Job 36:11  If they obey and serve him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures.
12  But if they obey not, they shall perish by the sword, and they shall die without knowledge.
13  But the hypocrites in heart heap up wrath: they cry not when he bindeth them.
14  They die in youth, and their life is among the unclean.
15  He delivereth the poor in his affliction, and openeth their ears in oppression.
16  Even so would he have removed thee out of the strait into a broad place, where there is no straitness; and that which should be set on thy table should be full of fatness.
17  But thou hast fulfilled the judgment of the wicked: judgment and justice take hold on thee.
18  Because there is wrath, beware lest he take thee away with his stroke: then a great ransom cannot deliver thee.
19  Will he esteem thy riches? no, not gold, nor all the forces of strength.
20  Desire not the night, when people are cut off in their place.

Elihu spoke of the nature of Almighty God in the opening verses of this chapter. He was right about most of that. Some false teachers have the right head knowledge of certain parts of the Bible. They make completely false application of the truth. The devil knows how to deceive people. God tells us that the serpent is more subtle than all the beasts of the field. Satan was able to deceive Eve and Adam was willing to listen to the lies of the devil.
In verse 11 Elihu stated that if a person obeys the Lord, they will spend their days in prosperity. That is the problem with false teachers. They judge spirituality by material things. Job was a man who knew the fear of the Lord. He eschewed evil and was a wise counsellor to many others. He was struggling now, but not because he had been disobedient to God. Job also assumed that God was punishing him, but he would soon find out this was not so.
The charismatic leaders of our day like to brag of how God is blessing them. They lie to the people and trick them into giving their hard earned money to them. They claim that if people will give to these “godly” individuals, God will bless them too. They are snake oil salesmen who have found many gullible people who will support them. They act as though they truly care about people, but what they want is their money.
Elihu was a forerunner of this modern day movement. In verse 12 he warned that those who do not obey will perish by the sword. He stated that they would die by violence. Job had suffered loss through violence. The assumption that Elihu was making is that Job was in sin and needed to confess his sin in order to be restored. God would correct this false teaching soon.
In verse 13 Elihu continued with his lies. He now subtly accused Job of being a hypocrite. Job’s other three friends had already done the same. Elihu suggested that the hypocrite does not even cry out to God when He punishes them. That was certainly not true of Job. He had been crying out to God. He was not seeking counsel from these false teachers, but he was seeking an answer from God. Job was very interested in knowing what God was doing and why.
In verse 14 Elihu stated that those who do not obey God die in their youth. He may have been suggesting that was the reason why Job’s children died. There are godly children that die as well. Again, we need to understand that we cannot draw a line like that and claim all those who are successful are righteous and all those who face trouble are evil. We have a P.M. who has more money than some of us do. He has servants and he lives off the hard earned money of us (his slaves). He is a wicked man. He has no interest in truth at all. He was in Winnipeg yesterday politicking. He was promoting his worthless budget to the college age people, who have already been well brainwashed to receive his lies. He also went to “celebrate” the passover with the Jewish community. He has been in mosques and with the East Indian religions and with the North American Natives. He is a dark man who is on his way to the lake of fire. Yet he is materially well off. The rest of the parliamentarians are in his camp as well. They are well paid but they are lost.
We do not look at a person’s material gains and decide their spiritual health accordingly. God’s Word is the only standard of righteousness. We judge the tree by its fruit. What is the Biblical evidence that shows that a person is truly saved.
In verses 16-20 Elihu tried to give his lies personal application for Job. If only Job would listen to him. He was speaking the exact opposite of what God says.

Matthew 7:12  Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.
13  Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
14  Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

God’s way is right, but it is not well received. There have been times when It has more readily received. We know the first chapters of the book of Acts talk about many people being saved, baptized and joining the true local church in Jerusalem. We also learn that soon they would face persecution. Stephen was stoned to death for speaking the truth. Peter and John were imprisoned and beaten and forbidden to speak in Jesus’ name. They did not stop, but the opposition quickly mounted vicious attacks against the truth.
Jesus warned His disciples that the world would hate them. They needed to be prepared for that. They needed to have their faith firmly based in the truth. Only then would they be able to stand against the attacks of the devil.
Elihu did care to make true application of what he had stated about God in the opening verses. He corrupted the truth and sought to make God something other than what He is. He was promoting lies. Job was wiser than that. He would not accept the lies. God would limit Elihu’s speech. Those who are saved today are commanded to:

Jude 1:3  Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

Rather than cower in a corner or look for some way of compromise with the wicked, those who are saved need to be bold as the apostles were. We need to be willing to speak the truth in every situation. We cannot go along with the evil that is abounding in our day. We must speak the truth and live the truth. The Light will expose the darkness. The Light will be extreme to many who are in the dark. However, the Light will set the sinner free, if he will receive it. Let those who are truly saved be faithful and speak the truth and live the truth.
Pastor Bartel