Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / September 8, 2021 | Chronological Bible Study with Patty Diliberto - Session 23: Job

Transcript

September 8, 2021 | Chronological Bible Study with Patty Diliberto - Session 23: Job · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Today we are looking at the book of Job, and I have to tell you that I was scared to death to start studying this book.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: I really wanted to skip over the book of Job whenever I first wrote this study.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: I came into this book kicking and screaming because I was so intimidated by it.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: But after having studied it and appreciated and learned to appreciate everything that this book has to offer, it's now one of my favorite books of the Bible.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: And if you've if you have had that timidity about this book, I pray that after today it will be a significant book for you too.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: Father God, thank you.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: We thank you for the things that you reveal in the book of Job, that you reveal no other place.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: And because of that, we can have confidence here in these last days from what we see.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so, God, I ask you by your spirit to really impress upon us the truths that you want us to see.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: We offer this time up to you and pray in your name.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: Job is classified as one of the wisdom books of the Old Testament.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: Other books of this type are Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Solomon, Psalms, and those three Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, and Song of Solomon, all written by Solomon.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: That's one of the reasons Ephelegard Smith, who wrote the commentary in this chronological Bible, put this where he did.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: Most chronological Bibles have Job right at the beginning, right in the era of the patriarchs, which is when Job would have lived and when these events would have taken place.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: Smith puts them farther back, and I appreciate that because it's a heavy book, and if you had to jump right into that right at the beginning of the study, you might not have gotten very far.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: Job was most likely a contemporary of Abraham, the patriarch.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: He's from the land of Uz, the same land that Abraham came from, and he was probably one of the most prominent citizens in that land.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: Job was a real man.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: He was not a mythological, um, he wasn't a mythological figure like some theologians say that he was.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: One of the ways we know this is because he's written about in in Ezekiel.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: Ezekiel 14, Son of Man, if a country sins against me by being unfaithful, and I stretch out my hand against it to cut it, cut off its food supply, and send famine upon it, and kill its men and their animals, even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they could only save themselves by their righteousness, declares the sovereign Lord.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: That's significant.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: You just read that recently.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: Noah is also mentioned in the New Testament, James chapter 5.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: You have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: How interesting.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: When we think about the story of Job, we don't at first see the Lord's compassion and mercy because of all the disasters that fall on him.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: But he is a God of compassion and mercy.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: The themes represented in the book of Job are the character of God.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: The character, I keep going too far, too fast.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: The character of God, the character of humanity, and the problem with evil.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: And the structure of the book is important for us to see, and it's on your handout.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: Chapters 1 and 2 are the prologue, and they are written in a narrative style.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: Chapters 3 through 31 are three cycles of dialogues between Job and his friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: That's the really long section, long, tedious section of the book.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: Chapters 32 through 37 are another friend, Elihu, who gives a monologue.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: And then chapters 38 through 41, the Lord finally speaks.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: Chapter 42 is the epilogue.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: The entire book can be organized into five sections.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: Job's sufferings in chapters 1 and 2 are God-centered.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: Job's disputes with his friends in chapter 33 through 26 are human-centered.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: Elihu's monologues in chapter 27 through 37 are human-centered.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: God's answer is, of course, God-centered.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: And then Job's restoration is also God-centered.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: So we're going to jump to the first section in the narrative, and this is familiar to you.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: You know this, and so it's nothing surprising, but I pray that even as we read these familiar things, that you're going to see some really new and interesting things.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: Job chapter 1, verses 1 through 5.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: In the land of Oz there lived a man whose name was Job.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: This man was blameless and upright.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: He feared God and shunned evil.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: He had seven sons and three daughters, and he owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 donkeys, and had a large number of servants.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: He was the greatest man among all the people of the East.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: His sons used to hold feasts in their homes on their birthdays, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would make arrangements for them to be purified.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: This was Job's regular custom.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: From those five verses, we learn that Job was blameless and upright.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: He feared God and he shunned evil.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: That he had seven sons and three daughters.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: He was very wealthy.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: He was the best man among the people.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: And he behaved and served as a priest to his family.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: When Job is offering the sacrifices, the burnt offerings for his children, it is a symbol of total dedication to God.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: He was praying for them in this act of offering.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so we have this picture of Job as a godly man, a great landowner, and a very good father.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: But in verse 6, the curtain suddenly lifts, and we are allowed to see the drama that is going on behind the scenes in that world of invisible realities, which in the New Testament is called the Heavenlies.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: This encounter takes place in the unseen realm that is all around us, but not visible to us.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: We get this peak behind the scenes.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord said to Satan, Where have you come from?
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: Satan answered the Lord, From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: Then the Lord said to Satan, Have you considered my servant Job?
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: There is no one on earth like him.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: He is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: Does Job fear God for nothing?
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: Satan replied.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: But now, stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord said to Satan, Very well then.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: Everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: How interesting, how interesting this is.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: Do you see how much Satan knew about Job?
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: He even knew that there was a spiritual hedge of protection around him.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: That Job was living in the fog, which is the favor of God.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: He's living in that favorable place.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: And that tells us a lot about the unseen world, doesn't it?
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: They know, they know the level of devotion that each one of us has.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: They know when we're playing church and playing as a Christian, and they know when it is absolutely the bedrock of who we are.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: We also notice that the what the angels are doing.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: They are coming to report to God on their activities.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: The angels all answer to God, and in the midst of them is Satan, who is also coming to answer to God.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: The name Satan means adversary, and that is how he first appears in the book of Job.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: So he has obviously already fallen.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: And that begs the question of how does Satan fall?
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: So we need to look at several scriptures that answer this in part, but not in full, because there is nowhere in Scripture that answers that question in full.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: Every precious stone adorned you.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: That's significant.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: Carnelian, chrysalite, emerald, topaz, onyx, and jasper, lapis, lozii, turquoise, and beryl.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: Your settings and mountings were made of gold.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: On the day you were created, they were prepared.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: You were on the holy mount of God.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: You walked among the fiery stones.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: Through your widespread trade, you were filled with violence and you sinned.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: So I threw you to the earth, I made a spectacle of you before kings.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: I so wish we had a lot of time to unpack that, but we don't.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: A book I recommend have recently read, which really impacted me, is The Unseen Realm by Michael Heiser.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: It goes into great detail about these passages, but it's a really excellent book.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: I encourage you to read it.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: That or the book Supernatural, which is kind of a step down from the unseen realm.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: So now we're going to look at the Isaiah passage that talks about the fall, and it's on page 837.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: You have been cast down to the earth.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: You who once laid low the nations, you said in your heart, I will ascend to the heavens, I will raise my throne above the stars of God.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: I will sit enthroned on the Mount of Assembly of the utmost heights of Mount Zephan.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: I will ascend above the tops of the clouds.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: I will make myself like the Most High.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: But you are brought down to the realm of the dead to the depths of the pit.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: If that's true, and I believe it is, then they made up a trinity of guardian angels, Lucifer, Gabriel, and Michael.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: We know in Revelation chapter 12 that a third of the angelic hosts fell with Satan when he was cast down to earth.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: So that would give credence to the to him being created as a guardian cherub in one of those trinity, in that trinity of guardian angels.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: There's so much that we could talk about here, but we don't have time to.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: But here is one passage in the New Testament that also talks about Satan, 1 Peter 5, 8 through 9.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: Be self-controlled and alert.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: Satan has become the enemy of God.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: But remarkably, at least in this Job narrative, he still has access to God.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: We don't completely understand that, but um he that but for right at this point he's not excluded from God's presence as yet.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: Because Satan is granted access to heaven, we have the first hint of the reason for the book of Job.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: This book has tremendous things to say about suffering and the reasons for suffering.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: Throughout history, the book of Job has been an encouragement, a great encouragement to those who are suffering.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: What kind of suffering?
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_00: Suffering at the hand of Satan.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: Is Satan still looking for righteous people to torment?
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, he is.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: To the degree that he did with Job?
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: Probably not.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: But perhaps.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: Do we need to be afraid of him?
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: No, we don't.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: And why don't we?
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: The short answer is because our God is greater.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: Satan is not the equivalent of God.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: We do not have two gods, a God, a good God, and a bad God.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: The yin yang view of God, where good and evil are struggling against each other to see who's going to come out on top.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: That's not what we have.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: These verses help us understand right from the start that God is in control.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: All forces, all forces are at his control and his command.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: And nothing ever takes God by surprise.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing, no thing goes beyond his word and his will, including Satan.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: Satan comes to God and asks permission to do something against Job.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: Do these verses that we have read and this attack, this, this scenario in this narrative, do they sound like a battle or a spiritual warfare or a test?
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: They are a test.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: These things, and that's what we need to understand.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: Job's faith is the subject of a very intense test.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: Satan is the one who brings it about, but God permits it.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: Sonic Light says, God allowed Satan to test, to test Job, to silence Satan and to strengthen Job's character.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: This quote by Ray Stedman is on your handout, and I'm gonna I'm gonna make um have many, several quotes by Ray Stedman, but it's it's significant.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: I think the striking thing about this account is that God challenges Satan, not the other way around.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: God says, Satan, where have you been?
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, Satan says, um, I've been here and there looking over the earth, trying to find somebody.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: And God says, Have you taken a look at Job?
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: There's a man I'm proud of.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: God's own assessment of Job is that there's none like him in all the earth.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: Job is blameless and he's upright.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: He is complete and balanced, and he turns from evil as soon as he recognizes it.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: So God asked, Satan, have you tried Job?
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: Satan says, Well, I certainly have tried.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: I've looked that man over very carefully and examined how to get at him, but I can't get near him.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: You've got a you've got him hedged in, surrounded by protection.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: I've tried every way I can to get at Job, but you've got him so protected there's no way I can get through.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: Isn't that an interesting quote and insight?
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: Who had Job's back?
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: God did.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: Another fact that emerges in this account is satanic limitation.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: Satanic limitation.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: Again, Ray Steadman has great things to say here about this.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: God has set the boundaries to Satan's activities.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: But the impressive thing is that although Satan is a rebel and he would break the rules if he could, there is no suggestion that he even attempts to break forth from this limitation.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: There is no possible way by which even Satan can violate God's restriction.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: He has no power to do it.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so he abides by the rules.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: God is totally in control.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: What was the limitation in verse 12?
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: It was on the man himself, do not lay a finger.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: This is another reason that we don't need to fear Satan.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: He can't go beyond the permissive will of God.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: God in his sovereignty has control even when it seems he doesn't.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: We either believe that and we get strength from that, or we cower in fear of what might happen or what Satan might do.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: We will either have faith in our faithful God or we will fear our enemy.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: Faith or fear?
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: The choice is ours.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: The last part of this chapter gives the terrible results of this test.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: One day when Job's sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at his at the oldest brother's house, a messenger came to Job and said, The Sabaeans attacked and made off with all with all the ox and donkeys, and they killed the servants.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, The fire of God fell from the heavens and burned up the sheep and the servants.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: Another messenger came and said, The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and made off with them.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: They also killed your servants.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_00: While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother's house when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: It collapsed on them, and they are dead.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I am the only one who has escaped to tell you.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: Satan struck to the full extent of the limits that God had placed on him, and he took away everything Job had.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: About Satan is that he will never ever have mercy on us humans.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: Mercy is not an aspect or a character trait that Satan possesses.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: Mercy is an aspect of God's character, but not Satan's.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: The thought of backing off on someone because they've had enough is never ever going to enter his mind.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: He's always going to press the advantage, and only the limitations of what he can do will stop him.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: This is what we are seeing here in the end times.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: Satan's activity is picking up, it's amping up.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: But here is a hugely, hugely important thing for us to realize from the book of Job.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: Satan is a responder to God.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: Satan didn't initiate this test with Job.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: God did.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: Did you see that?
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: God initiated this.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: The reason Satan's activities pick up at in the last days is because God's activity picks up.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: Satan sees where and how much God is working, and as a result of God's activity, Satan's activity amps up.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: For many years, I thought it was just the opposite.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_00: But studying this book has helped me understand that Satan is a responder to what God is doing.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: This means that in the end times, God is going to be working in greater and more powerful ways.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: Is he doing that?
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, he's doing that.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: He's doing powerful things around the world.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: Do we know what those things are?
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: Not unless we do some digging because you're not going to see it on mainstream media.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: You're going to see it if you go to websites where it talks about how Iran has the fastest growing church in the world, underground church in the world.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: It replaced China just a few years ago as the as the most per capita Christian, Christians per capita in the world.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_00: God is working in powerful, powerful ways.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: And one way to gauge God's activity is to look at Satan's activity.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: I hope that makes sense to you, and I hope it builds your faith.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: Now let's see Job's reaction.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head, then he fell to the ground in worship and said, Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: May the name of the Lord be praised.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_00: In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: What does this amazing servant do?
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: He he falls down in worship.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: He passes the test.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: The key to Job passing this test is his belief that God is sovereign and that God is in control and that God is good.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_00: Warren Wordsby says, anybody can say the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away, but it takes real faith to say in the midst of sorrow and suffering, blessed be the name of the Lord.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: C.S.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: Lewis once remarked when asked the question, why should the righteous suffer?
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: He said, Why not?
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_00: They're the only ones who can handle it.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: Satan has won this first round, and it's clear that Satan's argument has been answered.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: Take away the possessions of a man like Job, and he still will not curse God to his face.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: He still loves God and follows him and serves him and recognizes God's right.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: This is a very severe test.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: Listen to me.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: God allowed the testing, this testing of Job.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: Because he wants it to be an example to us.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: He wants us to know how the enemy works and to be prepared.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_00: Job has been an example to believers for thousands of years.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: We often hear people say, would a good God really do something like that?
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: And the answer is yes.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: A good God wants what one of us goes through to be an example to all of us.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: God obviously wanted Job and Satan's attack to be known so that we could be prepared to fight and win and worship.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: This test of Job's is given so that we will know things about Satan that we would never know otherwise.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: God in his goodness and his mercy gives us this story to build our faith.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I pray that it makes sense.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_00: This is so important for us to understand.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: If you've gone through something difficult, truly, truly difficult in your life, what God wants out of that, out of the ashes of that, is for you to have the ability to help others.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_00: Out of the ashes of Job's story comes his ability to encourage people for thousands of years.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_00: Would he say it was worth it?
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: I believe he would.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_00: Chapter 2 opens with the second round of the test, and the first three verses tell us that God again initiates action, this action with Job.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_00: On another day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan was also came with them to present himself before the Lord.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: And the Lord said to Satan, Where have you come from?
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: Satan answered the Lord, From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_00: Then the Lord said to Satan, Have you considered my servant Job?
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: There is no one on earth like him.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_00: He is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil, and he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without reason.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_00: God challenges Satan and says, Well, what do you think of Job now?
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_00: Hmm?
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_00: You moved me against him without cause, and I allowed it to happen.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_00: He remains blameless and upright.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_00: You haven't moved him an inch.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think now, Satan?
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_00: And Satan replies, By asking God to change the limitations.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_00: Skin for skin, Satan replied, A man will give all he has for his own life.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_00: But now stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord said to Satan, Very well then.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_00: Ray Steadman says, It is a really sobering, very sobering thing to realize that the tests that come into our life are aimed at getting us to curse God to his face, to tell him that he is wrong, that he does not keep his promises, that he is not the kind of God that we have been told he is.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_00: If you take note of your own life, you will recognize that when under pressure, the thing you want more than anything else is to cry out in protest to God that he is not keeping his promises.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_00: That is where Satan always aims.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_00: He has the same philosophy and the same objective today.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_00: He wants us to curse God as he wanted Job to curse God.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_00: So Satan is given access to God.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_00: And in the next section, we will see the physical test that comes.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_00: So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_00: Then Job took a piece of pottery, broken pottery, and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: His wife said to you, Are you still maintaining your integrity?
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_00: Curse God and die.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_00: Job ends up sitting in a smoldering trash heap, scraping pus off of his body with a broken piece of pottery.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: And then if that isn't bad enough, his wife comes, the one person to whom he should have been able to turn to for emotional support, and she turns against him.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: But Job isn't the only one who's suffering as a result of this extreme test.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_00: His wife is suffering the same exact losses.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_00: She's suffering in the same exact way.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_00: This test affects her every bit as much as it does Job.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_00: And that shows us that Satan loves it.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_00: He loves it when our trials, when our testings affect more than just us.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_00: He wants his schemes to affect as many people as possible.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's all about collateral damage with Satan.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_00: How does Job answer her?
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_00: You are making, you are talking like a foolish woman.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_00: Shall we accept good from God and not trouble in all this?
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_00: Job did not sin in what he said.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_00: Satan has not only taken Job's children and all his possessions, but he's also taken away his health now at this point and all the pleasure of physical life.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_00: And Satan has also assaulted Job's soul and made him feel abandoned by his wife.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_00: And now Satan proceeds to assault the spirit of Job.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_00: And how does he do that?
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_00: Through his friends.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_00: When Job's three friends, Aliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_00: When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_00: They began to weep aloud and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_00: Then they sat on the ground with him for several days, seven days and seven nights.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_00: No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_00: To their credit, they they did sit for an entire week without speaking, which was really good, and that's significant.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_00: But then instead of comforting Job, these friends launched into long lectures and philosophical debates to show Job the reason behind his suffering.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_00: In their line of reason, their line of reasoning follows the view of their time, that misfortune is always sent by God as punishment for sin.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_00: That is a very black and white or retribution theology perspective.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_00: The friends say that God punishes the wicked, the sinful people, but he rewards the good, righteous people.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_00: Using that black and white theology leads the friends to assume, to assume that Job is guilty because he is suffering.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_00: He must have done something wrong.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_00: The friends have not been seen the perspective that transpired in the heavenlies behind the curtain.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_00: They haven't seen that.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_00: So they don't know that Job is innocent.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_00: Only God and Job know that Job is not guilty of any wrongdoing.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_00: Job had the same rigid black and white retribution theology as his friends, he does.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_00: However, Job knows, Job knows he is not guilty, so he concludes that if he is not guilty, then God must be guilty.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_00: What Job does not understand is that his innocence does not depend on God's guilt.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_00: What his friends do not understand is that God's innocence does not depend on Job's guilt.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_00: A rigid black and white retribution theology of God doesn't do justice to a God who is not black and white and rigid himself.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_00: And we don't live in a black and white world.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_00: It just doesn't work.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_00: Job's friends had God all figured out.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_00: And you hear that as you read through Job.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_00: They had God in their neat little box, in their little neat black and white box, and they were trying to bring God into their power.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_00: Do people still do that today?
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_00: They tried to make the finite, fine, to make finite the infinite God.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_00: This quote by Chuck Swindah is on your sheet.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_00: God is a perfect example of someone who not only lived with, I'm sorry, Job.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_00: Job is a perfect example of someone who not only lived with injustice, but wrestled with it.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_00: Though godly in heart and righteous in life, Job became the object of Satan's cruelty.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_00: Satan played havoc with the man, leaving him impoverished, bereaved, and hurting.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_00: But the presence of pain was not the hardest part of Job's trial.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_00: Instead, it was the silence of God.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_00: It was as if God turned his back on his faithful friend, refusing to look as Job suffered.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_00: Although God is just, he is just in his own time.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_00: And in between the ticks of his pocket watch are gaps of silence, sometimes inexplicable silence.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_00: God's time is infinitely immeasurable.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_00: And because he transcends time itself, his time is absolutely intangible.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_00: We see this story in a sequence of still frames viewed one after another as if in a motion picture real.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_00: But God sees the entire movie at once.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_00: That is why he can remain silent in act one of the drama of our lives, because he knows how the final act will turn out.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_00: As author of this epic drama called Life, he knows that ultimately justice will win out, that good will triumph over evil, and that all the loose ends will be tied up in his grand drama.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_00: We need to know that today.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_00: Here in the in the end times that we are living in, we need to know that.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_00: Justice will win out, good will triumph over evil, and all the loose ends will be tied up in his grand drama.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_00: They will.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_00: Then we will understand what role is played by evil and by the fall and by natural law and an unfair event like the death of a child.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_00: Until then we will not know, and we can only trust in a God who does know.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_00: We remain ignorant of many details, not because God enjoys keeping us in the dark, but because we have not the faculties to absorb such light.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_00: At a single glance, God knows what the world is all about and how history will end.
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_00: But we time-bound creatures have only the most primitive manner of understanding.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_00: We can let time pass.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_00: Not until his story has run its course will we understand how all things work together for good.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_00: Faith is believing in advance what will only make sense in reverse.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_00: I don't mean for those quotes to sound like pat little answers.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_00: There are no pat answers.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_00: When it comes to suffering, there are not.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I if we if we think there are little pat answers that we can give, then we are no better than Job's friends.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_00: Suffering and testings are difficult.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_00: I know that.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_00: You probably know that as well.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_00: If you still struggle with these concepts, you might want to read Disappointment with God by Philip Yancey.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's a great book.
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_00: Well, after all the dialogue back and forth, God finally gives his reply.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_00: And when God finally speaks, he does not appear as just another sage, like Job's friends.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_00: Expounding on wisdom.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_00: No, he comes in like a storm.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_00: God does not offer answers.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_00: He does not enter the debate.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_00: Instead, he appears as the defendant in Job's suit, ready to cross-examine the plaintiff.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_00: He grants Job his day in court.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_00: God begins by cross-examining Job concerning knowledge and wisdom.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_00: He begins with his creation.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_00: What are the blueprints of creation?
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_00: Surely Job must know.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_00: Who provides a home and food for the animals?
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_00: Job must surely understand these things.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_00: God asks questions like, is it by your own wisdom that the hawks oars?
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_00: Or where were you when I laid the found the earth's foundation?
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_00: Surely you know, for you are already born.
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_00: Once God vividly portrays the meagerness of man's knowledge and wisdom, the futility of challenging God in court becomes glaringly apparent.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_00: How can Job dare to think he could contend with God when he clearly does not have all the facts?
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_00: No good lawyer would dare to proceed if he does not have all the facts.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_00: Job's case comes to a screeching halt.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_00: All Job can do now is place his hand over his mouth.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord said to Job, Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him?
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_00: Let him who accuses God answer him.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_00: Then Job answered the Lord, I am unworthy.
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_00: How can I reply to you?
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_00: I put my hand over my mouth.
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_00: I spoke once, but I have no answer twice, but I will say no more.
• 42:45
  SPEAKER_00: In the end, Job makes a poor lawyer on his behalf.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_00: His arguments fail even before he has a chance to present them.
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_00: Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm, brace yourself like a man, I will question you, and you shall answer me.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_00: Would you discredit my justice?
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_00: Would you condemn me to justify yourself?
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_00: Do you have an arm like God's?
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_00: And can your voice thunder like his?
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_00: Then adorn yourself with glory and splendor and clothe yourself in honor and majesty.
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_00: Unleash the fury of your wrath.
• 43:21
  SPEAKER_00: Look at all who are proud and bring them low.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_00: Look at all who are proud and humble them, crush the wicked where they stand, bury them in the dust together, shroud their faces in the grave, then I myself will admit to you that your own right hand can save you.
• 43:37
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord continues to expound on things too difficult for any of us to even understand or comprehend.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_00: And then Job responds.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_00: Job replied to the Lord, I know that you can do all things.
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_00: No purpose of yours can be thwarted.
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_00: You asked, Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_00: You said, Listen now, and I will speak.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_00: I will question you and you shall answer me.
• 44:13
  SPEAKER_00: My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_00: Therefore I despise myself, and I repent in dust and ashes.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_00: Job's whole perspective has changed.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_00: He had heard of God, but now he has seen him.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_00: Now he has experienced him.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_00: Now he knows to the depths of his being who God is.
• 44:50
  SPEAKER_00: This has not been a wasted experience.
• 44:57
  SPEAKER_00: Job knows that his own wisdom and knowledge were severely limited.
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_00: He also knows now that God's wisdom is boundless, and it's a knowing that is in the depths of his being.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_00: Job 42, 6 could be translated, Job was comforted away from dust and ashes.
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_00: If you've ever mourned deeply and come out on the other side, you know what that feels like.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_00: God's word has the power to do that.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_00: While not always telling us why something tragic has happened, God, with his very presence and his power and his word can, after a time, comfort us away from our tragedy, our grief, our loss, our mourning.
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_00: Not that it ever goes away, because it doesn't, but he replaces it with something more.
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_00: He replaces it with himself.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_00: And now we see the epilogue.
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_00: After the Lord had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Timenite, I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken the truth about me as my servant Job has.
• 46:57
  SPEAKER_00: So now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and sacrifice the burnt offering for yourselves.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_00: My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly.
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_00: You have not spoken the truth about me as my servant Job has.
• 47:15
  SPEAKER_00: So Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar did what the Lord told them.
• 47:19
  SPEAKER_00: And the Lord accepted Job's prayers.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_00: Job the persecuted now becomes the intercessor.
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_00: The one everyone assumed was guilty is now the righteous one who offers intercessory prayer and sacrifice on their behalf.
• 47:37
  SPEAKER_00: Sonic Light says their error was limiting God's sovereignty.
• 47:42
  SPEAKER_00: Limiting God's sovereignty.
• 47:44
  SPEAKER_00: By asserting that God always punishes the wicked and rewards the righteous in this life, they were limiting God by committing a sin that required a sacrifice for atonement.
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_00: And now we see Job's restoration.
• 48:03
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the former.
• 48:11
  SPEAKER_00: Job's children who were killed are still dead.
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_00: The pain of their loss still remains.
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, Job had more children, but as anyone who has lost children will tell you, having more children does not replace the children you lose.
• 48:31
  SPEAKER_00: So everything is not better than it was before.
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_00: Let's think about Jesus for just a moment here, though.
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_00: He was the only person to ever live with absolutely no sin, no sin, no unrighteousness.
• 48:54
  SPEAKER_00: God said of Job that he was blameless and that he was upright, but he wasn't completely sinless like Jesus.
• 49:01
  SPEAKER_00: And what did Satan do to Jesus?
• 49:04
  SPEAKER_00: He tested him.
• 49:05
  SPEAKER_00: Matthew chapter 4, verse 1.
• 49:08
  SPEAKER_00: Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tested, to be tempted by the devil.
• 49:14
  SPEAKER_00: Who led Jesus?
• 49:16
  SPEAKER_00: The Spirit.
• 49:18
  SPEAKER_00: Was it God's will for Jesus to be tested?
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_00: Hebrews chapter 4, 15, for we do not have a high priest who has who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted, tested in every way, just as we are, yet was without sin.
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_00: What did Satan hope to get Job to do in that test?
• 49:43
  SPEAKER_00: He hoped to get him to curse God and to die.
• 49:49
  SPEAKER_00: Matthew chapter 4.
• 49:50
  SPEAKER_00: Again the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.
• 49:56
  SPEAKER_00: All this I will give to you, he said, if you will bow down and worship me.
• 50:03
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus said to him, Away from me, Satan.
• 50:07
  SPEAKER_00: For it is written, Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.
• 50:10
  SPEAKER_00: Then the devil left him and angels came and attended him.
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_00: What did Satan hope to get Jesus to do?
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_00: To worship him.
• 50:21
  SPEAKER_00: Did Jesus pass the test?
• 50:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 50:27
  SPEAKER_00: Our God sets limits on what Satan can do to us, but what Jesus did for us was limitless.
• 50:39
  SPEAKER_00: Limitless.
• 50:41
  SPEAKER_00: If Jesus used the word of God in his time of testing against Satan, then we should do the same.
• 50:49
  SPEAKER_00: We should know it and we should use it when we face trials of any kind.
• 50:56
  SPEAKER_00: But as 1 Corinthians 15, 57 says, but thanks be to God.
• 51:02
  SPEAKER_00: He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_00: Father God, thank you so very much for this book of Job.
• 51:15
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you that we've just barely scratched the surface in this lesson today.
• 51:20
  SPEAKER_00: There's so many layers of this story that we could touch on and be blessed by.
• 51:29
  SPEAKER_00: So God, as we read through this book, I just ask you to bless us immensely.
• 51:36
  SPEAKER_00: Job would want that.
• 51:37
  SPEAKER_00: He would want what his suffering and the intense suffering that he went through.
• 51:42
  SPEAKER_00: He would want it to be an example to us.
• 51:46
  SPEAKER_00: Just like when we suffer, we want it to be an example and to be helpful for someone else.
• 51:53
  SPEAKER_00: God, I thank you that that's how you work.
• 51:56
  SPEAKER_00: That you work by using us to encourage each other and to prod each other on to living for you, to living blameless and righteous lives.
• 52:12
  SPEAKER_00: We can do that because we are in Christ.
• 52:16
  SPEAKER_00: We thank you that that what he accomplished on the cross was something we could never ever have accomplished on our own.
• 52:27
  SPEAKER_00: We give you praise and thanks for that today, Lord God.
• 52:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I pray these things and ask these things in Jesus' name.
• 52:35
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 52:37
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, and I will see you next time.