clear on that in chapters 1, 2, and 42. How do we know the difference? Well, you know what, Job had it right. We know when we're in sin. We know when we're not doing what's right. And so the way to know whether your suffering has been brought on by your sin or whether it's been brought on by God's testing or persecution from the enemy or the devil, the way that you know is whether or not you're living in sin. I mean, if you're living in sin and bad things happen, that's God punishing you. If you're doing right and bad things, you say, okay, but how do I know if I'm doing right? Look, the Bible has to tell you that. The Bible has all the rules in it. There are no rules that God has that are not taught in this book. You understand that? The Bible says, fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man. There's not some other duty of man. There's not some other duty or some other job or some other commandment that you need to follow that's not in this book. It's all here. It's all in God's Word. These are the commandments. These are the rules. Look, if you're breaking these rules, you're in sin. If you're living your life according to this book, you're not in sin. And so we can't go by the circumstances of our life to figure out what's right and wrong. We can't say, well, when I did this, things were going well for me. So that must be the right thing to do. And when I did this, bad things happen. So that must be the wrong thing to do. No, because sometimes you'll do right and bad things will happen. Sometimes you do right and you go through suffering. That's why the Bible has to be our final authority, not the circumstances of life. We can't trust the circumstances of life to tell us what's right and wrong. We need to meditate in this Word day and night to figure out what's right and wrong. And let this be our guide and then we will be able to discern and to tell perverse things from things that are right. And that's what Job's saying. Job's saying, look, I would know if I were doing something wrong. I know what the Bible says, I know what God's Word teaches, I know that I'm living my life in accordance with God's Word, therefore this is not a chastisement. Now look, obviously we don't believe that Job was 100% sinless because no one is 100% sinless except God himself. We know that Job was not 100% sinless, but look, God's not going to bring a major punishment like killing your 10 children, you know, when you just did some small iniquity. You see what I'm saying? So Job knows, look, I didn't do anything of this magnitude, okay, and God backs him up on that. So if you want to know and understand the events of your life, you know, you really need to go to God's Word for the answer and not try to judge the events of life. Because you know what, that's the mistake they made in the book of Jeremiah. They come to Jeremiah and Jeremiah preaches to him and says, look, you guys have forsaken the Lord, you need to obey him, you know, you need to... and here's what they said, well, when we baked cakes to the Queen of Heaven, everything was going great when we did that, and as soon as we stopped doing that, things went bad. So therefore the Queen of Heaven must be the true God, you know, and the Roman Catholics are still worshipping the Queen of Heaven today, okay? But let me tell you something, you can't go by that, and Jeremiah is saying, no, this is what the Bible says, and they're like, no, no, no, when we baked cakes to the Queen of Heaven, things went great. And when we stopped, things went bad. But here's the thing, it was a delayed reaction. They're baking cakes to the Queen of Heaven, they were whoring after other gods, God's judgment was building up. And then when it came, you know, they weren't baking the cakes to the Queen of Heaven, it doesn't matter, you can't go by that. Go by what God's Word says, go by what the Bible says. That's what the Bible teaches. So just in a nutshell, what we can learn from this chapter is that we're going to go through hard times, sometimes you're going to be depressed and upset, you might even get to the point where you wish you were dead at some point in your life, okay? And it doesn't mean that you're a horrible person. It doesn't mean that you need to get on drugs or see a psychiatrist, you know. It means that you need to pray and read your Bible and trust the Lord, because He's not going to tempt you above that you're able. Even if you're at that breaking point, you need to just hang in there and stay with the Lord, stay with church, okay? And the Bible teaches us that even great men of God went through the same thing. Elijah, Jonah, a couple of great examples of great men of God who went through feelings like Job did. But then we also can learn that, you know, we shouldn't judge people or be too hard on people or expect too much of people when they're going through hard times. I mean when people are going through bad times, when people are injured or sick or losing a loved one or lose their job, you know, they might snap at you. They might be rude to you. They might do something that's wrong, okay? And we need to be just slow to judge people that are going through hard times and just try to be there for them and be patient and long suffering and gentle with people that are suffering. And you know, sometimes people are going through suffering that you don't even know about. But a lot of times you do know that people are suffering. You need to give those people some slack. You need to understand and be forgiving of people that do wrong to you when they're going through a hard time. I think Job handled this great. You know what I mean? I'll give him an A plus. But if we wanted to just pick him apart, we could say, oh well he could have done a little bit, you know, he could have just rejoiced in the Lord a little more, you know. I mean come on, that's ridiculous, okay? So there's a lot that we can learn from this chapter about being a good friend. You know, don't be that fair-weather friend. Don't be that deceitful brook who just wants to be there for people. You know, like the prodigal son's friends, remember he had all these friends that he partied with, the money ran out, they're all gone, okay? Common theme in scripture, let's be a godly friend that will be there for people through thick and thin, through tribulation, through affliction. We will be there for our friends and not look at friendship as what I can get out of it, but look at friendship as, you know, what can I do to help people and be a blessing to them when they're going through a bad time, when they're going through suffering. Let's not be ashamed of people's chain. You know, whether that chain is prison, whether that chain is, you know, other hard things they're going through physically, whatever, don't be ashamed of that chain. Be a godly friend. Let's bow your heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for the book of Job and all the great things we can learn. Thank you for the forcible words of the Bible that can guide us and teach us everything that we need to know to live our lives. Help us to study your word, help us tomorrow on Thanksgiving to be extra thankful that we're not in Job's situation, be extra thankful that we have health if we do or that we have good food to eat and that we have a warm bed to sleep in, help us not to get caught up in the materialistic trampling of one another, to buy made in China plastic garbage but rather help us to, you know, focus on your word, reading the Bible, spending time with family, help us to live our lives in a godly way that would honor and glorify you and in Jesus name we pray, amen.