Page 67 - Reading Job to Know God

Greek and Hebrew. I need these men of God. I need concordances,
atlases, theology books and dictionaries. I need them, but they are not the
foundation.
It is true, not because Spurgeon said so. Praise God for Spurgeon. It is
true because GOD said so! Not Moody. God! Not Wesley. God! Not
Whitfield. God! Not Ed Miller. God! Not anybody. The Word of God!
Bildad said, “Believe it, Job, because” and then he gave a human name.
Never once does Bildad refer to his own experience or his own
observation. He is the well-read scholar. He goes back to the authority of
the fathers. I suppose, in one sense, he advances on Eliphaz. In the sense,
that it is probably more modest to be guided by a group of voices instead
of just your own. But the fact is, experience is not the foundation.
Tradition is not the foundation. When you make that the foundation you
are in trouble. Isaiah 28:16,
“Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a
foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure
foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.”
1Corinthians 3:11,

“For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid,
which is Jesus Christ.”

Now let’s look at Zophar. On what did he base his truth? Zophar is the
dogmatist of the group, almost a bigot. He is also the nastiest one. He is
the one who comes across very blunt, cold, and detached. His view of
God is very low. Take, for example, chapter 20:1,

“Then Zophar the Naamathite answered, ‘Therefore my disquieting
thoughts make me respond, even because of my inward agitation. I
listened to the reproof which insults me, and the spirit of my
understanding makes me answer.’ ”

He says, “I know so much, I have to speak”. Later on Job says to him,
“Yes, and when you die wisdom dies, with you!”. Zophar is the one who
says I know it is right! And then he gives a creed. A cold, hard doctrinal
formula. He says “This is what we believe, and Job, if you are one of us,
you are going to believe this too”. He doesn’t even care that Job is a
human being stripped by God and in agony. He has no concern about that.
All he wants to know is, “Is your doctrine right?” Let’s check your creed.
That is Zophar.

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