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Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. And then how about Friday? Okay. Got it. Was that the total for the first Friday event? All right. Very good. And then we got that. Okay. Okay. All right. Anything else? Very good. How about Saturday? All right. Anything else from Saturday? And then is this still Saturday? I already got all your totals. So do you want to come up and give a little testimony about the trip? I know you're tired and haven't slept a lot and everything. But yeah. Somebody have the microphone that I can hand to Brother Kevin? All right. Very good. Yeah, come tell us about your trip. Sure. So first I want to thank Faith Ford for just sponsoring another cruise mission trip. So we did a trip that left out of Martinique, which is a French colony in the Caribbean. So this trip wasn't advertised because it's really difficult to get to Martinique. You can only go there through either France or French Canada. So we all flew in through Toronto. So the flights were 20, 30 hours long. And not as super cheap. So it wasn't advertised, but it was four men that went on the trip. It was me, Daniel Ryder, Sean Conlan from Seattle, and Kenton Knowles. And so for the four of us, we had a seven-day cruise. We visited six countries. The countries in order were Martinique, where we had six salvations. So only French-speaking, so we were able to find a couple people that spoke English. We all were able to each get somebody saved. In Guadalupe, another French-speaking only, we had 12 salvations. We were all able to at least get one as well. Saint Lucia, so the rest of these are all English. We had 80 salvations for the day. Barbados, we had 79 salvations for the day, which was everyone's favorite place. At sea, no salvations. The next day was St. Vincent in the Grenadines. We had 77 salvations for the day. After that was Grenada. We had 86 salvations for the day. And in our layover in Canada, we also had eight salvations outside of the airport. Throughout that whole thing, we also had an additional like 17 salvations on homemade TV. So the final total for the week was 365 salvations for just four people in seven days. Applause Applause Applause Applause So I just wanted to say, you know, obviously, you will probably hear more about some of these trips at the conference, but, you know, when the next one gets announced, you guys really should consider doing these things. They're very fun. They're very fruitful. And, you know, you'd rather just be on one than hear about it, you know, afterwards. So definitely sign up. Thanks again for the church. God bless you guys. Alright, very good. Thank you so much, Kevin. And yeah, those guys, they were really working their butts off six, seven hours of soul winning a day. They were going straight to the college campuses, which is where you find that most receptive demographic, and you're just talking to just student after student after student. You can grab three, four of them at a time, preach the gospel. And then I saw a lot of wonderful photos. If you're connected on social media with Kevin or Sean or Kenton or any of these people, you know, there were a lot of great photos of all the different soul winning that they were doing. And so super exciting. They worked really hard to get those kind of numbers. And they were in one of the most receptive places in the world. So it was just really a phenomenal trip. Super exciting. As Kevin said, the reason that we didn't push it for a lot of people is that it was just kind of expensive. Like the flights are kind of expensive. It was kind of a logistical nightmare. It was something that I'd been kind of wanting to do myself, but the logistics were so rough. And so I'm thankful that these guys were willing to fly all over the place and figure it out and get it done. And so the mission continues. We've had a really strong first quarter of the whole cruise missions. I don't have the total in front of me, but I want to say out of all the cruise missions trips, because I think there's been about maybe eight of them so far. And it's been a total of about a thousand people saved already. And we've already hit like ten countries or something. So we're going to keep pushing that the whole year long and see how many countries we can hit, how many people we can get to participate, and how many souls we can get saved. So super exciting. And hopefully we'll be announcing soon a couple of options for you. The summer, it's kind of rough in the summer because I think the summer it's a little bit more expensive because there's more demand. So we might do kind of a low-key trip in July that's maybe a little bit more expensive in July. But then we'll probably push something in October because that's when the price tends to go down. So you can think about participating. And we want to get as many people involved as possible. And so I know on our last who just went on the last cruise mission trip and it was your first time on any like foreign mission strip. And that was like your first time on a foreign mission strip. Yeah, several people. And so that's really cool to be able to get people out there for the first time. That's really one of the things that we're emphasizing this year is getting new people out there for the first time doing soul winning. And it's great to get the seasoned veterans out there like Brother Daniel, Brother Kevin to just absolutely just rock that thing for a week and a half over there. So God bless you guys. I really appreciate your hard work on that. And then, okay, so we were still counting up the Salvations. I think we got everybody for Saturday. Did you have something else for Saturday? Okay. I already got you. Did you, I think you gave it to me, right? Okay. No, never mind. No, never mind. This seven is a different one. Okay, I got you. Anything else from Saturday that I didn't get yet? And then what about we haven't counted today yet Sunday. The main group, Brother Ian. Where's Ian? All right, so Ian, you got five for the main group. And then what about other groups outside of Ian's group? All right, gotcha. Okay, gotcha. Okay. All right, any other groups from today out soul winning? All right, very good. Okay. All right, keep up the great work on soul winning. And man, we've been hitting it hard this year. We appreciate everybody's hard work being out there soul winning, not just on the mission field, but even just here at home in Phoenix. And so, you know, this is some of the greatest soul winning that we've ever seen in the history of our church. And so keep up the great work. All right, with that, let's go ahead and sing our next song. Come lead us. All right, you should find the insert in front of your hymnal with the hymn entitled Brighten the Corner. It's a very fitting song involving missions, so really sing it out with me first now. Do not wait until some deed of greatness you may do. Brighten the Corner, sing it out. Do not wait until some deed of greatness you may do. Do not wait to shed your light afar. To the many duties ever you now be true. Brighten the corner where you are. Brighten the corner where you are. Brighten the corner where you are. Someone far from harbor you may guide across the bar. Brighten the corner where you are. Just above our clouded skies when you may help to clear the land of silver, wind and bar. Go into a heart of gold, make all your song of cheer. Brighten the corner where you are. Brighten the corner where you are. Brighten the corner where you are. Someone far from harbor you may guide across the bar. Brighten the corner where you are. Here for all your telling, you make sure we find a danger when the bright and morning star. Even from your humble head the bread of life may be. Brighten the corner where you are. Brighten the corner where you are. Brighten the corner where you are. Someone far from harbor you may guide across the bar. Brighten the corner where you are. I am thine O Lord, I have heard thy voice and been told thy love to me. But I long to rise in the arms of faith and be closer drawn to thee. Draw me nearer nearer blessed Lord to the cross where thou hast died. Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessed Lord to thy precious fleeting sign. Consecrate me now to thy service formed by the power of grace divine. Let my soul look up with a steadfast hope and my will be lost and thine. Draw me nearer nearer blessed Lord to the cross where thou hast died. Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessed Lord to thy precious fleeting sign. O the pure light of a single hour that before thine throne I spend. When I sheild in prayer and with thee my God I commune as friend with friend. Draw me nearer nearer blessed Lord to the cross where thou hast died. Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessed Lord to thy precious fleeting sign. There are depths of love that I cannot know till I cross the narrow sea. There are heights of joy that I may not reach till I rest in peace with thee. Draw me nearer nearer blessed Lord to the cross where thou hast died. Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessed Lord to thy precious fleeting sign. Amen. Good things tonight. Alright, this time we're fast we're offering plates as the plates go around. Let's turn our Bibles tonight to Job chapter 3 the book of Job chapter number 3 as we always do we'll read the entire chapter beginning in verse number 1 Job chapter 3 follow along silently with brother Dan as he reads Job 3 beginning in verse number 1 Job chapter 3 the Bible reads after this opened Job his mouth and cursed his day and Job spake and said let the day perish wherein I was born and the night in which it was said there is a man child conceived let that day be darkness let not God regard it from above neither let the light shine upon it let darkness in the shadow of death stain it let a cloud dwell upon it let the blackness of the day terrify it as for that night let darkness seize upon it let it not be joined unto the days of the year let it not come into the number of the months lo let that night be solitary let no joyful voice come therein let them curse it that curse the day who are ready to raise up their morning let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark let it look for light but have none neither let it see the dawning of the day because it shut not up the door of my mother's womb nor hid sorrow from mine eyes why died I not from the womb why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly why did the knees prevent me or why the breast that I should suck for now should I have lain still and been quiet I should have slept then had I been at rest with kings and counselors of the earth which built desolate places for themselves or with princes that had gold who filled their houses with silver or as in hidden untimely birth I had not been as infants which never saw light there the wicked cease from troubling and there the wary be at rest there the prisoners rest together they hear not the voice of the oppressor the small and greater there and the servant is free from his master wherefore is light given to him that is in misery and life under the bitter and soul which long for death but it cometh not and dig for it more than for hid treasures which rejoice exceedingly and are glad when they can find the grave why is light given to a man whose way is hid and whom God hath hedged in for my sighing cometh before I eat and my roarings are poured out like the waters for the thing which I greatly feared has come upon me and that which I was afraid of has come unto me I was not in safety neither had I rest neither was I quiet yet trouble came Dear Lord, thank you for your faith for a Baptist Church Lord and thank you for salvation and Lord I pray that you fill Pastor Anson with your Holy Spirit Lord and Lord I hope that you'd help us to better serve you every day that you'd keep a hedge around us and in Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Amen. This evening we're continuing with the book of Job. This morning we went through the opening scene of Job and talked about how Job was literally the best Christian in the world at that time. He was the most righteous man and of course Satan is accusing him before God up in heaven and he ends up, God ends up allowing Satan to attack him and he ends up losing all of his wealth and prosperity. He had all kinds of wealth. He was the wealthiest man in his whole area and he ended up just losing everything financially. He had ten children. All of his ten children die in the same day and then when we got to chapter two, the ante is upped even more because then Satan is given permission to actually harm him physically and he ends up just being covered in boils from head to toe. So he has these itching, burning, excruciating sores all over his skin and he's scraping himself with a potsherd just to get a little bit of relief and you know, obviously I've never been in anything like this. I've never been through anything like what Job went through with the boils, but the closest thing that I was thinking of is I've gotten a really bad sunburn before and I know that sounds silly, but man, if you get a really bad sunburn, it can be torture. It can be excruciating. I've been through some painful things. I've been tasered for 22 seconds straight and stuff. I've broken bones. I'm no stranger to pain, but man, some of the worst pain I've ever had. I've been tasered for 22 seconds straight and stuff. I've broken bones. I'm no stranger to pain, but man, some of the worst pain is having a sunburn because it just doesn't stop. Just the burning and the itching and the ah! You know, it can be really bad and that's why I put on sunblock compulsively because you learn that lesson a couple times and you don't want to do it again. And so he's in physical torment, physical torture, and then just to add insult to injury, then his wife sort of turns on him a little bit and stops supporting him and says, hey, dost thou still maintain thine integrity? Curse God and die. Obviously that's not an encouraging thing to hear when you're going through this physical torment and you've just lost everything. Now we don't want to be too hard on Job's wife because what we have to understand is that just because Job is the most righteous man in the world, it doesn't necessarily mean that his wife is the most righteous woman in the world. But that also doesn't make her a bad person or a horrible person. Maybe she's just kind of a normal person and it's just a little bit too much for her for all of her children to die, for her husband to be covered in boils head to toe, and for her to lose all of her wealth and resources as well. And obviously when people get angry and emotional, sometimes they just say things that they don't mean, and so we don't want to just totally condemn her. But Job, even in light of that, stayed cool and just told her in verse number 10, if you look down at chapter 2 there, verse number 10, but he said unto her, thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil? And all this did not Job sin with his lips. Now what we're going to talk about tonight though is Job's three friends who come to see him. And when Job's three friends come to see him, seven days go by before Job begins to speak to them and before they speak to him. For the first seven days they're just kind of there with him, just grieving with him and they're not talking about anything, they're just there astonished with him. But what I want to point out is Job's initial reaction is so good, right? Because in chapter 1 it's just, naked came I out of my mother's womb and naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord. I mean it's an amazing reaction. Then in chapter 2 he has another phenomenal reaction when he says, hey, we're not just going to receive good at the hand of the Lord and not evil. Hey, I'm willing to take everything that God gives me. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. So he has just an excellent attitude in both of these chapters. And I think that when something really bad happens to you suddenly, a lot of times the response that you have is sort of what I would call the autopilot response. It's almost just like a default response. It kind of just brings out who you are and what you are. And Job is a really righteous man. So when these really bad things happen, his gut instinct is to just take it in stride and say, you know what, God's good anyway, right? And I'm thankful for all the good things God has given me. But here's the thing. Over time though, as the pain continues, as the suffering continues, as things begin to sink in a little bit, his reaction is going to change a little bit. So that by the time we get to chapter 3, he's no longer having just this wonderful attitude that we see in chapter 1 and chapter 2. By the time we get to chapter 3, he's just wishing that he was never born and wishing to die. But you can see where he's coming from. If you were in excruciating pain from a skin disorder, you might be wishing to die as well. But let's look at the three friends. And that's really what I want to focus in on tonight. It says in verse 11 of chapter 2, Job's three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him. They came, everyone from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. So it sounds like they're from three different geographies here. And they're all coming to see him, for they had made an appointment together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him. So they've communicated with one another. And they've said, hey, you know what, let's go see Job. Let's travel to where Job lives, and let's be with him, let's all three go there, let's spend time with him, and let's comfort him. Their goal is to comfort him. Now, again, it's easy to be very hard on Job's three friends. I do not think that Job's three friends are horrible people. Now, when we get to chapter 42, the Bible is going to tell us God's response to Job's three friends. And God's response to Job's three friends is that he is angry with them. Now, if you would flip over there, and let's look at it together, just to kind of understand Job's three friends. In chapter 42, when all is said and done, and everything's resolved, then the Lord gives his thoughts on the three friends. Job chapter 42, and look at verse number 7. It says, And it was so that after the Lord had spoken these words unto Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee and against thy two friends, for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath. So, one of the interesting things about the book of Job is that whole chapters of the book of Job are the words of Eliphaz and Bildad. And here's the thing about that, is that God says at the end that what they said wasn't right. So, therefore, when we're reading the book of Job, we have to be really careful to rightly divide. When Job is speaking, that is Holy Spirit inspired truth when Job is speaking. Whereas, when the three friends are speaking, even though it's entire chapters, the Bible is true in the sense that it's true they said that. But is what they said necessarily true or right? No. Because God, in the final analysis, says that what they spoke was not right. And he says, I'm angry at them because what they said was wrong. And then, if we keep reading there, it says in verse 8, Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering, and my servant Job shall pray for you. For him I will accept. He's basically saying, I'm so mad at you guys, I don't even want a burnt offering from you guys. You guys need to go make things right with Job. You need to go tell Job you're sorry and ask Job to pray for you. Job will offer a burnt sacrifice. Him I'll accept. You guys are full of baloney. And then he says, you know, lest I deal with you after your folly. He's like, you know, unless I just really just beat up on you guys because that's what you guys deserve. In that you have not spoken of me, the thing which is right, like my servant Job. But so life as the Temanion, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite went and did according as the Lord commanded them. The Lord also accepted Job. So here's what I mean about them not being horrible people. First of all, even though they were wrong, even though what they said was wrong, even though they mistreated Job and God is very angry with them, God does give them a chance to make it right and to fix it. And what did they do? They made things right with their friend Job and they fixed things. But not only that, if we go back to the very beginnings of the story here in chapter 2, there's at least something to be said for the fact that they are taking time out of their schedule, traveling a great distance and spending seven days with Job. I mean, it's not like they just picked up the phone and made a quick phone call or shot him a text, hey, praying for your brother or send him an email. I mean, they physically went there and they stayed for a long time, right? And I don't know, they probably didn't have to travel super far, but, you know, maybe a day's journey or whatever. And then they get there and they spend a whole week. And that's more than a lot of friends will do for you when you're going through a bad time, right? You're going through hard times, you're struggling. You know, a lot of times people are just nowhere to be found, not helping you whatsoever. Or worse, they're talking bad about you behind your back, slandering you. And look, Job's friends have some negative things to say about him that are wrong and that make God mad, but at least Job's friends said those things to Job's face. There's a big difference. Look, saying things to somebody's face doesn't mean you're right, because God's already mad at them for talking crap about Job to his face, because they're wrong, because it isn't true. But at least they said it to his face. How much worse would it have been if these three guys just went out and just started just making YouTube videos about how bad Job is and how it's all Job's fault, or just going and gossiping with one another and other people? I mean, you've got to give the friends a little bit of credit here that they go to Job, their heart's in the right place, even though they're wrong, at least they're sincere, and at least they're trying to do something good, and at least they're taking seven days of their life to go spend time with Job and help Job in his time of need. So we don't want to be too hard on them. So they made this appointment and they come to comfort him. Go to Job chapter 2 and verse number 12, and it says, And when they lifted up their eyes afar off and knew him not, they lifted up their voice and wept. So things are so bad with Job. He's so mutilated from having these boils head to toe that they are looking at him and they can't even recognize. They can't even believe that this is Job. They knew him not. They don't even understand, could this really be our friend? And they start just crying and weeping and they feel bad for him. They obviously didn't know the severity of what had happened. Maybe they'd only heard about the financial losses or about his kids dying, and then they see how bad it is. They rent everyone his mantle. They sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven. So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spake a word unto him, for they saw that his grief was very great. So they just spend a week just hanging out with him, just being with him, spending time with him. They're not trying to talk to him or criticize him or argue with them or anything. They're just there for him and supporting him and spending time with him and weeping and mourning with him. I'm sure they're praying about things and so they're sitting in the dirt. They've torn their clothes and everything. So, again, we don't want to be too hard on Job's friends. They're wrong, but they're not horrible, bad people that are just wicked and they're going to hell or something, right? Because, you know, they seem to be at least walking with God on some level to where God is at least saying, hey, if you make things right with Job, things will be cool at the end in chapter 42. So after they just sit there for like seven days just astonished and grieving, then that's when Job begins to open his mouth, and it says in verse number one of chapter three, After this, opened Job his mouth and cursed his day, and Job spake and said, Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived. And I'm not going to reread all this again. We already read it before the sermon. And the idea here is pretty much just summed up I wish I would have never been born. I wish that I had never even existed. I am in so much torment. I am so miserable. Cursed be my birthday because I even exist, okay? And then he's even talking about the fact that people who are miserable like him, why were they even given life in the first place? Because they just wish they were dead. And so he's first talking about wishing that he was never born, and then he goes on to be wishing that he were dead. And of course, Job's not the only great man of God in the Bible who felt this way because Jonah wishes that he were dead in Jonah chapter four. Elijah wishes that he were dead right after the confrontation with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. After his greatest moment, his greatest victory, then when he's an outlaw and Jezebel's seeking to kill him, he wishes that he were dead. And so this is something that is pretty normal even for great men of God to go through these kind of feelings. And so when bad things happen, it's pretty normal to be upset. It's normal to, you know, be cursing and saying all these things and saying, you know, man, I wish I'd never been born or something. Obviously, it's not the perfect response, but it's pretty normal, right? The perfect response was chapter one. The perfect response was chapter two. That's the default autopilot, great man of God. His knee-jerk is just to glorify God and just, I'm ready for anything. I can handle anything. But as it begins to sink in day after day after day after day of torture, well, then obviously everybody kind of has their breaking point. Okay. And that's not to say that Job is sinning here because I don't believe that he is sinning at all, but he's getting upset. He's getting angry. He's lashing out a bit because it's starting to really get to him. And look, God's not going to tempt us above that we're able, but he will push us to the absolute brink. And the Apostle Paul talks about being pressed and afflicted beyond measure so that he despaired even of life. So that even the Apostle Paul and his buddies were kind of wondering if they'd rather have life just end because they were despairing of life, even in the New Testament. And so he goes on and on poetically about how he wishes he could just be like an untimely birth, like he would have been a miscarriage or something in verse 16. He talks about how then he would have just gone straight to heaven and everything would have been fine in that case. Verse 23 of chapter three says, Why is light given to a man whose way is hid and whom God hath hedged in? For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roaring are poured out like the waters. For the thing which I greatly feared has come upon me, and that which I was afraid of has come unto me. I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet, yet trouble came. So he's just saying, man, why? Why is this happening? It's horrible. I wish I were dead. Why is this happening to me? Then we get to chapter four. We're going to get the first response from one of Job's friends. Then at life as the Temanite answered and said, chapter four, verse two, If we assay to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved? So they're kind of treading lightly here. Assay means to try. So they're like, hey, you know, if we kind of try and talk to you a little bit, is that okay? And, you know, you've got to at least give his friends credit for the fact that they're trying to be gentle, they're trying to be delicate. Even though they're wrong in their assessment of the situation, they're at least being patient. And here's the thing. When we're around people who are going through a lot of pain and suffering and misery, we need to be patient with other people and understand that people are going to get angry and they're going to say things that they don't mean or they're going to say very strong things. Like, for example, Job's wife, who told him to curse God and die. There's no indication that that was the end of their relationship. You know, they seem to continue to be married, and at the end of the book, she's going to produce ten more children. Because God ends up giving Job back double everything that he had before, and so he ends up having ten more children to go along with that as well. And so at least they're starting out and being patient with him and being kind to him. It's sort of like when your wife is giving birth. You know, and you're there as the husband, right? Your wife's in excruciating pain. You're not going to be telling her, hey, you need to relax, you need to calm down, you know, you need to toughen up a little, you know. What's wrong with you, weakling? You know, that'd be ridiculous, right? Obviously, you're in a position of comfort. She's in a position of excruciating pain, and so you're going to be really patient. And look, I've been in the maternity ward at the hospital before, and my wife doesn't do this, but I've heard some wild things in that maternity ward. You know, the stuff my wife says is pretty reasonable, pretty normal stuff. But, I mean, I've been in the maternity ward and just heard all kinds of just screaming and yelling and hateful things and profanities and everything just flying. Who knows what I'm talking about at that maternity ward? Nobody knows what I'm talking about. Okay, well, all right, one person knows what I'm talking about. But I remember when my wife was giving birth, I think it was to her first baby, and the person next door was just going crazy. And I still remember it to this day vividly, all that screaming and all those imprecations. But it says here, you know, if we say to commune with you, you know, they understand, he's in a bad place, he just ranted about, I wish he'd never been born. And, you know, they're not shutting him down, they're listening to what he has to say, and now they're going to try to talk to him. If we say to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved? But who can withhold himself from speaking? Behold, thou hast instructed many, and hast strengthened the weak hands. Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees. So they're acknowledging the fact that not only has Job been a godly and righteous man, he's been a man who's helped a lot of other people, right? He's taught other people the Word of God. He's strengthened other people. He's encouraged other people. He's motivated other people. He's helped other people. But now, they say in verse 5, but now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest. It toucheth thee, and thou art troubled. Now, what they're saying here, again, just because God says that what they said is wrong, it doesn't mean that every little thing that they say is wrong. And that's one of the interesting things about the book of Job, is reading what the friends have to say, and deciding which parts of what they say are valid, and which parts are not valid. We know that in general they're wrong. We know that in general their conclusions are wrong, but it doesn't mean just every word out of their mouth is wrong. So the way that we can tell what is right and what is wrong is by evaluating it in light of other scripture. What Job says is 100% right throughout the entire book of Job. Okay, that's inspired by God. He spoke what's right. God stamps his approval on what Job said, whereas what the friends say is in general wrong. But the idea here, what they're saying to him, is, well, look, you've preached in the past how when bad things happen, you know, you gotta push through, you gotta serve God, you gotta take it in stride. And he's saying, you know, it's happening to you now. You gotta take your own advice. You know, you've told other people, don't quit on God when things are rough. Well, now things are rough. You can't quit on God. So there's a little bit of validity to this principle of saying, hey, you know what, we've all heard you encourage people when they're going through a bad time. Now you're going through a bad time. You need to encourage yourself and not be talking about how you wish you were dead or, you know, you wish that you'd never been born and everything. You've encouraged others. You've strengthened others. You need to take a dose of your own medicine. So there's a little bit of truth in that, obviously, that, yeah, that is good advice. And you know what, I often tell people when they ask me for advice, sometimes I'll tell them, you know what, what if someone else were in your exact situation and asked you what to do, what would you tell them? And a lot of times if we think about things in a kind of removed third party manner where it's not as emotional or as close to us and we just think about what would I tell someone else in this situation, that's usually the best advice that we could give ourselves as well. Is, you know, what would we tell people to do? Well, that's probably what we should do. Okay? Because it's a lot easier to give advice to other people than to do it ourselves. It says in verse six, is not this thy fear, thy confidence, thy hope and the uprightness of thy ways? You know, look, you fear God, you're confident that the Lord's going to take care of you. You have hope and, you know, you are upright in your ways. This is who you are, man. You know, I'd expect you to be handling this a little better than you're handling it, they say basically. Remember I pray, but this is where they go off the rail because verse six isn't bad. But then verse seven, remember I pray thee, whoever perished being innocent or where were the righteous cut off? This is where they're wrong because it's basically saying, if you were righteous, this wouldn't be happening to you. So this is the first seed of the wrong teaching from the three friends. The assumption is that a bad outcome means that you did something wrong. Okay? That's the first seed there of error in their teaching. Remember I pray thee, whoever perished being innocent. Well, guess what? The sad reality of the world that we live in is that innocent people do perish. Where were the righteous cut off? Well, sometimes the righteous are cut off. That's just the reality of the world that we live in. Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, verse eight, and sow wickedness reap the same. By the blast of God they perish and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed. The roaring of the lion and the voice of the fierce lion and the teeth of the young lions are broken. The old lion perishes for lack of prey and the stout lion's welts are scattered abroad. Now, in general, it is true that you reap what you sow. In general, if you do good, good things are going to happen to you. If you do evil, bad things are going to happen to you. What goes around comes around. This is true in general, but the problem with Job's three friends is that they have an overly simplistic view of the way that the world works. They have just this black and white, overly simplistic view. You do right, things always go well. You do wrong, things always go bad. And, of course, Job is going to challenge this in the coming chapter and say, well, no, wait a minute. I've seen bad people get away with doing bad things. I've seen bad people thriving and prospering and doing well, sort of like what we saw a few weeks ago in Psalm 73. You know, and then he's talking about how bad things can happen to good people as well. And so here's the thing. A lot of people make this mistake when they're studying the Bible. They make the mistake of thinking that general principles in the Bible are just promises or guarantees. Okay. Like, like for example, you know, here's a promise or a guarantee from the Bible when the Bible says that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life. That's a guarantee. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's a guarantee, right? When the Bible says, him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. That's a guarantee. That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God will raise him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. These are guarantees. Every single time you believe on Jesus, you're saved. Guaranteed. God's not going to break that promise. Okay. That's a guarantee. But here's the thing. When we read the book of Proverbs, though, we're in a different genre. And when you're reading the Bible, you've got to understand which genre you are reading. And when you're in wisdom literature, like the book of Proverbs, these things are not necessarily guarantees. They are principles. They are things that tend to hold true. Like, for example, if the Bible says, hey, if you're lazy, you're going to end up being poor because you're lazy. Does that mean that no lazy person will ever be wealthy? Because obviously there are going to be exceptions to that where somebody is lazy and they're just kind of in the right place at the right time or whatever and they just get that federal job or whatever and they end up making a bunch of money to just watch the printer print or hold up a shovel or whatever they're doing. Okay. And so here's the thing. It's not 100 percent of the time true. Or how about this? When the Bible says, honor thy father and mother, that it may be well with thee and thou mayest live long on the earth. That does not mean 100 percent guarantee if you honor your father and mother, you're going to live to be very old. Is it possible for someone to honor their father and mother and die young? Absolutely. I mean, the Lord Jesus Christ obviously would have done all the commandments perfectly, including honoring parents, and yet he died when he's probably about 34 years old. Right? We don't know exactly, but that's what the scripture would tend to indicate. And then you've got other examples like Stephen. You know, Stephen seems to be a young man and he's stoned to death. He's martyred. Are we going to look at that and say, well, he didn't honor his parents? That would obviously be silly. Not only that, there are going to be other examples of people who did not honor their parents at all, were super disrespectful to their parents and lived to be 100. Does that mean the Proverbs isn't true? No. In general, the wicked are not going to live out half their days. In general, if you honor your father and mother, it's going to be well with you. Your days are going to be long on the earth. In general, people who live a wicked life are going to live shorter. They're not going to be blessed. Bad things are going to happen to them. And in general, serving God is going to cause you to live longer, be blessed, and have prosperity. But unfortunately, the world is not just that simple to where these things are just always true 100% of the time. There are exceptions to all of these things, okay? And so you don't want to misapply the book of Proverbs to think that everything's a guarantee in the book of Proverbs, okay? And this is sort of where the prosperity crowd goes wrong. And honestly, Eliphaz the Temanite in particular, out of Job's three friends, kind of reminds me a little bit of the sort of health and wealth gospel prosperity types that sort of just think that everything is going to go well for you as long as you're doing right. And you know, put your hand on the screen, and if you send in $1,000, you're going to get $10,000 back. You send in $10,000, you're going to get $100,000. You know, things aren't that simple. In general, if you are generous, it's going to come back around to you. In general, if you give to the Lord's work, God's going to pour you out a blessing that you won't even be able to receive. But again, it is not just like clockwork that things in the book of Proverbs that are giving us life wisdom, kind of explaining how the world works, it doesn't mean it's a guarantee, hey, if you work hard, you're going to be rich. And if you're lazy, you're going to be poor. That's not true because there are going to be people who work really hard and are poor. There are going to be people who are lazy and end up being rich anyway. And so we have to understand how to rightly divide the word of truth and understand what genre we're looking at. And so Job's three friends have an overly simplistic view of the world, just thinking that everything's a guarantee. And if you do right, nothing bad is going to happen. And if you do wrong, everything bad is going to happen. It's just that simple. So therefore, even though they can't point to any sin in Job's life, they're just saying, well, you must have sin in your life because you are suffering. Okay. And another thing that people will bring up a lot is the verse in Proverbs. And this is a verse that has been hotly debated since long before any of us were even born. People have talked about this and debated this and struggled with the verse, train up a child in the way he should go. And when he's old, he'll not depart from it. And the reason why there's so much controversy about this verse is because we see example after example after example in the Bible itself. All through the book of Genesis, all through the history books of Joshua, Judges, the books of the kings, just over and over again, we see examples of righteous people, godly people, wonderful people, and then their kids go out and do horrible things. Now, you could have this doctrine that just says, oh, they're all just bad parents. They were all just really good people, but they're all just really bad at parenting. But then you'd have to swallow this idea that basically, you know, everybody's a bad parent. You know, Adam and Eve are bad parents. Noah's a bad parent. And Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. You know, you just end up, just everybody's a horrible parent. David's a bad parent. Solomon's a bad parent. You know, just, there's no end. When you have just literally hundreds of examples like that, just in the Bible alone, you just have example after example after example, it doesn't really hold water to just say, oh, they're all just bad parents. The only person who actually gets blamed for bad parenting is Eli. You know, specifically it's brought up, you didn't restrain your sons. Your sons were doing these wicked things, and you restrained them not. You did not hold them back. So even Eli's not being chastised that his kids have taken a dark path. He's being chastised for not keeping them under control, when he was supposed to be keeping them under control. That's what he's chastised for. And so people will have this doctrine, and this doctrine is out there, that will just say, oh, well if you're a good parent, all of your children are guaranteed to all be saved and to all be serving God and to all do right. That's a guarantee because if you train up a child in the way he should go when he's old, he'll not depart from it. But here's a massive problem with that is just reality. And I'm not even just saying the reality that we observe, I'm saying even the reality of what we read about in the Bible. Because I, for one, do not buy into this idea that just everybody just happened to be a horrible parent. I think it's just people are super sinful, people have free will, people are way more sinful than you think, and the world's just a super sinful place filled with super sinful people, and people that are doing right are more rare than people who do wrong, unfortunately. And I do not believe for one second that I can somehow guarantee that all of my children get saved, or that you can guarantee that all of your children get saved, and even less can you guarantee that they are going to choose to love God with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength and go out and live a great life for God. This is very naive. People who believe this way or think this way usually have very young children. And people who have teenagers and adult children are starting to realize, or have already realized, you know what, that doesn't seem to be the case. Now look, I do think that there's a lot that you can do that your children will get saved, and I think that you have a huge amount of influence on whether or not your children get saved. So I'm not just saying, hey, just roll the dice, and maybe they get saved, maybe they don't. That's not what I'm saying. Because I also think that we make a big difference in the lives of strangers whether they get saved, if we're going to them and preaching the gospel to them, and working with them, and watering the seed. And we can get them saved. I mean, look, I mean, Kevin, were you just kind of going through an exercise there in the Caribbean and they were going to get saved anyway? No, he's going there to make a difference in people's lives, right, Daniel? They're going there to pull people out of the fire. Not because it's already going to happen anyway. What's the point then? No, my friend, we do have an influence on whether or not other people get saved if we're preaching them the gospel, if we're letting our light shine before men, if we're doing good deeds and good works, we are influencing the lives and the eternal destination of other people by pulling them out of the fire, bringing them to Christ, making a difference. I believe that. Otherwise, I wouldn't be big on soul winning. If I thought, oh, it's all predetermined anyway, it's nonsense. So that being said, obviously, if a child is growing up in a godly home, obviously, if a child is growing up where the gospel is crystal clear, obviously, if they're growing up in a church like ours where the Bible is being clearly preached and there's no confusion about salvation, they are way more likely to be saved than if they're growing up in some liberal church or a church that's confused on the gospel or in a home that's Muslim or Hindu or Buddhist or something like that. Obviously, there's a much higher percentage that they're going to get saved if they're in a home where the gospel is being preached and the gospel is clear. And look, I believe that all of my children are saved, the ones that are old enough to be saved. I believe that they're all saved and I believe that they're all going to get saved. You know, to me, it's hard to imagine a child growing up in my home, growing up at Faithful Word Baptist Church and then going out and being unsaved. You know, to me, that's hard to grasp. That's hard to fathom. And God forbid that that would ever happen. I don't think that that's ever going to happen. But you know what? It is possible that someday one of my children will not be saved. You know, and I understand that. Why? Because I'm not a Calvinist. And I do not believe that salvation is predetermined and I do not believe that salvation is ultimately in the hands of other people. Ultimately, it is everyone's personal decision whether or not they get saved. You know why I'm saved? Because I decided to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior. And I, you know, it's whosoever will may come. I had to will and come and take the water of life freely. Okay. And at the end of the day, I can't make that decision for anyone. And when we're out soul winning in the Caribbean, when we're in the Bahamas or whatever, we can't make anyone get saved. All they can do is present the Gospel and I guarantee you that they preach the Gospel to a whole bunch of people who didn't get saved. You know, all we can do is preach, make it clear, explain it, and at the end of the day, that person has to choose to place their faith and trust in Christ. And the Bible says, hey, I put before you life and death. You got to choose life. Everybody's got to choose life for themselves. My children are going to have to choose life for themselves. They're going to have to choose to be saved. Now, look, what's easier, getting people saved when they're little kids or getting people saved when they're 50 years old, 60 years old? Obviously, the younger people are easier to get saved even when it's strangers. And so, look, that's why it's a lot easier for us to get our kids saved because they're young children growing up in our houses. They're innocent. They have a tender heart and we preach them the Gospel. And so, yeah, you want to get your kids saved at as young of an age as possible. You want to just bring them up with the Gospel, bring them up around the things of God. And you know what? Thank God for a church that's not confused about what salvation is. And you know what? There are people who have left our church because they said, oh, I thought that it going to faithful word was a guarantee that all my kids were going to turn out right. And then I see, you know, your adult children are backslidden. And so now I feel like there's no guarantee. It's like, well, who told you that there was a guarantee that your kids are going to grow up and serve God and do right because they go to this church? But I will say this. I will say this. Your kids are way more likely to get saved growing up in faithful word than at some church where the statement of faith is fuzzy on salvation. So you'll leave faithful word. Oh, I thought faithful word was a guarantee. So I'm going to go to a church where the plan of salvation is fuzzy on the website. Oh, I'm going to go to a church where the, you know, the guest preacher preaches a salvation by turning over new leaf and repenting of your sins. I'm going to go to a church where there's tracts in the back that have a false Gospel on the tract rack. Folks, there are no guarantees in life, but your best bet is to at least be in a church where the Gospel is crystal clear. Okay. And one of the best ways to make sure that your kids get saved is to take them out soul winning with you. Because then they're constantly hearing you preach the Gospel and then they're hearing all the dumb answers that unsaved people say. And they're hearing all these different scenarios and they're getting it and they can grasp the Gospel very deeply, very clearly. And so, you know, I hope that all of our kids end up being saved, you know, in the whole church. I hope that all the kids growing up in this church, they're all getting a clear presentation of the Gospel. I hope that you're taking your children aside and talking to them and teaching them the Gospel from a young age. I got saved when I was about six years old. That's about the age, you know, when kids tend to be able to understand pretty well. Some kids are going to be able to understand it before that. Some are going to understand it maybe later than that. But, you know, that's about the type of an age when, you know, they can start getting saved. Right? And you want to get them saved as soon as you can before this world does a number on them. Because, unfortunately, this world is filled with all kinds of bad influences and corrupting influences. And our society in America is a society in decline. And it teaches children to rebel against their parents. It teaches children to despise their parents. It teaches children to go out and live this messed up, worldly, sinful life. And it teaches them about all this partying and drinking and drugs and, you know, you don't want your kids to be corrupted by that garbage. But, hey, I hope that they never will be. But at least let's get them saved while they're still young and innocent and impressionable. Get them saved at least. And at the end of the day, some kid is going to go out of here and go out of our church. Whether it's my kid or whether it's your kid, some kid is going to go out of here and go out and he's going to have to go try the alcohol for himself. He's going to go out and try drugs or fornication. And you know what? It's going to be his own fault. And no one else can be blamed. And he can sit there and hide behind all the excuses. But at the end of the day, you're an adult and you're out there living a sinful life. You want to know who the problem is? Look in the mirror. Because you know what? My parents raised me right. My parents taught me. They disciplined me. They whipped me. They raised me. They took me to church. They made sacrifices. But at the end of the day, I came to a point where I had to decide that I'm going to do right on my own. I'm going to be grateful to my parents. I'm going to be thankful to my parents. I'm going to love my parents. And I'm going to live for God. And you know what? Other kids could grow up in that same home and become a complete fool. Okay? And here's the thing. Look my friend. I grew up in an independent fundamental Baptist church for most of my childhood. I grew up in independent fundamental Baptist churches. Where are all my friends now? Where are they all now? I can tell you where a lot of them are. They're out living super wicked sinful lives. I mean it's the minority that actually grew up and lived for God. Even among the ones that are saved. The vast majority of kids that grew up in these churches, you know, they went off to the world because unfortunately that's the way the world works. I mean look around my friend. First of all, when it comes to salvation is the narrow way. Broad is the way that leads to destruction. Many there be which go in there at. Straight is the gate and narrow is the way which leads to the life and few there be that find it. But then amongst those that are saved, how many people out of those who are saved are actually serious about living for God? Right? I mean it's a very small percentage. It's a tiny percentage of people. I mean how many saved Christians are actually like aggressively soul winning and evangelizing? It would be like way less than one percent. Way less than one percent. Do you understand what I'm saying? Now in our church, like, you know, it's the majority of our church. But guess what? The majority of saved Christians, you know what they're doing? They're sitting their butts in some lame church just like my adult kids. I'm sure they're going to some lame old IFB church that they're all warming up you. As far as I know, they all four go to the same old IFB church where they warm up you. You know what? Just like everybody else out there in the world that's just not serious about doing something big for God with their life. You say, oh, how dare you say it? Well, they've said a lot worse about me so I think I can pretty much say whatever I want at this point. Amen? You know what? I'm serious about living for God. And if I could bottle that and give it to everybody to drink, I would. You know what I mean? If I could just hand out a drink and say, hey, drink this and then you'll actually give a rip about living a life zealously serving God, man, I wish I could just get everybody to drink that Kool-Aid. But you know what? Unfortunately, it's not that simple, is it? No. At the end of the day, I can't make anyone love God. I can't make anyone serve God. I can't make anyone excited about reading the Bible. I can't make anyone excited about soul winning. And I remember just wishing even before I started Faithful Word Baptist Church, I just wish to myself and I just thought to myself, man, I just wish that I could somehow figure out a way to inspire people and get them excited about serving God. And you know what? I dare say that I have done that over the last 20 years, that I have inspired tens of thousands of people to get excited and serve God. But you know what? There are other people that just aren't excited about it and they just don't care and they're interested in other things. And you know what? Maybe down the road, they will get excited. Maybe down the road, they will get serious about serving God. Maybe down the road, they'll go to a big boy church. And maybe eventually they'll go to a church that doesn't have confusion on salvation on their website or confusion in the track track or confusion among the guest speakers. Because I don't think it's too much to ask to have a crystal clear gospel from the pulpit every service without anyone confusing the gospel. I don't think it's too much to ask. And so the bottom line is the Bible says train up a child in the way he should go and when he's old, he'll not depart from it. In general, you teach children to live a certain way. That's how they're going to live the way that you teach them in general. Okay? So here's the thing. You know, you teach your kids even just secular things. You know, you teach them to exercise and lift weights and be in shape, then they're probably going to grow up and exercise and lift weights and be in shape because you raise them that way. If you eat healthy growing up and you teach them to eat healthy, they're probably going to grow up and eat healthy too. You know? If you teach them that, you know, hey, it's great living that blue collar life and blue collar trades are a good way to make money, hey, they're probably going to grow up and all work in blue collar jobs. Kind of like you did. Kind of like you taught them to do. Okay? And at the end of the day, a lot of the biblical principles that you teach them, they're going to live by those things. But at the end of the day though, can you guarantee that they're going to be saved and can you guarantee that they're going to be actually a zealous good Christian living for God? I don't believe that you can. Also, another thing that people will bring up is that the Bible says train up a child in the way he should go and when he's old he'll not depart from it. Some people will also bring up the fact that doesn't necessarily guarantee that in between they're not going to go through a phase where they act like an idiot. You know, you're training the child in the way he should go, then he goes and acts like an idiot and then he kind of returns to his default programming from his parents and maybe eventually when he's 30, when he's 40, now all of a sudden, okay, now he's serious about living for God after he's kind of gone out. And I'm not going to ask for a raise of hands, but I could ask for a raise of hands. Hey, who acted like a total idiot in your 20s and you're serving God right now? If you want to raise your hand, you can. Who acted like an idiot when you're 20? Now you're serving God. Wow! Hands all over the building and that was an optional hand raise. That wasn't even mandatory. So that could be a situation where it's kind of like a when he's old, he'll not depart from it because some of you old and you not departing from it, but when you were younger, that wasn't really the case, was it? But again, it's a principle. The exception proves the rule and it should not be thought of as a guarantee. Otherwise, you'd have to assume that every single person who has a wayward child, it's always their fault. Every person in the Bible who has a wayward child, that it's always their fault. You know, it almost just sounds like you're not allowing anyone to take personal responsibility for their own actions. And I don't know about you, but I'm sick of the stupid 2025 America generation where nobody wants to take responsibility for their own actions. Oh, if I'm a drug addict, it's my parents' fault. Oh, I'm a drunk, that's my parents' fault. Oh, I'm disrespectful to my parents, it's because they're not respectable. You know, everybody just wants to blame someone else. You know what? You can do right, you can serve God, you can live for God, and the only person stopping you is you. Stop blaming other people, take responsibility for yourself. And so, Eliphaz, the team tonight, ends up having an overly simplistic view of the world that even many Christians today have, overly simplistic. Oh, if I do right, everything's going to go well. Oh, if I'm a good parent, all my kids are going to grow up and just make me proud all the time. Even in their teens, even in their 20s, it's all going to be great. This is an overly simplistic view of the world, usually held by naive young people. Okay? Because this world has not yet chewed them up and spat them out. And it inevitably will. We've all been there. Amen, those of us that are older. See, the old people in this room, or even people my age, middle age, and older, you know, we don't have these pie-in-the-sky, naive ideas about the world because we've already been here long enough to realize how screwed up the world is. You know, I'm just wondering, like, how old is Eliphaz? You know what I mean? Because he's not paying attention. But let's keep going here. It says in verse number 12, now a thing was secretly brought to me. And we're in verse 12 of chapter 4. Nothing was secretly brought to me. And my ear received a little thereof. In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men, fear came upon me and trembling, which it made all my bones to shake. Then a spirit passed before my face. The hair of my flesh stood up. It's like a campfire ghost story here. It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof. An image was before my eyes. There was silence, and I heard a voice saying, Shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure than his Maker? Behold, he put no trust in his servants and his angels, he charged with folly. How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth? They're destroyed from morning to evening. They perish forever without any regarding it. Doth not their excellency, which is in them, go away. They die even without wisdom. I'm not buying this story. I think this is just a weird dream that he had. And look, when people come at you with all these stories about all these visions and apparitions, you know, and they went to heaven, they had an out-of-body experience, and they came back and everything, these things should always be taken with a grain of salt. When people come to me with these kind of stories, I don't like to be rude to people or impolite or shut them down. So as long as what they're telling me is not heretical or contrary to scripture, then I usually just kind of smile and nod and say, okay. You know, when people come to me and tell me about all these visions that they have and everything, and look, you know, some of it could be legitimate. So, I mean, I'm not going to stand in judgment of people and tell them, hey, that didn't happen or something. Maybe it did happen. So, you know, unless it's contrary to the Bible, then I'll just flat out call it out, that didn't happen. That's not true. And in this case, I think I'm on pretty solid ground since God says that life as a demonite did not say the truth because you did not tell the truth about me. I don't know what you saw that night, but it wasn't me. So I don't, you know, just because somebody tells you a story about a vision or an experience or an apparition, some of these things could be our own imagination. And isn't it funny that what this apparition is telling a life as is already in line with his own opinions, you know, because it's actually probably just one part of his brain talking to the other part of his brain. And this is like people who always are saying, hey, God told me this and God told me that, but they don't have a Bible verse. You know, a lot of times these people kind of have a God complex where they think they're God because they dream up things out of their own mind and then say it's God talking. And so we need to be able to discern between the Holy Spirit's leading in our life and just our own internal monologue. And then we start thinking that we're God or something. So the way that we do that is by checking everything with the Bible, you know, because if the Holy Spirit's talking to you, it better be in line with scripture. And if it isn't in line with scripture, then it's not God. And so what he claims to hear from this apparition is just this idea that, well, man's not going to be better than God. Well, first of all, Job's not claiming to be better than God. Job's just complaining. Job's just claiming to be a good guy. And then Eliphaz is just kind of saying, well, good guys don't really exist. Everybody's kind of bad. And so you must have a bunch of sin that we just don't know about. And that's why this is happening to you because, you know, nobody's this good. So he has this attitude that's overly simplistic. Every time something goes badly, it's because you're bad. Bad outcome equals you did wrong. And also this idea that says, well, there's no way that you're a good guy because, you know, just everybody's bad and then bad people end up getting punished. And that's obviously what's happening to you. So he says in verse 1 of chapter 5, I'm just going to go a little further and then we'll call it a night here. But, uh, Job chapter 5 verse 1 says, Call now if there be any that will answer thee. And to which of the saints wilt thou turn? For wrath killeth the foolish man and envy slayeth the silly one. This kind of escalated quickly. He started out really meek and kind. But then he starts to kind of get into the flow of his speech here and he's starting to be a little rough on Job. Like, hey, nobody's on your side. Nobody agrees with you. Everybody says you're wrong, Job. You know, which of the saints are you going to turn to to back you up on this? And here's the thing about that is that last time I checked, truth is not a democracy. We don't vote on truth. Everybody could come to me and tell me the same false thing. And if it's contrary to the Bible, I'm not going to believe in it. If 100 people tell it to me, if the church votes and 99% of the church votes for something false, I'm not going to believe in it. It's, you know, the truth is not democratic. The truth is determined by scripture. And a lot of times this will be the argument of people is like, well, are you saying all these people are wrong? You know, just because sometimes the majority is wrong. Often the majority is wrong and then people will try to say, oh, you're saying all these other religions are wrong? All these pastors are wrong? You're saying all these people are wrong? And sometimes, yeah, they are just wrong. Now I do think that when, you know, everybody disagrees with us, that should really cause us to stop and pause and evaluate. But sometimes after you stop and pause and evaluate and study the scripture, sometimes you just walk away saying, people are just wrong. You know, I think that we should be careful about going against mainstream views. We should be careful about going against mainstream thought, especially like among God's people. You know, the mainstream views among Baptists or Evangelical Christians, everything. But here's the thing. A lot of times they're wrong. And at the end of the day, we don't vote on truth. Truth isn't democratic. 99% of people can be wrong. And so a life has attitude is like, well, all three of us are saying you're wrong. And in fact, you don't have anybody who agrees with you. Even your wife is telling you to curse God and die. You don't have anybody on your side, Job. Well, guess what? Job is still right, even though nobody is on his side and no one's backing him up. Job is still right. Because God says he's right. You know, me and God makes a majority, right? You and God makes a majority because, you know, at the end of the day, it's not democratic. It's just whatever God says is right. For wrath killeth the foolish man, verse two, and envy slayeth the silly one. I've seen the foolish taking root, but suddenly I cursed his habitation. His children are far from safety and they're crushed in the gate. Neither is there any to deliver them whose harvest the hungry eateth up and taketh it even out of the thorns and the robber swallows up their substance. So, you know, just to summarize here, what is he saying? He's saying, look, bad people have bad things happen to them, which is there's a lot of truth in that, of course. Let's just jump down to verse 12 for sake of time. He disappointed the devices of the crafty so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise. He taketh the wise in their own craftiness and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong. They meet with darkness in the daytime and grope in the noonday as in the night, but he saveth the poor from the mouth or from the sword from their mouth and from the hand of the mighty. So the poor hath hope and iniquity stoppeth her mouth. And so, and so again, he just has this kind of overly simplistic view. He's right that God blesses good people and curses bad people, but he's overly simplistic thinking that it's just always that way. Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth. Therefore despise not thou the chastening of the almighty. So he's saying, look, you're being chastened. You're being disciplined for your sins right now. Don't have a bad attitude about it. Is that true? Is Job being disciplined for his sins? Is Job being chastised because he didn't do anything wrong? The Bible told us that he did nothing wrong. For he make us sore and bindeth up. He woundeth and his hands make whole. He shall deliver thee in six troubles. Verse 19. Yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee. In famine he shall redeem thee from death and in war from the power of the sword. Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue. Neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh. At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh. Neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth. For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee. And again, this is such an overly simplistic view and it's kind of this pie in the sky. You're just going to be at one with nature, man. You're going to be totally at peace with nature. Everything's going to be great and it's just going to be perfect and that's just not the reality of the world that we live in. There's a lot of truth in what a life has a saying in the sense that God blesses the good and curses the bad. But this is just an overly naive pie in the sky view that everything's going to just go this good. And then, you know, if you do right, verse 12, thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season. Lo, we've searched it! So it is! Hear it! And know thou it for thy good. And so, you know, obviously as we go through the book of Job we're going to see more different arguments and everything, but this is really the crux of the main argument laid out in chapters 4 and 5. The main argument is, Job, this is happening to you because you're bad. And it's adding insult to injury because the problem is that Job doesn't really know what to correct. Now if Job truly had sin in his life, then Job could say, okay, here I am, I'm covered in boils, I've lost everything, my wife's mad at me, my children are dead. You know what? It's because I've been a drunkard. It's because I've been an adulterer. I've been committing adultery or something. You know, or, oh, it's because of my gambling problem or something. You know what I mean? Like if there was actually a problem, if there was actually some sin in his life, then that would be something to correct. But imagine how frustrating it is to be told, oh, you're not right with God, you need to repent, when in your heart you know that you've been doing the right stuff. And again, not to say that you're sinless. Nobody's sinless. But at the end of the day, when bad things happen to you, and I'm going to close on this thought, when bad things happen to you, you have to evaluate yourself. Okay? All of us are going to have bad things happen to us in our lives. All of us. Bad things are going to happen. And sometimes even worse things that you can even imagine will happen to you. Things that you don't expect. God will sometimes allow you to be pushed to the limit. When those bad things happen, the question is, am I being punished for my sins, or is this happening to me as a test? Is this a trial? Is this like Job? Is this something that is going to make me stronger? And when I'm tried, I shall come forth as gold. And God's just putting me through the ringer because, you know, it's part of his greater purpose. And maybe I'm going to go through something bad, and then later I'm going to help other people who go through the same bad thing or whatever. How do you know which is which? Right? Like, how do you know? And the answer is, if you're living right, if you're living for God, if you're right with God and bad things happen, then you're being tried and tested. If you're living in sin, you're being punished for your sins. You know, and here's the thing, sometimes you might be the only one who knows that. Answer. Now obviously a lot of times other people can see that. If you're openly out there, you know, being a drunkard, a drug addict, committing adultery, you know, committing fornication, you know, being sacrilegious, blasphemous, you know, rebellious against your parents. You're out of church. You're not serving God. Some of those things are just open. The whole world sees you out there living a sinful life and getting punished. Okay? If that's the case, if you're out there living a sinful life and getting punished, don't accuse people of being like Job's three friends. If I see a guy who is living openly in sin and I see that guy get punished and I say, that guy's getting punished because he is living in sin. Pay attention boys and girls. This guy's living in sin. This guy's getting punished by God. Don't go down that path. Oh, you're being like Job's three friends. No, that's not like Job's three friends. Job's three friends are saying, oh, something bad's happening. You must have a sin that we don't know about. That is Job's three friends. You know, so if we have a society like in America where, you know, we're promoting all this filth and sodomy and wickedness and then something bad happens and we say, hey, God's judging America. You know, that's legitimate. That's not Job's three friends talking. When you have a godly person suffering and then we point at that person and say, it's their fault. Okay, exactly what did they do wrong? Well, they must have done something. That's Job's three friends. Okay? The difference is whether there's a clear, open flouting of scripture. And again, we can't expect people to be perfect. We can't just find some little flaw in people and then say, oh, yeah, God's wrath is coming down on them because they didn't cross this spiritual T or dot this I. Right? God is just. God's going to bring a big punishment on a big sin and he's going to bring a little punishment on a little sin. God's just. He's not just going to just go crazy on someone for making a small mistake. Okay? He knows that we're flesh. He knows that we have feet of clay. He knows that we're human. He is gracious. He is merciful. And what does the Bible say? He is slow to anger. And so he doesn't just cloud up and rain on you. And that's why Job, even though he's not sinless, can still have the confidence to say, I didn't bring this on myself because I didn't do anything of this magnitude that would warrant this type of a punishment. Now, look, any time you go through something bad, you should you should evaluate and say, is there any sin I can get out of my life? That's just a good way to live your life anyway. Just be cleaning up your life, walking in the fear of the Lord, cleaning things up. But at the end of the day, only you can know this. And so we want to be careful about judging other people. And again, Job's three friends are not horrible people, but they're judging Job wrongfully because they have an overly simplistic view of the world. They don't understand that life is complex and they have just a baby understanding of how the world works instead of understanding all the complexities and nuances. So be careful that you don't judge other people too harshly and just assume that everything is always their fault. Right? You need to be gracious with people, merciful with people. And when it comes to yourself, you need to do a self check when things go wrong. Am I being tested or am I being punished? Let's bow our heads in our word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for this great book, Lord. Thank you for the lessons here in chapters two, three, four and five of the book of Job. And Lord God, help us to just learn from Job's godly example, help us to have that godly response when things go wrong and to understand that life is a mixed bag and bad things are going to happen and it's a mix of good and bad. And Lord God, even when we do despair of life and get in that sort of Job chapter three mode where we wish we were dead, Lord, help us to just push through and keep going and never to go all the way off the cliff and despair of life, but help us to rather just push through and understand that weeping may endure for the night, but joy cometh in the morning. Lord God, bless us as we go our separate ways now and bring us back safely to church at the next meeting. And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. All right, ladies and gentlemen, take your hymnals, please. Go to hymn two hundred and seventy seven. Number two seventy seven will close with only trust him. Hymn number two hundred and seventy seven. Come every soul by sin oppressed there's mercy with the Lord. Hymn number two hundred and seventy seven. Sing it out now. Come every soul by sin oppressed there's mercy with the Lord and he will surely give you rest by trusting in his word. Only trust him, only trust him, only trust him now. He will save you, he will save you, he will save you now. For Jesus shed his precious blood, rich blessings to be sown. Plunged down into the crimson flood that washes white as snow. Only trust him, only trust him, only trust him now. He will save you, he will save you, he will save you now. Yes, Jesus is the truth, the way that leads you into rest. Believe in him without delay and you are fully blessed. Only trust him, only trust him, only trust him now. He will save you, he will save you, he will save you now. Come then and join this holy band and on to glory come. To dwell in that celestial land where joy's immortal flow. Only trust him, only trust him, only trust him now. He will save you, he will save you, he will save you now. Well, man, good thing tonight we are dismissed. Thank you.