Surely all of you have seen it for yourselves. Why then do you keep up this empty talk? Sermons
I. THE HIGHEST TEACHINGS. Our thoughts am too much chained to the earths and too much centred in self. Even in religion we tend to subjective feelings rather than to worship - the contemplation and the service of God. Now, the chief end of revelation is to make God known to us, and the highest occupation for our minds is to rise to the thought of God. The character of God should make this clear to us. 1. His greatness. Knowledge should seek a worthy object. We should desire to know what is greatest, rather than petty details. 2. His holiness. Teachings about God are teachings about goodness. Here we come to the source of true ethics. We cannot study "the good" till we know God. 3. His love. That is supreme in God, and it is supreme in the universe. To know the love of God is to know what is highest and best of all things. II. PRACTICAL TEACHINGS. It may be urged that we cannot afford to spend our time in contemplation, that we want to know how to live our present life, and that therefore earthly and human knowledge is the most important knowledge. But this is a mistake. For God is not separated from this world and the affairs of daily life. The knowledge of God is not abstract theology. God is our Father, our Master, our Guide. To know God is to know how to live; it is to know what character and conduct are in harmony with the mind of our supreme King. We cannot live aright without knowing him. Moreover, it is a matter of profound interest to know how God is disposed towards us. Is he gracious and forgiving? how may we best please him? These are practical questions. But apart from the ends of knowledge, the knowledge of God is itself a source of blessedness. To know God is eternal life (John 17:3). III. DIFFICULT TEACHINGS. Experience shows how grievously men have erred in their teachings about God. Not only has heathenism gone astray in its manifold and monstrous perversions of Divinity, but Christians have set forth the most erroneous conceptions of God. With some he has been regarded as a stern despot, an arbitrary autocrat; with others he has been represented as a mere personification of amiable and compliant good will, without regard to moral considerations. It is not wonderful that the teachings are difficult, considering: 1. The greatness of God. One can know but a very little of so awful a Being. We see but "parts of his ways;" "but the thunder of his power who can understand?" 2. The blindness of men. Sin blinds us; prejudice perverts our notions of God instead of allowing us to see the truth about him. IV. POSSIBLE TEACHINGS. 1. From revelation. God has not hidden himself in the thick darkness. He has made himself known in his works, by the inspiration of prophecy, and above all in the Person of Christ. Agnosticism is only defensible if all revelation is discarded, and agnosticism cannot account for Christ. 2. By spiritual grace. The knowledge of God is an inward revelation. We can only read nature, the Bible, and Christ aright when the Spirit of God is in our hearts. By the gift of his Spirit God opens our eyes to the knowledge of himself. - W.F.A.
I will teach you by the hand of God. Homilist. Looking at Job's lecture or address, we have to notice two things.I. ITS INTRODUCTION. The eleventh and twelfth verses may be regarded as an exordium; and in this exordium he indicates two things. 1. That his arguments are drawn from the operations of God in human history. "I will teach you by the hand of God." 2. That the facts of human history are open to the observation of all. "Behold, all ye yourselves have seen it." II. ITS DOCTRINE. The doctrine is this, that punishment will ultimately overtake wicked men, however much, for a time, they may prosper in the world. "He gives back," says a modern writer, "to his three friends the doctrine which they had fully imparted to him." 1. That great wickedness often prospers for a time in this life. 2. That though it may, it must be followed by terrible punishment. Conclusion —(1) This address of Job's is worthy of the imitation of religious teachers.(2) It shows that worldly prosperity is neither a test of character, nor a safeguard against punishment. (Homilist.) 1. That Eliphaz and Bildad had each spoken three times, and that we are naturally led to expect a third speech from Zophar; but, according to the present arrangement, there is none. 2. That the sentiments accord exactly with what Zophar might be expected to advance, and are exactly in his style; that they are expressed in "his fierce manner of accusation," and are "in the very place where Zophar's speech is naturally expected." But the objections to this view are insuperable. They are —(1) The entire want of any authority in the manuscripts, or ancient versions, for such an arrangement or supposition. All the ancient versions and manuscripts make this a part of the speech of Job.(2) If this had been a speech of Zophar, we should have expected a reply to it, or an allusion to it, in the speech of Job which follows. But no such reply or allusion occurs.(3) If the form which is usual on the opening of a speech — "And Zophar answered and said" — had ever existed here, it is incredible that it should have been removed. But it occurs in no manuscript or version; and it is not allowable to make such an alteration in the Scripture by conjecture. Wemyss, in his translation of Job, accords with the view of Kennicott, and makes the verses 13-23 to be the third speech of Zophar.For this, however, he alleges no authority, and no reasons except such as had been suggested by Kennicott. Coverdale has inserted the word "saying" at the close of verse 12, and regards what follows to the end of the chapter as an enumeration or recapitulation of the false sentiments which they had maintained, and which Job regards as the "vain" things (ver. 12) which they had maintained. In support of this view, it may be alleged —(1) That it avoids all the difficulty of transposition, and the necessity of inserting an introduction, as we must do, if we suppose it to be a speech of Zophar.(2) It avoids the difficulty of supposing that Job had here contradicted the sentiments which he had before advanced, or of conceding all that his friends had maintained.(3) It is in accordance with the practice of the speakers in this book, and the usual practice of debaters, who enumerate at considerable length the sentiments which they regard as erroneous, and which they design to oppose.(4) It is the most simple and natural supposition, and, therefore, most likely to be the true one. (Albert Barnes.) People JobPlaces UzTopics Act, Altogether, Behold, Completely, Foolish, Foolishly, Meaningless, Talk, Thus, Truly, Vain, YourselvesOutline 1. Job protests his sincerity8. The hypocrite is without hope 11. The blessings which the wicked have are turned into curses Dictionary of Bible Themes Job 27:11-12Library The Touchstone of Godly SincerityWho, then, is this "wicked man," thus portrayed before us? And what are the first symptoms of his depravity? We ask not the question idly, but in order that we take heed against the uprise of such an evil in ourselves. "Beneath the saintly veil the votary of sin May lurk unseen; and to that eye alone Which penetrates the heart, may stand revealed." The hypocrite is very often an exceedingly neat imitation of the Christian. To the common observer he is so good a counterfeit that he entirely escapes … Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 17: 1871 Whether Hypocrisy is Contrary to the virtue of Truth? On the Interior Man Wesley in St. Albans Abbey The Work of Jesus Christ as an Advocate, The Sinner Arraigned and Convicted. God's Sovereignty and Prayer Job Links Job 27:12 NIVJob 27:12 NLT Job 27:12 ESV Job 27:12 NASB Job 27:12 KJV Job 27:12 Bible Apps Job 27:12 Parallel Job 27:12 Biblia Paralela Job 27:12 Chinese Bible Job 27:12 French Bible Job 27:12 German Bible Job 27:12 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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