Wine which hath no vent
Category: Suffering, Trials & Burdens
Key Passage: Job 32:18
Speaker: Bill Dumpert
Date: August 7, 2022
And listen to Brother Anthony this morning; he kind of ticked me off, you know. Three people got that.
It’s an honor to be here. Twice, I sat down and started to text your pastor—our pastor, my pastor—and I got a check on my spirit, and I said, wait a minute, he’s on vacation. Leave me alone, you know. I remember when we used to take off when I was pastor, and we’d take off and spend some time away from the flock, and someone would get a hold of you. All kinds of reasons, you know. And I just said, okay, Lord, I’ll leave him alone. But then I received a text from him last evening. He said that he’ll be watching me and I better do right, or I got some problems with him. He didn’t say that at all.
In introduction to the message tonight, we’re in the book of Job. I don’t believe I’ve ever spent as much time on one message as I have for this one. So just bear with me. It may be laying an egg. I don’t know. I really don’t. I’ve changed the message three or four times in the sense of writing the message out. So you’re in good hands. I’ve got 10 pages of notes, aren’t you pleased?
Introduction tonight would be something like this. In life, we have all kinds of issues: Who we’re going to date? Marriage—when we’re going to get married, who are we going to marry? Employment—where will I work? What are some of the perks? What are the hours? Things like that. Education—should I go to college? Should I go online? Joshua is doing wonderful. I’m really pleased to hear that. Our neighbors—how to get along with them. We’ve got a rental property. They couldn’t sell the house, so they turned it over to a rental company, and that’s been rather challenging. Family issues—how are children disciplined? A lot of things like that.
In Luke 17, verse one, the Lord said to his disciples, “It is impossible, but offenses will come.” Offenses will come.
I remember the preacher, our pastor, saying last week, it doesn’t matter if you’ve got 150 people like at Walmart or Kroger’s or whatever; even in a church, you’re going to have struggles. There will be some differences. We’re not all the same. I wish that everybody was right like me, but you know how that goes. As a case in point, we’re going to see one of the issues found in the book of Job.
But before I do that, I was having a little bit of trouble. Anyone ever get migraine headaches? I get them once in a while. I got them more often after my mother went to heaven, and they edged up some. I had the sweetest mother-in-law in the world, really. But I told Marlon, “If I have a migraine coming on, there are some things you can do, and one thing is have a Coca-Cola.” You know, it’s got caffeine in it that helps some. Marlin, did you bring my Coke I needed? Would you bring it up here, please, sir? I’m going to get a sip of it.
What are you doing? I need a Coke, but I don’t need what’s going to happen. Before you tar and feather that gentleman, this has all been staged. It’s going to get better, I hope. What you just saw—that can having a mind of its own and bursting—is a picture of many of us.
It’s found in the scripture. Now, you won’t find in the Bible, “Thou shalt not shake up a warm Coke and try to open it.” You won’t find that. But it’s found here in the book of Job. Go to chapter 32. Thank you, Marlon. He’s good at following directions. And no, I don’t have a migraine. Okay. Job 32. Job 32. And look at verse number 18.
I was reading through the Bible about a month ago, a little over a month ago. I’m about a month ahead on my Bible reading for this year. I came across a couple verses that just kind of arrested my attention. In verse 18, Elihu says, “I said, I will answer, no,” verse 18. Elihu said, “For I am full of matter; the spirit within me constraineth me. Behold, my belly is as wine which has no vent; it is ready to burst like new bottles.”
Let’s bring it updated: “Behold, my belly is like a can of Coca-Cola which hath no vent. And if you shake it up, it’s ready to burst like new bottles.”
Take your Bible and go over to the book of Psalm, chapter 39. Psalm 39 and verse number three. David here says, “My heart was hot within me. While I was musing”—the word musing means while I was meditating, while I was thinking—“while I was musing, the fire burned. Then spake I with my tongue.”
Go a few books over to the right. You’ll come to Jeremiah, and you’ll find another passage very similar in Jeremiah 20 and verse number 9. Good group out tonight. It’s good to see you out here. Jeremiah chapter 20 and verse 9: “Then said I, Jeremiah, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name: but his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones. And I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay,” or I could not but speak about him. That’s what he’s saying.
Wine which hath no vent. Wine which hath no vent. Go back to Job 32, if you would, wine which hath no vent.
And before we get into the message, let’s bow in a word of prayer. Our Father, we love you. And thank you again for this opportunity, Father, to preach behind this sacred desk. Thank you for Pastor Chisgar asking me a few weeks ago to come and speak tonight. And I really appreciate that. And now, Lord, as we have been now three, four weeks ourselves, even before pastor spoke to me, in this section of your word, I would ask you to give me liberty and calmness and a collection of thinking that would be right. We love you, and we need you, O Holy Spirit. May this your kind of glory of God come down. We need you tonight, and we love you. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.
How to handle the issue that you may be facing. How to handle the issue when you’re ready to explode? How many have you ever exploded? You just blew up about anything. Yeah, we’ve all been there. Maybe even coming to church. You blew up with your wife, or vice versa, or the children, whatever. How to handle when the wine hath no vent.
Now you notice in verses 17 and 18, “For I am full of matter,” he said. I am full of matter.
Years ago, I was substitute teaching down in South Carolina. I’m going to tell you a quick little story. I was in an honors class, senior honors class. These guys and gals were sharp. They were sharp. And a teacher really, really liked me. Every time she would be away due to sickness or whatever, she’d get a hold of me and say, “Would you come and substitute for me?” because I had a good relationship with the kids. In that class, there was a gentleman. All these students were A-plus students and above. They were all 4.0. I mean, they were sharp kids. But in that class, like so many classes, you’ll have someone that’s kind of the class clown, you know, and he was. He was the class clown. He could get people laughing. He could get the teacher off what he was teaching. He was just a funny guy, but never a corrective type fellow that you had to get after him. Just not that way.
One day I was coming into the classroom, and on purpose I was about five minutes late. I walked in, and all the kids were seated, except for this one—we’ll call him George. He was kind of fooling around with people, and he looked up and he saw me come in, and he was moving over toward his seat. I said, “Oh, students, I am so sorry that I’m running late today. I did my best to get here on time. I usually do. But when I was coming down this street,” I named it, “when I was coming down the street with all these tree lines, a mama baby ran right in front of me, and I almost went off the road. And I’ll tell you, if I’d have hit that mama baby, it would have been a mess.”
He looked at me and said, “Mr. Dumpur, what’s the mama baby?”
And I said, “Nothing, sweetheart.”
He got about five colors of red, and I said, “I got you, you know.”
Here in verse 18, he says, “For I am full of matter. I am full of matter.” Elihu says, “I am filled up to here with what’s going on.” What’s the matter? Job is the matter. Job is a problem. What’s the matter? Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar. That’s what’s the matter.
Job is being tested in chapter one, too. He’s being tested unbelievably, like probably hardly anyone ever like him. His three friends—Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar—have come to help him and to counsel him and get him through this struggle he was having. And Job’s wife, she was a blessing too. Why don’t she just curse God and die? Let me say something for Job’s wife. Job’s wife lost all the wealth too. I’ve heard preachers, and I probably have said it too, that Job’s wife wasn’t a very good helpmate. But you think that true? She lost all 10 of her children at one outing, right? She lost everything. Job was the wealthiest man in all the East. He had five or six different kinds of animals, and they were all destroyed. Job’s wife was hurting. And we let her have it. But anyway, in our section here in God’s Word, we find out that Job’s wife is also part of this matter.
Why is Elihu so upset? Well, he’s upset because of how things were handled. Have you ever been kind of a mediator and seen something—some party over here and this party over there—and you’re sitting there thinking, I need to get into this thing? And that’s what Elihu was doing. Job is tested in chapter one when he loses all of his livelihood, all of his wealth, all of his notoriety. He’s penniless.
In chapter two, Job now is affected by loss of his health. He’s outside scraping boils. What’s upsetting Elihu is the dialogue also by these three gentlemen, these elderly men. Twenty-eight chapters—chapter three through 31. Twenty-eight chapters. These folks are going at each other. They’re having dialogue that’s not very good.
Now, who is Elihu? Who is Elihu? Well, look in verse number two of Job 32: “Then was kindled the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite: of the kindred of Ram against Job was his wrath kindled, because he justified himself rather than God.” Look at the next verse: “Also his wrath is kindled against the three friends; because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job.”
Elihu was a young nobody. Look at verse 6: “And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said, I am young, and ye are very old: wherefore I was afraid, and durst not show you mine opinion.”
Who is this Elihu? He doesn’t show up in this narrative for 32 chapters. You don’t see him in the beginning of the book or the middle of the book. He’s just there. He’s observing. He’s watching, listening. Who is Elihu? He’s a nobody. He’s a young nobody. He’s a distraught nobody. His name means, “My God is He.” My God is He. Elihu was a godly man.
Is there ever a time to get angry? You know, no, never is. We’ve got to be peace-loving. That’s not true. That’s not true. It says in Ephesians chapter 4, verses 26 and 27, “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath.” What do you say? Be ye angry and sin not.
One hundred thirty-one times in the King James Bible do you find the word anger and wrath? What’s the difference between wrath and anger? Wrath is when you’re so distraught, you’re so upset, you just can’t hardly handle it anymore. Anger is wrath on steroids where you want to punch out someone’s lights. There is a time to get angry, but be careful how you get angry. A big mess. Coca-Cola venting himself isn’t very lovely, right? Many times you can vent yourself, and you’ll look like the bad guy if you’re not careful. You ever been there?
Look at chapter 32 and verse 14, the first part of it. It says, “Now he hath not directed his words against me.” What’s he saying? Now Job hath not been angry with me or upset with me. And he says, “Neither will I answer him with your speeches.” What am I saying? This Elihu is a mediator. He’s a mediator. He’s observing.
I’ll give you an example. We were down in Florida one time, and I was not pastoring, and it was very miserable. If you don’t have any children around, you take it on your wife, amen, guys? Or if you’ve got kids around, you take it out on your children. One time, I’d been days and days and days, and she seemed like something would come up, and I’d get after Julie, our youngest daughter. She was a junior high student. I was just constantly after her. One day when she did something—I don’t know what it was—and I got after her, Chad, our second son, who had just graduated from high school, said, “Dad, quit ragging on Julie. You’re always ragging on Julie.” He was a mediator. He was right, and I was apologetic for that situation. A mediator—that was Elihu.
Now, I want to give you some helps, and they may not be in the right order, but I want to give you some helps when you’re ready to blow up. Is it right to get angry? Yes. Elihu was angry. Elihu was full of wrath. He said three times, I believe in this chapter, “I’m upset with you, folks. I’m upset with you, Job, because you are self-righteous. I’m upset with you three men because you’re condemning Job and you have no evidence.”
Let me give you some helps. Notice help number one, look at the end of verse 6: “Wherefore I was afraid, and durst not show you mine opinion.” Elihu says, “I’ve got an opinion in this situation.” Go to verse 10: “Therefore I said, Hearken to me; I also will show you mine opinion.” Go to verse 17: “I said, I will answer also my part. I also will show you my opinion.”
I think parents need to come to the realization that children have opinions. I think husbands ought to come to the realization that wives have an opinion. And I think wives ought to look at their husband and say, “He’s got an opinion.” I think we need to realize that people have opinions. Someone said opinions are like armpits. We all have two of them, and they usually stink, something like that. We all have opinions. So many times as parents, we simply say, “Just sit down and shut up,” basically. Why should I do that? “You do it because I said so.” You ever heard that terminology? I’ve spouted that off. “I’m the dad around here.” We shouldn’t be so quick to shut them up.
Number one, opinions. James 1:19 goes along with this: “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, be ye swift to hear, slow to speak.” What’s the last part? “Slow to wrath.”
Matthew Henry said on this point, “He that answers a matter before he hears it, or when he has heard it only by halves, it is folly and shame to him.”
Ephesians 6:4 says, “And, fathers, provoke not your children to wrath.” How can we cause our children to get angry? You don’t give them an audience. You don’t give them a chance to tell how they feel. Have you ever done this? Something’s going on, and you say, “Doug, what do you think about this? Kelly, what’s your opinion on this situation?” I don’t think I’ve ever said that to my kids. I should have, and so should you. Where you work, they have opinions. The boss might have an opinion. Other people you work with, they have opinions. Give them a hearing. Give them a hearing.
Look at verse 12: “Yea, I attended unto you, and, behold, there was none of you that convinced Job.” He says, “I’ve listened to you.” So point number one, opinions. Consider the opinions.
Point number two deals with age and wisdom. Age and wisdom. Look at verse 6 again: “And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said, I am young, and ye are very old: wherefore I was afraid, and durst not show you mine opinion. I said, Age should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom. But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding. Great men are not always wise; neither do the aged understand judgment.”
Just because someone’s old doesn’t mean that he is always right. Age and wisdom. I would use this as a very simple example: When my phone goes down, I don’t mess with it. When my TV goes down, I don’t mess with it. When my computer goes down, I call my grandkids. Amen? Age and wisdom doesn’t always go together. Example and point: the President of the United States today.
Number three, respect and honor. Respect and honor. Age and position deserve respect and honor. You notice Elihu didn’t jump in the middle of them and start screaming and spouting off like at Coca-Cola. He addressed those people. It didn’t matter their position or their age; he was very respectful to them. He may not agree, but he’s very respectful. I would say to young people in here, you may not agree with your parents, and you may be 100% right, but give them respect and honor.
Silence is not golden. Sometimes we get in a situation, we see a situation, and we think, “Well, I just won’t say anything,” like Elihu said in verse 6, “I durst not show you mine opinion because of your age, you know.”
Look at verses 21 and 22: “Let me not, I pray you, accept any man’s person, neither let me give flattering titles unto man. For I know not to give flattering titles; in so doing my Maker would soon take me away.” What are you saying? Because you’re the dad, I’m just going to bow down and do anything you say? Be careful. Be respectful. Be respectful. Be respectful.
Number four, here’s the fourth point in how to handle some of these situations. Go to Job chapter 2. Job has now lost his wealth, his fortune, everything; now his health. In verse 11 of chapter 2: “Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came every one from his own place; Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite: for they had made an appointment”—underline that—“they made an appointment together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him.”
Point number four, appointment. Appointment, young people. If you disagree about something at home, say, “Mom, I’d like to talk to you a minute.” “I’m too busy right now.” “Could I see you two or three hours later? Could I see you at six o’clock? Can I make an appointment?” You don’t need to make an appointment. Well, it’s pretty obvious I have to, you know. Make an appointment. Make an appointment with those people you don’t agree with. Don’t just barge in.
I had that happen to me this week. We had a—I’m looking for the new tenants coming into our next-door house—and I saw a vehicle over there that represented the company who’s the rental company. I went in there, and I went in the garage, and I knocked on the door, and a guy came to the door with a phone up to his ear. I said, “Hello there, I’m your neighbor.” I said, “Oh, I see you got a phone in your ear.” He said, “Yeah, I do.” I said, “Could I talk to you a few minutes?” Right away, I was wrong. I should have said, “Make an appointment.” I’m barging right in. I said, “I’d like to talk to you about…” I told him what the issue was. He said, “Yeah,” and we talked about it, and he gave me the privilege of going over that situation. But don’t just barge in. Elihu didn’t barge in. These men didn’t barge in. They made appointments to talk about the situation.
Number five, give reasons why you’re upset. Give reasons why you’re upset. Again, I go to chapter 32, and look at verse 11: “Behold, Elihu said, I waited for your words, and I gave ear to your reasons while you searched out what to say.” Elihu said, “I listened to what you had to say. I watched. I waited. I listened. I understood the situation.” Job, you’re very self-righteous. You’re very religious. You’ve got all your eyes dotted and all your tees crossed. You’re a very religious man. Read about him. God said he was perfect, a very mature man. And he said to the friends, “You friends that are trying to help Job in this situation, you’re very judgmental. Get your ducks in a row. Know what’s going on.” And then after you get the appointment and they give you a listening ear, would you listen to him? He says that in here. Give them the reasons why you’re upset. Number one, number two, number three. The facts, ma’am. I remember old Dragnet years ago, “Just the facts.” Give reasons, and be precise on what you have to say.
Number six, we’ve already hit it a little bit: listen to them. Listen to them. Verses 15 and 16: “They were amazed. They answered no more: they left off speaking. When I had waited, for they spake not, but stood still, and answered no more.” Elihu said, “I got this meeting. I went over the facts, went over these things, and he said, ‘Now they’re listening.’ Now they’re listening.” The parents, the boss, the neighbors, grandparents—listen to them. When you have the children around, listen to what they have. I don’t care if there’s Brother Anthony or your children; listen to them. Even a little baby. Listen to them.
Number seven, deal with the now and not the past. Now, this can be very controversial. I could be out on a limb on this one. Deal with the now and not the past. Look at verse 14: “Now he, Job, hath not directed his words against me, Elihu.” And he goes on, “Neither will I answer him with your speeches.” He says, “Neither will I answer Job with what you three men have been saying. I’m going to leave the past alone.” So often we bring up the past. We did something 25 years ago, and then the wife brings it up or the husband brings it up. You know what you did? No. But yet again, you may sometimes have to deal with the past. Sometimes you need to maybe sit down and talk about the past to help the future. But Elihu, he is not going to entertain these men with what they said in the past.
Number eight, point number eight, point them to the Lord, to God. Elihu says, “I’m not going to deal with the past situations. I’m not going to deal with the things you’ve talked about. I’ll not address those things that the friends have said.” I’ve got a note here, verse 13: “Lest ye should say, We have found out wisdom; God thrusteth him down, not man.” You know what Elihu is saying? The reason Job is in this situation is because God is working in his life. God is working in his life.
In chapters 33 through 37, five chapters, Elihu is going to address the situation. He’s going to give his opinion. He’s been sitting there for how long, we don’t know—28 chapters. He’s been sitting there listening to what Job had to say. Then he’s been sitting there listening to what Eliphaz and Zophar and Bildad had to say. Look at verse 1 of chapter 33: “Wherefore, Job, I pray thee, hear my speeches, and hearken to all my words.”
Elihu is going straight to the horse’s mouth. He’s going straight to the problem, straight to the situation. He’s dealing with this situation face to face. Now listen to me: not behind his back. Not behind his back. Face to face. Job…
Elihu now has Job’s attention. In these five chapters, Elihu is going to open Job up. Look at some of these thoughts. In chapter 33, look at verse number six: “Behold, I am according to thy wish in God’s stead: I also am formed out of the clay.” You know what he was saying? Elihu is saying, God has so prompted me to speak to you, Job, about the situation. I’m God’s mouthpiece right now.
Look at verse 9: Elihu says, “Job, you know what you said? You said, ‘I am clean without transgression. I am innocent. Neither is there iniquity in me.’” What I say? Job said he was self-righteous. We see it here.
Look at verse 12: “Behold, in this thou art not just: I will answer thee, that God is greater than man.” Look at verse 13: “Why dost thou strive against him? For he giveth not account of any of his matters.” Let me nail that down: God is not going to give an account for anything that He does because God is God and man is man. God is the Almighty. Amen.
Look if you would at verses 27, 28, and 29. He says there, if a man commits wicked sins, if he commits sins, and if he comes to God and seeks forgiveness, God will forgive. Sounds like 1 John 1:9.
Look at chapter 34 and verse 5: Elihu says, “For Job hath said, ‘I am righteous, and God hath taken away my judgment.’” Have you ever heard this: “My son died, and God took him from me. It’s God’s fault. My mother died, and she shouldn’t have died. God took her.” That’s what Job said. Job said everything was going good. I had my 10 children. I prayed for them all the time in case they had sinned, and God took them from me. I had all the wealth. There was nobody like me in the East. I was the wealthiest, the greatest of all men there. God took all my animals, all my wealth. I was strong and robust. I was a physical example of a good, strong man, and now I’m outside scraping the sores off my body. God took it from me.
As a pastor over the years, I’ve heard people say that. Get upset from in church. “God has some kind of meaning. He’s reached down there and took my child, took my whatever.”
Look at verse 9: “For he hath said, ‘It profiteth a man nothing that he should delight himself with God.’” Job, you said, you know, you said, Job? You said, “If you love God and you serve Him, it’s not going to profit me one iota.” Will it? Sure will.
Look at verse 10: “Therefore hearken unto me, ye men of understanding: be it far from God, that he should do wickedness; and from the Almighty, that he should commit iniquity.” God cannot sin. It says in Titus 1:2, “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.” You say God can do anything. God can do everything. He can’t sin. They can’t lie.
Verse 12 of this same chapter: “Yea, surely God will not do wickedly, neither will the Almighty pervert judgment,” and He won’t. Elihu says, “Do you realize who God is? He’s perfect. He can’t sin.”
Verse 17: “Shall even he that hateth right govern? And wilt thou condemn him that is most just?” Job, do you know who you’re talking against? Look up here. Here’s Job. He’s lost everything. Here’s those three comforters helping him. On this side of Job, Job has gone through losing all of everything—his health, his family—and his wife says, “Curse God and die.” And these three people are saying, “Job, because of your sin, all these calamities have come upon you.”
Let’s get on your other side of the fence. On this side of the fence is Job, and he’s not—after the fact, after all the destruction—Job is speaking against God. Let’s go on. Go to chapter 35. Job has said, “My righteousness is more than God’s.”
And you go to chapter 36, and Elihu talks about how mighty and how mighty God is and who God is. He says, “I’ll speak on God’s behalf.” Verse 4 of chapter 36: “For truly my words shall not be false: he that is perfect in knowledge is with thee.” Get a hold of that. That’s a key. He says to Job, “For truly my word shall not be false: he that is perfect in knowledge is with thee.”
You hold their hand as they are broken over the situation and they don’t know how to get through this quagmire of emotions. You’ve got to get across to them that God is with you through this mayhem. You’ve got to get that to them. We spent many an hour praying about these very things, my wife and I, when we lost our son. God is with us. He’ll not do it. He never made a mistake, and He never will make a mistake. And it’s—hear me—we are through for amen. And it’s, and I’ve been there. It’s easy to say amen until you’ve walked that narrow stretch. You’re all alone. It’s tough out there, folks. It’s tough.
Chapter 37, we’ll just be real brief and say this: Elihu takes this chapter, and it tells about the greatness of God, the greatness of God. What’s he doing? Job is hearing the verdict against him of being a wicked man, and Job is so confused about loss and losing everything. His emotions are going crazy on him. And Elihu, as God’s spokesman, is trying to bring Job to a place where there’s a wonderful God up there that is with you and He loves you.
Then you go to chapter 38 and to the end of the book. And then God can speak. Let me say this: I was thinking about this afternoon. I was praying. What Elihu is trying to do is get Job to get through all the despair and all the emotions he’s going through and to see a God that really loves him and the God that cannot sin. I say that to—I was thinking about our Adam, I was thinking about what you guys do up here. This up here is so important to them out there. Every special that’s sung up here before the pastor gets up to preach is so important to get the heart of them out there, ready to receive the message from up here. It’s so important, so important.
In chapters 38 through the end, God speaks. God speaks. Look what He says in verse number one of 38: “Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?” He goes in the next verse, verse 4: “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?”
And Job begins to talk, or God begins to tell Job, “Who’s the big guy around here?” Can you tell where snow comes from? Can you tell why the rain rains, why we have mist? Can you explain why the flood water or the water from the ocean can only come up so far and can go no further? Can you explain death? Can you explain these different things, Job?
In chapter 40 and verse 2: “Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? He that reproveth God, let him answer it.” God is saying, Job, what do you know?
How did Job respond to this? Look, if you would, in verse number three of chapter 40. Elihu has had five chapters; God has had about two or three chapters with him. We’ve got now Job looking up instead of looking down. And verse three: “Then Job answered the Lord, and said, Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth. Once have I spoken; but I will answer thee no more.”
Finally, Job is realizing who Job is. Job is a very righteous man, a very holy man. Like some of us, we come into the church carrying a big King James Bible, dressing appropriately. We’re very holy, very righteous. Sometimes God’s got to take us and bring us down to the altar and humble us so He can deal with us.
In chapter 41, look at verse number 11: “Who hath prevented me, that I should repay him? whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine.” God owns it all. God owns it all.
You get to chapter 42, the last chapter, and notice the first five, six verses are very important, very important. Then Job answered the Lord, and said, “I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee. Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.” In verse 5, here’s a key: “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.”
You know what God has taken Job through? He’s taken Job all the way to a place from religion to a relationship. That’s what He’s after.
I think when we get to the place where we’re ready to blow up like a Coca-Cola can, we need to take some of these points and go over them and think about Job, Elihu—how he handled the situation. You know what God’s key remedy is in all of this? Look at the end of chapter 42.
Look at verse 8: “Therefore take unto you 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 will I accept: lest I deal with you after your folly, in that ye have not spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job.” Look at verse 10: “And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when…” when? He prayed for his friends. Also, the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. That word “when” needs to be underlined in your Bible.
We’ve used a couple things here. One thing I’m looking at right now is when we get in situations that we don’t know how to handle, we’re ready to explode, we need to start praying for that situation. Pray for your enemy. We’ve all had them. Pray for them. “I just can’t pray for that person.” Job probably couldn’t either. But when he did, God answered that prayer and brought about success in his life.
Look if you would in Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5, the Sermon on the Mount, the greatest sermon ever preached for the greatest preacher who ever preached it. Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapter 5 and verse 43: “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy: But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.”
“You just don’t realize what they did to me.” I dealt with a man one time who went through a horrible situation, really bad. I won’t go into details. He said to me—I said to him in our counseling, I was talking to him—I said, “You need to pray for this perpetrator, this person.” And he said this: “I can’t pray for him.”
And I said, “You’ll never see the peace that God wants to give you.” See, you’re carrying a ball and chain around of unforgiving spirit. “You just don’t realize what he did.” Yeah, I do. I’ve seen it before. Pray for these people. Pray. We’re to restore. We’re to restore. And that’s what Elihu was trying to do—restore Job to the right perspective with God Jehovah.
Wine which hath no vent—let it explode, and then try to pick up all the carnage. You’ll find it’s very difficult to do. But how we handle situations is so very important, so very important. And it’s easy to say from the pulpit than to live it in our lives. It’s very tough sometimes.
Let’s bow in a word of prayer. Our Father, we love you. And thank you, Lord Jesus, for the life of Job. Thank you, Lord, how you dealt with him, how you brought him around to a place that realized God is God and he wasn’t. And, Lord, as I’ve read this over the next few weeks, I think of Joseph and how he dealt with his brothers, getting a place to humble them. Lord, I pray now you’d bless the invitation. We might, in this house tonight, have someone here that has a friend who’s not a friend anymore, someone that we’re at odds with. We need to come to an old-fashioned altar. We might know of somebody that’s going through a struggle. We need to come to an old-fashioned altar to beg you, Lord, to get into the life and get into a situation. We need to put our eyes on Christ. Now bless, in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Patrick, what do you have? Number 300, I think it is. Is that right? Number 300. Let us stand. We’ve got an altar here. We encourage you to come if God has spoken to your heart in some way. You may know of a situation where we need to get God in it. Search me, O God, and know my heart today. Lord, wash me just now as in Thy presence.
Original File: Vent - Brother Bill Dumpert - Sunday PM 08072022