May 27, 2026

“TRIED AND TESTED”

“COUNSELING WITHOUT LISTENING”

JOB 22:1-24:25

So Job continues to sit on the ash heap outside of the city, listening to his friends lie about him. And they are no longer offering general advice or commentary-they are getting very specific in the false accusations they hurl at Job.

1.  THE CHARGES AGAINST JOB (JOB 22:1-30)

Eliphaz cannot resist shooting a sarcastic barb at Job when he says in verse 4, "Is it because of your fear of Him that He corrects you, and enters into judgment with you?”

*Job Is a "Horrible Sinner" (Job 22:1-11)

Job 22:5 “Is not your wickedness great, And your iniquity without end?”

*And like any effective attorney, Eliphaz comes with three arguments with which to charge Job: 

*First, He Charges Him With Cockiness (Job 22:1-3)

Job 22:1-3 “Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said: 2“Can a man be profitable to God, Though he who is wise may be profitable to himself? 3Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that you are righteous? Or is it gain to Him that you make your ways blameless?”

"Who do you think you are, Job, carrying on as though God actually cares about you?”

 
Psalm 18:19

*Secondly, He Charges Him With Covetousness (Job 22:4-6)

Job 22:4-6 “Is it because of your fear of Him that He corrects you,
And enters into judgment with you? 5Is not your wickedness great,
And your iniquity without end? 6For you have taken pledges from your brother for no reason, And stripped the naked of their clothing.”

*Thirdly, He Charges Him With Callousness (Job 22:7-9)

Job 22:7-9 “You have not given the weary water to drink, And you have withheld bread from the hungry. 8But the mighty man possessed the land, And the honorable man dwelt in it. 9You have sent widows away empty, And the strength of the fatherless was crushed.”

Eliphaz paints this godly man as a cold-hearted, uncaring, cruel person, as if he was on the level with the worst tyrants of history!

*And An Abundance Of Water Covers You- Job 22:10-11

Job 22:10-11 “Therefore snares are all around you, And sudden fear troubles you, 11Or darkness so that you cannot see; And an abundance of water covers you.”

• Job Is a "Hypocritical Sinner”- Job 22:12-20

This is not new—it has been leveled at Job or insinuated about him by each of his three counselors:

Bildad —Job 8:13: "And the hope of the hypocrite shall perish.”

Eliphaz-Job 15:34: "For the company of hypocrites will be barren.”

Zophar —Job 20:5: "The joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment."

Job 22:12-16 “Is not God in the height of heaven? And see the highest stars, how lofty they are! 13And you say, ‘What does God know? Can He judge through the deep darkness? 14Thick clouds cover Him, so that He cannot see, And He walks above the circle of heaven.’ 15Will you keep to the old way Which wicked men have trod, 16Who were cut down before their time, Whose foundations were swept away by a flood?”

But Eliphaz doesn't think so. So he asks Job in verses 15-16,

"Will you keep to the old way which wicked men have trod, who were cut down before their time, whose foundations were swept away by a flood?”

Everything that Eliphaz has said about hypocrisy is true. His words stand in judgment over all of us. Hypocrisy is the curse of many lives and many churches.

One writer put it this way:

“Great occasions do not make heroes or cowards; they simply unveil them to the eyes of men. Silently and imperceptibly, as we wake or sleep, we grow strong or we grow weak, and at last some crisis shows what we have become.”

Job 22:17-20 “They said to God, ‘Depart from us! What can the Almighty do to them?’ 18Yet He filled their houses with good things; But the counsel of the wicked is far from me. 19“The righteous see it and are glad, And the innocent laugh at them:
20‘Surely our adversaries are cut down, And the fire consumes their remnant.”

Eliphaz charges Job with being a horrible sinner and a

hypocritical sinner, and now he adds a third charge.

• Job Is a "Hardened Sinner”- Job 22:21-30

Eliphaz now charges Job with being unrepentant.

Job 22:21-23 “Now acquaint yourself with Him, and be at peace;
Thereby good will come to you. 22Receive, please, instruction from His mouth, And lay up His words in your heart. 23If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up; You will remove iniquity far from your tents.”

Now acquaint yourself with Him, and be at peace; Thereby good will come to you. vs.21

If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up; You will remove iniquity far from your tents. vs.23

Job 22:24-30 “Then you will lay your gold in the dust, And the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks. 25Yes, the Almighty will be your gold And your precious silver; 26For then you will have your delight in the Almighty, And lift up your face to God. 27You will make your prayer to Him, He will hear you, And you will pay your vows. 28You will also declare a thing, And it will be established for you; So light will shine on your ways. 29When they cast you down, and you say, ‘Exaltation will come!’ Then He will save the humble person. 30He will even deliver one who is not innocent; Yes, he will be delivered by the purity of your hands.”

Eliphaz says some excellent things in this appeal, but he say them to the wrong man.

2.  THE COMPLAINTS AGAINST GOD- JOB 23-24

While he is surely angry with Eliphaz and would desire to answer his accusations, Job ignores him and speaks about the Lord.

• God Flees From Me- Job 23:1-12

Job 23:1-3 “Then Job answered and said: 2“Even today my complaint is bitter; My hand is listless because of my groaning.
3Oh, that I knew where I might find Him, That I might come to His seat!”

Job 23:4-7 “I would present my case before Him, And fill my mouth with arguments. 5I would know the words which He would answer me, And understand what He would say to me. 6Would He contend with me in His great power? No! But He would take note of me. 7There the upright could reason with Him, And I would be delivered forever from my Judge.”

Once again, Job cries out for an audience with God.

*God would "take note" of him, and Job would be able to understand the answers to his questions:

1. God Knows the Path I Take- Job 23:8-10a

Job 23:8-10 “Look, I go forward, but He is not there, And backward, but I cannot perceive Him; 9When He works on the left hand, I cannot behold Him; When He turns to the right hand, I cannot see Him. 10But He knows the way that I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.

2.  God Knows the Person I Am Becoming- Job 23:10b

Job 23:10 “10But He knows the way that I take;
When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.”

And where was Job? He was in the furnace!

Deuteronomy 4:20 “But the Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be His people, an inheritance, as you are this day.”

But why a furnace? Verse 10b gives us the answer: "When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.”

3.  God Knows the Principles I Am Following- Job 23:11-12

Job 23:11-12 “My foot has held fast to His steps; I have kept His way and not turned aside. 12I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth More than my necessary food.”

Job esteems God's words more than anything. God's words are more important than bread and water!

*God Frightens Me- Job 23:13-17

Job 23:13-17 “But He is unique, and who can make Him change?
And whatever His soul desires, that He does. 14For He performs what is appointed for me, And many such things are with Him.
15Therefore I am terrified at His presence; When I consider this, I am afraid of Him. 16For God made my heart weak, And the Almighty terrifies me; 17Because I was not cut off from the presence of darkness, And He did not hide deep darkness from my face.”

Job honestly reveals his fear of God in verses 16-17:

• God Frustrates Me- Job 24:1-17

Job 24:1 “Since times are not hidden from the Almighty, Why do those who know Him see not His days?”

1. Injustice in the Country- Job 24:2-11

Job 24:2-4 “Some remove landmarks; They seize flocks violently and feed on them; 3They drive away the donkey of the fatherless;
They take the widow’s ox as a pledge. 4They push the needy off the road; All the poor of the land are forced to hide.”

First of all he notices all the injustices that surround him in the countryside, especially those concerning the poor.

Job 24:5-11 “Indeed, like wild donkeys in the desert, They go out to their work, searching for food. The wilderness yields food for them and for their children. 6They gather their fodder in the field
And glean in the vineyard of the wicked. 7They spend the night naked, without clothing, And have no covering in the cold. 8They are wet with the showers of the mountains, And huddle around the rock for want of shelter. 9“Some snatch the fatherless from the breast, And take a pledge from the poor. 10They cause the poor to go naked, without clothing; And they take away the sheaves from the hungry. 11They press out oil within their walls, And tread winepresses, yet suffer thirst.”

Verses 5-11 give one of the most graphic pictures of the poor found anywhere in the Bible:

• They look for food in the fields like animals. vs.6

• They freeze in the cold because they have no clothes. vs7

• They are drenched in the rain because they have no houses. vs.8

• Their children are snatched from their arms until they pay their debts. vs.9

• They are forced to work for the rich and not allowed to eat any of the food they harvest. vs.10

• They work the winepress and yet go thirsty. vs.11

And Job's question is simply this: "Why does God not deal with these injustices? If He has time to harass me, why does He not take care of these things?”

2. Injustice in the City- Job 24:12-17

Job 24:12-17 “The dying groan in the city, And the souls of the wounded cry out; Yet God does not charge them with wrong. 13“There are those who rebel against the light; They do not know its ways Nor abide in its paths. 14The murderer rises with the light;
He kills the poor and needy; And in the night he is like a thief.
15The eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight, Saying, ‘No eye will see me’; And he disguises his face. 16In the dark they break into houses Which they marked for themselves in the daytime;
They do not know the light. 17For the morning is the same to them as the shadow of death; If someone recognizes them, They are in the terrors of the shadow of death.”

The dying groan in the city, And souls of the wounded cry out;

Yet God does not charge them with wrong.

Why, why, why?

• God Fails Me- Job 24:18-25

Look at Job’s speech against the oppressors of people in the country and city:

Job 24:18-19 “They should be swift on the face of the waters,
Their portion should be cursed in the earth, So that no one would turn into the way of their vineyards. 19As drought and heat

consume the snow waters, So the grave consumes those who have sinned.”

May the wicked vanish like foam on the water or snow that melts in the heat of the sun.

Job 24:20 “The womb should forget him, The worm should feed sweetly on him; He should be remembered no more, And wickedness should be broken like a tree.”

Job 24:21 “For he preys on the barren who do not bear, And does no good for the widow.”

May their wives be barren and give them no heirs. vs.21

Job 24:22-24 “But God draws the mighty away with His power; He rises up, but no man is sure of life. 23He gives them security, and they rely on it; Yet His eyes are on their ways. 24They are exalted for a little while, Then they are gone. They are brought low; They are taken out of the way like all others; They dry out like the heads of grain.”

Job 24:25 “Now if it is not so, who will prove me a liar, And make my speech worth nothing?”

In the midst of all the anguish and pain this poor man is suffering, the one truth that keeps coming through to us is this: He knows that his Redeemer lives.

God knows who you are too. He knows your name and he knows where you are. Hallelujah!