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Calvary Baptist Sunday School

Weekly lesson outlines from the Sunday School class at Calvary Baptist Church, Middleburg, FL, taught by Brian McPherson. This class is designed for those with chronic illnesses, to encourage them, and to teach them to walk with the Lord in His strength.

Saturday, August 05, 2006

Lesson 20 Job:8-10

I. Introduction.
A. We are now looking into Bildad's address to Job.
B. We saw that Bildad accused Job of believing God to be unjust.
C. We saw that Bildad offered two proofs that his allegations were correct.
1. The death of his children.
2. That mercy is available.
D. Starting in verse eight, Bildad brings up Job's problems in light of the past.
E. Notice the reference to the former age.
F. Notice also the reference to the search of the fathers.
II. The intellectual poverty of life. {vs.9}
A. Two unquestionable truths emerge from this verse.
1. The transitoriness of life.
2. The intellectual poverty of our moral life.
B. We know nothing.
1. Our ignorance arises from the brevity of life.
2. We have very little time to acquire knowledge.
3. We know nothing compared with what is to be known.
4. Each advancement in science has shown us the comparative nothingness of all human knowledge.
5. We know nothing compared with what we shall know in the future.
C. The imperfection of our knowledge is plainly owing to:
1. The narrowness of our facilities.
2. The lateness of our existence.
3. The disadvantage of our situation for observing nature.
4. The disadvantage of our situation for acquiring knowledge.
D. If we are thus so necessarily ignorant, it does not become us to criticize the ways of God.
E. The profoundest modesty should characterize us in the maintenance of our theological views.
1. It is the duty of man to get convictions of divine truth for himself.
2. It is the duty of man to hold theological convictions with firmness.
3. It is the duty of man to promote his theological views with earnestness.
4. All this must be done with the conscientiousness of his own fallibility.
5. All this must be done with the conscientiousness of regard or respect to the judgment of others.
6. True wisdom is ever modest.
III. Our days upon earth are a shadow.
A. The text here reminds us of life.
B. Bildad compares our existence to a shadow.
C. The meaning of the use of the word shadow.
1. A shadow is dark.
a. The word is always associated with that which is gloomy.
b. Man, that is born of woman has but a short time to live, and is full of misery.
2. A shadow is not possible without light.
a. We may be assured that our troubles are accompanied by the Sun of Righteousness.
3. To console us in all trials we have the light of God's presence.
4. To console us in all trials we have the purpose of God.
a. The storms of trouble develop holiness.
b. The storms of trouble develop virtue.
5. A shadow agrees with its substance.
a. It agrees in shape.
b. It agrees in size.
c. Life is a shadow.
d. God is the sun.
e. eternity is the substance.
6. A shadow is soon gone.

Lesson 19 Job 8:1-7

I. Introduction
A. We are now finished with Job's response to Eliphaz's first address.
B. Starting in chapter eight Bildad offers his views concerning Job's plight.
C. In our study, we saw that Eliphaz was a religious dogmatist.
a. Eliphaz saw Job's suffering as a direct result of sin.
D. We will see, as we study Bildad's speech, that his dogmatism was based on human tradition.
E. Bildad's speech may be divided into five parts.
1. Bildad's reproach of Job. {vs.1-2}
2. Is God unjust? {vs.3-7}
3. The light of the past. {vs.8-10}
4. The way of the wicked. {vs.11-19}
5. Divine recompense for the righteous. {vs.20-22}
II. Bildad's reproach of Job. {vs.1-2}
A. With all of his ignorance of Divine principles, Bildad is jealous of the honor of God, and cannot allow Him to be accused.
B. Job's words that he spoke concerning Eliphaz's address are like a blast of bitter complaint and charge against God as far as Bildad was concerned.
C. In his disgust for the words of Job, Bildad wants to know how long he is going to keep up with such an attitude.
1. It must be noted here that Bildad's rebuke, though harsh, is a just correction of the extreme rashness of Job's words.
III. Is God unjust? {vs.3-7}
A. The justice of God.
1. The justice of God is that aspect of His holiness which is seen in His treatment of
His creatures.
a. God has instituted a moral government.
b. God has imposed just laws upon His creatures.
c. God executes His laws through a bestowal system of reward and punishment.
d. Reward {remunerative justice} is based on Divine love.
e. Punishment {punitive justice} is the penalty for violating the law.
f. Justice demands punishment.
g. The vicarious atonement of Christ satisfied the demand for punishment for the believer.
B. Bildad's question insinuates that Job has called God unjust.
1. Bildad felt that Job did not consider himself a sinner and therefore deemed God unjust.
C. Bildad offers two proofs of God's justice.
1. The death of Job's children. vs.4
a. Bildad assumed that Job's children reaped the due reward of their wickedness.
2. He tells Job that there is restoring mercy for him. vs.5
D. In Bildad's two statements we see that he feels sure that he has the answer to misery and happiness.
1. Bildad believes that untimely death, sickness, adversity in every form, are alike signs of God's
anger.
2. Bildad applies his beliefs on Job.
E. Bildad errs in that he equates all suffering is, in each and every case, the consequence of ill-doing.
F. Bildad urges Job to seek God betimes. vs.5
1. At face value, this is sound advice for all believers.
2. We must seek God for four reasons.
a. Because we have nothing of ourselves.
b. Because none is so present as He.
c. Because none is able to help as He.
d. Because there is none so willing to help us as He.
3. We seek God through prayer.
G. Though thy beginning was small. vs.7
1. Bildad here suggests that if Job were right with God he would continue to grow in prosperity.
2. Small beginnings in certain cases are productive of great ends.

Lesson 18 Job 7:20-21

I. Introduction.
A. We have inspected six points of Job's response to Eliphaz's first address.
B. We are now going to examine the last point of that address.
C. The last point Job declares pertains to an appeal in view of sin.
II. I have sinned; what shall I do unto Thee, O Thou Preserver of men. { vs.20 }
A. The sinner's surrender to his Preserver.
1. First we see a confession.
a. The confession was brief, but yet full.
b. It was more full in its generality than if he had sinned.
c. We may use this statement as a summary of our life.
2. The confession was personal.
a. "I" have sinned.
3. The confession was to the Lord.
4. It was a confession wrought by the Holy Spirit.
a. Verses 17-18 show the leading of the Holy Spirit in Job's confession.
5. The confession was sincere.
6. A soul truly sensible of sin is ready to submit to any terms that God shall put upon him.
B. An inquiry. { What shall I do unto thee?}
1. In this question we see:
a. Job's willingness to do anything whatsoever the Lord demanded of him.
b. Job's bewilderment:
1] Job could not tell what to offer.
2] Job could not tell where to turn.
3] Yet, Job felt that he must do something.
c. Job's surrender.
1] Job makes no conditions.
2] Job only desires to know God's terms.
C. A title." O Thou Preserver of men."
1. Observer of men.
a. Therefore very aware of Job's case.
b. Therefore very aware of Job's misery.
c. therefore very aware of Job's confession.
d. Therefore very aware of Job's desire for pardon.
e. Therefore very aware of Job's utter helplessness.
2. Preserver of men.
a. By His infinite long-suffering.
b. By His most precious plan of salvation.
c. By His daily grace.