THE GOSPEL A SCANDALOUS MESSAGE

Job 15:1-36

William Tyndale was a 16th century Bible scholar with a passion for making the Scriptures available to the English-speaking masses. He translated the Bible from the original Hebrew and Greek into the language of the everyday person. Because the Church of England did not want the Bible in the hands of the people, King Henry VIII banned Tyndale's translation. In 1524, Tyndale fled to Belgium to avoid being arrested. In 1535, a little over a decade later Tyndale met a student from England named Henry Philips. This young man said he wanted to learn everything he could about Bible translation, so the two men became close friends. One evening, Tyndale and Philips went out to have dinner at an inn down the street. As they reached the door of the inn, Philips stepped back and let Tyndale enter. As Tyndale stepped through the door, two men seized him - agents of the king of England. Only then did William realize his friend had betrayed him to his enemies.

For 16 months Tyndale was imprisoned in Belgium. During his imprisonment, he had conversations with his guard, the guard's daughter, and several others inside the castle, and all of them converted to faith in Jesus Christ. He was tried and condemned to death as a heretic. One October 6,1536, Tyndale was led to the place of execution. His last words, as he was tied to the stake, were, ''Lord! Open the king of England's eyes!'' Then he was strangled to death and his body burned at the stake. Three years after Tyndale's death, God answered his dying prayer. Henry VIII dropped his opposition to a Bible translation for the masses and the Bible published was based almost entirely on Tyndale's translation.

  

Job is a man who would identify with William Tyndale. His own friends, brothers who he loved, trusted for years have turned on him. From breaking bread and fellowship with Job on many occasions, they have become Job’s chief accusers and tormentors. These three men were fulfilling the role appointed to them.

Why does the world hate the gospel? Though this question would seem a million miles away from the point of this chapter, it’s closer than you think! What do I mean? The suffering of Job foreshadows the utterly innocent suffering of Jesus Christ. And in this suffer of Job; we see those sufferings make grace possible in the sinner. All because……. They have been visited on an innocent substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ. See! The story of Job is a story of redemptive suffering, the suffering of one that makes redemption possible for others. Christopher Ash said “The sufferings of Job, in anticipating the agony of the cross, speak ultimately of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And the hostility of Job’s friends foreshadows and helps us understand the hostility of the world today to the gospel of free grace.” The suffering of Job clouds or confuses the minds of person to think that God would allow suffering in life of a repentant child of God. This suffering is only reserved for the wicked and rebellious as Job’s friends would say. In this chapter we see a different Eliphaz.

We see a man who is putting his compassionate and sympatric words aside and now losing his patience with his friend. (v2-v16)

In the first discussion Eliphaz thought he was helping out of compassion, but here he trusts his knife deeper into Job’s chest. Here! Eliphaz has no sympathy for his suffering, and no ear to hear his arguments. Instead of asking if there is any merit to what Job is saying, he sharpens his verbal weapons and attacks him even more fiercely.

What does the bible say about helping those who are hurting? Paul wrote “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” 1 Cor 13:4-7. 

Phil 2:4 says “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

Roman 12:13 says “Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.” 

James said “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” James 2:14-17

Paul gave this charge to the church “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” Gal 6:1-2

Eliphaz failed at this with his self-righteous attitude of your wrong, I’m right Job. Sin is the reason and you are ignorant towards God and you have no fear of Him. (v4) Eliphaz is behaving exactly like a person who is hostile towards the gospel. Eliphaz has let his pride get in the way of his reasoning and compassion for Job. He is more interesting in proving himself right, and proving Job is wrong; than he is at finding out the truth to comfort his friend. This is how the average person approaches the gospel that loves their sin and hates God, when they come in contact with a believer who tells them that Jesus is the only way to eternal life.

They say….

You are narrow-minded to think that your religion is the correct one.

You are condemning and not loving and showing acceptance.

You are unprofitable and have no valve to my choices in life.

You think you are better than me with your self-righteous attitude.

The Gospel is a scandalous message! Why? The world at large see’s Jesus and the gospel as hate speech; the gospel is a major threat to our so called “Civilization”. Its takes someone that is unholy, and declares them holy solely on the grounds of God’s unmerited grace. It’s taking someone who drinks iniquity like water and regenerating them into His likeness, solely on the grounds of His sovereign goodness. It’s taking a sinner like you and me and declaring us His adopted sons and daughters.

See! When a child of God looks back to the Cross it should instantly cause our hearts to melt with adoration and praise. This scandalous message is so amazing that it saved you and me from the wrath that is yet to come. The Scriptures recognize that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a “stumbling block” and “foolishness” to all men of every age and any culture. However if we, seek to remove the scandal from the message is to make void the cross of Christ and its saving power. This is where Eliphaz failed! He added the salt without adding the sugar with it. He resorted to insults and attacks and the worst thing he did was he did not represent the character of God correctly to his dear friend. He only resorted to a rigid and narrow-minded theology that was lacking grace and mercy. We see this in what Eliphaz says next!

  

Eliphaz demonstrates to us what is truly in his heart in this portion of his response (v17-v35)

Eliphaz’s words are condemning, instead of carrying Job’s burden and helping as a friend. As brother and sisters in Christ we should be pointing people to the Gospel in their darkest of hours and in their time of suffering. We rest in His sovereign arms as we go through tribulations and trials. We rest knowing His sovereign goodness and hope in the gospel for sinners that drink iniquity like water. We rest there ourselves, reminding the hurting believer to look Heavenward as they go through the pain. We are not called to destroy or tear down like a demolition crew called in to level a building to its foundation.

The bible says “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.” Prov 18:21

Prov 16:27 says “A worthless man plots evil, and his speech is like a scorching fire.”

Jesus said “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” Matt 5:4

Jesus said “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” Matt 18:6

Col 4:6 says “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.”

Eliphaz failed to do that with his close friend Job, yet again! He has a wonderful and godly opportunity to bring wisdom to the table to comfort his friend. But he chooses to ignore the right thing and while Job lamented, he is thinking about what he would say next to Job to crush him even further.

So what does that tell us about Eliphaz?

He wasn’t listening at all; he had his agenda and cared nothing about what Job was saying. We see the same problem with telling people about the gospel! They refuse to listen because all their thinking about is what line of defense they will bring to the conversation. And like the gospel and Job’s lament! It’s falling on deaf ears, and blind eyes. This message is so scandalous the Jews and Greeks didn’t get because of their ignorance to the truth of the gospel and Jesus Christ. To the Jew, the Gospel was the worst sort of blasphemy because it claimed that the Nazarene who died accursed on Calvary was the Messiah. To the Greeks, it was the worst sort of absurdity because it claimed that “Jesus” this Jewish Messiah was God in the flesh. The Apostle Paul wrote “For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,” 1 Cor 1:21-23. Sadly the rest of the world at that time and even today respond no differently to this message of truth. John penned these words “He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.” John 1:10. All Eliphaz did was deliver insult, after insult to a hurting, confused, broken man of God, who wanted answers to why he was going through all of this. All Eliphaz did was condemn him to destruction with the closing of his words.

Where is the hope in this Eliphaz?

Where is the hope for sinners who drink iniquity like its water?

Where is our redemption of eternal punishment?

Eliphaz, is there no hope for the person that sins?

By looking at what Eliphaz says here about a man which is upright according to God……NO! This is the danger of us not proclaiming the whole counsel of the gospel! Preaching Hell and Brimstone and lacking in the grace of God’s forgiveness and mercy. Eliphaz would have failed according to Peter when he said “but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,” 1 Peter 3:15 The gospel is a scandalous message that is hard to fathom but beautiful when told correctly.

What does the scandalous gospel of redeeming grace look like?

There was a story about an Englishman who purchased a Rolls Royce. It had been advertised as the car that would never, ever, ever break down. So the man purchased the Rolls Royce at a hefty price and was driving it one day when, to his surprise, it broke down. He was far away from town so he called and said, “Hey, you know this car that will never break down? Well, it’s broke down.” Immediately, a Rolls Royce mechanic was flown to the location where the car was broken down. The car was fixed, and the man went on his way. Naturally, the man expected to get a bill from Rolls Royce. It was clearly expensive for them to provide such service (not often does a mechanic fly to where your car is broken down!), and he wanted to get the whole ordeal behind him. So when the bill had not yet come a few weeks later, the man called Rolls Royce and said, “I’d like to go ahead and pay my bill for my broken-down car so that we can get this behind us.” In turn, Rolls Royce responded by saying, “Sir, we are deeply sorry, but we have absolutely no record of anything ever having gone wrong with your car.”

Think about as it pertains to the gospel and your life? The God of the universe looks at your life and my life through the lenses of the gospel and says, “I have absolutely no record of anything ever having gone wrong in your life.” In fact, because “In Him we have redemption through His blood”, That is scandalous grace……..knowing who I was, before Christ saved my wretched soul. And what’s equally is amazing!  God says the exact opposite: “I have a record of everything having gone right in your life.” That is the scandalous grace of God in the gospel of His salvation. This is what Eliphaz should have reminded Job as went through suffering. Looking back to truth of God’s mercy and grace found in the Garden of Eden. What are some practical things we can learn from this chapter when someone is hurting?

  

Shorten your words.

Don’t overwhelm the hurting brother or sister with wordiness when you are doing just that. We should limit our words to meet the need, as we comfort the hurting. Eliphaz charged Job with wordiness and yet he was the guiltiest of this offence. The more Eliphaz spoke the more it hurt his dear friend. John said “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” 1 John 3:18. Jesus said “…let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” Matt 5:16

Season your words.

Don’t be abrasive and abrupt. We should use kind words which according to Proverbs are like “apples of gold” Prov 25:11. We must learn from Scripture if we are ever to help the hurting. And what better way to learn this truth, then from the mouth of Almighty God. Jesus said “For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me." John 12:49-50. Use His words because they are seasoned with grace to help the hurting. Let us be kind and tenderhearted in the words we express to others in their pain.

Scrutinize your words.

Part of the problem is that we speak incorrectly. We must know biblical truth if we are to be used as counselors to others. We must have a good understanding of Scripture as it deals with suffering both the lost and the saved. Let us measure our words by Scripture, rightly handling the Words of truth to the hurting brother or sister. Proverbs 16:24 says “Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.” Why we scrutinize our words because Jesus said “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned." Matt 12:36-37. 

We must handle and rightly divide the Word of truth. If we are to be used by God, let us measure our words by the truth of the Bible. What we need to understand is this! “We are appointed to be lights and beacons of hope in the gospel confession, not mud flingers” We are appointed to love the lost with Christ and we called to love each other with the gospel’s love, as we go through life for His glory and our good. The gospel is a scandalous love that comforts and strengthens the brokenhearted. We must do the same, regardless of the circumstances. A right attitude brings grace and healing to those who need more grace. As Steve Lawson said “God of Heaven and earth, teach us to restrain our lips from making hasty assertions about You and the events of life. How unsearchable are Your judgements and unfathomable are Your ways! Teach us to trust and obey even when we do not understand what You are doing.”