Job Ch. 31 | Bible Study by Rick Burgess

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome into the Wednesday Bible study. So grateful that you
are here with us. We are continuing our study of
the Book of Job.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
If you are.

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Joining us for the first time, or you've been with
us and you just don't know where we are, go
ahead and turn to Job chapter thirty one. My Bible
has above it Job's final Appeal, So we're going to
hear Job's Final Appeal today.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
We'll work through that.

Speaker 1 (00:24):
If you've missed any part of this, just go back
to the archives that we have available to you. You
can go to Themanchurch dot com. You'll see the media
button there. Just click on that and you can either
watch or listen to the archive not only of the
study of Job, but a decade of studies that we
have done. And I get a lot of emails from

(00:45):
you that are I mean, you're studying things that we unpacked,
you know, six seven years ago, which great.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
Go go enjoy that. So also, as we.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
Begin to kind of wind down over the next month
or so, we'll be thinking about what do we want
to do next, and I've been getting feedback from you.
You're welcome to email me Rick at Burgessministries dot com
say hey, i'd like to see you unpack this book.
If you consider maybe doing this series, be thrilled to

(01:13):
do that, and I'll let you know. If you didn't know,
maybe you may you could suggest when we've already done.
But check those archives and those are all there. A
couple of things I do want to tell you about.
The Manchurch dot Com is a men's discipleship strategy. We
provide resources for men in the form of individual resources.
These are devotionals. These are our first full length book

(01:37):
that just came out called Men Don't Run in the Rain.
That's for individuals or maybe you and your son, or
you and a friend. But the heartbeat of what we
do is curriculum for small groups for men's ministry all
over the country. We have six forty week curriculum. Our
brand new one has just released called The Standard. This

(01:58):
is a study on the Book of Acts and you
can find it at the manchurch dot Com. That or
any of the five other curriculum are available. We also
send speakers out to your events. If you're one of
our Manchurch churches and that's where you have the high
challenge in an event, then we put them back into
the curriculum. We also have conferences where you can come

(02:20):
from all over for a big weekend with us. Two
of those are coming in twenty twenty six. Tickets for
that will go on and sell soon. I'll keep you
posted on that. Okay. So we also have a brand
new podcast that we're doing this year called Strange Encounters.
It's all about spiritual warfare, and as you can imagine,
with all the things that are going on right now

(02:41):
in our society, there's been a lot of intrigue on
that particular podcast. It's almost like God knew what he
was doing when he called us to do that. So
anyway you can get that wherever you get podcasts. My
day job is the Rick Burgess Show. That's why if
you're watching on YouTube, you can see that logo in here.
If you want to find out about that, just go
to Rick burgesshow dot com. So let's pray and let's jump.

(03:05):
I'm gonna talk about some events since the last time
we were together because a lot of you have asked
me that watching listen around the country and even in
the room, and then we'll jump into job thirty one. Lord,
thank you for today guide us with the power of
the Holy Spirit as we discern your powerful word, help
us to discern as the teacher correctly, but also prepare

(03:28):
all the hearts here to hear exactly what.

Speaker 2 (03:30):
You've called us to learn today. And your holy name.
We pray Amen.

Speaker 1 (03:34):
So some of you since the last time we were together,
if you were, if you're with us chronologically, the last
time that we were together, we ended this Bible study.
We finished Job chapter thirty, and while we were studying
the Word of God. During that Bible study, Charlie Kirk

(03:56):
was assassinated. It literally happened while we were in here study.
We didn't know what was going on. I didn't know.
I knew Charlie Kirk as far as the person. I
knew that his devotion to his faith. Honestly, like the
point I'll make that awareness of the things that he

(04:18):
defended and talked has just exploded in so many ways.
Is once again the demonic forces of our world have
just played right into God's hands again. So I know, though,
this really ties into our study of Job because even
though we've done this in the past, is this now

(04:39):
we're getting that age old question again.

Speaker 2 (04:42):
I have to really pray about having.

Speaker 1 (04:44):
An enthusiasm for it again because there is a side
of me that I get frustrated. Now that don't mean
to when we act like we don't understanding this stuff.
God's never been silent on this. He's given us example
after example of why these things have happen. But but
I don't need to not be patient. It's not my
strongest suit. I struggle being patient, according to everybody who

(05:08):
knows me, and UH, and I'm working on it. I'm
I'm trying. I'm trying to be patient and I need
to be. So y'all pray for me as I work
on my patients. So let's so let's go back. Let's
let's go to an event that took place in scripture.
There's a lot of parallels, and this is the stoning
of Stephen. Now we did study this in the Book

(05:31):
of Acts. Uh in we we've talked about this before.
We're not going to go through all of it for time.
But but let's go to Uh. It happens in Acts
chapter seven. So before we get to to seven and
a little bit of eight, let's review who Stephen was
to be sure we know what kind of man we're
dealing with.

Speaker 2 (05:50):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (05:50):
The Bible tells us in Acts chapter six that he
was a man there in verse five, he was a man.

Speaker 2 (05:56):
Full of faith and of the Holy Spirit. There's two.

Speaker 1 (06:00):
We look down at verse eight in chapter six of Acts,
and we see Stephen was full of grace and power.
So Stephen was full of faith, full of the Holy Spirit,
full of grace, and full of power. There's no one
else in the Bible that gets all four of those.
Now are there people in the Bible that might have

(06:20):
all four maybe, but this is the only person in
the Bible that you see the Bible gives those for
words about them in one setting.

Speaker 2 (06:29):
So Stephen is full of.

Speaker 1 (06:31):
The Holy Spirit, He's full of faith, he's full of grace,
he's full of power. Do we all agree that's based
on all of chapter seven that Stephen is doing exactly
what Jesus told him to do. Anybody disagree with that?
Anybody thinks Stephen's doing something wrong? Is God mad at Stephen?
Is he out to get Stephen? Does anybody think that

(06:53):
Jesus can protect Stephen? Yes, God can protect Stephen. He
has the Holy Spirit. Know this, okay?

Speaker 2 (07:01):
Well, see if this sounds familiar.

Speaker 1 (07:04):
Stephen is talking to a crowd, and he's telling the
crowd the truth about Jesus, and it says. It makes
the crowd angry. They're infuriated by it. They grind their teeth,
they clench their fists. They're not going well, thank you
for letting us know that that really, thank you so
much for explaining to us the truth they hate, the

(07:26):
truth of the truth of Jesus. He tells them, you
crucified Jesus, and there is no name on heaven and
earth that anyone can be redeemed excepting the name of Jesus.
And he even looks at the Hebrews that are screaming
at him, says, you might have circumcised bodies, but you
don't have a circumcised heart.

Speaker 2 (07:44):
And they go off.

Speaker 1 (07:46):
Okay, so they begin, as we know, to want to
stone Stephen in verse fifty four of chapter seven. Now
after the speech is over. Now, when they heard these things,
they were enraged and they ground their teeth him.

Speaker 2 (08:00):
But he full of the Holy Spirit, gazed.

Speaker 1 (08:03):
Into heaven and saw the glory of God in Jesus
standing at the right hand of God, not sitting. Now
we know that when he ascended, we were told he
sat down at the right hand of God. But now
he's standing. So why is Jesus standing. Well, there's a
couple of reasons on that. One of them is, if
you were going to enter the home of a hebrew Man,
he would stand out of respect and greet you into
his home.

Speaker 2 (08:24):
That's one. Two.

Speaker 1 (08:26):
They would stand to honor a teacher. They would stand
to honor someone that was worthy of honor. So Jesus
is seated at the right hand of the Father. He
stands up to show his respect and what show his
approval of.

Speaker 2 (08:41):
Exactly what Stephen was doing.

Speaker 1 (08:43):
Little application today, here's a little bonus on our Bible
study today from the New Testament. Jesus is looking at
our lives right now, all of you out there, all
of you in here? Is he standing? I mean, are
you such a hoss for the Kingdom of God? Are
you having so much impact for the Kingdom of God?
Are you so obedient to the advancement of the Kingdom

(09:06):
of God that if Jesus was looking at your life
right now and you could see him, would he be
seated or would he be standing? Does he think you
and I are doing a good job? Is he proud
of us? We're not trying to earn redemption. I just
wonder if he likes what we're doing with redemption. He
certainly is approving of Stephen. Pretty big endorsement. Okay, so

(09:29):
it says then he said, behold it is Stephen talking.
Now I see the heavens open and the son of
Man standing at the right hand of God. But they
cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and
rushed together at him. Then they cast him out of
the city and they stoned him. So why didn't Jesus
stop the stony? Why didn't Jesus stop the bullet from

(09:55):
killing Charlie Kirk? Now, if you're gonna praise God for
saving Donald Trump, I.

Speaker 2 (10:05):
Saw a lot of that. You know.

Speaker 1 (10:06):
God took that bullet and he just moved it away
from the President's head so it didn't harm him.

Speaker 2 (10:12):
Praise God for his protection.

Speaker 1 (10:15):
Of Donald Trump. So what do you say about God
with Charlie Kirk? Could he have made that bullet, Miss Charlie?
Well he didn't.

Speaker 2 (10:30):
So is God now not wonderful? Is God not glorious?
Is do you doubt God? Now?

Speaker 1 (10:37):
You loved him when he saved Trump, which I would
just tell you that of the two that were ready
to die, I go with Charlie Kirk. Okay, so so
so anyway, so we're gonna say that right that God's
in control of both situations. Just like here, we know

(11:01):
that one time Peter and James were in jail, and
we know that Peter got out and James was killed.
Did James do something wrong and Peter do something right?
But then we also worked Jesus was told Peter, what
now you are going to be martyrd?

Speaker 2 (11:19):
Just not now.

Speaker 1 (11:20):
Peter walked around in the New Testament, is the only
one that knew he would not see the return of Jesus.

Speaker 2 (11:25):
The rest of them thought they would. Peter knew he wouldn't.

Speaker 1 (11:29):
And even when he's writing in that in that and
second Peter he says it's getting close and they coming
for me, and he was right.

Speaker 2 (11:36):
Okay, so let me just tell you this.

Speaker 1 (11:41):
So it's really not as complicated a point as you
may think it is. It's to me, really it's pretty simple, okay,
because when you look at this, we know that this
was the decision that the one and only living God made.
I saw blasphemy on the text option over here during
my day job this week's so much so I said,

(12:01):
ban that person, take them off the screen. And I said,
because that a demon might as well type that. I said,
God makes these decisions, and we have faith that when
he makes these decisions, he's always right.

Speaker 2 (12:15):
And somebody put up there, I don't believe God's always.

Speaker 1 (12:17):
Right, and I said, well, let's ban that person, because
that's coming from the depth of hell right there.

Speaker 2 (12:23):
Don't start thinking like that. And it's not even that complicated. Folks.

Speaker 1 (12:28):
Remember this Jim Elliott. Elizabeth Elliot said about her husband
who was martyred for his faith trying to reach and
unreached people. She said, Jim never thought he was going
to live a long life. He never thought that he
thought he would live an impactful life. Longevity is not
the gold men. Longevity is not the gold women that

(12:49):
are watching our goals. Not longevity, it's impact. I know
a lot of men and women that live a long
time and their life has had no impact so long,
jemvity doesn't mean anything. Now there's some that have done
both have an impactful life, and God gave them longevity
throughout scripture and in society. So whatever he decides, Stephen's

(13:11):
life nor Charlie Kirk's life is incomplete. It's not short,
it's perfect. According to God. So here's why God allowed
both to happen. One reason. There's many, but here's one
that's really simple. God made the call that Stephen's public
stony would have more impact than Stephen's public protection Charlie

(13:40):
Kirk fact. And that's a bigger number.

Speaker 2 (13:43):
Now, I'm sure.

Speaker 1 (13:43):
I'll just give you the last number I had turning point.
His ministry had nine hundred colleges and twelve hundred high
schools before he was shot, and forty eight hours they
had thirty seven thousand requests.

Speaker 2 (13:59):
You think God knows what he's doing.

Speaker 1 (14:03):
I had not even heard ten percent of the things
that Charlie Kirk has said. I've heard tons of them
now because everybody's playing them. His message has gone further
with the martyring of Charlie Kirk than it would what
it would have gone if he just left Charlie Kirk alive.
Stephen had impact, but he had more impact by being

(14:26):
stoned than he would have had by being protected, because
we know, look at this verse eight tells us and
Saul approved of his execution. Now, some people are teaching
this incorrectly, that this was Paul's conversion moment.

Speaker 2 (14:43):
It wasn't that's incorrect to teach that.

Speaker 1 (14:45):
But we do know that this moment had impact on
Paul because he told us where do you think Luke
gets this from? It ain't from Stephen. Luke could not
interview Stephen. He interviewed the apostles, and he interviewed Paul.
Paul then brings it up again in Acts twenty two
when he talks about how he stood there and he
was impacted by watching this, and then he also mentions

(15:09):
it again, not specifically Stephen, but his persecution to the church,
which would include this moment in one Corinthians fifteen nine
and ten. So it was used to impact Paul and
set him up for his conversion, no doubt, but it
also did more. Look at verse eight, and Paul approved
of his execution. And there arose that day a great

(15:31):
persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were scattered
throughout the regions of Judea Samaria.

Speaker 2 (15:37):
Except the apostles. Why is that important?

Speaker 1 (15:39):
That's what Jesus told him to do back in Acts one,
and they didn't do it. He said, don't stay here,
not everybody, y'all go and they didn't go.

Speaker 2 (15:49):
Well, they're going now?

Speaker 1 (15:51):
Why Because he turned persecution up, and it scattered the
church and played right into Satan's hands and began to
go to have much more impact than it would have
had if this had not happened. Don't y'all see this,
This is elementary. Stop acting like that. God's not revealing
his plan. He's showing it to you as clear as

(16:13):
he can. So here's the deal. If your protection serves
the kingdom, you'll get it. If your death serves the kingdom,
you're gonna die.

Speaker 2 (16:25):
What's every one of those works? That's it?

Speaker 1 (16:30):
And we have faith that whatever God does is right.
Do we pray for protection of those we love? Of
course we do. But then what did Jesus tell us
to be sure? You add your will be done? Because
mine's flawed. I got all kinds of flaws because I've
still got to send nature. God doesn't have his decisions.
Don't have that kind of flaw. He says, he's omniscient,
he's all knowing. So he did exactly what he thought

(16:54):
was was neew is a better word. He did exactly
what he knew would have the most impact. Same thing
he did with Charlie Kirk. Is it sad on Earth?

Speaker 2 (17:04):
Sure? It is?

Speaker 1 (17:05):
Is it our job to pray for that wife and
those children. Of course, what would would we prefer that?
But if you've watched his wife, she understands it. She
understands it. That mean, it's not sad, but she understands it.
She's she's not wondering. I don't know what happened. I mean,
but you know why because she's a woman of God
and she's had a spiritual leader in her life that

(17:26):
that that did his job. They're gonna be fine, and
the reunion is gonna come one day. That's gonna be perfect.
And I promise you that Charlie Kirk Stephen same way.
And those that we love that we know are redeemed,
they're in perfection. And you remember we said it shifts
from poor them to what poor us? So those of

(17:49):
you that are wondering about that, it's right there in
scripture and there's many other places. But I thought the
Steven analogy was one we could do quick and.

Speaker 2 (17:57):
It's so easy to see. So there you go. There's
you something today on that.

Speaker 1 (18:02):
All right, So let's get into the job chapter thirty one.
So this is gonna be Job's final appeal. Okay, this
is we're not gonna hear from job again until God's done.
Then we'll hear from him briefly. But this is gonna
be the last time he gets a big, long monologue. Okay,
so this has been going on. He begins, and what

(18:25):
he's saying is he's gonna once again repudiate. He's going
to any association with any sin. He's gonna submit that
if I had done any of these things, then I
deserve punishment. He's gonna agree with you, but he's going
to reject the notion that he sinned. But he said, now,
if I've done these things, I deserve it. And he's
gonna walk through this. But he's saying in a different

(18:48):
way that he hasn't done any of this. First of all,
he starts that.

Speaker 2 (18:52):
He hasn't done any sexual sin. I wonder why that's
the first one.

Speaker 1 (18:58):
Well, you talk about demonic forces in sexual deviancy. Anybody
talk about something else. It's not hard to see right now,
we talk about this in strange encounters. Sexual sin is
always a marker, always of demonic activity. Something that God
intended to be so holy, so pure, and Satan has

(19:24):
taken it and he's corrupted it, and so sexual sin
has been used by Satan and his demons so successfully
for so long. Think about it. Some of the greatest
men of the Bible, and what was their downfall? Sexual sin?
Over and over again, and it just seems to be
defeating man after man in many cases, woman after woman.

Speaker 2 (19:47):
And so here we go.

Speaker 1 (19:50):
When he first talks about this, Remember the first thing
he says, and I'm wondering if we're willing to do
it today.

Speaker 2 (19:56):
Make a covenant when it comes to sexual sin, because
job does. And here's what he says.

Speaker 1 (20:04):
Now, this isn't adultery because he gets he's gonna talk
about adultery in a minute.

Speaker 2 (20:08):
This is lusting in the heart your eyes.

Speaker 1 (20:13):
It's one of the things that Jesus make clear in
the Sermon on the Mount that I'm sure there was
a lot of people elbowing each other, going what did
he say?

Speaker 2 (20:20):
Because remember, I've even seen this.

Speaker 1 (20:22):
I watched Dennis Prager today because there was something out
about him that was not true from a couple of
years ago. And somebody tried to bring up and he said, now,
Dennis Prager is not Messianic. Dennis Prager is still a
practicing Jew. And he said in Jewish, in the Jewish writings,
it is not a sin if the man doesn't.

Speaker 2 (20:44):
Commit physical adultery.

Speaker 1 (20:46):
It even has suggested that you're better off to kind
of I'll just be to gratify yourself than to go
lay with a woman that's not your wife. Well, see
Jesus came back said no, no, that's incorrect. Men came
up with that. Isn't it interesting that here he is
now he's not a Jew, but that he's before the

(21:07):
New Covenant, he's before the Sermon on the Mounts, and
he's making a commitment that nobody had made until Jesus comes.

Speaker 2 (21:13):
Along, because it was not part of the Jewish teachings. Okay,
they did not consider sexual thoughts and lust in your
heart to be sent only the physical. So here's job,
we think, the oldest book in the Bible. And the
first thing he says is I've made a covenant with

(21:35):
my eyes, not his body, his eyes. How then could
I gaze at a virgin? Again, This isn't adultery in
the in the physical sense. It is lusting after a
single woman, a virgin. It's it's really a covenant against fornication,

(21:58):
not even physical fortication, mental fornication. Anybody ready to make
that covenant today. He made a covenant. Now that's a
big deal.

Speaker 1 (22:09):
That's not like I'm going to try not to I'm
gonna make a covenant with God. I made a covenant
with God. I wouldn't let my eyes drift at a young, single,
sexually pure woman and lust after her sexually.

Speaker 2 (22:25):
And I have talked about this before this.

Speaker 1 (22:29):
In course, Jesus speaks to this in Matthew five twenty eight,
but that's long before that.

Speaker 2 (22:34):
He makes a covenant to entertain no sexual thoughts toward
a woman.

Speaker 1 (22:41):
None covenant. I wonder how well we're doing on that.
If we were making that covenant, everybody doing okay on that?
It's it's kind of one of the things that, like
I said today, that's good about getting older.

Speaker 2 (22:54):
It gets easier the older you get, you know what.
But here here is job saying that he will not
do that. And I will tell you this, and I'm
not gonna share names or anything. As a married man.

Speaker 1 (23:08):
Uh, one of my dearest brothers and I have made covenant,
a covenant that we would rather God kill us if
we were to commit adulter against our wives. Then for
our wives, I have to live in that kind of shame.

Speaker 2 (23:23):
Uh. May may I be struck, struck dead if I
commit adulter against my wife and and and so that
that that is the commitment that we have made because
the destruction that would come to the ministries that God
has given us, and the shame that our wives would
have to live in. I would rather my wife be
at my funeral than me be alive and her be

(23:45):
shamed before it, before the world. Uh.

Speaker 1 (23:48):
And so this is kind of sexual If you don't
take sexual sin serious, I promise you the adversary is
going to use it against you to chip away because
he just kind of holds. Yeah, yeah, I love sports analogies.
And I know that everybody played football, but I have
I played defense because that's what wins championships.

Speaker 2 (24:10):
But but and usually that's where the athletes are.

Speaker 1 (24:13):
But anyway, but but but but on defense, there is
no worse feeling. There's no worse feeling than an offense
has got your number and and they're toying with you
and you know they've got to play that they keep
running that you can't stop. You can't figure it out,
they can't They get you yardage on it every time,
and you just think, well, maybe they won't run it again.

(24:34):
I hope they think we figured it out, but we
have it. Well, that's the way it is in spiritual warfare.
So many times a man thinks he's doing pretty good,
and sometimes I think the adversary is just laughing. So
this guy thinks he's going to defeat me this time
on sexual sin, and you he I know he's not
going to. He knows he's not going to. He's just
hoping I won't come after him. And about the time

(24:56):
he gets a little bit of credibility here I come.
How many ministries have been destroyed by sexual sin? How
many marriages have been destroyed by sexual sin? I mean,
you realize, if we would do what God said to
do with this wonderful gift that he has for us,

(25:19):
there wouldn't be unwanted babies, There wouldn't.

Speaker 2 (25:22):
Be all these diseases and things like that.

Speaker 1 (25:24):
There wouldn't be all this shame on wedding days, all
this stuff that you know is always in the back
of your mind.

Speaker 2 (25:32):
And this stuff is so so serious.

Speaker 1 (25:35):
As I have told y'all before, I couldn't have been
more than nine years old, ten at the oldest, and
some older boys back in the woods behind our house
had a dirty magazine, And as I sit here at sixty,
I can still see it.

Speaker 2 (25:52):
I still have to pray it out of my mind.
That's how powerful it is. Okay, So this is the
stuff that Job is saying.

Speaker 1 (26:01):
He said, So, I've made a covenant, He said, so,
So if why, what would be my portion from God
above and my heritage from the Almighty on high? He said, so,
So if I had, if I had not followed this,
what would God have done to me?

Speaker 2 (26:17):
What?

Speaker 1 (26:18):
What would I deserve if I'd actually done this? And
then he goes on and he says, it's not calamity
for the unrighteous and disaster for the workers of iniquity,
the fear of punishment. And listen, this is why we
this is why you read in Job already and then

(26:38):
Solomon later at Ecclesiastes that all wisdom comes from the
fear of God. Cause, so let me tell what Job
is saying. Right here, he's saying it more eloquent, But
this is what he's saying. The fear of God's wrath
is a better motivator than the promise of God's reward. Right,
if all you had was one day I'll be rewarded

(27:00):
for my obedience, Versus if I get on the wrong
side of God, he's gonna wipe me out.

Speaker 2 (27:06):
Which one's a better motivator. I'll buy you some candy
when you get home, or I'm gonna tear you up.
Which one's a better motivator. Sometimes I ain't in the
mood for candy, but I never want to get I
never want to get any kind of punishment, you know what.
So so there we go. So that's what he say.

Speaker 1 (27:27):
He said, you think I would I would be so
cavalier about all this. You think I wouldn't fear God
on this. You think I would go out and live
this way knowing what he could do to me. He's
setting them up again, that this theology we have isn't right.
So then he says, four, does he not see my
ways and number all my steps? Doesn't he know what

(27:48):
I'm doing? I mean, I mean, doesn't he know this?

Speaker 2 (27:53):
I mean?

Speaker 1 (27:54):
Is there's no falsehood in me? I disavow many fault shoods.
He's I have to go through all of them. If
it doesn't God see everything, how many of you Rick's
hands going up have said a thousand times that you
know that God is omnipotent, that he sees everything we do.

Speaker 2 (28:11):
Raise your hands. If you believe that? How many of
you live your life like you can't see what you're doing.

Speaker 1 (28:18):
We'll even say we believe something and still not adhere
to it. And it's like you know, you saying, I
know that if I try to step on this ladder,
I'm gonna fall through it, and you tell the whole
world if I step up there, I'm gonna fall right
through that ladder, I know I will. And then you
just keep trying to climb the ladder and you go,
did you expect it to hold you?

Speaker 2 (28:39):
I didn't? Why do you keep getting on it?

Speaker 1 (28:43):
So the question is do we really believe it? It's
really kind of weird, isn't it for us to like? I?
Just like I talked about with sexual sin, the turning
point for me is when I, instead of just saying it,
I begin to believe that if I put trash in
front of me, I'm putting in front of Jesus. That's
why Paul says flee sexual sin.

Speaker 2 (29:03):
He didn't. He didn't.

Speaker 1 (29:04):
There's no you know you ever sit down and go
I like for you to tell me how to work
through this. Hey, just don't go near You got to
get out of there. No, no, But what should I do?
I just told you don't.

Speaker 2 (29:11):
You don't even get in that battle.

Speaker 1 (29:14):
It's when the few sins you hear that, just don't
just leave. I've done that before. Have you ever just said, hey,
I got to leave a situation. I wasn't going to
do anything physically. I know I'm capable of it if
I if I walk out from under authority of God,
I know that I'm capable of anything.

Speaker 2 (29:29):
But I've literally before been like sitting.

Speaker 1 (29:31):
And it was actually I was going to work out
at a gym on one time and I and and
I thought I knew everybody in the class, and somebody
knew came to the class and uh and and I
was pulling my car and this new person got out
to go in, and I said, I just got to leave.
I mean, that person decided not to wear a whole
lot of clothing and they can pull it off. I'm
out because I knew it was gonna be a problem,

(29:54):
So I just left. Uh instead of going there and say,
well let's see how I do.

Speaker 2 (29:58):
You know, that's just stupid and uh and and so
so anyway he goes.

Speaker 1 (30:04):
Now, he says, I'm going to disavow falsehoods about myself.
This is gonna be verses five through eight. So so
look at five, he says, if I've walked with falsehood
and my foot has hastened to deceit, if that's what
I've done, look at six, let me be weighed in
just balance and let God know my integrity. I'm gonna

(30:24):
tell you right now, it may God strike me dead
if I've done the things he said. If I if
I've walked in these falsehoods because he wants what he
wants to be defended by God. I'll tell you He'll
tell you once and for all whether whether these things
y'all say about me are true. And that's gonna be God,
and let him tell the truth. Because I know my integrity.
I don't fear his assessment of me. Now he's he's

(30:46):
going to hear some things that he wasn't expecting. But
right now he said, I have not been false, I
have not been deceitful. I'm I'm I'll take an honest
assessment of my life, and I'll tell you this, God'll
balance that correctly.

Speaker 2 (31:01):
Because y'all sure have not.

Speaker 1 (31:03):
Okay, So then he goes on and and he's saying
when he when you get to verse six, when he
says it's let me be weighed, he says, I want
to be weighed with honest scales, and only God has those.

Speaker 2 (31:15):
Seven.

Speaker 1 (31:16):
If my step has turned aside from from the way,
and my heart has gone after my eyes, and if
any spot has stuck to my hands, then let me
sow and and and eat, and let what.

Speaker 2 (31:27):
Grows for me be rooted out. That's verses seven and eight.

Speaker 1 (31:32):
Notice he uses feet, heart, hands in verse seven. You know,
and this work, this phrase he's using here, he says,
you know, if I have, if I have clung to defilement.

Speaker 2 (31:44):
But I haven't, I'm clean.

Speaker 1 (31:45):
And he says, but if I have, if I've clung
to defilement, if my feet have gone after sin, if
my heart is deceitful, if my hands have done anything
that is sinful, then may my lands be cursed.

Speaker 2 (32:01):
Verse nine.

Speaker 1 (32:01):
If my heart has enticed toward a woman, now comes adultery.
Now this is I know, we got some young folks
in here. It gets a little job does not. Well,
I'll let's just read it all right. So here we go,
He said, if my heart has been enticed toward a woman,
and I have lane laye in wait at my neighbor's door,

(32:26):
just saying he's saying right here, he said, if I
have desired a woman outside of my marriage or another
man's wife, he said, if that's what I've done, ten
then let my wife grind for another and let others
bow down on her.

Speaker 2 (32:48):
Anybody need me to walk out out for you? Everybody good?

Speaker 1 (32:53):
He basically says, made the same thing happen to me,
And I'll leave it at that. But can you imagine
that when he says that, I remember this because he's
just avowing adults right now. I remember this back to
me telling you about me being a little boy and
the things I saw, this kind of stuff right here,
because he's talking about that. I've counseled people that they've

(33:15):
had infidelity in the marriage, and it's what even Jesus says,
this is so difficult.

Speaker 2 (33:21):
A marriage may not can survive it.

Speaker 1 (33:23):
You should seek reconciliation if both parties are willing, certainly
that can be redeemed. And just like anything traumatic in
your life. And I was dealing with a couple and
this had happened, and it had been the wife who
had been unfaithful.

Speaker 2 (33:38):
And everything's just going great. Everything's just going great. And
then I had my one on one.

Speaker 1 (33:44):
With just the husband. After it was over. He didn't
say it from his wife. He said, I'm going to
forgive my wife. I said, Praise God for that.

Speaker 2 (33:53):
Man. I truly believe she has repented. I really really do.
I believe this can be repaired. Raise God. He said.

Speaker 1 (34:01):
But I got one thing I need to ask you.
How do I get the image out of images out
of my mind? Another man laying on my wife? I said,
I guess that's just gonna have to be supernatural over time.
I don't. I don't have an answer for that. But

(34:23):
I understand because he knew that was going to be
a weapon used against him the rest of his time.
Anytime Satan thought it was going well or demons that
that was gonna come back to it. And I but
I can say this, not that particular trauma, but trauma
of people who saw horrible events. I will tell you

(34:45):
that the Lord has taken them away over time. Too
much prayer that that can be removed, any anything like
that can be removed. The PTSD from these kind of
things on. It can be healed by God, It truly
can so.

Speaker 2 (34:59):
But I unders stood.

Speaker 1 (35:00):
You know, all he could think about was I think
I got this except for this. I'm concerned about that
legitimate concern. So here's job saying. Put me in that situation.
If I've done that to anybody else, let me deal
with that. Quite a commitment. So then he goes on
to say in verse eleven, for that would be a

(35:24):
heinous crime. Yes it would, and that would be an
iniquity to be punished by the judges. Remember the culture there,
Remember the culture even in the pagan societies a little
different what we got now where you just go, hey,
we all messed up, we messed our marriage up. I'm
chasing after this person. I'm chasing after this person.

Speaker 2 (35:45):
Get some lawyers in here, and let's work this out.
In those days, you committed adultery, they kill you, you
be killed.

Speaker 1 (35:53):
The capital punishment, and if you messed with somebody's marriage,
capital punishment, that second one.

Speaker 2 (35:59):
I mind getting back to, uh, but the people people.

Speaker 1 (36:03):
But anyway, so he said, so if I this crime,
if I did this would be so bad. Let me
stand before the judges and let them condemn me.

Speaker 2 (36:11):
Uh. You know what's interesting about that? He was a
judge and uh.

Speaker 1 (36:15):
And then look at verse twelve, For that would be
a fire that consumes as far as a badden, and
it would burn to the root of all my increase.
Remember what we said about a baden? Does that always
stand for a destruction? He says, this sexual sin is
like a fire. It just seems to engulf and burn everything.
A badden is always that was the god of destruction.

(36:37):
And he said, he said, the bottom line is when
sexual sin enters into a marriage, it destroys everything.

Speaker 2 (36:45):
And it certainly does. Uh. Let's get in thirteen.

Speaker 1 (36:49):
If I rejected the cause of my man, my man
servant or my maid servant when they brought a complaint
against me, you know, he says, right, then, ask anybody
I disavow any injustice, Ask anybody ever worked for me
if I wouldn't good to it.

Speaker 2 (37:03):
And you know what, if I wasn't good to him?

Speaker 1 (37:05):
And then he says this in fourteen, what then shall
I do when God rises up, when he makes in
queer about this, what shall I answer him? You know
what he's saying is, my workers have not complained against me,
And how about this, I refuse. I never refused them
access to me. My door was always open. I didn't

(37:26):
think I was better than them. And how about this?

Speaker 2 (37:29):
What will God do?

Speaker 1 (37:31):
Can I answer him? You know what his answer is
to that rhetorical question. Yes I can, Yes I can.
I'm not afraid of that question from God because I
know how I've treated fifteen. Did not he who made
me in the womb make him and did not one
fashion us in the womb?

Speaker 2 (37:49):
This is beautiful. This is way ahead of his time,
way ahead of his time.

Speaker 1 (37:53):
You know he's saying this, They're all equal to me,
We're all I'm not better than them. The same God
that made me made the people that worked for me.
I'm not some superior human to them. We're all equal
as far as God. Everybody God made is of the
same value. And that's way ahead of his time because
that was not the culture that he lived in. This

(38:14):
kind of shows you why he was considered to be
in such high regard. I am equal to anyone that
was made by God, and I treated everybody that way.
I did not treat them. He understood a quality long
before the world ever started dealing with it.

Speaker 2 (38:32):
So now he disavows any lack of charity.

Speaker 1 (38:35):
Sixteen through twenty three, he said, if I've withheld anything
that the poor desired, or have caused the eyes of
the widow to fail, or have eaten my morsel alone,
and the fatherless has not eaten of it. You know
what he's saying is have I refused the poor? Have
I refused the widow? Have I kept all my food
for myself? Have I denied it to orphans? No?

Speaker 2 (38:57):
I happened.

Speaker 1 (39:00):
Eighteen same theme, For from my youth the fatherless grew
up with me as with a father, and from my
mother's my mother's womb, I guided the widow. You know what,
since the day I was born, I have lived my life.
This is not something that just happened. I have consistently
supported those who lacked a man in the house. If

(39:23):
there were homes that did not have a man, I
would be that man for those children.

Speaker 2 (39:27):
I would be that man for those widows.

Speaker 1 (39:29):
As far as a male influence in leadership now now,
verse nineteen is a little shot at Eliphaz. If you
remember Elafaz and some of the accusations he made. If
I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing or
the needy without covering. You know, Elafaz says he had

(39:52):
stripped men of their clothing and left them naked, and
he said, you know what, that's just that's just hogwash.
I've never denied any clothing or covering to people that
didn't have it. You think Eliphas is lazy, and that
is directed you, sir so verse twenty if his body
has not blessed me, and if he was not warmed

(40:13):
with the fleece of my sheep, he said, you know what,
any of those that didn't have any shelter, didn't have
any clothes. I was blessed to take care of people's needs,
and you know what, I would share my wealth. I
would take the woolf from the sheep that I had.
I'd make sure you had something to keep you warm.
I didn't deny my stuff to anyone. Verse twenty one.

(40:35):
I have raised my hand. If I have raised my
hand against the fatherless because I saw my help in
the gate, this is have I.

Speaker 2 (40:43):
Used my position of authority?

Speaker 1 (40:45):
Have you ever seen me use my position of authority
as being on high standing at the gates, being able
to judge situation. Did you ever see anybody come before me.
Do you ever see the fatherless an orphan show up?
And there I was making a ruling on what they needed.
Would you ever see me deny them anything? See me
raise my hand of authority against them? Did I use
my authority in any sinful way? Did I abuse my position?

(41:09):
And he's asking that question, which of course he knows
the answer to. He said, well, then if I have,
then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder, and
let my arm be broken from its socket. So he said,
let the punishment fit the crime. So he said, raise
his hand, Let the punishment fit the crime. Break my shoulder,
break my arm if I ever raised it against anyone unfairly.

(41:32):
And that's a little eye for an eye there for us.
For I was in terror. Here it is again his
fear of God. Look, for I was in terror verse
twenty three. For I was in terror of calamity from God,
and I could not have faced his majesty. And he said, hey, fellas,
what y'all accused me of? See if we can say

(41:53):
the same thing about ourselves, Hey, fellas, what y'all accused
me of?

Speaker 2 (41:58):
I fear God too much to do these things. If
there was no other reason I didn't do them.

Speaker 1 (42:06):
It's because I fear God too much to do that.

Speaker 2 (42:09):
That's how we're supposed to see our sin. Were supposed
to fear God.

Speaker 1 (42:14):
So much, we just wouldn't do it to him because
we fear his response to our blasphemy of him. He's
watching everything I do. I've made that clear, and maybe
y'all have forgotten that I'm not gonna do these things
because of my fear of him. And then he goes
to verses twenty four through twenty eight, disavowing materialism, disavowing paganism.

(42:39):
All is twenty four through twenty eight. If I've made gold,
my trust are called fine gold, my confidence. If I
rejoiced because of my wealth was abundant, or because my
hand had found much. How about this? This is directed
at Eliphaz again because he said Job would abandon, would

(43:00):
abandon people for his gold. And he's saying, you know what,
I don't. I don't make gold my God, even though
Eliphast says I do. I don't. I've never worshiped my wealth.
I've never I've never put my trust in things. I'm
thankful that I've been begiving these things, but I don't
put my trust in that. Can we say that, Can

(43:22):
we say right now that that the way we live
our lives? How important are things and our stuff to
us our pursuit of having more. I've said this before
and I and it drives me nuts, and even the
point that we have to do it from time to time.
Do you know one of the businesses that is booming

(43:43):
right now? Storage buildings?

Speaker 2 (43:46):
I mean they there's a storage building location showing up everywhere.
You know why there's a demand.

Speaker 1 (43:54):
We got so much stuff we don't even have houses
big enough to hold it. We got storage buildings everywhere,
storage buildings we we haven't opened in years, but we
still got it to now. If you're saving it for
a kid or that's fine, I'm not saying that, And
if there's a reason for it to have function, that's fine.

(44:15):
But but what about this stuff we just keeping and
I we don't even know why we're keeping it?

Speaker 2 (44:20):
For what reason?

Speaker 1 (44:22):
If it's not gonna be for somebody else and I'm
not ever gonna use it, what is it?

Speaker 2 (44:26):
What is it?

Speaker 1 (44:29):
Give it to somebody, my goodness, if you're struggling for
some money, sell it. I don't know why we're clean,
why we're still hanging.

Speaker 2 (44:37):
On to it. I'm seriously of course. My wife said, well,
you're the opposite then if if if I didn't stand
in the way, we would we would have anything. You
give everything away. I mean, I can't stand clutter. I
have made drives me crazy. I can't. I can't stand it.
You talk about somebody that I'd let it. Look as
soon as I.

Speaker 1 (44:57):
Took over this place and I didn't have to answer
anybody anymore, and I was it was my decision, you know,
within what adler what maybe a week I had the
one ane hundred junk people up here, and I said,
take all this stuff out of here. I don't know
why any world we've been keeping this stuff in the storagroom.
Of all this stuff, this is all a bunch of junk.

Speaker 2 (45:15):
Take it out. It was gone. Felt good too. I
walk in that storage room sometimes, just kind of standing
in there and look at how empty it is. I
feel so good.

Speaker 1 (45:26):
So anyway, but he's saying I wasn't that way. I
didn't worship my wealth twenty five. If I have rejoiced
because my wealth was abundant or because my hand found much,
because I didn't do that twenty six if I've looked
at the sun when it shone, or the moon moving
in splendor.

Speaker 2 (45:41):
Now, what is that about paganism?

Speaker 1 (45:43):
They worshiped the moon, they worshiped the sun, they offered
he said. He said, I didn't. I didn't look at
the sun in the moon and worship it. I didn't
defile myself with paganism. Twenty seven And my heart has
been and my heart has been secretly enticed, and in
my mouth has kissed my hand. Now this one, boy,

(46:04):
there was a lot of work on this one.

Speaker 2 (46:05):
He said, it was I enticed in my heart to
elevate myself, elevate myself. Some some say he's talking about
and I think this one, in my opinion, based on
this narrative, it fits. You know, what would they.

Speaker 1 (46:20):
Do with people that were royalty whatever they you know,
to offer their hand to you. And what he's saying
is he did I kiss my own hand, you know,
worship myself. Some people think he's that it interprets to
blow in a kiss to somebody.

Speaker 2 (46:34):
I don't. To me, it doesn't fit the narrative.

Speaker 1 (46:36):
He's already covered adultery, and he's already covered you know,
fornication and lust. Right now, he's talking about being full
of himself. I think it makes more sense that he's
talking about I didn't kiss.

Speaker 2 (46:47):
My own hand like I was royalty.

Speaker 1 (46:49):
I think that makes more sense there, And so that's
that's the one I tend to go with. Either way,
he's saying I didn't do anything that was sinful. It's
an ongoing narrative, but he seems to be with categories.
So I think it is the one about being full
of yourself twenty eight And also would be iniquity to

(47:09):
be punished by the judges for I have been false
to God. Above he said, See if I had done
all this, I deserve to be punished. If I'd been
worshiping false gods according to the one and only living God,
who says that I would have no gods before him.
I don't know how he knows that already, but he does.
He says, my heart would not be truly devoted to God,
so I would. I would deserve punishment for that. But

(47:32):
my heart is not unfaithful to God. It hasn't been
unfaithful to my wife. It hasn't been unfaithful to somebody else,
my friend over their wife. It hasn't been I haven't
put my heart in my belongings. I don't worship myself
and my heart belongs to God. So anything that makes
my heart not true to God or devoted to God,
I haven't done. And if I have, I deserve the punishment.

(47:53):
He's setting them up for this theology to really fall apart,
and then twenty nine through thirty one he'll disavow that
he's been mean to people, that he mistreats people, or
he has secret sin. Look at look at twenty nine.
If I rejoice at the ruin of him who hated me,
are exalted when evil overtook him, He goes, I wasn't

(48:15):
that guy. I didn't have a vengeful spirit. I don't
celebrate the downfall of my enemy. Ooh, we could use
some of that today, couldn't we. I think we're probably
seeing this in a way that I've never seen.

Speaker 2 (48:27):
In my lifetime. We rejoice at the downfall of people.

Speaker 1 (48:33):
I mean, with this social media and we can go
out there and we can just celebrate the downfall there's people.
I mean, I actually thought there was a time back
to the Charlie Kirk thing that was happening in this
time in history. I understand that people didn't agree with
him politically or spiritually. Totally understand that, but I kind
of thought that we all agreed that gunning somebody down

(48:55):
in cold blood while they're having a conversation with people,
none of us would think that was good behavior.

Speaker 2 (49:03):
We certainly wouldn't celebrate it.

Speaker 1 (49:05):
But yet we say we see it being celebrated. Why
I don't like him, Well, that's really not liking somebody.
I'm glad that they were murdered in front of their
wife and children.

Speaker 2 (49:19):
That's how much I don't like them.

Speaker 1 (49:24):
I mean, you can have a disagreement, you don't have
to support it, but my goodness, jumping up and celebrating that,
I would. I hope that we would not delight in
the person that we disagreed with the most. If that
were to happen to him, I hope our anger would
be pointed at the person that did it. And Joe said,
I never celebrated the downfall of my enemies. And if

(49:45):
I have not let my mouth sin, have I not
let my mouth sin by asking for his life with
a curse, I would try to put on curses on anybody.
I don't wish anybody dead. How about this, I didn't.
I didn't voice disparaging things against a against people. Thirty
one if the men of my tent have not said,
who is there that has not been filled with his meat?

(50:07):
He goes the men of my house, they've all said
that they've been fed by my food.

Speaker 2 (50:12):
You know, you won't find anybody that works for me that.

Speaker 1 (50:16):
You know they come into my tent where I'm eating
that I said, hey, don't come in here that you
can't eat in here. He said, if you worked for
me and I sat down for lunch, we all had lunch.
I didn't elevate myself above you. I didn't withhold my
food from you.

Speaker 2 (50:31):
The people that work for me, they were fed well.

Speaker 1 (50:34):
Thirty two the sojourner has not lodged in the street.
Have I opened my doors to the traveler? That was
pretty straightforward. When people were coming through, they didn't have
me where to stay. I didn'tell them to go find
them a hotel somewhere. I just told them to come
on in. I've opened my home to strangers they were
passing through.

Speaker 2 (50:54):
Come on in, you can have a place to stay.
Thirty three. If I have concealed my transgress as others do,
my hiding by hiding my iniquity in my heart. I
don't have secret sin. I don't have any secret sin.
Thirty four.

Speaker 1 (51:08):
And the reason why I would have secret sin is
because I stood in great fear of the multitude, and
the contempt of families terrified me so that I kept
silent and did not go out of the doors. How
about this, I didn't keep a secret sin because I
feared people. There was no peer pressure on me at
all to have a secret. Send withhold my sin. I'm blameless.

(51:30):
I have been opened about anything I've ever done wrong.
I haven't kept this. I don't fear people. I fear God.

Speaker 2 (51:39):
Thirty five through thirty seven. Conclusion.

Speaker 1 (51:42):
Now, I'm not going to get all into this. There's
some big that for some reason. He concludes everything, then
comes back and add something else. You would think this
part right here, thirty five through thirty seven would be
the last three verses, but it's not. And I don't
pretend to know why. I'm just telling you this is
how it's laid out. Okay, So he says, oh that
I had one to hear me, here is my signature.

(52:03):
Let the Almighty answer me. Oh that I had the
indictment written by my adversary. Surely I would carry it
on my shoulder, and I would bind it on me
as a crown. I would give him an account of
all my steps. Like a prince. I would approach him here,

(52:25):
he's gonna get his wish on this one. I wish
they would just be someone who would hear me, Not
this bunch, not these friends. I would now sign my
defense before God. I would take what I just said.
I'd sign it, and i'd slide it over in front.

Speaker 2 (52:40):
Of him, say I don't fear you saying what you
got to say about that.

Speaker 1 (52:46):
I'll make that deal right now. As a matter of fact,
I'm so confident i'd wear it like a crown. I'd
carr it on my shoulder. I would walk around publicly saying,
this is what I declare, this is my integrity.

Speaker 2 (52:58):
I'm not hiding it. I'll stand before God. I don't
have anything to hide. I would approach God like a prince,
with nothing to fear, with no misgivings. Well, that's a
nice thought, and I understand his desire for his integrity

(53:18):
to be intact. And I think we all sometimes, like
we said many times, think well, I just would love
to have a conversation with the Great I am.

Speaker 1 (53:28):
I've had enough of this. I'm going straight to him,
and I want to talk to him about what he's doing.
Be careful, be careful, because he just might show up
like he's about to. All right, So then here comes
that part that's kind of odd. I mean, it seems
like that are to be it right, that's the mic drop,
you think, Then he just throws a few more things

(53:49):
in there, thirty eight through forty. If my land has
cried out against me, and it's and its furrows have
wept together, if I have eaten it shield without payment
and made its owners breathe their last, let thorns grow
instead of wheat, and foul weeds instead of barley.

Speaker 2 (54:09):
Who's he talking about here? Sharecroppers?

Speaker 1 (54:12):
You know he would let people farm on his land.
He would let And what he's saying is, look, when
when I had people out here that I haven't I
haven't treated my tenants bad.

Speaker 2 (54:22):
I was a good landlord.

Speaker 1 (54:24):
I didn't go out there and to the sharecroppers and
the people that were tenants on my land. I didn't
show up and abuse them. I didn't show up and
scare them. I didn't let them do the work, didn't
take what they did. I didn't do any of that,
he said. I haven't taken their crops without payment. If
I needed some extra, I would give them money for
what I took, I would pay it. I haven't killed

(54:45):
them off, you know, because I didn't want to pay them.
I haven't snuffed them out and didn't get the mob.

Speaker 2 (54:51):
To go get them. He had enough authority if he
if he wanted to say, they're done with this, I
think I'm just gonna take that crop. He could, but
he didn't.

Speaker 1 (55:00):
Again, I didn't abuse my authority, and he said, and
if I have, if I've done any of that, may
my land be cursed. Let the punishment fit the crime.
Let the punishment fit the crime. Interesting what is after that?
The words of Job are ended?

Speaker 2 (55:22):
What a statement? So the reader now can judge.

Speaker 1 (55:29):
We've had his full case on whether Job did or
did not sin. Do we believe what he said in
chapter one, verse ten? So if you go through all
these twenty eight chapters, the writer tilts toward acquittal. Even

(55:49):
after these twenty eight chapters of debate, anger, frustration, charges,
counter charges, neither his grievous circumstances, nor his unsympathetic friends
with their tightly knit orthodox theology of retribution, could persuade
job the Man from us that he was anything other

(56:13):
than a righteous man. He has stuck to that, hasn't he?
How about us?

Speaker 2 (56:23):
Have we lived a life of so much integrity that
we could truly take Because keep in mind, this is
the beauty and this is the key. What have we
said a thousand times, a thousand times? This is an
old truth, but it's a powerful truth. What we say

(56:49):
doesn't really mean anything. I can say all kinds of things.

Speaker 1 (56:54):
I can say that if I flap my arms, I
can fly, but the truth of that would be whether
I flapped him right now I start flying around the room.

Speaker 2 (57:02):
So I wonder can we say I'm a godly man
out there, I'm a godly woman, I'm right with God.
We can say it, but I wonder.

Speaker 1 (57:19):
If we could roll out this kind of resume to
prove it, because what we say is not what we
truly believe. I can say one thing and do another.
What's the truth about us is not what we say,
that's what we actually do. So I can say I'm

(57:40):
a godly man, but if I don't live like a
godly man.

Speaker 2 (57:43):
That's a lie. I'm not talking about perfection. I mean
we all make mistakes.

Speaker 1 (57:49):
I'm just saying, have we lived our lives as men
of God with such integrity? If all of a sudden
we were pulled into a court like this, and God
put us into posysician.

Speaker 2 (58:01):
Where he looked at us.

Speaker 1 (58:03):
Knowing everything, by the way, and there was a jury
of our peers, and he would say, so, you claim
you're a righteous man, let's hear your case.

Speaker 2 (58:18):
Would you be found guilty of being righteous? Or would
the judge and the jury say, we find no evidence
to convict him of being righteous. Let's pray, Lord, thank
you for today, thank you for this difficult but powerful message. Lord.

Speaker 1 (58:45):
We just thank you for all you've done. And we
do continue to pray for those that are hurting. And
what I pray for our society right now, which is just.

Speaker 2 (58:52):
Raging against you. But oh, what a wonderful, wonderful opportunity.
As throughout time, when your people are persecuted and hated
and revolved and killed and martyred, that's always the same
mistake that the adversary has made, and he keeps making

(59:14):
it over and over again. He always miscalculates the resolve
of those that are redeemed in the power of the
Holy Spirit. He will never learn that he'd probably be
better off and more successful if he just left your
people alone. We struggle with apathy much more than we

(59:36):
do persecution. Persecution only solidifies the church by purging it
of those that shouldn't be there to be in with
and your holy name, we pray Amen.