0:01 Go to the Lord in prayer. Father, thank you for your word, Lord. Thank you that you're so good, Lord. That is the foundation of everything. Your goodness and your love and your holiness and that you look on us with love. You created 0:14 us, Lord. And you have a plan for our lives, Lord. Thank you for your goodness, Lord. Please encourage us, speak to us today in Jesus name. Amen. So, I want to continue talking about Job. Um, this book has been such a comfort to millions and maybe billions 0:31 yet. But as we're here on earth, we're created. We have our own ideas about things. And as we go through life, we are we hear different things. We think different things about God and about life. And the ultimate authority is God's word 0:50 and what he's written for us. And it's been said that Job, while it's not the first, when you open your Bible, it's not the first page of the Bible, but it may have been the first book written and preserved for us today. 1:08 And I appreciate that idea and I I believe it and I see some wonderful things about that in in Job 1:1. we saw last time talks about just a man, a person, man from the land of Oz whose name was Job. And that man was 1:25 blameless, upright, fearing God, and turning away from evil. And like I said before, those are all things within all of our reach. This is not some high and lofty thing that we have to have a PhD in or we have to live and be 80 years old before we can attain 1:43 this level of walk. We can start today being blameless, living in our life that no one can point a finger at us. Maybe in the past we've screwed up. And sometimes with the people around us, it can take a while to become blameless. 1:56 But that can be something we start today being upright, walking in the light, doing what's right, fearing God, wanting to please him above all things, loving him, never wanting to displease him, and turning away from evil. Any evil, any 2:10 temptation, we turn away. I don't even want that for a split second. That's the first verse of potentially the first verse penned of inspired scripture that we have today. God lays it out. A child can understand that. You don't have to 2:22 be anyone special or intelligent or any of these things. So that's one thing I see in Job as God's first written revelation to people. That's very simple. But at the same time, as you read through the book of Job and even 2:38 the first couple of chapters, we're also faced with a God who we don't understand. We are faced with things that we may not like. We have to, you know, most of us know the story of Job very well. We've heard it maybe from childhood. We know the 2:56 outcome. We know all the, you know, we know the whole story. But sometimes it's good to read slowly and meditate on this. And I think at least one thing that's really helped me the last few years, as brother Zach has emphasized, 3:09 reading the scripture slowly, not being in a hurry to get through the Bible in so x amount of time or whatever, but to chew on it and to digest. And that's what meditate means, to chew on it and let it come and let it simmer kind of in 3:22 our mind. And as you read the Bible, if you never come across something that you don't like, or if you never come across something that doesn't make you stop and think about and and be like, "Well, I don't know about this." If if you're 3:36 reading the Bible and it's just all, "Oh, yeah. Yeah, I get this. This is all this all sits well with me." Then I don't know if you're paying attention because as you read the scripture, you're reading a revelation from a holy 3:47 God whose thoughts are, you know, try to stick your hand above the clouds right now. You can't you can't reach there. And that's how his thoughts are high above ours. And as you read his word and as you seek to know him, you're going to 4:00 encounter things that you might have to just stop reading and think about that because in our finite and carnal worldly minds, our human mindset and perspective, there's going to be a lot of things that are very different from 4:13 how we would do things if we were running the universe. And just as an encouragement, if you do decide to do that or if you are doing that, reading slowly, meditating, you will come across things that where you have to stop 4:25 reading and you have to read it again and read it again. And you have to come to terms with this is the God I'm dealing with and I don't understand. I cannot wrap my mind around him. I don't know what he's doing, but at the 4:37 foundation, he is good and he loves me and he's holy and he doesn't owe me any explanation. So in the first verse of this potentially first book, we see a very simple way to be godly, blameless, upright, fear God, turn from evil. And 4:53 at the same time, in the same book, we we encounter this God who is nothing like us and who we can't explain. And I don't want a God that I can explain. I don't want a God who's like me because I know me and I want a holy God. And I'm 5:05 thankful he's a holy God. I think about uh in a courtroom if you think this week I I'm called for jury duty so I'll be reporting tomorrow and I don't know if I'll be on a jury or whatever but I cannot imagine being selected for a jury 5:20 I'm over on the side you know you hear the arguments and the person who did the crime whatever and at the end if the judge gives his sentence and bangs the hammer and he says his judgment I can't imagine sitting over there in the jury 5:33 and raise my hand say excuse me why' you do that can you I don't understand why you did that I don't think That's right. I don't think I don't know if that's ever happened. If it would, a baiff would quickly escort you to yourself 5:44 because you can't talk to the judge that way in a human court with a sinful judge who's a imperfect person. And so, this is something to keep in mind as we deal with God, remembering at the foundation, he is good. He is holy. And I believe 5:57 one day we'll get the explanation. But as we said before, if you as you read through Job, Job is not getting the backstory. Job Job doesn't know what's going on. Job has the choice. Am I going to trust in a good and holy God or am I going to 6:11 demand an answer? Am I going to demand an explanation? So, I just think it's wonderful that in the same book, the initial written revelation of God, it's so simple that all of us can grasp it in the first verse, but at the same time, 6:24 if we're honest, we're dealing with a God who we don't understand. But if we if we're going to trust that he's good no matter what, even if nothing makes sense, of course, we don't know what's going on in heaven. Of course, we don't 6:34 know what he's doing, but he's good and he can be trusted. So, I just want to lay that kind of foundation. Um, last time we went over Job 1. I want to start in Job chapter 2. Won't spend a long time reviewing, but as we said, this book, this the 6:50 horrible things from an earthly perspective, the horrible things that happened to Job have been such a comfort and encouragement and instruction to millions. And I want to I just looking forward to meeting Job and thanking him 7:04 for his faith. And so we'll start in chapter 2 and verse one again. There was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord. And Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord. One thing I I 7:20 like about this is that like I said, I'm getting called for jury duty this week and I don't have a choice in the matter. I need to appear when I'm called. Otherwise, the judge can issue a warrant and they can come find me and bring me 7:34 by force. And I like the fact that as God, however this worked with this, the angels coming before God, Satan didn't have a choice. Satan had to show up. He's still under God's authority. No matter what, no matter his rebellion, no 7:48 matter his pride, his arrogance, his evil, he is still under God's authority, and he's going to show up when called. I just I love it. There's so much uh so much good good things here that we can learn in very simple things. Satan is 8:02 still under God's authority and he's going to show up when God calls him. So I praise God for that fully under God's domain and authority. And verse two, and the Lord said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" And Satan answered the Lord 8:17 and said, "From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it." And again, I like this question because Satan has to answer. And to know what's going on, Satan has to roam around the earth. He's not He doesn't have all knowledge of all things. He 8:33 can't read our thoughts. He doesn't know everything going on everywhere. He has to roam around and know what's going on. So, when God says, "What are you doing?" That brings up and Satan has to confess, uh, yeah, I have to walk around 8:47 to know what's going on. I'm I'm not he's not saying all this, but the facts are present present that he's not God. And he has to confess, yeah, I have to walk around and roam the earth. And in that moment, God reminds him, oh yeah, 8:59 you're not God, are you? You're not. You're not God. And I like that. I like that he's reminding Satan that he has to he's limited in many ways. And the Lord said to Satan in verse three, "Have you considered my servant Job? For there is no one like 9:17 him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil, and he still holds fast his integrity, although you have incited me against him to ruin him without a cause. Have you considered my servant 9:29 Job? God brings it up again. God is thinking about Job. God has Job on his heart and on his mind. And that's an encouragement to me and to to us that when we are going through things that we have no explanation for, we do not 9:43 understand, we have no knowledge of what's going on, we are we are on God's heart. We are not hidden from God. God doesn't forget about us. And with the busyiness of whatever there's no parallel like a a CEO running a company, there's no 9:57 adequate parallel for what who God is and what he does. But in all that God does, he doesn't forget you and me in our trials. if they're extreme like Job's or if they're little, he doesn't forget. And so God is the one that 10:09 brings Job up to Satan. He's thinking about them and he's got the same testimony as before. God is bragging about Job. He's blameless, upright, fearing God, turning away from evil. This is emphasized over and over again. And if we look back at the end of 10:25 chapter 1 after the trials of losing all of his children, all of his possessions and wealth in a day and within 3 minutes learning of all this that Job has in mind and heart that God is good and that God has given him everything. He says, "Naked I came from 10:44 my mother's womb. I'll return naked. The Lord gave all this to me. He can take it away. His name is blessed." And in verse 22, through all this, Job did not sin nor did he blame God. He didn't. And I want that I believe for each of us, 10:57 whatever we go through at the end of it or in the middle of it, we can say in all this, Jared did not sin or blame God. In all this, put your name there. That's a testimony that we can have. This is God puts these things at the 11:09 bottom shelf. We can all reach it. This is not something where you have to be a Christian for 50 years or have to have all this knowledge. How many Bible studies or sermons did Job go to? how you know he didn't have a YouTube 11:20 channel of messages. He didn't have a bunch of written scripture. He didn't have a wonderful church. He just had the fear of God. He wanted he loved God and he feared him and he had that attitude. And that's at the bottom level for all 11:31 of us. Even children, we can all do this to walk with God like this. It's wonderful. And he had a thankful heart. And even you and I today, we have the Holy Spirit. We have Jesus our forerunner. And it's wonderful. It's a 11:47 wonderful life. even though there's many hard trials. And God brags about Job and he says he's still holding fast his integrity. And I was thinking about that word integrity. And I know we children maybe in math class, do you know what an 11:59 integer is? What's an integer? A whole number. It's not a fraction. And the word integer and integrity comes from that. Job remains whole. He's not split up. Satan, you weren't able to shave off 1% of Job. He's still whole. 12:15 He's still complete. His faith is still strong. He's got a foundation of knowing me and of walking with me, of keeping his conscience clear and doing what he knows to do. And this has been something that's helped me so much no matter what 12:28 we may face that each one of us, we can keep a clear conscience and we can do what we know to do. We can walk in the light. It's so simple. We can walk with God. And Job had done that leading up to this with all his wealth and ease and 12:40 prosperity. He did that day after day after day. And that was part of Satan's accusation. Satan says, "God, you made it too easy." And so God allows these trials and Job still holds his integrity. He's still an integer. He's 12:55 still that whole one who's trusting in a in a God. And I do like that God boasts about Job. And I we don't have, you know, keep in mind, remember that God does not pull back the curtain and tell Job, Job, I am so happy with you. I'm actually bragging 13:11 about you before millions of angels. Job doesn't know that. Job does not know that. And we don't know that, too. We don't know what's going on in heaven. God does not reveal those conversations or those things in heaven to us. We have 13:23 his word. We have his Holy Spirit. And he wants us to trust him that no matter what, he's a good God. And we'll talk some more about this, but being a servant, he says, "My servant Job." My servant Job. And being a servant, I 13:36 think a lot of times I still think of a servant of God as, you know, you have a ministry, you're preaching, you're doing this or that. being a servant. Job was not preaching. He was didn't have a church or a ministry or anything. He was 13:47 just godly because he feared God and turned from evil. That's that he was a servant. And each one of us, even a child, from the youngest to the oldest, all shall know me. We can all do this. We can all walk in this day by day. And 14:00 that's what Job did. And God is so happy with him. But if you think about all that's happened to Job, all his children were killed in a day. He thousands all these animals and servants were stolen and killed and attacked. All these 14:16 things happened to Job and nobody knows what's really going on between Satan and God. Nobody knows. And you think about in the neighborhood, maybe it's in the the newspaper, the gossip line, people are talking about Job. Did you hear what 14:27 happened to Job? Did you hear what happened to Job? Did you hear what happened to Job? And people, we're all curious. We all like to think we know what we're what's going on. And I'm sure there's many rumors about this. And oh, 14:39 Job must be sinning. This is surely God. There's no other explanation. This has never happened to anyone in the history of the world. Why would why else how else could we explain this except God is after Job? Job must have done something 14:50 wrong. All these whispers going around in addition to all the grief from Job having to bury his 10 children that he lost in a day. Just all these things against him. But he has that heart of fixed on God. And he's not going to 15:04 blame God. And that's what Satan's goal is. Remember, he wants to drive that wedge. He wants a little bit of bitterness in our hearts toward the Lord. And as trials come and go, as things happen, we can have that temptation to be bitter. And remember, 15:18 it's just a temptation. We can say no. We don't have to go that way. And that's what Satan was trying to get him to do. And in verse three again, God says he still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him. 15:33 You, Satan, you brought this up. you wanted to do this and I went along with it, but look at Job. He's still got his integrity. And he said, "You incited me against him to ruin him without a cause." And again, I just want to 15:47 emphasize this is not a punishment. Job did nothing wrong. And if he did, God would have let him know what he did. If you read, as you read through the Old Testament and even the New, you see many times God sent a plague or a sickness or 16:00 a war. All these times God punished his people as they rebelled against him. It was, but then it was revealed through the prophets or through some revelation. God told them, "This is why you're being punished because you did this." And I 16:13 just want to emphasize again because it can be something that we struggle with as we go through a trial or a situation. Is God punishing me? He will let you know. He's a good father. He's not going to spank you and run off and not tell 16:24 you. That's what enemies would do. What enemies would come and hurl evil at you and run off. That's not our good father. Our good father will tell us. If this is discipline, he will let us know. Job did nothing wrong. He again, God says 16:37 there's no job didn't do anything to deserve this Satan. And in Revelation 3, like I said last week, that really, if you think about the church of Leadyia, the strong words of rebuke that Jesus had for this church, these 16:51 Christians in this church that he loved, he loved the people in Leadyia, as messed up as they were, he said, "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasen. be zealous and repent. And he's telling them the problems. And he says, I am 17:04 knocking at the door. I want to come and have fellowship with you. That's always God's heart. If there's a some kind of discipline or chastening of the Lord that it we could be restored and have fellowship with him. But that that's not 17:14 the case here. I just want to contrast that that there's a lot of things that we go through. We're not going to get the explanation. Maybe never in this life. And Job certainly didn't get the explanation. Even when God shows up in a 17:25 whirlwind at the end of the book, you don't see God telling him, "Oh yeah, you know, I wanted to let you know me and Satan were talking and this is what No, there's none of that. I don't know if Job ever got the revelation on in this 17:35 life of what really happened." And you and I are faced with that same situation. And the thing is, are we going to trust him? If we get the explanation, I don't need to trust him because he's explained it to me. But it's, are we going to trust in a good 17:47 heavenly father who loves us? And the way that it's worded, I kind of like I said, as you read the scripture, if you never come across something that makes you stop and kind of you're like, what is this? I I don't not sure about this. 18:04 And as I read this, the way it's worded, God's talking to Satan. And he says, you incited me against him without a cause to ruin him. And as you if you just read it casually, it might sound like Satan's like pushing God to do 18:17 something. And I I was challenged by that and I thought, Lord, what is what is going on here? How can how can Satan's not really doing that, is he? And as I thought about it, my thought is on that is that God is not going to 18:30 explain to Satan what his plan is. God is never going to he's not obligated to tell Satan anything. And if you think about Jesus before Pontius Pilate and Barabbus is there and they're, you know, the the people want to the the Pharisees and 18:45 chief priests are stirring up people screaming, "Release Barabus. Release Barabus! Crucify Jesus." And you see at that, you think at that moment what Satan's doing. Satan is so excited. He just wants Jesus to die. He has no He's 18:57 so blind. He doesn't know God's ultimate plan. He doesn't know that this is part of God's plan to redeem us and to save us from our sins and that God is going to have Jesus crucified and raised from the dead. He Satan's just at that moment 19:11 excited. Yeah, they're going to let Barabus go. And he's so shortsighted and at this moment when God is talking to Satan, Satan, I'm sure, feels like, "Oh yeah, I got God to do what I wanted." He's so arrogant and proud. And again, 19:23 as Satan challenges God and says, "Hey, why don't you do this?" He's push he feels like he's pushing God and getting some ground. God's not so insecure that he has to explain all, hey, you know what? I remember he he's fine with it. 19:34 And if if things are misunderstood, he doesn't. He has an ultimate plan in mind. He doesn't owe Satan that explanation. He doesn't owe us, but he's good. And so that that challenged me. And that's I think that's why he said it 19:45 that way that to to uh because he's God and he can say it however he wants ultimately. And there is a purpose in all these things. And as we often in this church talk about Romans 8:28, that we know 20:02 that God works all things together for our good to them that love God, who are called according to his purpose. For me, there's another verse in Romans, Romans 11:36, that's kind of coming up there next to Romans 8:28, and it says, "For 20:17 all things are from him, and through him, and to him. and to him be glory forever. And all things, these all things that work together for good. All things are from him and they're to him and through him. And it's all about him. 20:30 And he's not obligated to explain these things to me. But back to Job in verse 2:4. And Satan answered the Lord. Satan's listening to this. And God reminds Satan, "Hey, Job is still holding fast his integrity. He's not denied me." Satan was so bent on getting 20:47 Job to curse God. and it didn't happen. And verse four, Satan replies, he's Satan's thinking he's already got a plan B. Satan answered the Lord and said, "Skin for sin? Yes. All that a man has, he will give for his life." So, Satan's 21:02 been roaming around the earth. We don't know what year this is or how long things have been here, but Satan's been observing the natural man, the man who just mankind. And he's roamed and he's observed one thing that a man will give 21:14 up anything he has for his own life. And so now Satan's challenge in verse 5. However, put forth your hand now and touch his bone and his flesh and he will curse you to your face. And if we remember what we saw in chapter 1, Satan was telling God, you 21:31 put forth your hand and you do this. He's so pushy, so arrogant that he's going to tell God what to do, demanding. So he wants God, he wants it to be God's hand like before. But verse 6, so the Lord said to Satan, "Behold, 21:47 he is in your hand, your power. Only spare his life." And so again, God says, "I'm not going to do it. You're I give you permission. I'm setting boundaries and don't kill him." And the reason he has to set the boundaries cuz Satan would surely kill 22:04 him. That's why he had to say, "Don't kill him because he knows that's would be Satan's goal." And it's wonderful to to remember that in this story where we have the revelation, we don't know if this kind of thing ever happened again between 22:19 God, Satan, and one of God's people. We don't know. But in this situation, we do know what happened. And we do know that God sets boundaries for Satan. Before God in chapter 1, God says, "Don't touch him." And now God says, "Don't kill 22:33 him." And it's not as though there's a a very strong burglar trying to b break into the door and someone has to fight and keep the door shut and there's a struggle. There's no struggle on God's part. It is simply his word. His word 22:45 restrains one of the most power the most powerful created being Satan who is the most evil and it's just a simple word of God says don't touch him. Don't or you can touch him but don't kill him. There's no struggle. It's so easy for 22:57 God. He is above all and just so many reminders of God's power over Satan and over all things. It's wonderful to remember. And Satan, like I said, verse chapter 1 and chapter 2, Satan's goal is that he he says, "God, you you touch his 23:14 body and he'll curse you to your face." And then in chapter one, he said he'll curse you to your face. Satan's goal is that Job turn away from God in such a way that he would hate God so much to curse God. That is such a strong thing 23:28 to to go up to somebody and to actually curse them to their face. that that requires such hatred and bitterness and malice and ill will towards someone to go up to someone and actually curse them to their face. That was Satan's ultimate 23:40 goal. It wasn't get to make him trip up into a little sin here or there. It wasn't any of those things. It was he was going for everything. He was going for everything to make him bitter at God and what he has done because as we saw 23:52 in chapter one, it looks like God is doing this. And what we're going to see what Satan does, it it's going to look like God did it. Satan said, "God, you put your hand and do something." God said, "No, but you can do it." And 24:04 whatever what Satan does, it still looks like God did it. To everyone observing, they think, "What is going on? What did Job do? This is horrible. This is this must be God punishing him. He's crafty and he's evil, but God 24:18 is greater by by far." And Satan is so sure of himself, so arrogant and proud, he said, "He will curse you to your face." And again, just God God knows our frame that we're dust. God delights in us when our hearts are toward him. And I'm just challenged and 24:36 encouraged that God looks and thinks upon weak people like us. And he loves us and he's cheering for us. And he's I believe he is boasting about when we do walk in a blameless, upright manner and fear God and turn from evil. I I believe there's cheering 24:51 in heaven over that. But God sets the boundaries. God said, "Satan, you can't kill him." In verse 7, then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and smoked Job with sore boils from the sole of his feet to the crown of his head. If 25:05 you remember last time when Satan was given permission to test Job, he waited for a strategic day when it was the oldest son's birthday and all the children will be coming over. He he waited for that moment to strike and 25:19 send that tornado to knock down the house and kill them all and to synchronize all these other things where people stole his sheep and killed his servants. All these things fire from heaven. He waited for a set time. Here 25:31 in verse 7, he went out from the presence of the mo lord and smoke Job just right away. That was he wasn't going to wait anymore. He wanted to get to work. And sometimes things feel like they're like in chapter one, one after 25:44 another after another. And then we don't know the the time space between chapter one and two doesn't matter. God would have told us if it did matter. But this other this new wave of trial, this new affliction, he just stroke immediately. 26:00 And if you think about, it's so easy to go fast and we know the stories, but he smoked Job. Satan smoked Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. So the the bottom of your foot all the way up to the top 26:15 of your head. And so when you read that, you just think, "Oh yeah, his feet and his head." But it's every square inch of your body is covered with these sore boils. And we don't have the medical details, but if you if you think back of 26:28 who's sending it, it is Satan. And Satan's goal is to destroy Job by making him bitter and angry at God. So, Satan is going to choose the most painful thing that he can think of. Satan is going to choose the most terrible and 26:41 tormenting thing that he can think of to put on Job. So, this is not just like you have a mosquito bite or a welt or poison ivy or something. This is unimaginable. It's covering every square inch of his body. He can't stand because 26:53 it's on his feet. He can't sit because it's on his backside. He can't lay down. It's on his back. He can't lay on his side. He can't He can't get relief. and and it's instant in a moment head to toe boils and it's not like he was around 27:06 lepers and got leprosy. It's not like he was around people with a cold and got a cold. This is there's no explanation for this disease. It is in a moment wherever he was when when Satan struck him. Maybe he was at home or in the office trying 27:19 to rebuild his business after losing everything. Wherever it was, it was instant. And what are you supposed to think if that happens? God's doing what this is. Who knows? We don't even know if Job knew about Satan. But again, 27:32 Satan is evil. Is trying to make Job think that God's against him and to try to drive that wedge that to make Job drift from God. And he smoked him with sore boiled. The word boil, boiling water. It's hot. It burns. It fers. We don't know all the 27:48 the detail, but it's the most painful thing that Satan could think of. I guarantee that. And it's obvious to everyone. Obvious. I say in quotes. It wasn't God. But it appears that way that God systematically is punishing Job. And 28:04 obviously God that Job didn't repent. So God has to crank up the heat and smite him with boils. And that's what it looks like to everyone around. And in verse eight, and Job somehow he went away from where he was. He took a potshared, a broken piece 28:19 of clay pot to scrape himself while he was sitting among the ashes. So, whatever the ash pile was, if it was the trash, the town dump or just a a pile of ashes, maybe he was trying to I don't know what he was doing, but it was so 28:33 painful. The pus was expanding, probably making his skin even more painful, trying to break it open. And I don't want to be gross, but it whatever he's he's trying to get relief. And you notice here, he doesn't say anything in 28:44 chapter one at the end when all these things happened. He shaved his head, tore his robe, worshiped, and he says this wonderful thing. The Lord has given the Lord has taken away. And he doesn't say anything right here. And we're going to talk about 29:00 Job's wife for a minute. And I want to whatever you think about Job's wife up till now, what you've heard or what you've thought, if you could just set that aside just for a minute because I have a perspective that has blessed me 29:12 and helped me. So I want to say that and if you disagree, you can come back to what you thought about her. his wife, verse 9, his wife said to him, "Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die." And you think about what this lady 29:28 went through, too. She had to bury her children also. She's watching all this happen to her husband and their possessions. They're thriving business. They're among the wealthiest people in the East, but she's married to the 29:42 godliest man on earth. And she knows that he, as far as she knows, she never saw him do anything wrong. She's trying to put this together. Why would God do this to us? You know, in their mind, this is God. Why would God do this to 29:54 us? Job is so Maybe he maybe Job has secrets in I it's Can you imagine bearing one child that's, you know, they're grown. They're old enough to have a house and get together to travel. These children are are grown. It's not 30:08 like they're a baby or something, but to have to bury to have a mass funeral for your 10 children and you think that God did it to have this horrible grief and she went through that too. She had to go through that and she also lost 30:24 not as important but all the possessions, the camels and sheep. Remember some of the things happened where these bands of Sabians and Calaldanss came and and stole. And maybe she's thinking, are they going to come to our house and kill us too? She 30:36 doesn't know what's going on. Think about what she's went through and tried to think of a good illustration. Sorry, this is the best I have. But if you think about in a battle in a war zone in some area where there's a there's a mountainous area, but in the 30:52 middle it's all a flat open plane and there's no trees or no cover and you are with a group. You're one of the soldiers and you're I don't know if eight or 10 of them just say and you're you have to go across this valley. There's no other 31:03 way. You can't hide. You can't get an airplane. You have to go through this and Oh, thank you very much. Thank you. Now, imagine as you're walking, the mountains around you. You know the enemy's there and you're on this side 31:22 and there's a bunch of you lined up. You're just going and imagine if on your far right you hear a bang and and they drop and there's a sniper in the the mountains shooting and they got that guy. And then as you keep going, you 31:36 have to keep going. Then the next one, you hear the bang and they they drop. And then so on and so on. And they're working systematically to knock out each one of you. And I think of that as if I'm Job's wife. I'm watching this. I 31:52 know what happened. The camels, donkeys, oxen, servants killed. My children died. Now my husband is smoked with boils and he's probably gonna die from this or if he doesn't God's going to kill him and then I'm next. She thinks 32:09 she's probably next. She has no idea what's going on. And imagine all this if that's you. I mean from her perspective and she surely doesn't understand either what's going on. And so she loses it under the pressure. And as you go through trials, 32:25 I guess this probably mostly manifests in a marriage when there's stress in a situation could whatever. None of us have gone through anything like Job, but imagine the stress of all this and the grief and just all the pressure and in 32:40 this time she loses it. She can't she doesn't say anything before as she I'm sure she wept and her and Job wept day after day grieving their children, the loss and as they try to rebuild their lives, not still not knowing what's 32:53 going on. And then this comes. Job is smoked with boils and the pre she can't handle it and she loses it. And she's not some pagan woman. She loves Job. Her goal is not that Job would become a heathen or something, but she just loses 33:08 it and explodes. And I want to give her that space. But what she says is very serious. It's not justifiable. And what she does say is very serious. Curse God and die. Curse God. just be done with this God who is gonna do this to you 33:22 after you've done nothing wrong to him. Curse him. And it's all because she doesn't know. She cannot explain and all the grief on top of it. And that so Satan, if Satan was after Job's wife, he would have won the battle cuz this is 33:34 Satan's goal for Job that Job would be like come to this place and curse God. And he's even using the weak moment of his wife to try to chop at Job and to get him to put pressure on him to do that. To be that voice that says, "This 33:50 is not the kind of God you want." And it's exactly what Satan's wanting. And Satan wants us to think that God is unjust and doesn't love us. But one thing I love in verse 10 about Job's response, he's such a godly man. Even after all this pressure, 34:07 have you ever you you don't don't raise your hand, but have you ever been in a situation with a spouse or someone close to you and things are not going well, maybe some trial or some stress and strain, and one of one of you loses it 34:20 and says something that you shouldn't say, it's so easy in that moment just to say something back. It just the it's ready. It's ripe. You know, the the gas fumes are there. You just throw the match in, it explodes. It's so easy to 34:32 do it and to lose it over over little things compared to this. So Job's wife, she loses it and Job is so godly that he doesn't lose it. And that's a wonderful another example of his godliness is that when all I we cannot imagine his 34:48 suffering, his physical suffering and mental because he's probably thinking that God, what is going on? And she's telling him curse God. Let's I can't we can't I can't do this anymore. I just want to die. In verse 10, he says to 35:02 her, "You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?" And listen carefully to what he says. He He I don't believe he's calling her a foolish woman. He doesn't 35:16 snap back and say, "What are you fooling? What? Get away from me. What you think this is easy for me?" He all the things that we could say if that were our spouse doing that when when our spouse loses it or when we lose it and 35:26 we don't want them to say to us. All the things that he could have said. He said you're speaking like a foolish woman. He doesn't call her a fool. He doesn't call her evil. He says, "Honey, this is not you. You're listen to yourself. Listen 35:40 to what you just said. You just said curse God and die." That's not who we are. We're not going to curse God and die. God is good. I'm I'm adding some words obviously, but he he says, "You're talking like a foolish woman. This is 35:50 not true." And I love that gentle response that the gentle response turns away anger. It's such a challenge for me as pressure increases in different trials to remember that to be grounded as Job was grounded and he says, "Stop. Turn away from this. God is 36:08 good." And he says a wonderful line that you know we what he says in chapter one is well known. The Lord gives the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. That's well to me I guess that was a well-known verse. 36:21 But this was less lesser known but just as powerful. He says shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity? Have we ever protested all the blessings of our life? All the wonderful things that God has given us 36:36 and done for us and been with us. Have we ever told God no to that? No, of course not. We we we're glad for that. We expect that. But then when God allows adversity, again, he says God, he doesn't know Satan's doing this. He 36:50 says, "Shall we not accept adversity?" When God allows a trial, when God allows this, and remember, this is the guy extreme suffering. If this was modern days, we would have him in the ICU for what he's going through with this pain 37:02 and disease, whatever it is. At that moment, he's still able to remember God is good. God has given us so much good. We've accepted that good. Are we going to fight with him because he gives us some adversity? And it says, "In all this, 37:17 Job did not sin with his lips." And I thought it was wonderful. Um, and I remember that verse in Ecclesiastes 4 and verse 9. It says, "Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them 37:31 falls, the one will lift up his companion." And I see in this little story a wonderful example in marriage that two are better than one. That if one falls, his wife fell. That Job, even though he was at the tip of the spear of 37:43 Satan's attack, he was still able to remain firm and footed. And he wanted he reached out for his wife. He said, "Come back. This is not who we are. This you're talking like a foolish woman. This is not true. God is good. God may 37:55 allow adversity, but we're still going to trust him." And it's a wonderful wonderful example in a marriage and to us that if today we have some adversity that we we encounter even maybe we've been going through something or 38:07 something new today this week whenever it may come we will have adversity in the world you will have tribulation Jesus said but be of good cheer. I've overcome the world and to have this our eyes fixed on him. The Lord has given 38:19 and the Lord took away. The Lord gave me everything I have. If he takes it back it's okay. The Lord has given me so many good things. If he's given me adversity, it's okay. He's still good and I'm not moving. And it's just a wonderful thing. 38:32 And this is not a Bible verse that Job quoted. This came out of his life. And this is God's will for all of us. Yes, we want to quote Bible verses. But this, he didn't have a scripture. He didn't have a Bible study on Job. He is living 38:44 it for the first time. But it's coming out of his life. It's coming out because this is who he believes God to be. That God is good. God is in control of everything. And I'm not going to curse him. I will never curse him. Amazing testimony. He came out of 38:59 his life. And if at that moment if if we pan back the camera to heaven and could see what was going on, God is so pleased with Job. God is so pleased. And God has a plan he's carrying out. And I can't even tell you from reading Job if I know 39:12 what the plan is. When God shows up, he doesn't necessarily explain all the plan. And that's how it is in our lives. We are not entitled to know all these things, but we are to trust in our good father and our good father in heaven who 39:23 is good. And so in closing, just want to read a verse in uh 2 Corinthians. Well, it's important. I don't know if I read this at the end of verse 10. In all this, Job did not sin with his lips. And that can be our testimony, too. In all 39:37 this, put your name there, did not sin, nor did we blame God in all these trials. But in 2 Corinthians 4:1 17, He says for momentary light affliction. This is so profound that a 39:55 moment it's momentary and it's light. The affliction is producing for us an eternal weight. A weight is very heavy. Weight is heaviness. What if it's an eternal weight? It's a weight. It's a heaviness that's eternal. It's a good 40:11 heaviness compared to the light affliction on a scale. We have momentary split-second very light and then we have eternal weight heavy. Is there any comparison? There is no comparison in this picture. There's a scale. It's 40:27 totally imbalanced. It the weight of glory as we trust our father will far outweigh the light affliction we have for a moment. It produces an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison. And how do we get through this? How did Job get through this? 40:42 While we look not at the things which are seen, if this is what happened with Job's wife and this is what happened with everybody around Job who and Job's friends that show up later. They're looking at what they see. They're 40:54 looking they're putting the they can figure this out. We're all clever. They know what God's doing. Obviously, Job has sinned. We don't look at that. If Job would have looked at that, he would have been done for. He probably would 41:05 have cursed God. But he didn't look at the things which are seen. He looked at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal. All these trials are but for a moment and they are light. But the things which are 41:17 not seen are eternal. And our good heavenly father who he sent Jesus the lamb was slain before the foundation of the world to redeem us sinners like you and me. That not only can we be saved to be his children. But day by day through 41:29 our trials through the Holy Spirit through our forerunner Jesus who was tempted in all points like we are yet without sin. He's given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. He is with us. I think one of the first 41:41 verses one of the children shared was be strong and courageous for I am with you. Be strong and courageous. Be strong and courageous and he will do it. Of course, we don't know what he's doing in our trials and our situations. We don't know what he's 41:54 doing, but we know he's good. And that's where he's pleased. Without faith, it's impossible to please God. If you and I in our little brains can't figure it out, we go through this and that and all these things and the world would tell us 42:08 and our flesh would tell us, "Yeah, I don't know about this God. He's not this doesn't make sense to me." And as as we deal with him, we have that choice. Am I going to yield to him? Am I going to say, "You're good. I don't have to 42:19 understand. I don't know anything. I'm just one of your created children. You're good no matter what." That pleases him and that makes him boast in heaven. And so, he will help us. and by the Holy Spirit and by the example of 42:30 Jesus, by his word, as we read and meditate on his word, he will give us hope and encourage us. Praise the [Music] Lord. Thank you brother again for this wonderful 42:49 reminders that we need in our Christian walk. One of the age-old question in Christ uh in Christianity is why God who is so good allows suffering in good people. Why good people suffer? This question 43:08 has been there for ages and people have been trying to explain and the book of Job gives us some glimpse some of these truths that will help us that will comfort us. Uh as as a human being as um I want to understand everything that is 43:24 going on in my life. Uh that's as an engineer if I'm solving a problem if I'm working on some design or doing something implementing something I want to understand everything. uh that's that's that comes to uh me when I'm facing trials also I want to 43:40 understand what why such and such thing is happening to me why I need to go through these trials or why certain person I know who is a so godly why he has to go through these trials I want to understand and as Jared has been 43:55 mentioning we don't have to know everything because God did not reveal any everything to Job this is all happening uh behind the curtains in the heavenly realm. Job did not have any clue and the level of trial has increased for us. He lost his property. 44:12 He lost his children. Now we don't know how many days are how much time passed from chapter 1 to chapter 2. But now he's lost his health. Uh boils from what is that? It says he um boils from the sole of his foot to 44:31 the crown of his head. There is no gap. The entire body is covered with boils. I don't know how you can relate but I can relate to this to some extent. When I was in my 12th grade, I got chickenpox. Very severe form of chickenpox that my 44:47 entire body was full of those. I don't know what do you call that when you get chickenpox. It was such a painful thing. You see that in verse 13 when the friends came, they did not even speak for seven days. They sat on the ground 45:01 with him for seven days and seven nights with no one speaking a word for they saw that his pain was very great and this verse explains what exactly he's going through right now from entire body is and now he's scraping himself while sitting in the 45:17 ashes he lost everything that is his situation um but you know in even in that painful situation he did not sin with his lips uh as Jared explained when we are under pressure when we are going through so many trials and even his wife was also 45:37 joining uh the enemy and saying okay curse God and die he did not sin with his lips this was a challenge I was thinking about it I we went through our own uh share of trials we can examine our how we respond through our lips is 45:53 it complaining and grumbling why me lord why this why this trial after trial we can watch our lips and uh see where we are because we can sin with our lips. Uh sometimes we want answers quickly uh and sometimes we may snap back at others 46:10 under the pressure. These are good glimpses of how where the work that is in that work God has done in our hearts and if there is something Lord more I need to I need to wash my tongue wash my lips under the pressure uh as a bottle 46:26 of perfume will never spill out bitter water. This is a good challenge and uh as he was also explaining about Romans 8:28 from him to him through him. Um this is a great thought. Uh we everything is working for our good and 46:42 it is again coming from him to him and through him when I through my response in the trials I can glorify him. The trial is he has lovingly allowed uh he has permitted the trial and uh it is coming from him and I want my response 46:57 to him should be to glorify him through his help. Uh and other thing I was thinking uh uh from chapter 2 and chapter one we see so many limitations of the enemy. The enemy that we are dealing with, he doesn't know everything 47:12 and he's under the authority of God and God is on the throne in heaven and he has to roam around to find the people. He's not omniresent. If he is here, he cannot be at certain place. So, it's such a good thing to know the 47:25 limitations of our enemy. Children especially, they're scared of oh monsters or devil or whatever. When they get scared, we should know how weak he is. In many areas, he has limitations. Our God is on the throne in heaven. It is not the devil or Satan who 47:43 is ruling the world. It is God who is ruling the world. He has put his hedges around us and he needs to get permission if he needs to do anything and he is under God's authority. Um and I want to read one more verse from Isaiah chapter 47:57 66. Um heaven is my throne and earth is my foottool. where then is my a house you could build for me? And uh I I'll jump to verse two. For my hand made all these things. Thus all these things came into 48:16 being, declares the Lord. But to this one will I look to him who is humble and contrite of spirit who trembles at my word. Of all the things, heaven is his throne and earth is his foottool. But he's looking for someone. He's looking 48:32 at someone who is humble and contrite of spirit and who trembles at my word. And Job is like that. And God is looking at God. Job is God is thinking about Job all the time. And he's pointing him to Satan. And Job's he repeats himself 48:48 again. He is blameless, upright, fearing God, turning away from all evil in the first chapter and the second chapter. And the expression also that comes about how God is thinking about Job is my servant Job. Actually if you go to the 49:01 end of Job when God responds to Job and finally he asks Job's uh friends to get prayed by uh Job and he says now therefore take for yourself seven bulls and rams go to my servant Job offer a burnt offering for yourselves and my 49:19 servant Job will pray for you and I will accept him so that I may not do with you according to your falling be again so many times I mean you can read later on in those few verses around chapter 42, God boasting about my servant Job, my 49:36 servant Job. Um, well, at least I hope all of us will go back and examine our lives. Lord, I I can I want to be like that man whom you can point out to the devil because the standard job Job's standard was he was blameless upright 49:55 fearing God turning away from evil and God has given everything in at our disposal grace of God and Holy Spirit his word his church we can be we can meet this standard blameless pride fearing God and turning away from evil 50:09 Lord um let my life peace in such a way that you can also point me to others. Uh and then I want to end with this verse from James chapter 5 um verse 11 I think. Yeah, this is a concluding verse 50:31 in the New Testament about Job. It's interesting James mentions here uh James talks about trials and patience. Um verse 11 says, "We count those blessed and endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and you have seen the 50:48 outcome of Lord's dealings that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful." First of all, he worked in Job. He uh the trials produced that endurance and patience, right? That Job go went through that process. He learned the 51:04 patience and endurance. And also what is the other outcome? Outcome of all the Lord's dealings is we get to know God more. And the Lord is full of compassion and merciful. Whatever trials we may be going through. If we can say that with 51:19 faith, my lord is full of compassion and merciful. No matter. Yes, this situation is painful. I don't know what's happening. I don't know if this is a punishment or is this a testing. I don't know anything. But I know my God is all 51:33 loving, all powerful, all compassionate, all merciful. So I can be addressed and when I get to heaven maybe God can explain to me and he doesn't know any explanation as Jared mentioned in the beginning uh he doesn't know any 51:47 explanation to us but even when you see his response to Job towards the end of Job it's all like he's taking giving him a bigger picture about who he is rather than answering his to his specific question. Um at the end of the day 52:01 whatever whatever we are going through uh let's remember dear brothers and sisters the lord knows one of the words that encouraged me really when I was going through trials is this one word I know I know what you're going through so 52:15 that itself is good enough my trial can be still there I can handle it because god knows and he will give me all the grace that I need for the moment to endure that trial let's Pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much again for the example of Job you 52:33 have given to us. The very first book inspired from the in inspired scripture is about a man who was blameless upright who turns away from all evil. Lord Jesus, I pray for the work you have be thank you for the work you have been in 52:48 our lives. Help us to continue uh to live a life pleasing to you where our life is completely uh blameless Lord that we may not compromise in every any any way that we may be upright that we may our life may be pleasing to you in 53:04 every area. Lord, I pray that our response when you lovingly allows any trials, Lord, the momentary light affliction, when you take us through that, that we may set our mind on the eternal glory, that we may endure, that 53:17 we may also come out and say, "The Lord is merciful and compassionate. That we may declare your faithfulness and your goodness, that you are good and compassionate God. You never leave us nor forsake us and you are always 53:29 living. My redeemer lives and my redeemer is interceding for us even today. Thank you Lord for all these reminders from the scriptures so that when we go through trials like that Lord help us to remember. Holy Spirit God 53:42 please remind us all these truths that we learn today. Thank you once again for your love for us for your compassion. You never allow us to be tested or tried beyond what we can bear. Thank you for your faithfulness in your lives. Lord 53:54 thank you for the grace you give give to us day by day. We ask all these things in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
