Zophar's First Speech - Job's Reply
I. INTRODUCTION
A. Last week we saw Job crying out for a mediator so that he could reconcile his differences with the Lord.
1. He sensed this great chasm between him and the Lord, and felt there was no way to get to Him.
2. He has also spent a great deal of time talking about the judgment side of the Lord, and because of his pain, has missed the mercy side.
3. Job's second friend, Bildad called him a hypocrite, and we ended the chapter with Job being back to wishing he were dead.
4. So far neither of his two friends have helped him at all.
a) Now, in today's study - Zophar, the third friend will speak and again leave Job comfortless!
B. We are going to pick up the pace a little and cover four Chapters this morning!
1. We will take a look at Zophar's first speech to Job and Job's reply.
2. Job's reply to Zophar is his longest, covering 3 chapters all by itself.
3. We will not have time to cover every verse, so please make sure that you read the chapters for yourself in private devotion.
II. TEXT
A. Job 11:1-6 (NKJV) Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said: 2 "Should not the multitude of words be answered? And should a man full of talk be vindicated? 3 Should your empty talk make men hold their peace? And when you mock, should no one rebuke you? 4 For you have said, 'My doctrine [is] pure, And I am clean in your eyes.' 5 But oh, that God would speak, And open His lips against you, 6 That He would show you the secrets of wisdom! For [they] [would] double [your] prudence. Know therefore that God exacts from you [Less] than your iniquity [deserves].
1. Verse 3 in the King James reads, "Should thy lies make men hold their peace?"
a) Eliphaz hinted at hidden sin in Job's life. Bildad called Job a hypocrite and now Zophar calls him a liar! Some friends, huh?
(1) I believe these guys are called "Fair weather friends."
(a) When Job was healthy and wealthy, they kissed up to him, but now that they feel he has nothing to offer, they call him names!
(b) I want to ask you, is this any different than most "friendships" today?
(c) It has been my experience that most friends today will turn on you also when they think you no longer have anything to offer them.
(i) But, I think the Lord at least "allows" this to show us that HE is supposed to be our best friend!!
(ii) If you find that friends have abandoned you and hurt you, you are not alone and you are in company!!
(2) The prophet Zechariah said this about Jesus. Zech 13:6 (NKJV) "And [one] will say to him, 'What are these wounds between your arms?' Then he will answer, '[Those] with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.'
b) In essence what Zophar is saying is this, "Job, you say that you do not have hidden sin in your life, but I wish that God would speak and expose you as a liar. Then you would see that what you are going through is mild compared to what you really deserve."
2. Verses 7-11 tell of the Lord's omnipotence and omniscience, and are really quite wonderful if you take them by themselves.
3. And then again in verse 12, Zophar takes another "shot" at Job.
B. Job 11:12 (NKJV) For an empty-headed man will be wise, When a wild donkey's colt is born a man.
1. Zophar is without a doubt, not talking about himself! For he believes that he is quite wise!
a) At the risk of mixing metaphors, Zophar is basically saying, "Job, you are an empty headed man and you will be wise when pigs fly!"
2. In verses 13 through the end of Chapter 11, Zophar tries to convince Job, like his other friends, that if he would just repent, everything would be fine!
3. Now, as you might imagine, Job is a little upset.
a) He has sit and listened to these guys accuse and call him names and he is sick of it!
b) So, he decides to take his best shot!
c) And by the way, (in the flesh), it's a pretty good one at that.
C. Job 12:1-3 (NKJV) Then Job answered and said: 2 "No doubt you [are] the people, And wisdom will die with you! 3 But I have understanding as well as you; I [am] not inferior to you. Indeed, who does not [know] such things as these?
1. There is a modern-day colloquialism that says, "You're the man!"
a) Meaning the one about whom this is said is the coolest, "badest", and brightest person on the face of the earth! The sun rises and sets because of him!
2. That is basically what Job is saying about his friends.
a) Job 12:2 "No doubt you [are] the people, And wisdom will die with you!
b) No one will every be able to compare with your wisdom, in fact all wisdom will die when you guys die, because you contain it all!
c) But, he says, I am not an idiot, and stop treating me like one!
d) Today we would probably say something like, "Since when did the Lord die and give you the throne?"
3. Job reminds them that he is not inferior to them, and that they have not uncovered some great wisdom that he is not aware of!
a) Then in the rest of the Chapter, he, like Zophar extols the truths about the Lord, but Job does it from the point of pain.
(1) In other words, though the things he says may be true, Job sees the Lord as a harsh judge and juror, not a merciful Savior!
(2) Pain has a way of causing us the view the Lord like that. But the reality is that He is just as merciful and wonderful in times of trouble as He is in the times of blessing!!
(a) It is just harder for us to see.
4. Job takes a few more "shots" at his friends in Chapter 13.
D. Job 13:1-12 (NKJV) "Behold, my eye has seen all [this], My ear has heard and understood it. 2 What you know, I also know; I [am] not inferior to you. 3 But I would speak to the Almighty, And I desire to reason with God. 4 But you forgers of lies, You [are] all worthless physicians. 5 Oh, that you would be silent, And it would be your wisdom! 6 Now hear my reasoning, And heed the pleadings of my lips. 7 Will you speak wickedly for God, And talk deceitfully for Him? 8 Will you show partiality for Him? Will you contend for God? 9 Will it be well when He searches you out? Or can you mock Him as one mocks a man? 10 He will surely rebuke you If you secretly show partiality. 11 Will not His excellence make you afraid, And the dread of Him fall upon you? 12 Your platitudes [are] proverbs of ashes, Your defenses are defenses of clay.
1. You guys are the liars!
2. Your about as worthless a doctor who knows nothing about medicine.
a) Job's friends were like this doctor. He needed to be "treated" with kindness and love, and instead they had cut out his heart!
3. Job tells them that they would be better if they would just shut up!
a) He tells them that their silence would actually be wisdom compared to what they were spewing out, their proverbs of ashes.
4. Then he accuses them of misrepresenting the Lord, by speaking falsely against him!
5. The rest of the Chapter 13, Job complains to the Lord, and in Chapter 14 Job once again praises the benefits of death.
a) But we find in Chapter 13 verse 15 - Job's great statement of faith in the Lord.
E. Job 13:15 (NKJV) Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. Even so, I will defend my own ways before Him.
1. In this one single verse we begin to see what is at the core of Job's problem.
a) He trusts in the Lord even to the point of death, but he believes that he can defend himself before the Lord!
b) There is a certain self-righteousness in Job's heart.
(1) Mal 3:1-3 (NKJV) "Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Even the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight. Behold, He is coming," Says the Lord of hosts. 2 "But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He [is] like a refiner's fire And like launderer's soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver;
c) Job actually thought that he could defend himself before the Lord.
(1) Rom 3:10-12 (NKJV) As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one; 11 There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. 12 They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one."
d) The only way any of us can stand before the Lord is in the shadow of the cross.
(1) 1Cr 3:11-15 (NKJV) For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation [with] gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one's work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is. 14 If anyone's work which he has built on [it] endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
III. CONCLUSION
A. Job was a "righteous" man in the sense that he performed all the necessary sacrifices to atone for his sins.
1. But in a sense, his miserable friends were right. He was still a sinner like the rest of us!
2. His only defense was and is the same as ours - to fall upon the mercy of the Lord and beg forgiveness.
a) Eph 2:8-9 (NKJV) For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; [it] [is] the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
b) Job could not stand on his own and neither can we.
c) He said he would trust the Lord even in death, but he was having a hard time trusting him in life!
d) Many say, "I would die for the Lord!"
e) But my challenge to you this morning is, "Will you live for Him?"