Let us not be surprised at reproaches

"Let us not be surprised at reproaches" - Job 20:3 Job's friends were too "hot" and impatient (bad or good attitude) to deal with a man who was in such a deplorable condition as Job's.

I. By a divine inspiration of a prophetic nature.

A. And it makes me answer a breath of my mind.

1. Apparently, Job's confession of faith fell on deaf ears.

2. Zophar showed that it was a divine inspiration in prophetic character.

3. Zofar does not listen.

4. For him, Job is already defeated and lost.

5. (Job 19:3) You have already reproached me ten times.

6. They were distressing Job's soul.

7. They were his friends and had come to console him, to affect great piety and wisdom, but they had begun to steal from him the only consolation he had left in a good God, a good conscience and a good name; and this touched his soul.

8. He had been reviled (insulted, humiliated, rejected, criticized, infamous) ten times, that is, many times.

9. Such censures of them, and he shows them that the mistakes he may have made have some excuse and, in any case, they should hold him in some regard, instead of insulting him and looking for every kind of pretext to condemn him.

10. (Luke 6:22) Blessed are you when men hate you, when they turn you away from themselves, revile you, and cast off your names as evil.

11. This beatitude is not for those who suffer because of their own sins or foolishness.

12. It is for those who are belittled, excommunicated, reviled, and slandered because of their loyalty to Christ.

13. The key to understanding these four beatitudes is found in the phrase "for the sake of the Son of Man."

14. Things that in themselves would be a curse become a blessing when they are endured with good cheer for Him.

15. But the motive must be love for Christ.

16. Otherwise, the most heroic sacrifices are worthless.

17. (1 Timothy 4:10) For this very reason we labor and suffer reproach (humiliation).

18. What he is referring to is the life of piety.

19. Paul is saying that this is the great goal for which he exerts all his efforts. (recrimination, criticism, complaint)

20. The believer sees beyond the ephemeral things of this world and puts his hope "in the living God."

21. He is the Savior of those who believe in a special sense because they have appropriated His provision.

22. Truly the Savior of all who believe.

23. (Hebrews 10:33) At times, their suffering was individual.

24. They were taken out alone and publicly exposed to insults and afflictions.

25. At other times they suffered with other Christians.

26. (Hebrews 11:24-26) By faith, Moses understood what leads to renunciation: it is not the possession of things, but their abandonment, that gives rest.

a. First, he refused the fame of Egypt, he was Pharaoh's grandson, but his blood was God's chosen people. He wanted to be written in the book of life. Instead of being found in some museum as an Egyptian mummy, "he is famous as a man of God."

b. He repudiated (rejected the "pleasures of Egypt"). The humble association "with the 'suffering' of God's people" meant more to him than the fleeting (quick) satisfaction of his appetites. More than privileges, there was nothing greater than suffering abuse.

c. He turned his back on the treasures of the Egyptians. Faith made him see that the fabulous treasury of Egypt was altogether worthless in the light of eternity. So he chose to suffer the same kind of reproach that the Messiah would later suffer. He valued loyalty to God and love for His people more than all Pharaoh's riches put together, he knew very well what were the things that would count for him "one minute" "after he died."

27. (Hebrews 13:13) To go out to Christ, not with Him, not only because He has already arrived in the world of destination, but "also" to indicate to us the "letter of travel," the direction of the journey.

28. Abstain from "all that is profane" (that which is not sacred, nor serves sacred uses, but purely secular) from all that, in the city, in the camp of unbelievers, is "unworthy" of a child of God.

29. Bearing his reproach (shame, facing obstacles) that Christ carried.

30. Every sincere convert from the world to Christ is a stranger to worldlings.

31. (1 Peter 4:14) He exhorts us to rejoice in suffering as a Christian.

32. These sufferings are a true indication that the Spirit of glory and God rests upon us.

33. This is the "Holy Spirit" who "rests on" persecuted Christians in the way that the cloud of glory rested over the tabernacle in the Old Testament, indicating God's presence.

34. We know that the Spirit flows in every true child of God, but "rests" in a special way upon "those who are wholly given" "to the cause of Christ."

35. Such know the presence and power of God's Spirit as "others cannot."

36. The Lord Jesus Himself who "is blasphemed by the persecutors" is "glorified" (crowning, magnifying, enlarge, exalting, praising) by His suffering saints. Amen