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Job 6:21 For now ye are nothing; ye see my casting down, and are afraid.
Job 6:22 Did I say, Bring unto me? or, Give a reward for me of your substance?
Job 6:23 Or, Deliver me from the enemy’s hand? or, Redeem me from the hand of the mighty?
Job 6:24 Teach me, and I will hold my tongue: and cause me to understand wherein I have erred.
Job 6:25 How forcible are right words! but what doth your arguing reprove?
Job 6:26 Do ye imagine to reprove words, and the speeches of one that is desperate, which are as wind?
Job 6:27 Yea, ye overwhelm the fatherless, and ye dig a pit for your friend.
Job 6:28 Now therefore be content, look upon me; for it is evident unto you if I lie.
Job 6:29 Return, I pray you, let it not be iniquity; yea, return again, my righteousness is in it.
Job 6:30 Is there iniquity in my tongue? cannot my taste discern perverse things?

Introduction

Last week we concluded our study with Job expressing how very disappointed he was with his ‘comforters’. He compared them to a stream of water which is only present in the Spring when the snows are melting, but they disappear into the sand when the heat of the summer comes. Job knows that he is in the heat of the sun. He knows that he is in need of something more than temporary seasonal refreshment. He knows that what he needs, and what we all need, is a friend whose comfort is refreshing and who never fails us even in the hottest and driest time of the year. But that is not what men, of themselves, can do for a brother who is being made acquainted with the wrath of God being poured out upon the “old man”, the “first man Adam” who is within us all.

Joh 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

Who can comfort us if they have never known our trials? Christ knows our trials, and He alone can come to us in the time when His Father is pouring out His wrath upon our sinful flesh:

Heb 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
Heb 2:15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
Heb 2:16 For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.
Heb 2:17 Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
Heb 2:18 For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.
Heb 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.

It pleases our heavenly Father to deliver us from and to destroy our “old man”. That is what Job is experiencing in type and in shadow.

Isa 53:7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
Isa 53:8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
Isa 53:9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
Isa 53:10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

Christ knows all about Job’s feeling of being forsaken, and He knows all about His Father’s wrath being poured out upon this body of flesh and blood which “cannot inherit the kingdom of God”.

Isa 54:7 For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.
Isa 54:8 In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.
Mat 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

But our “old man” knows nothing of Christ’s sufferings. Job and Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar had enjoyed each other’s company when times were easy and prosperous. The world loves us when we love the world. But ‘filling up what is behind of the sufferings of Christ in our bodies’ is not understood by either Job or his comforters. Job and each of us find out just how valuable our worldly friends are when all the chips are down and we are obviously being cursed by God. When we need those friends the most is when they turn on us and accuse us of sins which we have not committed and which are not relevant to our present state.

Job 6:21 For now ye are nothing; ye see my casting down, and are afraid.
Job 6:22 Did I say, Bring unto me? or, Give a reward for me of your substance?
Job 6:23 Or, Deliver me from the enemy’s hand? or, Redeem me from the hand of the mighty?

Job, just as any of us under the same circumstances and with the same degree of immaturity, would want to let these three men know that we did not ask for their “comfort”, and we certainly want them to know that they are not delivering us from our suffering, but are adding to it. In complaining to our miserable comforters, what we are really saying is that we did not ask God to bring this suffering upon us, and we certainly do not appreciate His ways in our life. It is by God’s grace only that any come to see that just as our high priest, we too, must be tried and tempted so that we too, might “succour them that are tempted”.

Heb 2:18 For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.

Job is the Old Testament type of God’s elect. Like Saul of Tarsus when he is finally granted an audience with Christ, who is “the Truth”, he is granted to accept that Truth. Saul of Tarsus, like Job, was extremely self- righteous before he came to see himself as the ‘vile… chief of sinners’. As Job contends with God by complaining about his comforters, notice how he continues to justify himself.

Job 6:24 Teach me, and I will hold my tongue: and cause me to understand wherein I have erred.

This self- righteous, self justification is just getting started. Job, and we as Job think of ourselves as teachable, and we do not believe for one moment that we have erred to the extent that this degree of suffering is justified.
Both Job and Saul of Tarsus are types of God’s elect. Notice the similarities between Job’s and Paul’s encounter with Christ:

Job 40:1 Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said,
Job 40:2 Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.
Job 40:3 Then Job answered the LORD, and said,
Job 40:4 Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.
Job 40:5 Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further.
Act 9:1 And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,
Act 9:2 And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.
Act 9:3 And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:
Act 9:4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
Act 9:5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
Act 9:6 And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.

Job contended with, reproved and condemned his Creator before he was granted to understand that “I am vile”. Saul of Tarsus was equally zealous to prove his own righteousness by persecuting Christ before he was granted to see himself as ‘chief of sinners’.

1Ti 1:15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

Both Job and Saul of Tarsus, as the types of our old man, are guilty of judging themselves and others before they were qualified to do so. We do the same thing.

1Co 4:3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self.
1Co 4:4 For I know nothing against myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord.
1Co 4:5 Wherefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the counsels of the hearts; and then shall each man have his praise from God. (ASV)

Job and his friends and Saul of Tarsus are all typical of us as the “carnal… babes in Christ” who think ‘the Lord has come’ into our lives after a ten- second sinner’s prayer. Perhaps we think that our years of simply attending church have matured us to the point that we can now judge both this world and angels (1Co 6:2-3). After all, we have read that verse many times thinking it spoke of us.
Job, his three ‘miserable comforters’ and Saul of Tarsus, all typify us when we think we are spiritual and are now in a position which has made us mature enough to judge ourselves and others. Of course our judgment as “carnal… babes in Christ”, will always be that we ourselves are righteous, and that all those who are accusing us are always going to be the sinners. That is what we are witnessing between both Job and his friends, and that is what Paul warns us against in 1Co 4, the chapter which follows the revelation of “carnal… babes in Christ”.
This incredible phenomenon of how we are all first “carnal… babes in Christ” is revealed in the previous chapter of 1 Corinthians.

1Co 3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
1Co 3:2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
1Co 3:3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
1Co 3:4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

“Are you not carnal, and walk as men” means you still judge “of man’s judgment”. We of ourselves, dare not judge ourselves or others “of man’s judgment”. Rather we must wait “until the Lord comes” into our lives. Then we, with His Word living within us, will no longer judge “of man’s judgment”. Rather then we will “judge righteous judgment”. With the living Word of God being within us, and being in possession of “the mind of Christ”, we are then expected to both judge ourselves and the world.

1Co 2:15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
1Co 2:16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
1Co 11:31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
1Co 11:32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

1Co 6:2 Do ye not know that t he saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
1Co 6:3 Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?

“When we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord.” This is a concept which is completely foreign to the mind of “the natural man”. The natural man thinks of himself as naturally righteous and in no need of chastening or of God’s scourging wrath. That is all for someone who is not righteous. Job, the Old Testament type of our natural man, does not see himself in need of any chastening. Maybe his miserable comforters, but not Job.

Job 6:25 How forcible are right words! but what doth your arguing reprove?
Job 6:26 Do ye imagine to reprove words, and the speeches of one that is desperate, which are as wind?
Job 6:27 Yea, ye overwhelm the fatherless, and ye dig a pit for your friend.

“Right words” are indeed “forcible”, when they proceed from the mouth of a man who has been “tempted as we are…” and can identify with our suffering. Job in us, at this point, cannot even identify with or accept his own trial, much less ‘rejoice in it’ or use it as “forcible right words”. He is suffering, and his friends, who thought so highly of him while he was prospering and who told him they had come to comfort him, are now become his accusers and his tormentors, ‘reproving the words and speeches of one that is desperate’. When we condemn our friend in his suffering we are not comforting him at all. We are instead ‘digging him a pit’, and this is what happens to all who do that in an effort to snare their own brother:

Pro 26:27 Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein: and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him.

Until we are given to see and acknowledge our own uncleanness that is within ourselves, we are unfit to attempt to discover it in others. But as yet, Job, as who we are, sees nothing within himself as being connected with iniquity or perverseness. Certainly not to the extent that would warrant the afflictions he is suffering. All Job can see in himself at this time is his own righteousness.

Job 6:28 Now therefore be content, look upon me; for it is evident unto you if I lie.
Job 6:29 Return, I pray you, let it not be iniquity; yea, return again, my righteousness is in it.
Job 6:30 Is there iniquity in my tongue? cannot my taste discern perverse things?

“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.” Job knows he is not guilty of the things his tormenting ‘comforters’ are accusing him. He is pleading with them just to acknowledge his righteousness and the truth in his words. “Is the iniquity in my tongue? cannot my taste discern perverse things?”
The answer to this question is, no. At this stage of our “carnal… babes in Christ” walk we cannot even begin to see the “perverse things” which comprise “the hidden things of darkness” which are within us and are in our members. Let’s look again at the apostle Paul’s words which bear on this subject:

1Co 4:4 For I know nothing against myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord.
1Co 4:5 Wherefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the counsels of the hearts; and then shall each man have his praise from God. (ASV)

Consider the consequences of entering into any church in Babylon and revealing to those babes in Christ that their entire doctrinal foundation is based upon the lie of a trinity and a triune man. Such an act would be the equivalent of cutting off the ear of the high priest’s servant and still expecting him to receive your words. Another way of saying that is that it would be equal to feeding a suckling a t- bone steak, which he is completely unequipped to either swallow or digest. It is in God’s great wisdom and His great mercy, that he takes us from Egypt to wander for forty years in the wilderness before we are given to fight the giants in our land.

Exo 13:17 And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt:

It is in God’s great mercy that He does not reveal to us “the hidden things of darkness” which are within us, before He has prepared us to fight against those giants in our land. Israel was granted to fight against both Sihon, king of Hesbon, and Og, king of Bashan, before crossing the Jordan. But they were not granted to do war with the Edomites or the Moabites and the Ammonites, because Edom was Esau, their own family, and Moab and Ammon are Lot, their own kin. The giants in the land, the symbols of our own physical faults and weaknesses, must all be conquered and subdued before we are granted to do war with “the hidden things of darkness” within us, which are symbolized by those nations which are dearest to us, Edom and Moab and Ammon are Abraham’s own family, and claiming the blessings of Abraham, while refusing to serve the God of Abraham. That is what is hidden within us all, which mercifully is not required of us until our hearts have been prepared to give them up.
So Job will continue to cling to his own self- righteousness, “the hidden things of darkness” and the sin which is dearest to his heart, until the Lord has prepared him to see himself, and to repent in sackcloth and ashes.
Next week, if the Lord wills, we will hear more of the self- righteous defense by Job.

Job 7:1 Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of an hireling?
Job 7:2 As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow, and as an hireling looketh for the reward of his work:
Job 7:3 So am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me.
Job 7:4 When I lie down, I say, When shall I arise, and the night be gone? and I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day.
Job 7:5 My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken, and become loathsome.
Job 7:6 My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and are spent without hope.
Job 7:7 O remember that my life is wind: mine eye shall no more see good.
Job 7:8 The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more: thine eyes are upon me, and I am not.
Job 7:9 As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away: so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more.
Job 7:10 He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more.