Jeff Miller

December 15, 2024

Making Sense of Suffering

Are You Willing to Wait?

Jeff Miller

December 15, 2024

Making Sense of Suffering

Introduction:

James 5:11 - Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

Why I'm Willing to Wait on the Lord While I Suffer (Job 42:7-17):

Because God will have the Last Word . (Job 42:7-9)
Because God is Making me through suffering. (Job 42:7-9)
Philippians 1:6 - And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 2:10 - For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.

Hebrews 5:8 - Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.
1. Suffering Humbles me.
2. Suffering teaches me Perseverance .
3. Suffering proves if my faith is Real .
  Job 13:15 - Though he slay me, I will hope in him...
Because Blessing comes after suffering. (Job 42:10-17)
Philippians 3:10 - ...that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings

2 Timothy 2:10 - if we endure, we will also reign with him

Romans 8:18 - For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

01:11-01:18
I want to do a quick call back to the invitation cards because I read something this past week that really got my attention.
01:19-01:24
This is from the Church Outreach and Attendance Campaign, people that track things like this.
01:25-01:28
But why do people start attending church?
01:30-01:34
Seeing a church in an advertisement gets 2%.
01:36-01:39
An organized visit gets 6%.
01:39-01:44
I'm not sure what an organized visit is, but it gets 6%.
01:45-01:46
This was deflating.
01:48-01:51
Invite from a pastor, 6%.
01:52-01:53
Like, wow, really?
01:54-01:56
But this is the encouraging thing.
01:57-02:00
Invite from a friend, 86%.
02:01-02:02
Think about that.
02:02-02:08
86% of people that visit a church do it just because a friend invited them.
02:08-02:10
And that's why we have these cards.
02:10-02:11
It's super easy.
02:11-02:34
You just hand a card to somebody, your hairdresser, the milkman, just whoever, and say, "Hey, if you don't have a church home, "I would love for you to join us at Harvest Bible Chapel." Easy peasy, but so many people would come to church if only a friend invited them.
02:35-02:43
So open up your Bibles to the book of Job in chapter 42.
02:46-02:51
Job chapter 42, this is the end of Job.
02:54-02:57
Job was a story of a godly man who was afflicted.
02:57-03:03
He lost his wealth, he lost his children, he lost his health.
03:05-03:10
He had three friends come and give him a lot of terrible advice and counsel.
03:10-03:14
Then there was another man, Elihu, that gave him some good advice.
03:16-03:21
God speaks up and then Job repents of his doubting.
03:22-03:23
And then we get to the end.
03:25-03:27
Let's pick up in verse seven where we left off last week.
03:29-03:46
It says, "After the Lord had spoken these words to Job, The Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, "My anger burns against you and against your two friends, "for you have not spoken of me what is right, "as my servant Job has.
03:48-03:58
"Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams "and go to my servant Job "and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves, "and my servant Job shall pray for you.
03:59-04:12
"For I will accept his prayer, "not to deal with you according to your folly, "for you have not spoken of me what is right "as my servant Job has.
04:14-04:24
"So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuite "and Zophar the," how do you say that word?
04:27-04:27
Namethite.
04:30-04:32
You say it real confidently, nobody knows, right?
04:33-04:44
You're like, "Oh, I guess that's how that's pronounced." Namathite went and did what the Lord had told them, and the Lord accepted Job's prayer.
04:47-04:53
And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he had prayed for his friends.
04:55-04:58
And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.
05:00-05:08
"Then came to him all his brothers and sisters "and all who had known him before "and ate bread with him in his house.
05:09-05:15
"And they showed him sympathy and comforted him "for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him.
05:16-05:21
"And each of them gave him a piece of money "and a ring of gold.
05:23-05:26
"And the Lord blessed the latter days of Job "more than his beginning.
05:27-05:34
"And he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, "1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys.
05:35-05:38
"He had also seven sons and three daughters.
05:40-05:45
"And he called the name of the first daughter, Jemima." I know how to pronounce that one.
05:48-05:54
"And the name of the second, Kazia, "and the name of the third, Karen-Hapuch.
05:55-06:00
"And in all the land, there were no women "so beautiful as Job's daughters.
06:01-06:04
"And their father gave them an inheritance "among their brothers.
06:06-06:15
"And after this, Job lived 140 years "and saw his sons and his sonsons, four generations.
06:16-06:26
"And Job died an old man and full of days." So what do we have here at the end?
06:26-06:29
We have a rebuke for the three amigos.
06:30-06:33
We have a prayer by Job on their behalf.
06:33-06:33
They're forgiven.
06:34-06:39
And we see Job restored greater than before.
06:41-06:50
So when you read the end here, the question is, what's the big takeaway?
06:52-06:59
Like what is it exactly that God wants us to know from the book of Job?
07:00-07:07
And you know, that's an easy question to answer because the New Testament actually tells us what God wants us to learn from Job.
07:08-07:09
It's in James 5, 11.
07:09-07:11
Can we get that verse up there, please?
07:12-07:13
See, the New Testament tells us.
07:15-07:19
Behold, we consider those blessed who remain steadfast.
07:21-07:29
You have heard of the steadfastness of Job and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.
07:31-07:32
There's the takeaway.
07:34-07:37
God wants you to see Job's steadfastness.
07:39-07:42
But, look at that last phrase.
07:43-07:48
God also wants you to see that he is compassionate and merciful.
07:52-07:57
Does God seem compassionate and merciful in the book of Job?
08:01-08:03
I think we're kind of nervous to answer that question, aren't we?
08:06-08:15
I mean, God permitted Satan to horribly afflict a righteous man.
08:18-08:19
Is that compassion?
08:22-08:31
I mean, if a guy's walking down the street and he's got a dog on a leash, and the dog bites someone, who do we blame?
08:33-08:34
We blame the owner, right?
08:37-08:39
And we see it again here in the text.
08:40-08:45
God is the one that's ultimately responsible for everything that happened to Joe.
08:48-08:51
So, what is compassion and mercy?
08:51-08:52
What is it?
08:55-09:04
Well, back up to the previous phrase here and you get your answer, where James says, you have seen the purpose of the Lord.
09:08-09:13
And you see, that's the big takeaway regarding God in the face of suffering.
09:15-09:22
He is compassionate and merciful because he has a purpose for suffering.
09:26-09:37
And if you want to know, if you want to know what God's purpose is for your suffering, that's where you have to get to the Job quality.
09:38-09:40
You have to remain steadfast.
09:45-09:53
In other words, if you wanna know why God is allowing you to suffer right now as you are, and I know many people here are suffering with all kinds of different things.
09:54-10:00
If you wanna know why God is allowing that, you have to wait.
10:03-10:06
And you can feel the air go out of the room, even saying that.
10:08-10:10
We hate waiting, don't we?
10:12-10:13
We hate waiting.
10:16-10:18
I mean, just look at us.
10:18-10:25
We're people that if we want to buy something and we don't have the money to afford it, what do we do?
10:26-10:26
We use a credit card.
10:26-10:27
I'm not waiting for that.
10:27-10:28
I'll just charge it.
10:30-10:31
We don't wait for anything.
10:32-10:35
Somebody, from time to time, people send me like a YouTube video.
10:35-10:36
Like, hey, you need to watch this.
10:36-10:41
And you click on the video and it says, video starts after this ad in five seconds.
10:42-10:43
I'm like, not for me.
10:45-10:48
I don't know what you think I do for a living, pal, but I'm not waiting.
10:50-10:51
I'll never know what that video is about.
10:54-11:00
You know, we're the kind of people that we stand in front of the microwave and we say, what's taking this stupid thing so long?
11:01-11:05
And we yank our soup out at 30 seconds because we're like, you know what?
11:06-11:07
I really do like cold soup.
11:11-11:16
We don't like to wait, but here's something else that's true about us.
11:16-11:22
We will wait for something when we deem that it's going to be worth the wait.
11:23-11:24
That is also true.
11:25-11:27
I found that true in my life and you have too.
11:27-11:31
But for me, if I think something is worth the wait, then I will.
11:32-11:38
Like for example, like a month ago, I waited an hour to vote.
11:41-11:45
I've waited two or three hours to ride a roller coaster.
11:48-11:57
And I'm kind of embarrassed to have to say this but not loud, but many, many years ago, I waited for almost nine hours to try out for a game show.
12:00-12:01
And I didn't even get on.
12:05-12:10
but you will wait when you deem that it's gonna be worth the wait.
12:14-12:15
'Cause here's the thing, you know what?
12:15-12:28
You're suffering and look, you know the Sunday school answer, you come into church and we're going through the book of Job and you know in your mind, you're like, "Yes, yes, God has a purpose in suffering." I know that, that is sound theology.
12:28-12:30
God has a purpose when I suffer.
12:30-12:33
God, he's gonna do something with it, he has a purpose.
12:35-12:37
So today I just want to ask you one question.
12:40-12:41
Are you willing to wait?
12:46-13:01
Because when we get angry with God over our suffering, when we are bitter towards God because of our suffering, and now we're not praying, we're not in the Word, we're not going to church, we're mad at God because we're suffering.
13:02-13:03
Do you know what you're saying to God?
13:04-13:06
You're saying, "God, I'm not willing to wait.
13:08-13:18
"I've had enough." And the book of Job shows us, look, look, hey, you wanna wait.
13:20-13:26
You really, really want to wait because it's gonna be worth it.
13:29-13:30
So let's just pause for a second.
13:31-13:33
I'm gonna ask you to pray for me I'm gonna pray for you.
13:35-13:42
Pray for me to be faithful to communicate this life-changing truth from God's Word.
13:42-13:51
And I'll pray for you to have your heart open to allow God to change your life through this Word.
13:51-13:53
All right, let's pray.
14:01-14:04
Father in heaven, we are impatient people.
14:08-14:10
We consider those blessed to remain steadfast.
14:10-14:18
So God, I pray now over the next several minutes that you would teach us from your word why we wanna be steadfast.
14:19-14:21
And show us, Father, why we wanna wait on you.
14:23-14:27
We ask these things in Jesus' name, amen.
14:28-14:30
Isn't it beautiful hearing the sounds of the kids?
14:31-14:32
Just love that.
14:34-14:38
All right, why I'm willing to wait on the Lord while I suffer.
14:38-14:40
I want you to jot some things down if you have an outline.
14:41-14:42
Why I'm willing to wait on the Lord.
14:42-14:46
I believe that waiting on the Lord is ultimately going to be worth it.
14:46-14:47
Why?
14:48-14:52
Number one, I'm gonna get through this quickly, but we have to address this.
14:52-14:53
Number one is because God will have the last word.
14:56-14:57
Because God will have the last word.
14:58-15:05
God rebuked Job's three friends because they misrepresented him.
15:08-15:12
And I'd just like to remind you quickly that God is going to handle those who speak falsely about him.
15:14-15:17
And that, that is encouraging.
15:18-15:19
Why?
15:21-15:28
Because we too are surrounded by people that spew all kinds of unbiblical nonsense.
15:28-15:32
We had a whole sermon series somewhat recently about discernment.
15:33-15:33
Why?
15:33-15:38
Because there's so many voices out there not representing God.
15:39-15:47
And I get so frustrated because I get it when a lost person misrepresents God.
15:47-15:58
But when you have people that are in positions of ministry and call themselves pastors, and they get up and say things that God never said.
16:04-16:11
But here we have a reminder here in these first few verses that God's going to have the last word.
16:13-16:14
God will have the last word.
16:15-16:17
Like, okay, all right, well, so what do I do about these?
16:17-16:21
What do I do about these people while I wait on God to have the last word?
16:22-16:23
Well, what did God tell Job to do?
16:25-16:28
Pray for them, all right?
16:28-16:41
Because at the end of it all, when Jesus shows up, you're going to see, you wanna write this down, you're going to see when Jesus shows up that all that matters is what God said.
16:44-16:45
So tune in now.
16:47-16:52
And pray for those who aren't tuned in, all right?
16:53-16:57
Like, oh, goody, goody, Pastor Jeff, but what about my suffering that I'm going through?
16:58-16:59
What about that?
17:00-17:01
So why do I wanna wait on the Lord?
17:02-17:06
Well, number two, this is the big one.
17:07-17:12
Write this down, because God is making me through suffering.
17:13-17:18
Because God is making me through suffering.
17:22-17:27
Listen, this is a very hard thing to say because I know this is an extremely hard thing to hear.
17:30-17:33
But when you suffer, it's actually for your own good.
17:38-17:48
And when you are suffering and you hear that, you're like, man, I don't really, I don't really know if I wanna hear that right now, but it's true.
17:50-17:51
Whether you want to hear it or not, it's true.
17:54-18:12
Look at Philippians 1.6, we'll have it on the screen here, where Paul says, "And I am sure of this, "that he who began a good work in you "will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." You see, God is making you.
18:15-18:20
And God's word says when he's making you, He's going to finish his project.
18:20-18:23
He's going to see it through all the way to the end.
18:25-18:31
You're like, okay, well, what's the good work that he's talking about?
18:31-18:32
He who began a good work in you.
18:33-18:34
What is this good work in me?
18:35-18:41
Well, according to the Bible, the good work is, Romans 8, 29, God wants to conform you to the image of his son.
18:42-18:45
God wants to make you more and more like Jesus Christ.
18:49-18:51
So how does that happen?
18:51-18:55
How does God take me and he wants to make me like his son?
18:56-18:58
How exactly does that happen?
19:00-19:02
We have a couple of clues here from Hebrews.
19:03-19:06
Look at Hebrews chapter two.
19:06-19:15
It says, "For it is fitting that he, "for whom and by whom all things exist, "in bringing many sons to glory, "should make the founder of their salvation." That's Jesus.
19:15-19:21
Look, make him perfect through, say it, suffering.
19:26-19:27
What about Hebrews 5, 8?
19:29-19:30
Again, talking about Jesus.
19:31-19:34
This is one of the most profound verses in the whole Bible to me.
19:35-19:42
Talking about Jesus, although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.
19:43-19:43
Suffering.
19:47-19:51
Adversity, trials, suffering.
19:52-19:54
That's the only way character's built.
19:55-19:56
I wish it was different.
19:58-20:02
I wish God wanted to build my character by doing nothing but piling blessing on my head.
20:03-20:04
I wish that was how God worked.
20:05-20:07
But you know that's not how character is formed.
20:11-20:27
But when you see suffering in that light, that this is something that Jesus Christ himself experienced and God had the ultimate purpose through Jesus Christ and he wants to bring some purpose about through me.
20:27-20:28
Well, what is it?
20:28-20:30
God is, he's making you through suffering.
20:32-20:34
You're like, can you be specific about that?
20:36-20:38
Certainly, letter A, write this one down, suffering humbles me.
20:40-20:42
How is God making me?
20:43-20:44
Suffering humbles me.
20:44-21:01
Remember back in the first six verses of the chapter, Job was like, "Okay, yeah, God, I overreached, so I'm going to repent." You see, that's what happened in Job.
21:02-21:38
saw his smallness in light of God's awesomeness. And that is where God wants us to get. Because naturally we think that we're a lot bigger than we are and we think God is a lot smaller than He is and God wants to change that. Say, "Look, "You're smaller than you think you are, "and I'm bigger than you think I am." You know the worst thing that can happen to you in your life?
21:40-21:52
You know the worst thing that can happen is you live such a good and carefree life that you just coast through thinking that you never need God.
21:54-21:56
That would be the worst thing that could happen.
21:59-22:07
So, the most compassionate thing God can do is to let suffering humble you.
22:10-22:13
So the suffering you're going through right now, is it leaving you broken?
22:16-22:21
Is the suffering you're going through right now leading you to seek God like you never have before?
22:22-22:27
That's great news, because that means God is making you.
22:29-22:33
Letter B, how is God making me through suffering?
22:33-22:34
Well, suffering teaches me perseverance.
22:37-22:39
Now, we talk about perseverance.
22:39-22:41
This is an active quality.
22:41-22:43
This is a positive quality.
22:43-22:49
This isn't like sitting back and wallowing, and woe is me, and my life stinks.
22:49-22:51
And that's not perseverance.
22:54-23:03
Perseverance is saying, "I don't like what's going on, but I'm moving forward, and I'm trusting God." That's perseverance.
23:05-23:17
See, Job fought to persevere while Satan was launching his God-permitted assault, as did Peter.
23:17-23:19
We talked about that a few weeks ago, right?
23:20-23:28
Jesus said, "Satan has asked to sift you as wheat, "but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail." Same scene.
23:31-23:38
Job fought to persevere while Satan attacked him with his God-permitted assault.
23:42-23:45
That was Peter's story, that was Jesus' story.
23:46-23:47
Read the gospels.
23:48-23:53
Satan continually went after Jesus Christ over and over.
23:57-23:58
It's gonna be your story too.
24:01-24:03
And you're like, hang on a second, Pastor.
24:03-24:14
You have, it sounds to me like you're saying that this scene that happened to Job, it sounds like what you're saying is this is the kind of thing that happens to people who love God.
24:14-24:17
This sounds like the people who wanna do the right thing.
24:18-24:22
Yeah, that's exactly what the Bible is saying.
24:25-24:29
Satan's not targeting people that don't give a rip about God because he's got them.
24:31-24:39
But when you love God and you're like, I am committing myself to Jesus Christ, Satan's like, all right, can I do something about that guy?
24:43-24:48
The book of Job is about a believer suffering because of his faith.
24:48-24:48
You know that?
24:50-24:57
The book of Job is about a believer suffering because he's a believer.
25:00-25:08
'Cause remember the scene back in chapters one and two, when Satan came to God, God was the one that pointed out righteous Job.
25:09-25:11
That's what prompted Satan's attack.
25:12-25:25
My friends, we have no reason to believe that God is going to treat us any differently than Job, if we belong to Jesus Christ.
25:28-25:34
Every morning, every single morning, your first thought should be this.
25:36-25:39
There's a battle that's going to be waged against me today.
25:41-25:59
And that should cause you to get on your face and cry out to the Lord and say, "God, any suffering that I experienced today, I know that you're allowing it." So God, I'm asking that you let me suffer in a way that glorifies you.
26:00-26:09
God, let me show the world what a life looks like to trust you, no matter what happens.
26:12-26:19
If you want to learn how to persevere, the only way that happens is to endure suffering.
26:20-26:21
God's making you.
26:24-26:36
Then letter C, write this one down, "Suffering proves if my faith is real." Suffering proves if my faith is real.
26:39-26:40
You know, that's interesting.
26:40-26:42
Look back at verses seven and eight here.
26:42-26:47
There's a couple of very, it was one interesting statement that God says twice.
26:49-26:50
Look at the end of verse seven.
26:51-27:02
It says, God says to the three friends of Job, for you have not spoken of me what is right as my servant Job has.
27:04-27:09
And in case you're like, Wait, is that what he meant?
27:10-27:11
Look down at verse eight.
27:13-27:31
Again, last phrase, "For you have not spoken "of me, what is right, as my servant Job has." Like, wait, wait, wait, wait a second, wait a second.
27:32-27:42
When you go to chapters three through like 31, Now, Job said a lot of terrible things about God.
27:43-27:49
So how can God here say that Job spoke of him what was right?
27:52-27:53
Well, we have the repentance.
27:53-28:00
We talked about that last week, but you know, there's something more going on here than just that.
28:01-28:04
Because you see, God was affirming the kind of person that Job was.
28:07-28:10
Let me explain, like, okay, so the three friends come up.
28:11-28:14
They remember, their answer basically boiled down to this.
28:14-28:17
Job, look, let me explain some theology to you.
28:17-28:19
They were mansplaining, right?
28:20-28:22
They're like, let me explain some theology to you, Job.
28:23-28:25
They're like, here's how it works.
28:25-28:28
When you do the right thing, you're blessed.
28:30-28:33
When you sin, you're cursed.
28:33-28:35
You see, you know what they had?
28:35-28:36
They had a formula.
28:40-28:46
Job wasn't interested in some formula from a book.
28:48-28:49
You know what Job wanted?
28:52-28:56
Even in his lowest points, we see that Job wanted to know God.
28:59-29:03
We see it when Job cried out things like, "Where is God in all of this?
29:04-29:07
I just wish that I could sit down and talk to God about this.
29:08-29:12
See, Job wasn't just looking for some Sunday school answer.
29:12-29:14
You know, explain to me why I'm suffering.
29:14-29:17
He wanted to have audience with God.
29:20-29:21
Do you know what that proves?
29:24-29:27
Proves that Job's faith was real.
29:30-29:35
because Job was unwilling to walk away from God when God disappointed him.
29:39-29:52
We see even in his low points, Job 13, 15, Job says, "Though he slay me, I will hope in him." What a great statement.
29:54-30:00
Kind of reminds me of when the Lord showed up and wrestled Jacob.
30:02-30:16
And then Jacob says, "I will not let you go "until you bless me." Wow, and four times also in these verses, I counted four.
30:19-30:23
I went to Cairn City, so that's all the higher I can count anyways, but I counted four.
30:26-30:30
Four times, God referred to Job as, did you see it?
30:30-30:32
My servant, Job.
30:34-30:36
This is my servant, Job.
30:38-30:40
God acknowledged Job as one of his.
30:42-30:45
You see, that's what the Christian life is.
30:47-30:50
The Christian life is waiting on the Lord.
30:52-31:04
It's loving God and seeking God because God is God and it's not letting go, even when life is hard, even when God seems silent, it's having this Job attitude.
31:04-31:08
Again, even at his low points, I will not let you go.
31:12-31:16
You know, well, we have a baptism service.
31:17-31:19
We baptize a lot of people over the years.
31:22-31:27
But there have been times over the years that someone has come to me and they've said, do you think that person's faith is real?
31:28-31:29
And I always have the same answer.
31:31-31:34
I say, we'll find out, right?
31:34-31:35
We'll find out.
31:36-31:38
We'll find out when adversity comes.
31:39-31:47
We'll find out when they start to suffer what their attitude is towards seeking God then.
31:47-31:48
We'll find out.
31:54-31:58
because suffering is what proves if your faith is real.
32:03-32:48
So, way back in chapter 1 and verse 9, Satan asked God the question, "Does Job fear God for no reason. And we get to the end of the book and we have our answer with Job's repentance. Because you see, notice Job didn't... he didn't repent because he was restored. Do you notice that? It wasn't like God blessed him and Job's like, "Oh, okay, everything's good now. I repent." He repented before and also Notice Job didn't even have the promise that restoration was coming when he repented.
32:51-32:56
It wasn't like, okay, it looks like God and I are going to strike a deal here.
32:56-32:58
He didn't even have the promise.
33:01-33:09
He repented because repentance was the right thing to do in the eyes of God.
33:10-33:20
And a true believer will bow down in pain because my love for God isn't based on the stuff that he gives me.
33:22-33:23
I wanna wait.
33:25-33:26
I wanna wait.
33:27-33:29
I'm suffering, but I wanna wait.
33:29-33:29
Why?
33:29-33:34
Because building character takes time.
33:39-33:41
Again, I wish that wasn't the case either.
33:41-33:47
I wish that when you came to Christ, it was just a wholesale instant change.
33:47-33:49
I'm no longer making mistakes.
33:49-33:51
I'm no longer saying wrong things.
33:51-33:55
I'm no longer having bad thoughts or stinking attitudes.
33:55-34:02
I wish that it was this complete instantaneous change, but it's not because building character takes time.
34:04-34:06
That's why we gotta wait, it takes time.
34:07-34:08
Ask any parent.
34:11-34:12
Building character takes time.
34:14-34:17
Ask anybody that's discipling a new believer.
34:19-34:20
It takes time.
34:25-34:27
Ask a cake.
34:31-34:45
You know, you put the batter in the pan and you stick it in the oven Imagine the batter thinks that that's suffering, but if you take it out of the oven too soon, do you have a cake?
34:47-34:50
I'm sorry, I think that illustration was only half-baked.
34:55-34:57
But you get the point though, right?
35:00-35:01
It has to wait.
35:02-35:07
If it's going to be what it needs to be, then it's gots to wait.
35:10-35:14
God is making me and God is making you and it takes time.
35:17-35:17
So I'll wait.
35:19-35:19
One more.
35:22-35:24
Number three, this is the obvious one.
35:25-35:25
Why do I wanna wait?
35:26-35:28
Because blessing comes after suffering.
35:31-35:35
because blessing comes after suffering.
35:36-35:45
In verse 11 here, we have the first celebration in Job that we've had since chapter one in verse four, and God blesses Job.
35:45-35:53
He gives him wealth, he gives him long life, he gives him seven sons, and he gives him three beautiful daughters.
35:53-35:56
You remember that in, what is it, verse 15?
35:56-36:04
It says, regarding the daughters, No women, there were no women so beautiful as Job's daughters.
36:04-36:12
And when I was studying this this week and I was meditating on this week and thinking, you know, there was no woman anywhere as beautiful as Job's daughters.
36:12-36:16
All I could think of was, what did his sons look like?
36:18-36:19
You know what I mean?
36:19-36:24
It's like Job had seven boys and three beautiful daughters.
36:24-36:27
Like, well, what did the sons look like?
36:28-36:30
He had three beautiful daughters.
36:35-36:37
But this is the way God works.
36:39-36:41
First there's suffering and then there's blessing.
36:42-36:45
That's just the way it is, right?
36:45-36:52
Philippians 3.10, Paul says that I may know him in the power of his resurrection and may share his sufferings.
36:53-36:57
Wouldn't you like to know the resurrection power of Jesus Christ?
36:57-36:58
Wouldn't you like to know that?
37:00-37:01
What has to happen before a resurrection?
37:04-37:07
Death, suffering, right?
37:08-37:11
It's not a buffet, you don't get to pick and choose the parts that you want.
37:12-37:27
2 Timothy 2.10, Paul says, "If we endure, "we will also reign with Him." First comes the enduring suffering, then comes the reigning beside our Lord Jesus Christ.
37:29-37:45
Romans 8, 18, Paul says, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us." Not worth comparing.
37:49-37:51
So God blesses Job.
37:51-38:02
And I need to point out here that this blessing on Job was not a refund, okay?
38:03-38:10
Don't get to the end of the book of Job and think that what the Lord is saying here is, "Congratulations, Job, you did it.
38:11-38:13
"You endured, buddy, good job.
38:13-38:17
"Now you can have your stuff back." That is not the story here.
38:17-38:18
Do you know what the story is here?
38:21-38:42
It's grace. It's grace. I understand that God did not owe Job what Job lost. Do you know how I know that? It's because chapter 41, verse 11, we saw this, was that last week?
38:44-38:50
God says, "Hey, by the way, I don't owe anybody anything." God wasn't on the hook to pay Job back.
38:53-38:57
It wasn't as if God had to balance the scales.
39:00-39:08
No, God made that pretty clear that this is grace when He gave Job back twice as much as he lost before.
39:11-39:13
And you're like, hold on a second, car and city boy.
39:13-39:19
I don't know if you noticed, but Job lost 10 kids, but he only got 10 kids back.
39:20-39:21
That's not twice as much.
39:21-39:28
And I would say it is, because the 10 kids that he lost, where were they?
39:30-39:31
They're in heaven.
39:35-39:38
One of my favorite preachers said, you never lose what you give to heaven.
39:41-39:43
So yeah, Job got twice as many kids.
39:48-39:52
My friends, God has poured his grace on us in Jesus Christ.
39:55-39:57
Yes, we have blessing now.
39:57-40:02
Don't get this idea that it's just, you know, everything's miserable now and everything's good.
40:02-40:06
No, no, no, we have so much tremendous blessing now.
40:07-40:18
We have the forgiveness of sin, we have new life, we have the indwelling Holy Spirit, we have the fellowship of the church, but, but, but like Job, the big blessings come at the end.
40:21-40:32
That day that we are co-heirs with Jesus Christ, we have glorified bodies, we are in eternal heaven in God's presence with suffering behind us forever.
40:34-40:35
Blessing is coming.
40:39-40:40
Are you willing to wait?
40:45-40:46
Our worship team would make their way up.
40:48-40:49
You know Job's story?
40:53-40:54
It's our story.
40:57-41:00
We have an enemy who wants us to suffer and curse God.
41:02-41:05
We have a God who will use our suffering for his purposes.
41:07-41:15
And we get all kinds of advice from people, good advice and not so good.
41:18-41:22
Job's story is our story, but you get to write a part of that story.
41:26-41:31
Are you going to condemn God for the suffering that you're experiencing?
41:33-41:38
Or will you worship while you wait on God?
41:41-41:44
Look, God is going to have the last word.
41:46-41:51
God is using your earthly suffering to make you.
41:54-42:01
And there is huge blessing coming at the end.
42:05-42:25
You want to wait. Let's pray. Father in heaven, I just pray, Father, that today we would have a fresh, just like a recommitment in our hearts that we're I'm going to wait on you.
42:27-42:32
Because I know there are many people here that are just worn out.
42:34-42:39
They've been suffering, not just for a day or a week, but this has been going on for months.
42:39-42:42
For some people, it's been years of suffering.
42:43-42:50
And it's just so easy to, it's just so easy to get despondent over it.
42:51-43:12
So Father, I pray that your account and how you dealt with Job would revitalize us, that we can step back and see the big picture, and that we will worship you while we wait on you.
43:15-43:17
We have the opportunity to do that right now, Father.
43:17-43:36
I pray that this worship is pleasant and joyful in your ears as we worship you, and thank you, and love you, and praise you from our hearts.
43:36-43:39
We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Covering Job 42:7-17

What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
In Job 42:7-8, God says Job “has spoken of Me what is right”. Why would God say this in light of Job making some pretty harsh comments about God in Job 3-31?
How exactly does suffering build perseverance? What is my part in growing in perseverance while I suffer?
How does suffering prove whether or not your faith is real? How do we know Job had a real faith?
Do you think Satan still seeks to afflict believers today? Why or why not?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

Jeff Miller

December 8, 2024

Making Sense of Suffering

Do You Control It All?

Jeff Miller

December 8, 2024

Making Sense of Suffering

Introduction:

  
    How to Make Sense of Suffering: Four Questions You Must Answer
 (Job 40:1-42:6):
Have I Humbled myself? (Job 40:1-5)
        
Do I think I can do Better than God? (Job 40:6-14)
        
Do I have any Power over evil? (Job 40:15-41:34)
        
Will my suffering draw me Closer to God? (Job 42:1-6)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

01:13-01:16
Open up those Bibles to Job chapter 40.
01:19-01:25
When I was a youth pastor, this was very early in my days of ministry.
01:25-01:27
I would have been in my 20s.
01:27-01:32
But I took our youth group at the time to this other church who was having one of these overnight retreats.
01:34-01:36
And they had some ground rules for the kids.
01:36-01:43
And one of them was, they said, "Hey, nobody can go outside unless you're with an adult." All right?
01:45-01:56
So some time had passed in the retreat and a bunch of the boys in my youth group came up and they said, "Pastor Jeff, can we go outside?" I said, "Yeah, I'll take you outside." They wanted to shoot some hoops, so we went outside.
01:56-01:58
We're playing some basketball.
01:58-02:02
Well, the pastor of the church came out and kind of laid into the kids.
02:03-02:09
And he goes, "I thought I told you you couldn't be outside without an adult." Get ahead of me.
02:15-02:37
I was feeling my big boy pants on and I stepped up and I said, "Hey, it's okay, I'm out here with them." And the pastor said, "Oh, are you the adult?" And I said, "Me, me, me, me, me, me." No, I didn't say that.
02:42-02:56
But that's sort of the issue here that God is confronting Job with, to say, "Job, you haven't recognized who I am.
02:58-03:02
You have been quite irreverent in your suffering.
03:04-03:05
You wanted answers from me.
03:07-03:08
I want answers from you.
03:10-03:16
And these chapters we're looking at today, really, it's the climax of the whole book.
03:18-03:29
And if you get this exchange right here, I promise you, on the authority of the Word of God, it will change your life.
03:31-03:41
I'm not saying that you're not going to suffer, because you will, but you will never see it the same way again.
03:44-03:58
So this power has been asked, you please pray for me to be faithful, to clearly communicate God's word, and I will pray for you to receive this life-changing message that God has for us today.
04:08-04:28
Father, I know everyone in this room, everyone that will be in this room in the next service, everyone who is watching this online or going to be listening to a podcast or watching this video later, we're all struggling with something.
04:32-04:33
And we're all suffering with something.
04:36-04:51
I'm just asking, Father, that we would really tune in because what you said to Job hasn't changed, and it has just as much significance for us today.
04:53-04:58
I just pray, Father, you give us eyes to see it.
04:59-05:06
Father, that by the power of your Holy Spirit, you would give us a mind to understand it because these things are only spiritually discerned.
05:10-05:12
Father, do a work in all of us through this.
05:13-05:15
We pray in Jesus' name.
05:16-05:19
And all of God's people said, amen.
05:19-05:23
I want you to jot some things down on your outline, how to make sense of suffering.
05:24-05:25
You suffering right now?
05:26-05:27
If not, you will be soon.
05:29-05:31
How do you make sense of suffering?
05:32-05:35
Well, there's four questions that you must answer.
05:36-05:39
The first question is this, have I humbled myself?
05:41-05:42
Do you really wanna make sense of suffering?
05:44-05:49
Or do you wanna walk around complaining as Job was earlier?
05:49-05:50
Do you wanna walk around complaining?
05:51-05:52
Why is it happening to me?
05:52-05:53
Why is God so unfair?
05:53-05:55
Do you really wanna make sense of suffering?
05:56-05:57
I mean, really.
05:58-06:00
Okay, well, here's where it starts.
06:01-06:03
Ask yourself this, have I humbled myself?
06:04-06:05
Look at the first two verses.
06:05-06:10
The Lord said to Job, "Shall a fault finder contend with the Almighty?
06:11-06:23
He who argues with God, let him answer it." I remember Pastor Taylor preached last week regarding chapters 38 and 39.
06:23-06:30
God's answer to Job's suffering is this, I'm creator, I'm sustainer, I'm in control.
06:33-06:41
And here in these first two verses in chapter 40, God says, okay, so you don't approve with how I'm running the world.
06:43-06:44
You wanna argue with me?
06:46-06:46
Let's hear it.
06:50-06:58
Look at Job's response, verses 3-5, "Job answered the Lord and said, 'Behold, I am of small account.
06:58-06:59
What shall I answer you?
07:00-07:02
I lay my hand on my mouth.
07:02-07:12
I have spoken once and I will not answer twice, but I will proceed no further.'" Oh, Job, Job, Job, Job.
07:12-07:17
for so many chapters, he was so self-justified and verbose.
07:19-07:28
And now, after the Lord speaks to him in the passages Taylor preached last week, Job says, "I'm nothing.
07:30-07:47
"I'll shut up now." Listen, if you're suffering with anything right now, anything, and you refuse to humble yourself, you're never going to hear from God.
07:50-07:51
You have blocked him out.
07:52-07:55
And that was Job's issue for all those chapters.
07:57-07:58
He wasn't humble enough to hear.
08:00-08:02
But finally, Job was humbled.
08:02-08:04
Finally, he rightly saw himself.
08:05-08:06
But that's not enough.
08:07-08:09
God wanted Job to rightly see Him.
08:12-08:14
So let's address the elephant in the room.
08:14-08:19
What about all that suffering that Job experienced?
08:20-08:21
What about that?
08:24-08:24
You know, it's funny.
08:25-08:27
I mean, we do it all the time.
08:29-08:33
We say, "Praise the Lord," when something good happens, right?
08:34-08:39
born. Praise the Lord! Somebody gets a promotion at work. Oh, praise the Lord!
08:44-09:49
It seems like we only think that God is great and sovereign over the good things. We have to address the reality that not everything is good. There's so much pain in the world and there's so much sorrow and there's so much that we can point to that we say that just doesn't seem right. That doesn't seem fair. Job certainly felt that and I've shared with you previously seasons in my life where I've struggled with that because of some family health issues. So we respond when, like Job, evil shows up and it results in suffering? And maybe worst of all, God disappoints us because God didn't prevent it and He's not fixing it.
09:52-10:02
Well, this is exactly what the Lord addresses here, and He does it in the most profound way if you will have ears to hear it.
10:05-10:06
So you have to start here, have I humbled myself?
10:07-10:11
If you're not willing to do that, it doesn't matter anything else that's said, right?
10:12-10:13
But number two, write this down.
10:15-10:16
Do I think I can do better than God?
10:19-10:20
I'll read you verse six.
10:21-10:26
It says, "Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind "and said, 'Dress for action like a man.
10:27-10:30
"'I will question you, and you will make it known to me.
10:30-10:32
"'Will you even put me in the wrong?
10:33-10:38
"'Will you condemn me that you may be in the right?'" God says, "Okay, you want to accuse me?
10:39-10:46
"'Job, you're on this crusade to try to prove me wrong "'so that you can justify yourself?
10:47-10:53
"Billy, is that what we're doing here, Job?" Put on your helmet.
10:54-10:55
Look at verse nine.
10:56-10:58
The Lord continues, "Have you an arm like God?
10:59-11:01
"And can you thunder with a voice like His?
11:02-11:04
"Adorn yourself with majesty and dignity.
11:05-11:07
"Clothe yourself with glory and splendor.
11:08-11:13
"Pour out the overflowings of your anger "and look on everyone who is proud and abase him.
11:14-11:19
"Look on everyone who is proud and bring him low and tread down the wicked where they stand.
11:20-11:23
Hide them in the dust together, bind their faces in the world below.
11:24-11:38
Then I will acknowledge to you that your own right hand can save you." God says, "Job, do you think you can judge the world?
11:41-11:42
Apparently you think you can do better.
11:42-11:43
You know what, Job?
11:44-11:45
Go for it.
11:46-11:47
Here's all you gotta do.
11:47-11:51
Put on your majesty, put on your glory and get to work.
11:52-11:53
Go out, judge the wicked, all right?
11:53-11:54
Go for it.
11:56-12:02
And Job, when you're able to do that, God says, I'll acknowledge that you're something special.
12:04-12:06
Now, listen, don't misunderstand.
12:08-12:15
In this statement, the Lord is not saying, "Oh, come on, Job. I'm trying my best.
12:16-12:19
Sometimes I mess up like in your case, but overall I'm doing pretty good.
12:19-12:21
Come on, man, you try it.
12:21-12:24
It's not as easy as it looks." That's not what he's saying at all.
12:27-12:33
What he is saying is, "Job, you don't have any idea what you're talking about.
12:34-12:39
You don't know what it takes to conquer and subdue evil.
12:39-12:41
You do not know what you are talking about.
12:44-12:50
Well, God is governing the entire world.
12:54-12:58
Every proud person, he mentions here, all of the wicked.
12:59-13:01
God is saying, you know what, Job?
13:01-13:05
I am overseeing all of it.
13:07-13:08
Can you do that?
13:12-13:16
I couldn't do it when this church was 20 people.
13:20-13:25
I feel so much more helpless in doing it now at the size of the church is.
13:27-13:29
Do you know how many people are in the world right now?
13:31-13:31
I had to look this up.
13:31-13:32
Do you know how many?
13:33-13:34
8.2 billion.
13:38-13:45
God, listen, is righteously and perfectly at work in every single life.
13:48-13:51
God knows every single action.
13:52-13:53
He hears every word.
13:53-13:57
He hears every thought at the same time.
13:59-14:00
Would you like to take a shift?
14:04-14:04
How would you do?
14:08-14:09
Better than God?
14:14-14:15
That's how the Lord challenges Job.
14:18-14:19
You don't know what you're talking about.
14:21-14:22
You think you can do better?
14:25-14:30
Third question you have to ask yourself is this, do I have any power over evil?
14:32-14:37
And this is where things take the most fascinating turn.
14:39-14:43
Because God here, he gives two illustrations.
14:43-14:44
We're gonna read through all of this.
14:44-14:47
We're gonna read through this quickly, but we can't just skim over this.
14:47-14:48
We're gonna miss the whole point.
14:49-14:54
But God gives two illustrations and he gives no explanation for these illustrations.
14:56-15:00
And the first one has to do with a creature called Behemoth.
15:02-15:03
Pick up in verse 15.
15:04-15:09
God says, "Behold, Behemoth, "which I made as I made you.
15:10-15:12
"He eats grass like an ox.
15:12-15:17
"Behold, his strength in his loins "and his power in the muscles of his belly.
15:18-15:20
"He makes his tail stiff like a cedar.
15:20-15:23
"The sinews of his thighs are knit together.
15:24-15:28
"His bones are tubes of bronze, "his limbs like bars of iron.
15:28-15:30
"He is the first in the works of God.
15:30-15:38
"Let him who made him bring near his sword." Mark that part of the verse, all right?
15:38-15:40
Underline it, put a star, whatever.
15:40-15:42
That's really important.
15:44-15:48
"Let him who made him bring near his sword." He goes on.
15:48-15:53
"For the mountains yield food for him, "where all the wild beasts play.
15:54-15:58
"Under the lotus plants he lies, "in the shelter of the reeds and in the marsh.
16:01-16:04
"For his shade, the lotus trees cover him.
16:05-16:07
"The willows of the brook surround him.
16:07-16:10
"Behold, if the river is turbulent, he is not frightened.
16:11-16:17
"He is confident though Jordan rushes against his mouth.
16:18-16:27
"Can one take him by the eyes "or pierce his nose with a snare?" So he talks about this behemoth.
16:27-16:29
He talks about his origin.
16:29-16:32
He talks about his diet and he talks about his strength.
16:32-16:33
Again, key verse.
16:34-16:44
The second part of verse 19, God says, "Listen, Job, regarding behemoth, "only the one who made him has any power over him." Right?
16:45-16:50
So just mark that because now we get to chapter 41 and God's not done.
16:50-16:52
He talks about Leviathan.
16:53-16:56
and what we see is another description of a terrible creature.
16:59-17:01
Look at the questions he fires at Job.
17:03-17:07
Chapter 41, "Can you draw out Leviathan with a fish hook or press on his tongue with a cord?
17:08-17:10
Can you put a rope in his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook?
17:11-17:13
Will he make many pleas to you?
17:13-17:15
Will he speak to you soft words?
17:16-17:18
Will he make a covenant with you to take him for your servant forever?
17:20-17:25
Will you play with him as with a bird put him on a leash for your girls?
17:26-17:27
Will traders bargain over him?
17:27-17:29
Will they divide him up among the merchants?
17:29-17:34
Can you fill his skin with harpoons or his head with fishing spears?
17:36-17:38
So God just fires questions at Job about Leviathan.
17:38-17:42
He goes, "Hey, hey, you know, Leviathan, can you go fishing for him?
17:42-17:43
Can you tame him?
17:43-17:44
Can you make him your pet?
17:47-17:51
You gonna sell him at the marketplace?" Obvious answers, right?
17:52-17:54
Verse eight, "Lay your hands on him.
17:54-17:55
Remember the battle.
17:55-17:56
You will not do it again.
17:57-17:59
Behold, the hope of man is false.
17:59-18:01
He has laid low even at the sight of him.
18:02-18:08
No one is so fierce that he dares to stir him up." Oh, mark this next part here.
18:10-18:19
"Who then is he who can stand before me?" Again, key verse, put a star by that one.
18:22-18:27
Again, verse 11, "Who has given to me that I should repay him?
18:28-18:41
Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine." Notice that God's describing this terrible creature and then he interjects and says, "Okay, that creature's terrible.
18:42-18:53
Who can stand before me?" If you think Leviathan is scary, Job, What do you think it's like to stand in the presence of Leviathan's God?
18:57-19:06
And in verse 11, God says, "By the way, Job, "I don't owe anyone anything." Like, how can that be?
19:06-19:14
"Because I own everything, that's how." Well, he goes back to the terrifying creature.
19:15-19:18
Pick up in verse 12, God goes right on.
19:19-19:21
He says, "I will not keep silence concerning his limbs.
19:21-19:24
There is mighty strength, there is goodly frame.
19:26-19:27
Who can strip off his outer garment?
19:28-19:30
Who would come near him with a bridle?
19:32-19:33
Who can open the doors of his face?
19:34-19:36
Around his teeth is terror.
19:37-19:42
His back is made of rows of shields, shut up closely as with a seal.
19:44-19:47
One is so near to another that no air can come between them.
19:47-19:49
They are joined one to another.
19:49-19:51
They clasp each other and cannot be separated.
19:52-19:56
His sneethings flash forth light, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn.
19:57-19:59
Out of his mouth go flaming torches.
20:00-20:02
Sparks of fire leap forth.
20:02-20:07
Out of his nostrils come forth smoke as from a boiling pot and burning rushes.
20:09-20:16
His breath kindles coals, and a flame comes forth from his mouth, and his neck abides strength, and terror dances before him.
20:16-20:21
the folds of his flesh stick together, firmly cast on him and immovable.
20:23-20:26
His heart is hard as a stone, hard as the lower millstone.
20:27-20:33
When he raises himself up, the mighty are afraid that the crashing, they are beside themselves.
20:36-20:41
Though the sword reaches him, it does not avail nor the spear, the dart or the javelin.
20:41-20:46
He counts iron as straw and bronze as rotten wood.
20:46-20:47
The arrow cannot make him flee.
20:48-20:51
For him, sling stones are turned into stubble.
20:52-20:54
Clubs are counted as stubble.
20:55-20:57
He laughs at the rattle of javelins.
20:58-21:00
His underparts are like sharp potsherds.
21:00-21:05
He spreads himself like a threshing sledge on the mire.
21:06-21:08
He makes the deep boil like a pot.
21:08-21:12
He makes the sea like a pot of ointment.
21:12-21:14
Behind him, he leaves a shining wake.
21:15-21:17
One would think the deep to be white haired.
21:23-21:24
What is this thing?
21:28-21:30
Is this a real creature?
21:32-21:38
You know, a lot of commentaries that I've read say this is a crocodile.
21:41-22:11
And I would respectfully suggest that there's a lot of commentators seen a crocodile. So what are we dealing with here, people? Is this a real animal? Is it a metaphor? What is this? And why is God talking about it? I want you to look very closely with these last two verses.
22:12-22:19
God says, "On earth, "there is not his like, a creature without fear.
22:22-22:26
"He sees everything that is high." Oh, look at this last phrase.
22:27-22:43
"He is king over all the sons of pride." These verses, these last two verses tell me The Lord is talking about more than just some weird fish.
22:45-22:46
Much more.
22:48-22:57
And these last two verses, especially this last phrase, tells me that this is a metaphor for Satan.
22:58-23:00
They're like, "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
23:00-23:02
"Wait, hang on, Pastor Jeff.
23:02-23:16
"How in the world can a scary reptile represent Satan?" Well, in Genesis, Satan is described as what?
23:17-23:17
A serpent, right?
23:18-23:23
And in Revelation, Satan is described as a dragon.
23:27-23:40
And when you read the book of Job, we see Satan at work in the beginning, and here at At the end, Satan is personified as a monster.
23:43-23:50
Look, you have to see this, that these two beasts represent so much more than wildlife.
23:54-24:01
Because if this was just about animals, I mean, if this was just about animals, what would be the point?
24:02-24:07
If this was just about animals, basically, here's how the exchange goes.
24:10-24:26
Job's like, "God, I want answers for my suffering!" And God's like, "Well, dinosaurs are pretty big." And Job's like, "I guess.
24:27-24:33
"You know, God, I'm sorry about the things I said when I was scratching my loathsome sores.
24:37-24:38
There's something more going on here.
24:40-24:43
God wanted Job, listen to this, this is so key.
24:44-24:45
You gotta see this people.
24:45-24:51
God wanted Job to feel something about Satan and evil.
24:52-24:59
And what God wanted Job to feel was small and terrified and powerless.
25:01-25:02
That's the point.
25:05-25:05
That's the point.
25:06-25:10
Job's asking about suffering and evil.
25:10-25:13
He's been all that time talking about suffering and evil.
25:16-25:21
And how impactful would it have been if the Lord's answer was just pulling out a theology book?
25:22-25:25
Like, "Well, you want some answers about suffering and evil, Job?
25:25-25:30
Well, okay, I have H. Orton Wiley's Christian theology book here, Job.
25:30-25:32
Let me read an excerpt for you.
25:33-25:38
Okay, Job, "The evil spirit as Satan is the, quote, "adversary, the accuser, and the deceiver.
25:39-25:46
"As the devil, he is the slanderer, the columniator." Have you ever heard that word?
25:48-25:56
Okay, "And the destroyer of peace as Belial, "he is the low, the unworthy, and the abject, "Well, as a polyg...
25:57-25:58
Would that be very effective?
26:00-26:17
If God just gives Job some stale, like, let me give you the definition of evil and Satan and see if that placates you, little buddy." Now, you know what God is doing here?
26:17-26:19
He's saying, "Listen, Job, Job, hey, hey.
26:22-26:27
Monsters exist that are exponentially more powerful than you.
26:29-26:31
They are unstoppable.
26:32-26:33
They are untamable.
26:34-26:35
They are unbeatable.
26:35-26:40
They are ferocious and they are violent and you don't stand a chance against them.
26:43-26:44
No one does.
26:48-26:50
Like, wait, wait, wait, hang on, hang on, Pastor Jeff.
26:50-26:58
Why would God want Job to feel small and terrified and powerless?
27:03-27:08
Because God wants to tell Job as he wants to tell us, listen, suffering isn't just bad luck.
27:10-27:13
Sometimes that's what we wanna reduce it to.
27:14-27:16
Somebody's suffering as Job did.
27:16-27:21
You know, Job lost family members and he lost his wealth, he was robbed.
27:22-27:27
The people violently attacked his servants and murdered his servants and Job lost his health.
27:27-27:30
And we look at these things, and we look at things like that happen in people's lives today.
27:31-27:33
Like, oh boy, that guy sure has bad luck.
27:34-27:35
Went for bad luck, he wouldn't have any luck.
27:36-27:37
Oh boy, that guy sure has bad luck.
27:37-27:41
And God's wanting Job to see, no, no, suffering isn't bad luck.
27:43-27:47
Suffering is directly tied into evil.
27:50-27:51
You know that, right?
27:52-27:54
Evil is the source of suffering.
27:55-28:02
God is not in heaven looking down saying, "Hmm, who can I hurt today?" That's not from God.
28:02-28:05
And we saw in the beginning of Job, that's from Satan.
28:11-28:20
So these horrifying creatures bring the only response that we should have about Satan and the suffering that Satan would want for us.
28:24-28:29
We don't see evil and suffering for what it really is.
28:32-28:34
We don't.
28:34-28:40
And that's why when we suffer, we direct our accusations towards God.
28:45-28:49
You see back in chapters one and two, we got the peak behind the curtain.
28:51-28:52
He cares what's really going on.
28:53-28:57
And you see here, this is Job's peak behind the curtain.
28:58-29:01
God says, "Job, let me tell you something that's really going on.
29:07-29:09
You live in an evil world.
29:11-29:21
and evil, Satan is mighty, he's vicious, and he's relentless.
29:22-29:26
Oh, and by the way, you are powerless against him.
29:30-29:32
How to make sense of suffering, four questions you must answer.
29:33-29:38
Number four, will my suffering draw me closer to God?
29:41-29:43
Will my suffering draw me closer to God?
29:44-29:46
We got to look at Job's response to this.
29:48-29:59
Then Job answered the Lord and said, "I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
30:03-30:06
Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?
30:09-30:16
Therefore, I have uttered, but I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
30:18-30:20
Hear, and I will speak.
30:21-30:23
I will question you, and you will make it known to me.
30:26-30:33
Job says, I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you.
30:35-30:39
Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.
30:43-30:44
Total turnaround for Job, huh?
30:46-30:47
Job says, "I repent.
30:48-30:52
"You know, I talked about things that I didn't understand.
30:56-31:05
"And God, I get that now." Job says, "God, you can do anything, And nothing can stop you.
31:08-31:09
I love this verse here.
31:09-31:11
Job says, "Yeah, I'm paraphrasing.
31:11-31:13
God, I heard about you.
31:15-31:15
Now I see you.
31:23-31:24
I knew about you.
31:26-31:31
Now I know you." What just happened?
31:33-31:37
Okay, so the book of Job, like he's horribly afflicted, he struggles with his faith.
31:37-31:51
God describes two monsters and Job's like, "I'm sorry, I'm okay now." You're like, "Is that the message of Job?" Like Job didn't have a vision here, like Jacob's ladder or anything.
31:51-33:13
I mean, he heard from God, obviously, but there was no appearance of God that I can see. And Job certainly didn't have a change in his circumstances to this point, but as he heard God, he saw some things with a clarity that he never had before. See, suffering has a way of drawing us close to God like nothing else can. You see, when you suffer and you draw near to God, suddenly God's not just like the subject of a sermon. God's not just a name that we use in a song that we sing at church." Suddenly God is alive and he's personal, and he's involved in every area of my life like a loving heavenly Father. Like, what was it that made Job repent here?
33:17-33:21
And I was really racking my brain for how do I explain this?
33:24-33:29
And then it hit me, it was actually, it was one of my earliest memories.
33:31-33:33
I can't remember much of my life before this event.
33:36-33:44
But this event was a perfect illustration to me of what Job experienced here.
33:47-33:55
When I was just a little squirt, my father took me to see live pro wrestling.
34:00-34:08
And it was back in the days, it wasn't like a PPG arena or whatever they call it this week.
34:09-34:17
It was back in the days of like, "Johnstown at the war memorial." It was back in those days, and so there were smaller venues.
34:18-34:22
And so we had good seats because it was a smaller venue, and no seat was very far from the ring.
34:23-34:29
There was this one wrestler, Iron Mike Sharp, Canada's greatest athlete.
34:29-34:37
He was this huge, like hairy, loud, nasty, evil.
34:37-34:43
I mean, this guy was so terrifying to me.
34:44-34:46
as a kid, just watching him on TV, right?
34:46-34:51
Like he was just, he was like a real life cartoon character.
34:51-34:52
Right?
34:53-34:55
Don't Google him now, later.
34:56-34:56
Later.
35:00-35:10
But so the big taunt against him is he didn't like to be called Wimp, which nobody does, but that was something that really got under his skin for some reason.
35:10-35:16
So, you know, like a real wrestling fan, We made the big sign, you know, you make the big posters, make the big sign.
35:17-35:19
We made a giant sign that says WIMP.
35:24-35:24
Yeah, buddy.
35:25-35:30
So he comes to the ring and I get my sign out, WIMP!
35:31-35:33
And he gets in the ring and he plays his part.
35:33-35:37
He's, everybody's saying it, but I'm really saying it, WIMP!
35:37-35:43
And he gets in the ring and he's covering his ears and he's kicking the rope and he's (yells) That's actually the sound he made.
35:44-35:47
He's kicking the rope and he is like furious.
35:49-36:10
And I leaned up to my dad and I said, "Dad, do you think he saw my sign?" And dad said, "I'm sure he saw your sign." And I get to tell you, in that moment, I felt the most fear I've ever felt in my life.
36:11-36:12
I'm not even kidding.
36:12-36:14
That's why I think this is my earliest memory.
36:16-36:18
I was absolutely terrified.
36:19-36:23
This monster is screaming and thrashing and kicking.
36:24-36:29
And I was convinced that he was gonna jump over the ropes and come after me.
36:31-36:33
And I will never forget this as long as I live.
36:35-36:41
Dad says, "Yeah, I'm sure he saw your sign." and I just, I felt so terrified and helpless.
36:41-36:43
I was standing on my dad's left.
36:43-36:53
I just remember grabbing his hand with my right hand and wrapping my arm around his wrist and stepping in real close.
36:56-36:57
And I will never forget that feeling.
37:02-37:06
To say I felt safe is like the ultimate understatement.
37:07-37:14
I felt like there wasn't a force on earth that was going to touch me in that moment.
37:18-37:23
And you see, that's exactly where Job landed.
37:25-37:35
He saw the terrifying images of evil and he realized I better hold on to the one who loves me and the one who can protect me.
37:37-37:43
the one who is infinitely more powerful than even the thing that comes from my worst nightmare.
37:48-38:01
Like, man, that was a game changer for me, and I think, in essence, that's what made did a game changer for Job.
38:06-38:11
And if you're still at this point saying, okay, Pastor Jeff, I get that, awesome.
38:12-38:14
But why doesn't God do something about evil?
38:18-38:20
I would sell you three things about that.
38:24-38:25
First of all, I would say he did.
38:28-38:31
You realize we'll be celebrating how he did a couple of weeks.
38:32-38:36
Jesus Christ came to the earth to defeat Satan through his death on the cross.
38:39-38:40
Yeah, terrifying.
38:41-38:44
Yes, also defeated.
38:46-38:49
So why doesn't God do something about evil?
38:49-38:49
He did.
38:50-38:51
Why doesn't God do something about evil?
38:51-38:52
He is.
38:54-39:01
Though defeated, the Bible says, "Satan is still prowling around like a lion, looking for someone to devour, right?
39:01-39:04
But he's also still on God's leash.
39:05-39:10
Make no mistake, Satan can't wipe his nose without God's permission.
39:12-39:17
So there's nothing that I'm going to face that God didn't sign off on.
39:20-39:22
Like, what if you face something that kills you?
39:24-39:26
Like, you can't threaten me with heaven.
39:29-39:30
So why doesn't God do something about evil?
39:30-39:31
He did.
39:33-39:34
Oh, and he is.
39:34-39:37
Oh, oh, just one more thing.
39:39-39:39
He will.
39:41-39:47
The day of Satan's destruction is coming when Jesus makes all things new.
39:49-39:54
In the meantime, is our suffering going to push us away from God?
39:57-40:08
or are we going to grab his hand and wrap our other arm around his wrist to stay close to our Heavenly Father?
40:10-40:13
For worship team to make their way up, I want you to please bow your heads.
40:20-40:22
Just bow your heads and close your eyes for a moment.
40:25-40:34
Are you suffering with something right now that you've really been struggling for answers?
40:39-40:40
I've been struggling for a long time.
40:40-40:42
Maybe you're dealing with a health issue.
40:42-40:46
Maybe you're dealing with a, maybe there's a broken relationship in your life.
40:46-40:50
Maybe it's a financial concern.
40:53-41:02
Whatever it is, Is there something you're suffering with that you're just like, "I just wish that I had answers"?
41:04-41:10
Well, you'll get your answers if you're willing to ask yourself these four questions, and ask them honestly.
41:12-41:55
I just want you to take a moment now to consider, have you really humbled yourself to prepare yourself to receive an answer? If you've been angry or disappointed or frustrated with God, let me ask you, do you think you can do better than God? You think somehow you have information He doesn't, or maybe it's the other way around. Maybe God has information you don't. Maybe if you took a crack at overseeing the universe, maybe you wouldn't do as good of a job as he is.
41:58-42:01
Third question you have to ask yourself is, do you have any power over evil?
42:02-42:02
You don't.
42:03-42:04
I'll answer that one for you.
42:04-42:06
You don't, but you have to acknowledge that you don't.
42:11-42:19
You're not some spiritual authority that's personally subduing the devil.
42:19-42:20
You don't have that kind of power.
42:26-42:27
Only God does.
42:29-42:34
And that's why the fourth question is, will your suffering draw you closer to God?
42:38-42:58
Father in heaven, I felt this week like I've been taken to the woodshed on some sinful attitudes that I've struggled with and my own frustration at understanding suffering.
43:02-43:07
Father, I imagine there's a lot of people here that need to be taken, just as you did, Joe.
43:12-43:31
And I pray, Father, again, that you would open our eyes and our minds and our hearts to see the heart behind the answer that you gave Job and that we would understand why you communicated as you did so that we could have the same response that Job had.
43:34-43:48
Father, in the face of such terrifying evil, draw us closer to you we pray in Jesus name amen.

Small Group Discussion
Covering Job 40-42:6

What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
Read Job 40:33-34. Why do these verses seem to indicate that God isn’t just talking about an animal? What is Leviathan a symbol of?
What exactly was God’s point in describing Behemoth and Leviathan as He did? How is this an answer for Job’s questions?
What exactly from God’s Behemoth and Leviathan descriptions made Job repent? How would you paraphrase this lesson to teach someone who is suffering?

Breakout:
Pray for one another.

Taylor Brown

December 1, 2024

Making Sense of Suffering

Do You Know It All?

Taylor Brown

December 1, 2024

Making Sense of Suffering

Introduction:

Job 1:22 - In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.

Job 2:10 - In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

Job 7:20 - “Why have you made me your mark? Why have I become a burden to you?”

Job 13:3 - “But I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to argue my case with God.”

See: Job 23:2-6

Questions to Ask Myself When I Question God (Job 38-39):

Am I qualified to evaluate the One who Supervises Me ? (Job 38:1-3)
Circle the correct answer: - Yes or No
Am I able to know more than the One who Created Everything ? (Job 38:4-21)
Circle the correct answer: - Yes or No

Psalm 115:3 - Our God is in the heavens; He does all that He pleases.

Galatians 6:7 - Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows that will He also reap.
Am I wise enough to give advice to the One who Directs What I Cannot Control ? (Job 38:22-39:30)
Circle the correct answer: - Yes or No

Romans 11:34-35 - “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counselor?” “Or who has given a gift to Him that He might be repaid?”

1 Corinthians 1:18 - For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

01:12-01:14
Return your Bibles to Job chapter 38.
01:15-01:18
Job chapter 38.
01:19-01:30
As some of you already know, I am one of the few non-sports fans in a city that's absolutely rabid for the Steelers and the Pirates, well, kind of, sort of the Pirates, and the Penguins, right?
01:31-01:42
I may not love to watch three-hour long games on Sunday afternoons or nights or weeknights, but I do love to watch the responses that people have to these games.
01:42-01:52
I find it to be an endlessly fascinating social experiment to see these guys come out of the woodwork to question the calls of coaches who know way more about football than they ever will.
01:53-01:58
You know, once a game is over, they will just question every single call, say, "I could do better.
01:58-02:00
"If only I had the head set.
02:00-02:22
"If only I had the clipboard and the sidelines, "I could have won that game." Or they question the calls of professional athletes who have endlessly trained at our peak physical specimens, but somehow they could do better, even though these schlubs are watching the game, laying on their couch, stuffing their face with Doritos, Oreos, Mountain Dew, while having naps in between games, right?
02:23-02:24
But somehow they could do better.
02:24-02:26
Oh, if only I had a shot at that dunk.
02:26-02:29
If only I could go up to the plate against that fastball.
02:29-02:31
If only I could get on the ice for a few shifts.
02:33-02:34
You know what would happen?
02:34-02:37
They would just go out there and publicly embarrass themselves.
02:38-02:40
They would strike out every single time.
02:40-02:42
As soon as they got on the ice, they'd fall flat on their face.
02:43-02:47
When they tried to take the dunk, a six foot giant would just completely demolish them, right?
02:49-03:00
These delusional guys would benefit from taking an honest assessment of themselves and their own abilities and questioning themselves as they questioned the calls of professionals.
03:01-03:04
Yeah, would I really have done any better in their shoes?
03:05-03:05
Fine, probably not.
03:06-03:15
Would I really have done any better in my prime or even right now in my current physical shape, which is much different than it used to be?
03:15-03:16
Okay, no, probably not.
03:18-03:20
But it's really easy to be a Monday morning quarterback, isn't it?
03:22-03:24
It's very easy to be a backseat driver.
03:25-03:33
It's very easy to question the call of those who are higher in authority and talent than you.
03:35-03:38
On a much more serious note, it's very easy to question God, isn't it?
03:40-03:49
It's tempting to question his divine calls, to critique his performance, or evaluate his plans for our lives or this world.
03:49-03:54
We can point a finger at God and blame him for our suffering.
03:55-04:00
We've all done it in the past and we're all gonna do it at many points in the future.
04:01-04:04
We've all thought things like, what in the world is God doing?
04:04-04:09
How could he possibly think that something like this is a good idea?
04:09-04:15
Or if I was in charge, if I was the God of the universe, I would do things much differently.
04:18-04:22
Well, we're in good company because do you know who else questioned God during his suffering?
04:23-04:23
Job.
04:25-04:26
And you may be thinking, hold on a minute.
04:26-04:40
Last Sunday, Pastor Jeff said that Job sinned in response to his suffering, and now you're saying that Job questioned God, but we were told at the end of chapter one in verse 22 that in all this, Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.
04:41-04:45
In chapter two, verse 10, in all this, Job did not sin with his lips.
04:46-04:47
Well, that is all right and true.
04:48-04:51
At that point in the story, Job did not question God.
04:52-05:01
But his questioning came during chapters three to 31, which most people totally skip or heavily skim as they read the book of Job.
05:02-05:12
As a recap, these chapters record a back and forth conversation between Job and his three quote unquote friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar.
05:13-05:27
These friends, or the three stooges as I call them, are convinced that Job must have done something to deserve such suffering, while Job is equally convinced that he did nothing to warrant such misfortune.
05:29-05:35
We studied these 29 chapters two weeks ago, but we focused on the Three Stooges side of the conversation.
05:36-05:43
As you read Job's response to his friends, you will come across a lot of good and right things that he says about God.
05:44-05:48
But you will also come across a lot of him questioning God.
05:51-05:59
A fourth friend named Eli who then shows up on the scene to call Job out for his irreverent speaking about God, which Pastor Jeff preached about last week.
06:00-06:03
Here are a few examples of Job questioning God.
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Chapter seven, verse 20.
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Why have you made me your mark?
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Why have I become a burden to you?
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Chapter 13, verse three.
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But I would speak to the Almighty and I desire to argue my case with God.
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Chapter 23, verse two through six.
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Today also my complaint is bitter.
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My hand is heavy on account of my groaning.
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Oh, that I knew where I might find God.
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I might even come to his seat.
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I would lay my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments.
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I would know what he would answer me and understand what he would say to me.
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Would he contend with me and the greatness of his power?
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No, he would pay attention to me.
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To be clear, Job never curses God.
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Job never gives up on his faith or walks away from the Lord.
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Job is just at the end of his rope, and he desperately wants to know why so much bad has fallen upon him.
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In his mind, some kind of heavenly accounting error must have been made.
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If only he could talk to God, if only he could explain his side of the story, then maybe all these things could be straightened out.
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Everything could be cleared up like the wrong order at the Chick-fil-A drive-thru.
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Isn't it refreshing to see that Job looks a lot more like us than we originally thought?
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Job doesn't worship perfectly.
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Job struggles with the why questions.
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Like the rest of us, Job wants an explanation from God.
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He wants to know what God is up to and why.
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Like every single one of us in this room, Job questions God.
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After many chapters of Job asking the questions, God has some questions for Job.
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In chapters 38 through 39, God asked Job 41 questions.
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As Pastor Jeff said a few weeks ago, when God asks questions, he isn't looking for information.
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He's instead looking for confession, repentance, and transformation.
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So for the rest of this message, I want each of us to take an honest assessment of ourselves in our own limited ability in light of God and his infinite ability.
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I want us to evaluate the questions we must ask ourselves whenever we question God.
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It has been my prayer all week that these questions from God would lead to our personal confession, repentance, and transformation.
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I want to stop to pray.
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Please pray for me.
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I will faithfully preach the truth of God's word, and I will pray for you, that you will faithfully receive and submit to the truth of God's word.
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Father, we all come into this room in a week when we're supposed to be really thankful and happy.
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I'm sure that many of us don't feel that way right now.
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I'm sure there's a lot of people in this room with a lot of questions.
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with some anger and frustration.
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Lord, I pray that you'd meet us where we're at and you'd minister to us through your word and that your glory would shine through the darkness that we're experiencing.
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We ask all these things in Jesus' name, amen.
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My question is to ask myself when I question God.
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First question on your outline, am I qualified to evaluate the one who supervises me?
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"Am I qualified to evaluate the one who supervises me?" Let's read verses one through three of chapter 38.
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You can follow along in your Bibles.
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Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, "Who is this that darkens counsel by words "without knowledge, dressed for action like a man?
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"I will question you, and you make it known to me." The Lord speaks to Job out of a whirlwind which shows off his glory, his awesomeness, his majesty.
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You know, world leaders and billionaires may ride in fancy jets and fancy cars, but God puts them all to shame by rolling up to the scene in a storm.
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And God sets up this intense round of questioning with a doozy of an opener.
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Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
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In other words, Job, but do you really think you're qualified to question me?
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You, the guy who has no idea what's happening behind the curtain.
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Job has said a lot of wise things about God, but like every single one of us, Job has said a lot of foolish things about God as well.
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Check out verse three again, as God lays out the rules of this interrogation.
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Dress for action like a man, I will question you and you will make it known to me.
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These are fighting words.
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Dress for action like a man can also be translated as gird up your loins.
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When was the last time you said that?
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That doesn't really mean very much to us in 2024.
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Another way of saying this is, man up and get your big boy pants on.
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Let's get ready to rumble 'cause we're going to the mat on this one.
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You think you're so smart.
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You think you know so much.
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How about you tell me what's what?
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'Cause at times throughout chapters three to 31, Job tries to reverse roles and act as if he's God's supervisor, when the exact opposite is actually true.
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God is Job's supervisor, which is about to become crystal clear.
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We live in a culture that is obsessed with rating other people, places, and experiences.
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I mean, just think about it.
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Before you shell out a small fortune to go to a movie, I imagine the craze you would have to pay a lot of money You go to the movies with your whole entire family and you pay for a $50 box of popcorn that'll probably make you a little bit sick later on.
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What do you do?
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You go on Rotten Tomatoes, look at the audience and critic score, right, to see if it's worth the investment before you go to a nice, fancy restaurant you've never been to before.
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What do you do?
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You go on Yelp, TripAdvisor to see if it's great or gross.
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You have a bad experience at an Airbnb or an Uber ride.
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What do you do immediately after?
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you review vomit on their app in anger, right?
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We watch reality competition shows that include number ratings, one star to five stars, red Xs, green Xs, thumbs up, thumbs down, a turned chair, a cold shoulder.
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We love, we get a rush out of evaluating other people, especially giving them a bad review, especially giving a bad rating.
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Go on Google reviews and the most passion ratings aren't the one thing, it was great, it was one thing, it was terrible.
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People feel special and important doing that.
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We must realize that we're not in a position to evaluate God in this way.
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We are not his employer who we do quarterly reviews for.
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He is not a product on Amazon for us to rate.
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He is not a waiter that we can complain about to the manager.
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In any way, God's rating is fixed and unchanging.
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It is impossible for God to get less a 10 out of 10, an A plus, two thumbs way up, whatever ratings for how he is working in your life, my life, in this world.
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Even when it seems like God is failing, he is always succeeding.
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Whenever it seems like his plans have stalled out, they're always perfectly moving forward exactly on schedule.
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When you're frustrated in the dark about what God is up to and what's going on, The light of his glory is always shining in every circumstance.
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So in light of verses one through two, circle the right answer to the first question on your outline.
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Am I qualified to evaluate the one who supervises me?
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And don't you have anyone else, don't look at anybody else's paper 'cause we're all gonna compare notes at the end of the sermon.
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Circle the right answer.
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Second question to ask myself when I question God, am I able to know more than the one who created everything?
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Am I able to know more than the one who created everything?
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Raise your hand if you know about the five love languages.
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If you are married or you've been in a relationship of any kind at some point, you've come across the five love languages.
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In last service, I asked people and they didn't say anything, you know, they also, they heard about it.
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So I'm just gonna read them all for you to avoid that awkward encounter again.
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Words of affirmation, physical touch, acts of service, gift giving, and quality time.
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If it was up to me, I would add a sixth one to that list, and that would be one that my wife and I share, and that is sarcasm.
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Raise your hand if you would say you're a sarcastic person.
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Raise your hand if you hate sarcasm.
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All right, great, we're all mean together, awesome.
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all sarcastic people.
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We're the least well adjusted people in Pittsburgh.
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You know, sarcasm can be fun, but it can also be really hurtful, right?
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It can be destructive.
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It can ruin relationships.
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But in the hands of God Almighty, sarcasm is a powerful tool, which we see all throughout his questioning of Job.
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God sarcastically pretends to elevate Job to a position of prominence that he does not and cannot possibly have.
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God sarcastically pretends that Job knows everything to show that Job knows next to nothing.
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He does this to humble Job and show off how glorious he really is.
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God starts at the very beginning in chapter 38, verses four through five.
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Follow along with me in your Bibles.
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Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
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Tell me if you have understanding.
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Who determined its measurements?
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Surely you know, or who stretched the line upon it?
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You'd have to not pay attention to Mr. Sarcasm here.
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Job, where were you when I created everything?
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Oh wait, that's right, you didn't even exist yet.
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No one else did besides me.
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Surely you know who took a big measuring stick to lay out how big, deep, and wide the earth would be.
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Well surely Job knows it wasn't him who did it.
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And God continues to unveil Job's lack of knowledge in verses six through 11.
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On what were its bases sunk?
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Or who laid its cornerstone?
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When the morning stars sang together, all the sons of God shouted for joy.
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Or who shot in the sea with doors?
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When it burst out from the womb.
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When I made clouds its garments and thick darkness its swaddling band.
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And I prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors.
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And said, thus far you shall come and no farther.
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and here shall your proud waves be stayed.
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God then moves past the six days of creation to zero in on what he has actually created.
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We are so stuck in our own limited location in POV that we fail to truly think about the true mystery of the planet we live on.
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The mystery of the universe we are all small, itty bitty parts of.
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We're all like small bits of dust that barely register on the scale in comparison to the oceans, the mountains, and the galaxies.
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I mean, just think about our planet for a minute.
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God asked Job in 38, 16, have you entered into the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep?
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Hey, Job, did you swim through every single inch of all the oceans that cover 71% of the earth?
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Have you gone down to the very bottom of the Challenger Trench, over 35,000 feet, to touch the bottom and swim back up?
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And what's the answer?
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You're all gonna need to learn to shout no a lot louder.
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I'm gonna ask you many more times.
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3818, have you comprehended the expanse of the earth?
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Job, have you exhaustively traveled every single path, explored every jungle, traversed every desert?
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Have you covered the 197 million square miles that make up this planet?
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And the answer is, much better.
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Let's shoot into space for a minute to see how much Job knows about what's going on up there.
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38 verses 31 through 33.
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Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loose the cords of Orion?
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Can you lead forth the Maseroth and their seed or can you guide the bear with its children?
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Do you know the ordinances of heaven?
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Can you establish their rule on the earth?
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Job, are you the one who holds the constellations together?
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Are you the one who placed all 200 billion trillion stars in the sky and keeps them from scattering and falling?
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Answer, with question after question after question, God keeps drilling down this one main point.
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He is the creator, not Job.
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He is the source of life, not Job.
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He is the sustainer, not Job.
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When you create something, you have ownership of it.
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Which means that God is the one who owns the world.
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Not you, not me, not Job, not anyone else in the entire world, no matter who they are, what title they have, or how much money is in their bank account.
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God owns it all because he made it all.
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Because God owns it all, He knows what is best.
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Because God owns it all, He can do whatever He wants to do.
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And because God is holy and perfect, whatever He wants to do is right and good even when we don't agree with Him.
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As we're told in Psalm 115.3, "Our God is in the heavens, He does all that He pleases." Do you like that verse?
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How does that verse strike you?
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It's not exactly a verse you see on bumper stickers or coffee mugs, right?
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And we live in a culture that spits in the face of that verse.
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The motto of our culture is God is nowhere to be seen, so I'm gonna do everything that pleases me.
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Turn on the news, open up social media, and it won't take long to come across content that screams I know better than God.
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Let's go through some of the list.
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Gender is just a societal construct that we force upon kids against their will at birth.
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You can move up and down the gender spectrum as much as you want.
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Marriage isn't just between a man or a woman.
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And speaking of marriage, as long as you're feeling happy and fulfilled, stay in that marriage, but if you're not feeling happy and fulfilled, look for your happiness elsewhere.
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where life doesn't begin at conception.
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That fetus is just a clump of cells.
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It's not an actual person.
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And you may be nodding your head right now, amening in your heart, but please know that you and I are not exempt from this I know better than God mentality.
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None of us are.
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We are all guilty of this.
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Your I know it all list may not be as blatantly obvious as the examples I just listed, but it still dishonors God and damages your soul.
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You know that you're expected to spend time with God every day in his word and in prayer, but you don't.
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You say things like, "Well, work is just too hectic "right now, I wake up exhausted and I go to bed "even more exhausted to show for my kids "around all their activities.
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"Life is just too busy right now.
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"I have more pressing things to do." You know what God's word definitively says, but you act as if you know better.
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You know what is expected, but you create your own list of expectations to push down the conviction that you feel.
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You know, there are men in this room who are leading lives of secret lust behind closed doors.
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And no one knows except for you and God.
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You try to justify this sexually inappropriate behavior by convincing yourself it's not a big deal.
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I mean, yeah, sometimes I visit those websites, but it's only because my wife doesn't meet my physical needs like she used to.
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I'm not addicted, I can stop any time I want.
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I mean, sure, I fantasize about other women, but I would never act on those fantasies.
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It's just a release whenever I'm stressed.
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Again, you know what God's word has to say about sexual sin, but you're the exception to the rule.
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God created sex and he knows how it works best, Well, you're doing just fine cuddling outside the lines.
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Or maybe you're wound very tight and you blow up at people at work.
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You blow up at your spouse, you blow up at your kids.
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You know that the Bible says the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God, but hey, it's not your fault, right?
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Taylor, you don't understand how dysfunctional my workplace is.
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I have to yell to get guys in line.
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Or my kids just constantly get under my skin to make me so angry.
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My spouse knows how to push my buttons, what else am I supposed to do?
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There it is again, the I know better than God mindset in a very, very subtle way.
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Or maybe abusing alcohol is a big issue for you.
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Beer, liquor, wine is the finish line you wanna reach by the end of the day.
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It is your constant reward for enduring the hardships of life.
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You keep making lines in the sand, you keep crossing.
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I'm just gonna drink on the weekends, but then you find yourself drinking every single night of the week.
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I'm just gonna have one, but then you have many, many, many more.
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When you go out with your friends, you drink way more than you should.
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You know what the Bible says about drunkenness and being controlled by anything or anyone besides the Holy Spirit, but you have your excuses.
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Once again, you know better than God.
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And maybe none of the examples I just listed relate to you, but again, I want to remind all of us that you are not exempt and I am not exempt.
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And I hope and pray that the Holy Spirit is convicting all of us of the ways we try to trick ourselves into believing we can outsmart God.
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How much longer will you try to believe your own lies?
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How much longer will you travel down this destructive path of self-justification?
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What will you have to lose before you realize that your pride will catch up to you?
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Paul offers this loving yet stern warning in Galatians 6-7, "Do not be deceived.
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"God is not mocked.
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"For whatever one sows, that he will also reap." For whatever you're going through, whatever you're struggling with right now, the grace of God is offered to you.
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By God's grace, choose to repent now rather than be caught later.
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By the grace of God, choose to willingly humble yourself now rather than be forcibly humbled later.
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Choose to change now rather than be ashamed later.
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You choose to take God at His word rather than trust your own opinions, which are very often misguided and wrong.
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So let's return to the second question that we must ask ourselves when we question God.
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Am I able to know more than the one who created everything?
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Circle the right answer on your outline.
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Final question to ask myself when I question God.
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Am I wise enough to give advice to the one who directs what I cannot control?
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Am I wise enough to give advice to the one who directs what I cannot control?
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I don't wanna harp on this point too much because that is gonna be the major focus of Pastor Jeff's message next week, I don't wanna step on his toes too much, but I do want to give you a sneak preview of the total control of God in contrast to Job's utter lack of control.
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Let's check out a few more questions from God.
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3834, can you lift up your voice to the clouds that a flood of waters may cover you?
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Job, are you able to boss the clouds around and make them rain?
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What's the answer?
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3835, can you send forth the lightning that they may go and say to you, here we are.
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Job, does the lightning report to you for duty?
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Are you the lightning traffic controller?
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What's the answer?
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We could be here all morning going through every single question, but I wanna wrap up focusing on a few questions that are about God's control of the creatures he has made.
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Chapter 38, verses 39 through 41.
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Can you hunt the prey for the lion or satisfy the appetite of the young lions when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in the thicket?
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Who provides the ravenous prey when its young ones cry to God for help and wander about for lack of food?
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Chapter 39, verses 19 through 20.
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Do you give the horse his might?
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Do you clothe his neck with a mane?
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Do you make him leap like the locust?
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His majestic snorting is terrifying.
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39, 26 through 27, is it by your understanding that the hawk soars and spreads his wings towards the south?
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Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up and makes his nest on high?
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You know, these questions from God about the animal kingdom remind me of a question I've been asking myself as I walked my dog Murdoch around the neighborhood recently.
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Recently I was walking my dog up and down our street and I noticed these signs on every single stop sign and utility pole.
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Apparently there's a lost parent on the loose in Shale named Shio and I have to be on the lookout for it.
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Before I continue on, has anyone seen this bird?
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Anybody, please, somebody.
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Oh, okay, I want to do my neighborly duty at least to ask.
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And I could swear that I heard across from my house, I could have heard him saying, "Hey, hey." But it could have been me making it up, I have no idea.
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But every single time I see this sign, I ask myself the same exact question.
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What would I possibly do if I found this parrot?
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Am I capable of controlling this parrot and making it come to me?
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As I walk Murdoch, I think of all these different scenarios of what I could do.
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I look up parrot calls on YouTube, all walking around with a butterfly net.
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I carry around saltine crackers and sprinkle them on my shoulder, hopefully a little perch there, and run back to my house before it flies away again.
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With each scenario I came up with, I came up short, to be honest.
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The answer to the question of am I capable of controlling this parrot and making it come to me became obvious, no.
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And the same answer goes for God's questions about Job's ability to control all the animals around the world.
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I am not a Pittsburgh aviary worker.
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I am not the parrot whisperer.
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And Job cannot keep every single hungry lion fed.
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He cannot make sure that every single bird is taken care of.
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He can't groom every single horse.
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He can't make sure that every single hawk and eagle can fly.
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In the grand scheme of things, Job cannot do very much.
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His contributions to making the earth function is so negligible that it's laughable.
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It's truly astounding to consider how much God directs and how little we actually control.
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But it's equally shocking how much we try to advise God and give him suggestions.
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Does anyone else ever try to give God advice when they pray?
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All right, me and Candace, we definitely do that.
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Nobody else, I guess.
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Well, me and Cain's will listen to this verse, it'll be really helpful for us.
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Romans 11, 34 to 35.
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For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?
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Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?
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So we're clear on the fact that God does not want or need a counselor.
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So the scenario I'm about to lay out for you is far-fetched, it would never happen, but just use your imaginations, okay?
31:37-31:38
Can you all just humor me for a bit?
31:40-31:44
Imagine if, if I was God's counselor and key advice giver.
31:47-31:48
How would I do at that job?
31:50-31:58
Be honest, come on, we're in church, be honest, okay, I'm getting a thumbs down, okay, calm down, okay, I do bad, but. (laughs) I would do horrible, right?
31:59-32:00
I would make a mess out of everything.
32:01-32:09
When I look at the Bible and see all of God's plans and decisions, I would have advised him in the complete opposite direction.
32:11-32:14
God, are you sure you want to let Satan pick on poor Job so much?
32:14-32:16
Come on, you know that he loves you.
32:16-32:17
Why do you let him go through all this?
32:19-32:22
God, leading the Israelites out of Egypt with Moses?
32:23-32:23
Really?
32:24-32:25
He's a stuttering murderer.
32:25-32:27
There has to be a better choice than him.
32:28-32:30
Or David as the next king of Israel?
32:32-32:33
How about one of his brothers?
32:33-32:34
A little bit more impressive.
32:36-32:37
How about this one?
32:38-32:45
You wanna send your own son to come to this earth to be executed and hung on a cross.
32:45-32:48
There has to be another way to save sinners, right?
32:49-32:49
Wrong.
32:51-32:56
I would be wrong in all accounts, especially when it comes to the death of Jesus Christ.
32:58-33:03
To the fleshly and human mind, the crucifixion of the Son of God makes no sense.
33:04-33:07
to thank the Lord that he does things so much differently than we do.
33:08-33:13
Praise God in heaven that he keeps his own counsel and does not seek advice from anyone.
33:16-33:33
Paul echoes this in 1 Corinthians 1:18, "For the word of the cross is folly "to those who are perishing, "but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God." God does things in ways that seem foolish to us to show off his wisdom.
33:34-33:40
God allowed his son to suffer and die in the way of human weakness so that he could rise again in power.
33:41-33:46
Jesus willingly laid down his own life so that we could live forever and ever and ever.
33:49-34:06
Harvest, if God was right about that which seemed the most foolish to our puny brains, let's trust that God doesn't need our suggestions or advice about the seemingly foolish ways that he is handling our current sufferings.
34:08-34:22
If God could bring the greatest possible good out of the evilest event in human history, we can rest secure that he will bring blessing out of our difficult circumstances that seem like curses right now.
34:25-34:27
So let's circle the answer to the final question or outline this morning.
34:28-34:32
Am I wise enough to give advice to the one who directs what I cannot control?
34:34-34:35
Circle the right answer.
34:38-34:39
All right, pens and pencils down.
34:40-34:41
Test is over.
34:44-34:46
Let's share our answers that we circled throughout the message.
34:47-34:49
Question is to ask myself when I question God.
34:50-34:54
First up, am I qualified to evaluate the one who supervises me?
34:54-34:55
What's the answer?
34:57-34:59
Am I able to know more than the one who created everything?
35:01-35:05
Finally, am I wise enough to give advice to the one who directs what I cannot control?
35:07-35:09
Congratulations, you got every answer right.
35:12-35:14
It's so easy to circle the right answer on a piece of paper, isn't it?
35:17-35:28
It's so easy to shout it out with passion during a worship service, but it's so hard to believe these are the right answers when you're out in the real world getting punched in the face by life.
35:31-35:39
It's hard to remind ourselves of these answers in the heat of frustration and the fog of confusion and the darkness of the grief that we experience.
35:42-35:53
Instead of trying to get God to submit to our questions, let us instead submit to God who has all the right answers to our questions, even though he doesn't often share them with us.
35:55-36:00
As the worship team comes back, please quiet your minds, close your eyes, and bow your heads.
36:03-36:08
You know, every single one of us in this room is questioning God about something or someone.
36:09-36:19
Maybe it's an issue at work, a relational strain, a health issue, a sudden loss of someone you really cared about.
36:22-36:25
Bring that issue to God and lay it before his throne.
36:27-36:29
Worship him for who he is.
36:31-36:33
Thank him for what he is doing.
36:35-36:38
And ask for his help to submit to his plans, no matter what.
36:39-36:40
Take a minute or two to be with the Lord.
36:44-36:48
Father, we all have so many questions.
36:50-36:51
And you have all the answers.
36:54-36:56
But again, you don't always share them with us.
36:56-36:57
You tell us what we need to know.
36:59-37:07
Lord, we've seen what we need to know in your word this morning, that you are sovereign, that you are in control, that you know exactly what you're doing.
37:08-37:11
That you're on the throne of this universe and you are ruling and you are reigning.
37:13-37:16
We lift up every single person in this room who is suffering right now.
37:18-37:20
I pray you'd comfort them with the truth of your word.
37:21-37:25
I pray they would stop believing the lies that they tricked themselves into believing.
37:28-37:33
I pray for those of us in this room who don't have a relationship with Christ.
37:34-37:36
May today be the day of salvation.
37:37-37:46
May today be the day where they finally lay their sins before you and confess Jesus as Savior and Lord to be forgiven of all their sins.
37:48-37:49
Lord, you are good.
37:52-37:53
All that you do is right.
37:54-37:55
Help us to truly believe that.
37:57-37:59
In Jesus' name, amen.

Small Group Discussion
Covering Job 38-39

What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
What does it look like to question God? How do you see yourself questioning God right now?
Go around and share things that you cannot possibly know about this life, this world, and this universe. How should these things that we do not know affect our view of God and ourselves?
Can you think of a time when you tried to advise/counsel God but His plans ended up being way better than your own?

Breakout (men and women separate):
Share how you struggle with a “I know better than God” mentality right now and pray for one another.

Jeff Miller

November 24, 2024

Making Sense of Suffering

Be More THAT Guy

Jeff Miller

November 24, 2024

Making Sense of Suffering

Introduction:

  
    How to Help Sufferers Who Are in a Bad Place
 (Job 32-37):
Deal in Truth . (Job 32-33)
        
        Deal in God's Word, not Man's . 
              
Deal with what is Said , not what you Suppose. 
              
Address their Conduct . (Job 34)
        Point out Worldy behavior. 
              
Point the way Forward . 
          
Ask about their Walk with God. (Job 35)
        Are you Maturely responding to suffering? 
              
Are you crying About God or crying To God? 
          
Leave room for Mystery . (Job 36-37)
        We must be okay with not knowing Everything . 
              
We must Act on what we do know.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

01:13-01:17
Open up those Bibles to the book of Job, chapter 32.
01:20-01:22
While you're turning, I just want to pause for a moment.
01:22-01:30
I'm going to ask that you would please pray for me to clearly and accurately communicate the word of God.
01:31-01:35
And I will pray for you to be ready to receive it.
01:36-01:39
We've got a lot of ground to cover today, but we are going to get through this together.
01:40-01:41
All right, let's pray.
01:46-02:01
Father in heaven, as we turn to your Word, it is your Word that encourages us and challenges us and grows us.
02:01-02:10
And I'm just asking now, Father, that once again, your Word would do your work.
02:11-02:16
So often we have a way of thinking about things that are wrong.
02:19-02:23
And by Your grace, You've corrected wrong thinking with Your Word.
02:24-02:30
So I pray, Father, that there'd be a lot of bad thinking corrected today in all of our lives.
02:31-02:35
Let us tune in, Father, to what You want to teach us.
02:36-02:37
We pray in Jesus' name.
02:37-02:48
And all of God's people said, "Job was a godly and wealthy man.
02:49-03:09
And Satan questioned Job's motives for worshiping God." God permitted Satan to take everything away from Job, including all his wealth and 10 kids.
03:12-03:20
Then when that wasn't good enough for Satan, he was permitted to take Job's health.
03:21-03:23
It was covered with loads and sores.
03:23-03:30
And last week, Pastor Taylor walked us through a giant chunk of scripture, did an amazing job doing it by the way.
03:30-03:40
But we saw Job had three friends who Taylor and I call the three stooges, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar.
03:41-03:45
They showed up to encourage Job.
03:47-03:48
And that didn't go so well.
03:51-04:04
Well, when we get to chapters 32 through 37, we're going to see, it seems like these chapters cover a lot of the same content as chapters three through 31.
04:07-04:08
But there's a big difference.
04:08-04:11
And I get a front load with this, because if we miss this, we'll miss the whole thing.
04:15-04:39
You see, Job's three friends said, "Job, you're suffering because you sinned." And this young man that we're going to talk about today, Elihu says, "No, Job, you are sinning because you are suffering." You see the difference?
04:41-04:52
In other words, the three friends said, "Job, it's your sin that led to your suffering." But we know, because we got a peek behind the curtain, we know that's not true.
04:53-04:57
But Elihu comes along and goes, "No, here's the problem, Job.
04:57-05:02
You are sinfully responding to the suffering that you're experiencing.
05:04-05:10
It's sort of like, imagine you have a bucket, okay?
05:10-05:17
And in this bucket, there's like a handful of dirt, but it's filled with water.
05:18-05:31
Now, if that bucket was just sitting up here, undisturbed, and you walked by and looked at the bucket, you would think that the water was pure, right?
05:31-05:32
You would think the water was clean.
05:34-05:44
But if you picked up that bucket and gave it a little shake, you would agitate that dirt and it would come to the top and you'd be like, oh no, no, no, there's dirt in that bucket.
05:47-05:54
And see, that's what Elihu comes along and is saying to Job, because he's saying your heart is like that bucket.
05:56-06:02
When things are good, when things are calm in our lives, we look pretty clean.
06:03-06:17
But it's when we get agitated, when we experience the stress of suffering, that has a way of kicking the dirt up and revealing that there's still some stuff in our heart that we need to deal with.
06:17-06:20
That's Elihu's point in these chapters.
06:22-06:23
So let's look at verse one.
06:24-06:28
It says in chapter 32, and keep your Bibles open.
06:28-06:32
We're gonna be bouncing, we're not gonna cover all these verses, but we're going to cover several of them.
06:32-06:33
So keep your Bibles open.
06:33-06:35
We're gonna be jumping around, all right?
06:36-06:45
It says, "So these three men ceased to answer Job because he was righteous in his own eyes." So a couple of big problems here.
06:46-06:50
After everything that was discussed in chapters three through 31, we have two problems.
06:50-06:53
After all of that, they got nowhere.
06:55-07:01
And the other problem is after all of that, Job was still self-righteous.
07:03-07:15
Look at verse two, it says, "Then Elihu, the son of Barakal, the Buzite of the family of Rom, burned with anger." So we're gonna, we meet Elihu here.
07:16-07:17
Like, who's he?
07:18-07:25
Well, look at verse two, it says, "He burned with anger at Job because he justified himself rather than God.
07:25-07:34
He burned with anger also at Job's three friends because they had found no answer, although they had declared Job to be in the wrong.
07:35-07:36
So who is Elihu?
07:36-07:38
Well, apparently he's an angry little fella.
07:41-07:42
Just angry at everything.
07:43-07:45
What are you so angry about, Elihu?
07:48-07:50
Because of the problem stated in verse one.
07:51-07:53
Because after all that talk, you got nowhere.
07:53-07:56
Because Job, you're still self-righteous in your own eyes.
07:56-07:57
Look at verse four.
07:57-08:05
Now, Elihu had wanted to speak to Job because they were older than he.
08:06-08:10
Or I'm sorry, he had waited to speak to Job because they were older than he.
08:10-08:16
And when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, he burned with anger.
08:16-08:17
Well, we're not surprised about that.
08:19-08:28
So Elihu was basically, he's like, look, you guys are older than me, so I respectfully waited and didn't interrupt you.
08:30-08:34
But now I have to say some things because there has to be an answer for Job.
08:38-08:44
And what you have in chapters 32 through 37 from Elihu, you have four speeches from him.
08:46-08:50
There's no back and forth, there's no interrupting, There's no objections.
08:51-08:57
Elihu gives compelling rebukes that set the stage for the Lord when he finally speaks to Job.
09:00-09:09
Now, I could spend a year just on these chapters, and I encourage you to go back and read them because there is so much amazing content in here.
09:11-09:19
But like Pastor Taylor last week, really what I want you to do is learn something from the way that Job is being approached.
09:24-09:32
There's a lot of people in this church that are suffering right now that I'm aware of.
09:34-09:43
And I am confident that there are many more people in this church that are suffering, and I have no idea that they even are.
09:44-09:46
And that means, my friends, it's up to you.
09:47-09:49
Friends, it's up to you.
09:49-09:55
Small group, it's up to you to comfort these people around you that are suffering.
09:56-10:14
So the question on the table today is, how do we help sufferers who are either angry at God because of their suffering, and there's no shortage of those people, or they're tempted to get angry with God because of their suffering.
10:16-10:18
So Elihu did a lot of things right.
10:19-10:21
And I just wanna go through these verses.
10:21-10:27
We're gonna fly through, pull out some verses, get a big overview, but I encourage you to read these in depth.
10:27-10:33
But on your outline, how to help sufferers who are in a bad place, all right?
10:35-10:36
Number one, write this down.
10:36-10:41
This is where it has to start, it has to continue, it has to end.
10:41-10:44
Number one, deal in truth.
10:46-10:48
You have to deal in truth.
10:48-10:49
Like, well, what do you mean by that?
10:50-11:00
Well, with these four points on your outline, I'm gonna give you the principle, and then I'm going to show you a couple very practical tips on how to carry out that principle, okay?
11:00-11:01
That's kind of how this outline is structured.
11:01-11:03
So number one, deal in truth.
11:03-11:04
Like, what do you mean?
11:04-11:08
First of all, letter A, deal in God's word, not man's.
11:11-11:13
Look at verses six through eight.
11:14-11:22
It says, "And Elihu, the son of Barakul, the Buzite answered and said, "I am young in years and you are aged.
11:23-11:25
"Therefore I was timid and afraid "to declare my opinion to you.
11:26-11:30
"I said, let days speak and many years teach wisdom.
11:31-11:45
"But it is the spirit in man, "the breath of the Almighty that makes him understand." In other words, what Elihu was saying is you got to deal in God's word, not man's word.
11:47-11:48
This is where it has to start.
11:48-11:52
When you're counseling somebody who's suffering, it has to start here.
11:52-11:54
What is your source of authority?
11:57-12:01
Elihu was saying, you know what, for you guys, you know what your source of authority is?
12:01-12:03
Your age, your experience.
12:03-12:04
You're like, well, we've been around, Job.
12:04-12:05
We know what's going on.
12:05-12:08
Let us tell you, we know some things because of our age.
12:10-12:11
Elihu says, "No, no, no, no.
12:11-12:16
"For me, my source of authority is what does God say?" Jump down, look at verse 15.
12:17-12:26
He says about the three stooges, the three amigos, he says, three blind mice, whatever you wanna call them, he says, "They are dismayed.
12:27-12:28
"They answer no more.
12:30-12:38
"They have not a word to say." Elihu's saying, "You guys have nothing to offer Job.
12:39-12:41
All your counsel got nowhere.
12:43-12:45
I do a lot of counseling as a pastor.
12:47-12:51
And do you know who are the hardest people to counsel?
12:52-13:02
You know, the hardest people to counsel are people who are also seeing a secular therapist.
13:07-13:09
That's what the three stooges were to Job.
13:10-13:11
They were like three secular therapists.
13:14-13:16
But they're the hardest people to counsel.
13:17-13:25
I remember a couple of years back, I'm counseling a couple and the woman was also seeing a secular therapist at the time.
13:25-13:27
And I'm trying to counsel him from the word of God.
13:27-13:29
And she says, "You know what, Pastor Jeff?
13:29-13:41
"My therapist told me that I just need to learn "how to forgive myself." And I said, "With all due respect, that's not a thing." And her eyes got huge.
13:41-13:47
She goes, "It's not?" I said, "You need forgiveness from God," which he provided through Jesus Christ.
13:47-13:52
"You need forgiveness from any others that you wronged and you need to make restitution to.
13:52-13:55
But what is this idea of I need to forgive myself?
13:56-13:58
It's not a thing." Look down at verse 21.
14:00-14:06
Elihu goes on, he goes, "I will not show partiality to any man or use flattery toward any person.
14:08-14:18
And all I hear is saying, "Look, Job, I'm gonna say some things, "but I'm not going to fall into the trap "that many bad counselors fall into." And that's people pleasing.
14:20-14:21
Do you see that?
14:21-14:23
Showing partiality, using flattery.
14:24-14:26
That's a lot of really bad counseling.
14:28-14:30
And you see that in a lot of secular counseling.
14:30-14:38
Now, I'm not saying every secular therapist the devil, I'm not saying that, just a lot of them.
14:41-14:55
But it's this idea, you go to see this therapist, and usually it's because you are like Job, you're sinfully responding to suffering, and the therapist tells you, "Look, it's not your fault.
14:56-15:05
"It's not your fault, it's your dad's fault, "it's your boss's fault, it's your cat's fault, that's somebody's fault, but it's not your fault.
15:06-15:07
That'll be $200.
15:10-15:15
Look, I don't mean this harshly, but we're dealing in truth.
15:17-15:25
At some point, you have to take responsibility for how you're responding to what's happening to you.
15:29-15:30
So forget the psychobabble nonsense.
15:32-15:40
You've got to get to where Elihu got, and that is, "What does God say?" Letter B, how do we deal in truth?
15:41-15:42
This is also key.
15:42-15:45
Deal with what is said, not what you suppose.
15:46-15:48
That's something else Elihu did very well.
15:49-15:51
Deal with what is said, not what you suppose.
15:52-15:56
Look at chapter 3, look at verses 8 through 11 in chapter 3 where he talks about this.
15:57-16:04
Elihu says, "Surely," he's talking to Job, "Surely you have spoken in my ears, and I have heard the sound of your words.
16:06-16:07
You say," you see what he's doing?
16:11-16:14
He says, "You say, 'I am pure without transgressions.
16:14-16:14
I am clean.
16:14-16:15
There is no iniquity in me.
16:16-16:19
Behold, he finds occasions against me.
16:19-16:20
He counts me as his enemy.
16:21-16:39
He puts my feet in the stalks and watches all my paths." So Elihu here summarizes Job's position, but I want you to see very clearly what he did was Elihu addressed Job's words.
16:42-16:47
Elihu didn't blindly accuse Job like the three stooges did.
16:49-16:55
Elihu says, "Job, look, my response is based on what you said.
16:57-17:05
"And what you said," this is a paraphrase, "but Job, what you're saying is, look, I'm sinless "and God's out to get me "and he won't tell me what his problem is with me.
17:05-17:07
"That's what you said, Job.
17:07-17:10
"That's what I'm going to address." Do you see the difference?
17:13-17:16
That's why when people come to me for counseling, I take a lot of notes.
17:17-17:18
I'm constantly writing things down.
17:18-17:18
Why?
17:20-17:23
Because I don't wanna jump to some wild conclusion.
17:23-17:27
I want to address what they actually say.
17:29-17:33
That's why I wanna sit down with them and say, okay, I need some clarification here.
17:34-17:46
Now, earlier you said this by saying that, did you mean, or earlier you made this statement, can you explain to me exactly what you meant by that statement?
17:46-17:51
You see, I'm not dealing with sins that I'm supposing they might have had.
17:55-17:58
Like Elihu, I need to deal with the sins that I'm witnessing.
17:58-17:59
We're dealing in truth.
18:03-18:04
That's what Elihu did.
18:04-18:08
He addressed what Job said.
18:10-18:12
Oh, and by the way, do you know what he said about what Job said?
18:13-18:16
Elihu goes, "Job, you said God is silent.
18:18-18:19
"You're wrong about that.
18:21-18:24
"God does speak." You can read verses 14 through 30.
18:24-18:26
We're not gonna do that right now.
18:27-18:33
But Elihu says, "God does speak." And Job, one of the ways that God speaks is through suffering.
18:37-18:56
Like Job, like Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, In our church, we fall into the same wrong mindset that we think suffering, anytime we suffer, it's either God's punishing us for something or God has abandoned us.
18:59-19:00
And it's not true.
19:01-19:11
And in these verses, you'll see Elihu says, "You know what, Job, sometimes God allows suffering "in your life in order to prevent pride." Ask Paul about that, 2 Corinthians 12.
19:13-19:14
Elihu says, "You know what, Job?
19:15-19:22
"Sometimes God allows suffering "because somehow He uses that to rescue you." He says that in verse 18.
19:24-19:25
But the big picture here is this.
19:25-19:29
Elihu was concerned that God was being misrepresented.
19:30-19:38
All these people saying, "All these things were God." He goes, "No, that's not who God is, "and that's not who He works, "and I'm not gonna sit here and listen "to God being misrepresented.
19:39-19:40
"I'm not listening to that.
19:40-19:41
I'm gonna correct that.
19:43-19:54
So I encourage you when you're encountering somebody who is suffering, and they're angry, they're blaming God, take a page from Elihu.
19:57-19:59
Like, what does God say about that?
20:01-20:08
And don't deal with your assumptions about why you think they might be suffering, deal with the facts on how they're responding to it.
20:08-20:12
All right, so how to help sufferers who are in a bad place.
20:12-20:14
Number one, you gotta deal in truth.
20:15-20:20
Number two, write this down, address their conduct.
20:21-20:23
Address their conduct.
20:27-20:29
That's chapter 34.
20:30-20:32
Address their conduct, what do I mean by that?
20:34-20:35
Don't dismiss their feelings.
20:37-20:38
We've talked about that before.
20:38-20:42
So many times people say to me, well, Pastor Jeff, I feel like this, but I know what's wrong to feel like that.
20:42-20:44
Feelings aren't right or wrong.
20:44-20:45
Feelings are feelings.
20:45-20:47
You can't help how you feel about something.
20:47-20:50
The question is, what are you thinking that's making you feel that way?
20:51-20:52
But feelings aren't right or wrong.
20:52-20:55
So don't dismiss their feelings.
20:56-20:57
Also, don't assume motives.
20:58-21:02
That's, when the Bible says don't judge, that's what it's talking about, by the way.
21:03-21:04
God says don't assume people's motives.
21:06-21:20
What we are called to do, what we are commanded to do, and really the only thing we can do, is address conduct, actions, attitudes, and like Elihu with Job, addressing words.
21:23-21:35
If someone's responding poorly to suffering, if somebody is sinning in the way they're responding to suffering, you need to remind them how God's people act.
21:37-21:40
This is not how God's people act.
21:42-21:44
They're like, well, hang on, Pastor Jeff, hang on.
21:44-21:54
What if the person that I'm trying to help, who is sinfully responding to suffering, what if that person's not a Christian?
21:56-21:58
You're like, what should I tell them then?
22:01-22:03
What should you tell somebody who's not a Christian?
22:06-22:07
Any ideas?
22:10-22:12
Yeah, how about that Randy? How to become one?
22:13-22:14
How about share the gospel with them?
22:15-22:22
Because here's the thing, no amount of biblical counsel you give them is going to do any good because the things of God are spiritually discerned.
22:23-22:30
You can't hold non-Christians to a biblical standard because they don't have the knowledge and they don't have the tools to carry it out.
22:30-22:31
They don't have the Holy Spirit.
22:31-22:38
So when somebody comes to me for counseling and they're not a Christian, there's only one thing that I talk to them about.
22:38-22:42
How to come into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
22:43-22:47
And until we get there, I've told people, I'm like, I can't help you until you get there.
22:51-23:02
But if you're dealing with a Christian, you need to lovingly, lovingly point out their sin and lovingly show them that they know better.
23:03-23:05
You're like, well, how do we do that?
23:06-23:07
Well, let's see what Elihu did.
23:07-23:11
Letter A, point out worldly behavior.
23:14-23:15
Point out worldly behavior.
23:16-23:17
Look at verses seven through nine, where are we?
23:17-23:18
Chapter 34.
23:20-23:22
Point out worldly behavior.
23:22-23:31
If you're dealing with a Christian, if you're dealing with somebody that says they know God, but they're not acting like it, Look, you have to lovingly point that out.
23:32-23:33
Look at verses seven through nine.
23:34-23:43
He says, Elihu says, "What man is like Job, "who drinks up scoffing like water, "who travels in company with evildoers "and walks with wicked men?
23:43-23:56
"For he has said, 'It profits a man nothing "'that he should take delight in God.'" Elihu says, "Job, you're making mockery of God your diet.
23:58-24:01
"You are just drinking that up.
24:03-24:29
"You're listening," he says, "Job, you're listening to worldly people "and you're adopting their mindsets." And Elihu here is saying, "Job, you're talking like somebody that doesn't know God." Job is so, the book of Job is so interesting to read Because the first couple chapters, remember the first couple chapters?
24:29-24:33
He suffered worse than just about anybody.
24:39-24:41
And your heart kind of breaks for the guy.
24:42-24:50
But then you get to these long stretches where he talks about God so irreverently.
24:51-24:55
It's just that some of the things he says quite frankly, pretty disgusting.
24:59-25:05
But what I'll allow you here is saying, "Job, hey, hey, hey, you don't get a pass, dude.
25:07-25:17
"Suffering doesn't allow you to be irreverent towards God." So you need to knock that mentality off now.
25:18-25:22
You don't get a pass to be rude towards your God.
25:23-25:28
So point out the worldly behavior, but you've got to do this, letter B, point the way forward.
25:30-25:31
Point the way forward.
25:32-25:39
Yes, when somebody comes to you and they're sinfully responding to self-suffering, yes, the first thing you need to do is listen.
25:40-25:42
Yes, absolutely, you need to care.
25:43-25:46
But you have to lovingly show them the path forward.
25:48-25:53
It's not enough to just identify sinful behavior.
25:55-26:18
You know, if somebody is responding to their suffering in a sinful way and they come to you and you're like, "Hey, you're wrong," and thinking about God like that and talking to God like that, and then you're done, you've only done half your job.
26:23-26:26
You have to walk them through what repentance looks like.
26:27-26:28
Okay?
26:30-26:31
And that's exactly what Elihu did.
26:31-26:33
Look at verses 31 and 32.
26:35-26:39
He says, "For as anyone said to God, 'I have borne punishment.
26:39-26:41
I will not offend anymore.
26:42-26:44
Teach me what I do not see.
26:44-26:54
If I have done iniquity, I will do it no more.'" "verses give you the ingredients for repentance." That's what Elihu did.
26:54-26:58
He goes, "Look, Job, the first thing you need to do "is say, you know, I've sinned.
26:58-27:04
"I have offended a holy God." Has to start there.
27:04-27:08
He goes, "Second, show me my blind spots." That's repentance.
27:09-27:15
"God, show me, please, if I have blind spots, "if I'm sinning and I don't even realize it, "you need to call me out on that.
27:15-27:20
"Show me my blind spots." And the third ingredient of repentance he gives, He goes, "I'll stop.
27:21-27:31
"I'm gonna stop doing the thing that dishonors God." Help them to replace their sin with a godly behavior.
27:31-27:33
That's what repentance looks like scripturally.
27:35-27:38
Pray with them, check in on them, send them a text.
27:38-27:39
How are we doing?
27:39-27:40
Did you think some more about what we talked about?
27:43-27:50
But remind them, look, when we're talking about suffering, We can't change the past.
27:54-28:00
And I so badly wish that I could undo the suffering that some of you have experienced.
28:01-28:01
I wish I could do that.
28:03-28:04
I wish I could just take that away from you.
28:04-28:06
I can't do that.
28:11-28:18
There's only one thing that we can do when we suffer, and that's move forward in a Christ-honoring way.
28:19-28:20
It's all we can do.
28:23-28:29
Thirdly, how do you counsel somebody who is sinfully responding to suffering?
28:30-28:30
They're in a bad place.
28:31-28:34
The third thing you need to do is ask about their walk with God.
28:37-28:39
Ask about their walk with God.
28:39-28:41
How's your walk with God right now?
28:45-28:56
You see, Job worshiped God because God is worthy of worship, and Job proved that back when.
28:59-29:04
And you get to this point in Job and you see that his suffering kind of sidelined his walk.
29:05-29:07
Look at chapter 35, excuse me.
29:07-29:09
Look at verse 3.
29:13-29:18
He says, "Job, you ask, what advantage have I?
29:19-29:30
How am I better off than if I had sinned?" Elihu's saying, "Job, you asked, why be good?
29:31-29:41
If I'm gonna suffer anyways, if I'm gonna suffer as if I've sinned and God's punishing me, then why bother being good?
29:41-29:44
Why bother trying if I'm just gonna suffer anyways?
29:47-29:49
Ask him about their walk with God.
29:51-29:51
Ask what?
29:52-29:54
Well, according to Elihu, here's a good place to start.
29:54-29:56
Ask letter A, are you maturely responding to suffering?
29:58-30:00
Are you maturely responding to suffering?
30:01-30:02
Look at verse five.
30:06-30:07
I love these verses.
30:07-30:12
He says, "Look at the heavens and sea, "And behold the clouds which are higher than you.
30:12-30:18
"If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against him?" Meaning against God.
30:19-30:23
He goes, "And if your transgressions are multiplied, "what do you do to him?
30:24-30:27
"If you are righteous, what do you give to him?
30:27-30:33
"Or what does he receive from your hand?" Do you see what he's saying?
30:36-30:38
First of all, let me tell you what he's not saying.
30:39-30:41
He's not saying, "Oh, you know what, Job?
30:41-30:44
"The way we live doesn't really matter." He's not saying that.
30:44-30:53
What he is saying is, "Look, Job, "you get no leverage with God by the way you act.
30:54-31:12
"Understand that." What he's saying is, "Your sin is not going to damage God." And the other side of the coin, Job, Your righteousness is not going to put God in your debt.
31:17-31:20
Elihu here is calling Job out on his immaturity.
31:23-31:33
Basically saying, "Oh, you think you're gonna teach God "a lesson by this attitude, really?" You're like, "Who does that?" Like, a lot of people do that.
31:35-31:41
that you're suffering, and somehow in your mind, you think you're gonna teach God a lesson.
31:41-31:43
I'll show him, and you're gonna sin.
31:45-31:47
All right, fine, God, you're gonna allow me to suffer?
31:47-31:49
I'm just gonna start drinking again.
31:52-31:54
Oh, okay, God, you're gonna allow me to suffer?
31:55-32:08
Well, I'm gonna go back to that lustful relationship I was involved with that I repented from, but I'm just, I'm gonna call her up again If you're just going to allow me to suffer this way, God, your way, your way didn't get me anywhere.
32:08-32:10
So I'm going to do things my way.
32:11-32:12
I'll show you.
32:16-32:22
It's as if as if God is in heaven responding to that crying in a corner.
32:22-32:23
Oh, no.
32:24-32:25
What am I going to do?
32:25-32:26
He's sending.
32:28-32:29
Cancel Christmas.
32:32-32:33
What am I going to do?
32:34-32:36
I can't believe he's sinning.
32:39-32:40
You see how immature that is?
32:43-32:46
Fine, God, I'm just going to...
32:48-32:49
God doesn't need to change.
32:51-32:52
You and I need to change.
32:56-32:57
Has God disappointed you?
33:00-33:02
I'm not going to ask for a show of hands.
33:05-33:06
Has God ever disappointed you?
33:11-33:13
Well, I need to remind you that He's not a vending machine.
33:15-33:19
He is an infinitely wise and loving Father.
33:25-33:30
And He's going to see to it that your suffering is ultimately going to be a blessing.
33:34-33:39
And if you're mature, you're going to receive it that way.
33:41-33:43
That's why Elihu calls out this immature mindset.
33:45-33:47
Ask about their walk with God, let her be.
33:48-33:49
This is so huge.
33:50-33:51
This is so huge.
33:51-33:54
Look, if you tuned out at all at any point, tune back in.
33:56-34:04
Because concerning your walk with God and your suffering, this hits us all right between the eyes, letter B. Are you crying about God or are you crying to God?
34:05-34:06
Look at verse 13.
34:08-34:19
He says, "Surely God does not hear an empty cry, nor does the Almighty regard it." You read the context, you get what he's saying.
34:19-34:24
If you read the context here, what Elihu was saying is, "Look, Joe, hey, hey, people are suffering everywhere, have you noticed?
34:25-34:33
Everybody's suffering with something." The problem is people aren't crying out to God in prayer.
34:34-34:38
The problem is people are just crying.
34:41-34:43
It's like this.
34:45-35:00
Imagine there's this dad, He's got a little eight -year-old son that goes, "Dad, I want a social media account." And dad says, "Son, no.
35:03-35:08
"No, you're not getting a social media account." Now, parents, get this.
35:10-35:11
It can be a dangerous place for kids.
35:13-35:14
There's a lot of predators online.
35:17-35:20
And it can be used as a means of trafficking.
35:22-35:24
And dad doesn't want to expose his eight-year-old son to this.
35:25-35:29
Dad knows he's too young, he's too immature, and he's too vulnerable.
35:30-35:33
So no, you're not having a social media account, son.
35:34-35:35
So what does the eight-year-old do?
35:36-35:37
He goes to his friends.
35:37-35:39
Dad won't let me have a social media account.
35:39-35:40
I don't understand why.
35:40-35:42
Dad won't let me have a social media account.
35:42-35:43
I'm so mad at my dad.
35:43-35:44
I want this social...
35:44-35:47
I say social media, what are we talking about here?
35:47-35:48
What's the popular one now?
35:50-35:52
What's the popular social media account?
35:52-35:54
I'm so proud of you for not knowing.
35:57-36:03
Facebook, TikToks or whatever, and your Instagrammas or whatever it's called.
36:05-36:09
But the kid's like with his friends, and he's like, "Dad, Dad's so mean.
36:09-36:12
"Dad won't let me have a TikTok account.
36:12-36:13
"I can't believe it, I'm so mad.
36:13-36:16
I just, I don't know why dad's doing this to me.
36:16-36:17
My dad's so mean.
36:20-36:20
That was Job.
36:24-36:30
Do you think, like, you could grab that kid for a second and hey, did you talk to your dad about why?
36:32-36:41
At any point in your bellyaching to your friends, did you ever think to go to your dad and say, dad, you don't want me to have a social media account, will you tell me why?
36:41-36:45
You don't think the dad would sit down and say, "Son, let me explain some things to you.
36:45-36:52
"There are a lot of really dangerous people out there, "and I love you so much, "and it's my job to protect you right now." So the answer's no.
36:53-36:56
Someday later, yes, but right now you're too young.
36:57-36:59
You don't think dad would have explained that?
36:59-37:04
But the kid never went to dad asking because the kid was too busy bellyaching.
37:05-37:07
And church, we are just like that.
37:10-37:11
We are just like that.
37:14-37:23
Have you tried, sufferer, with whatever you're suffering with, have you tried really asking God about it?
37:26-37:29
Or have you just been complaining to your friends about it?
37:34-37:38
Whatever suffering you're going through right now, I just want to ask you, who have you been talking to about it?
37:41-37:48
Honestly, have you spent more time talking to God about it, or have you spent more time complaining to people about it?
37:49-37:49
Which one?
37:50-37:52
That's what Elihu's pointing out here.
37:54-37:58
Do you think maybe you'd get some answers if you said, "You know what?
37:58-38:08
I'm not talking to anybody about this but God, and I'm going to enter a season of fasting and prayer and intentionally going after God and His Word.
38:08-38:18
I'm gonna enter a season where I'm seeking nothing but God's face and asking Him why I'm enduring this and seeking comfort to endure this.
38:22-38:25
Do you think maybe you'd be in a better place spiritually if you did that?
38:28-38:29
I think so.
38:33-38:34
And finally, number four.
38:38-38:42
How do I, what's the heading on the outline?
38:42-38:43
I can't even remember.
38:44-38:45
I think I wrote the thing.
38:45-38:48
Oh, okay, how to help sufferers rid of bad plays.
38:52-38:55
It's been a long 49 years.
38:59-39:01
How to help sufferers rid of bad plays.
39:01-39:04
Number four, leave room for mystery.
39:07-39:08
Leave room for mystery.
39:11-39:15
This is something else that Elihu was so great about.
39:17-39:19
This is in chapters 36 and 37.
39:20-39:21
Two things here.
39:22-39:24
Letter A, we must be okay with not knowing everything.
39:26-39:28
Look at verse two.
39:30-39:34
Elihu says, "Bear with me a little while "and I will show you." This is chapter 36, verse two.
39:34-39:35
Did I say that?
39:35-39:39
Bear with me a little, and I will show you.
39:41-39:44
I have yet something to say on God's behalf.
39:46-39:49
You're like, well, what is it that he wants to say on God's behalf?
39:49-39:50
Well, look down at verse 26.
39:52-39:54
It's a theme, it's a theme.
39:54-39:58
Look at verse 26, he says, "Behold, God is great, "and we know him not.
40:00-40:04
"The number of his years is unsearchable, It's unsearchable.
40:05-40:07
Jump to chapter 37, verse five.
40:08-40:08
There's a theme.
40:10-40:12
God thunders wondrously with his voice.
40:12-40:15
He does great things that we cannot comprehend.
40:16-40:19
There's a theme, look down at chapter 37, verse 23.
40:19-40:21
The Almighty, we cannot find him.
40:22-40:25
He is great in power, justice, and abundant righteousness.
40:26-40:27
He will not violate.
40:27-40:29
Do you see what he's saying over and over?
40:29-40:30
He keeps going back to this.
40:31-40:40
goes, "Hey, hey Job, God is way bigger "than we can understand." And here's the truth, my friends.
40:41-40:52
Even if, even if God did explain everything to you, you wouldn't be able to process it.
40:55-40:56
You know what I mean?
40:58-41:06
It's sort of like friends I have in the church that do something computer for a living.
41:07-41:10
You know, those of you guys that your job has something to do with computers.
41:11-41:12
I'm just gonna be honest with you.
41:12-41:15
I'll publicly confess this now.
41:16-41:19
Even when you explain to me what you do, I have no idea what you do.
41:21-41:22
It's happened to me so many times.
41:22-41:24
I'm like, hey, tell me what your work day looks like.
41:24-41:27
And one of these computer guys is telling me, and she's like, whew.
41:28-41:31
I'm like, wow, I went to Bible college because I only had to buy one book.
41:35-41:40
Like that thing that you got going on, I have no idea what you're saying, was like what do you do?
41:40-41:43
And then they tell me, I'm like, I'm sorry, was that English?
41:43-41:46
Like what does that even mean?
41:51-41:52
And you know God's like that.
41:53-42:02
Even if God could explain to you "Everything that's going on, "why he's allowing this suffering in your life." I'm not sure that we'd be able to process that.
42:05-42:14
I can't explain why God is allowing you to suffer right now any more than my dog could explain why we go to the vet.
42:16-42:22
But I get the same advice for you as I do for the dog.
42:26-42:28
Just be okay with not knowing everything, all right?
42:28-42:34
How about you trust the one in charge, who loves you and promised to take care of you?
42:36-42:38
We must be okay with not knowing everything.
42:38-42:38
One more.
42:41-42:43
Letter B, we must act on what we do know.
42:44-42:47
Leave room for mystery, yes, but, but, but, we must act on what we do know.
42:49-42:58
Look at chapter 36, verse five, he says, Behold, God is mighty and does not despise any.
42:58-43:01
He is mighty in strength of understanding.
43:01-43:02
Jump down to verse 10.
43:03-43:08
He opens their ears to instruction and commands that they return from iniquity.
43:09-43:12
A lot of you here is saying, here's some things we do know, Job.
43:13-43:14
God is powerful.
43:14-43:15
He loves you.
43:15-43:16
He knows everything.
43:16-43:20
He wants to teach you some things and he wants you to turn from your sin.
43:21-43:22
Do you understand that?
43:23-43:25
"Yeah, yeah, we understand that.
43:26-43:42
"Okay, well that means I can act on that." In chapter 36, we're not gonna read these verses, but chapter 36, verses 29 through 33, Elihu talks about a thunderstorm.
43:43-43:56
And he says, "Thunderstorms bring destruction "and they bring blessing at the same time." And you think about it, if you've ever sat and watch the storm, it looks out of control, doesn't it?
43:56-44:01
The wind, the lightning, the heavy rain, it looks like everything's out of control.
44:04-44:06
But it's that storm that brings growth.
44:10-44:20
So let me ask you, is it possible that something can look out of control, but still accomplish a purpose?
44:24-44:55
Remember way back in chapter one when Job lost his wealth, when Job lost his children, we saw that Job responded to that by saying, "God doesn't do anything empty." Job said, "God has a purpose for everything." Is it possible that God knows something you don't?
44:57-45:08
And the suffering that He is allowing into your life right now is to accomplish a purpose that couldn't be accomplished any other way.
45:10-45:10
Is that possible?
45:16-45:19
Once again, we have to think of the chaos of the cross, don't we?
45:22-45:23
See, that's an advantage we have.
45:23-45:27
The Job, the three stooges, and Elihu, they didn't have this.
45:27-45:31
But we live on the other side of history, of the cross of Jesus Christ.
45:31-45:36
That's the ultimate example of something that looked like chaos that had a mighty purpose.
45:36-45:48
Here's the sinless, perfect Son of God who was just teaching people about righteousness, about heaven, about how to sincerely follow the Lord.
45:51-45:57
And they trumped up a bunch of bogus charges so that they could publicly humiliate him and beat him and execute him.
45:58-46:03
And the disciples, they scattered, all of them, but John, they scattered.
46:07-46:21
And I imagine if we were standing at the foot of the cross on that day Christ was crucified, we would be so tempted to think, this is such an out of control mess.
46:22-46:26
How could God possibly allow this to happen?
46:29-46:41
But once again, we have to land here, my friends, just because I don't understand right this moment what God's doing, doesn't mean that God is unjust.
46:44-46:48
I'd like you to bow your heads as the worship team makes their way back forward.
46:49-46:50
And we're going to worship.
46:54-46:55
Bow your heads.
46:56-47:04
You're going to be encountering somebody probably today, if not sometime in the next couple of days that is experiencing suffering and they are in a bad place.
47:08-47:15
Pastor Taylor showed us last week, there's a lot of ungodly ways that we could handle that.
47:17-47:27
But Elihu in these chapters shows us there is a way that you can exalt Jesus Christ in a way that you counsel people.
47:29-47:36
The Father in heaven, I wanna pray for those right now.
47:39-47:42
who are going to have audience with somebody who is suffering.
47:45-47:46
And I thank you God.
47:47-47:49
Elihu's counsel wasn't perfect.
47:49-47:51
There ever only was one perfect person on this planet.
47:53-47:54
That was you in the flesh.
47:57-48:03
But Elihu really does teach us a lot of amazing principles that we need to get back to.
48:04-48:10
if we're going to exalt you in the way that we encourage others.
48:13-48:17
So Father, we thank you that you are powerful.
48:18-48:21
Father, we thank you that your ways are unsearchable.
48:21-48:29
And I pray, Father, you would give us hearts of faith that are able to hold onto that when nothing else makes sense.
48:30-48:33
We pray in Jesus' name, amen.

Small Group Discussion
Covering Job 32-37

What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
Read Job 32:1-5. Why was Elihu so angry? What was the root cause of his anger?
Read Job 32:21-22. How do people show partiality and use flattery when they counsel? Why did Elihu refuse to do this?
Read Job 34:7-9. How can you point out someone’s sinful behavior in a straightforward, but tactful, way?
Read Job 36:26, 37:5, and 37:23. How would you communicate the truth that “we can’t understand everything God is doing” in an effective way to someone who is hurting?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

Taylor Brown

November 17, 2024

Making Sense of Suffering

Don’t Be THAT Guy

Taylor Brown

November 17, 2024

Making Sense of Suffering

Introduction:

How to Figure Out if You're Being THAT Guy:

Do You Fail to Recognize that You Have Blind spots ?
Job 42:7 - "My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has."

Job 42:8 - "For you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has."
1. By assuming God's Plan and People's Motives .
  Read more: Job 5:27, Job 15:9-10, Job 13:7
  
  1 Samuel 16:7 - "For the LORD sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart."
2. By having Unbiblical and Unhelpful Convictions.
  Read more Job 4:7-9, Job 8:4
  
  Job 11:6 - "Know then that God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves."
  
  Job 4:7 - "Remember: who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cut off?"
  
  2 Corinthians 5:21 - For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
  
  1 John 3:5 - You know that He appeared in order to take away sins, and in Him there is no sin.
  
  1 Peter 3:18 - For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God.
Do You Mean Well but Fail to Cmfort Well .
1. By talking Way Too Much .
  Read more: Job 16:2-3, Job 13:5
2. By saying the Wrong Thing at the Wrong Time.
3. By saying the Right Thing in the Wrong Way.
  Read more Job 6:14
  
  Isaiah 42:2-3 - He will not cry aloud or lift up His voice or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed He will not break, and a faintly burning wick He will not quench.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

01:12-01:15
All right, so you can turn your Bibles to the book of Job chapter 3.
01:15-01:16
Chapter 3.
01:18-01:23
You know, growing up, my friends and I would pour over the Guinness Book of World Records in the school library.
01:23-01:26
Did anybody else love reading those massive books?
01:27-01:27
Very few of you.
01:28-01:29
Very few of you are weird like me.
01:30-01:35
We would be amazed by the sometimes cool and gross accomplishments that people could do.
01:35-01:37
The amazing things that people were capable of.
01:38-01:43
and we daydreamed of how we could get into the Guinness Book of World Records.
01:44-01:48
Well, it took me 34 years, I'm about to break a record.
01:49-01:55
I'm about to make harvest and personal history this morning, and you're all here to witness it.
01:55-01:56
Aren't you so excited?
01:58-02:14
All right, typically, we preach several verses, maybe even a chapter if we're feeling brave, but my assigned task this morning is to cover 29 chapters in the book of Job as we continue our latest series, Making Sense of Suffering.
02:15-02:17
I know the Steelers are playing at 1 p.m.
02:17-02:21
I really hope you weren't planning on watching that because we're gonna be really busy.
02:22-02:25
You better crack your knuckles and do your stretches 'cause we're about to get after it.
02:26-02:34
All right, before you start getting claustrophobic and looking for the nearest exit, I cannot possibly cover 724 verses in one sermon.
02:35-02:40
I mean, I can try it if you want me to, but I'm probably gonna do the overview aspect instead.
02:40-02:43
Who wants the overview sermon instead of the verse-by-verse sermon?
02:44-02:46
I don't know, some people seem to want the verse-by-verse sermon.
02:46-02:47
Well, I didn't prepare for that.
02:47-02:51
I wasn't expecting that answer, so we're gonna go with the overview approach instead.
02:52-02:54
So let's stop to ask God for his help.
02:55-03:04
Please pray for me that I will faithfully proclaim the truth of God's word, and I will pray for you that you faithfully receive and submit the truth of God's word.
03:05-03:05
Let's pray.
03:07-03:15
Father, we come to you and we thank you once again for this awesome opportunity to gather as your people, to worship you and to hear your word.
03:16-03:22
Father, I pray that you would preach a much better sermon this morning in our hearts than I ever could with my mouth.
03:22-03:27
Lord, I pray that you would comfort us, you would challenge us, Lord, you would encourage us and you would build us up.
03:28-03:36
We thank you that you watch over your word to perform it and that when your word goes out, it will accomplish the purpose for which you sent it.
03:37-03:43
We thank you in advance for what you are going to do, and we ask all these things in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, amen.
03:44-03:48
So last week, we left Job at his lowest moment.
03:49-03:59
Everything has been taken away from him, and he is left in the town dump, scratching himself with pottery as he is covered in sores.
04:00-04:07
At the end of chapter two, Job's three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, show up on the scene to comfort their suffering friend.
04:09-04:15
And we're told that they sit with him for a week straight in silence, not saying a single word.
04:16-04:17
That's a great decision.
04:18-04:23
They weep loudly, they cover themselves with dust, and they rip their clothes.
04:25-04:31
Job then breaks the ice by opening up about the deep despair that he is experiencing on the inside.
04:32-04:41
And then the seven day wisdom streak comes to a crashing halt as these guys open up their mouths to give their takes on Job's suffering.
04:42-04:54
The main reason we are covering such a large chunk of chapters in one sermon is due to the fact that most of these verses are filled with unhelpful advice from Job's three friends.
04:55-05:01
And you may be thinking, how can we be so sure that their advice is unhelpful?
05:02-05:07
Well, they do say some true and right things, but very often they share half truths.
05:07-05:11
And we have to understand that half truths are whole lies.
05:12-05:18
But we can be 100% certain this morning that their advice is unhelpful because the Bible tells us so.
05:18-05:21
I love it when God makes it so easy for us.
05:21-05:30
Quick spoiler, as we jump ahead in the story for a minute, God gives Eliphaz a Dutch uncle talk at the very end of Job in chapter 42, verse seven.
05:30-05:43
He says, "My anger burns against you "and against your two friends, "for you have not spoken to me what is right "as my servant Job has." Could God be any clearer that these guys messed up big time?
05:44-05:48
Instead of helping their hurting friend, they pour salt into his wounds.
05:49-05:58
And God then commands these bad friends to go and make a burnt offering for their sinful words and to have Job pray for them.
05:59-06:03
And God then once again repeats why they must repent in verse eight.
06:04-06:09
For you have not spoken of me what is right as my servant Job has.
06:10-06:13
God hates it when you take words out of his mouth.
06:15-06:18
God hates it when you put words into his mouth.
06:18-06:26
God is not pleased when you give bad counsel when you cause a sufferer to experience even more suffering.
06:28-06:30
Here's another preaching verse for me this morning.
06:31-06:32
I'm not really gonna tell you what to do.
06:33-06:41
And before you start getting really excited saying, oh, this is gonna be a nice, comfortable, fluffy message, well, remember, we're in the book of Job, so light and fluffy isn't really listed on the menu.
06:43-06:45
Sure, I promise I'm not really gonna tell you what to do this morning.
06:45-06:48
Instead, we're gonna focus on what you should never do.
06:49-07:00
Pastor Jeff's gonna pick up the baton for me next week we're gonna focus on the positive command of do this, but this morning we're gonna zero in on the negative command of don't do that.
07:02-07:05
When it comes to helping sufferers, I don't want you to be like Job's friends.
07:06-07:15
You don't wanna be that guy or that girl who makes things worse and not better for those that you love who are struggling.
07:16-07:23
But the problem is none of us this morning think or that guy, or that gal, as my dad would say.
07:24-07:27
We all think that we're doing just fine in this area of life.
07:27-07:35
We all think we're super comforting, super understanding, really loving, Taylor, everybody else in this room probably needs to hear it, but I'm doing great.
07:37-07:38
Are you sure about that?
07:39-07:46
Is it possible that you're misjudging your own heart and giving yourself way too much credit?
07:47-07:53
Is it possible that you need more help with helping than you realize?
07:54-08:02
So for the rest of this message, please choose to be brutally honest with yourself as you figure out if you're being that guy or that girl.
08:04-08:07
So our outline for this morning, how to figure out if you're being that guy.
08:08-08:13
And the first question we're gonna ask is, do you fail to recognize that you have blind spots?
08:14-08:18
Do you fail to recognize that you have blind spots?
08:20-08:24
And these 29 chapters follow a very similar pattern.
08:24-08:27
There are three cycles of heated debate and discussion.
08:28-08:37
As I mentioned already, Job kicks off the conversation by popping the hood and showing his friends what he is feeling on the inside.
08:37-08:40
He is so down the dumps that he doesn't curse God.
08:41-08:42
Job never does that.
08:43-08:45
He curses the day he was born.
08:47-08:51
Just listen to some of what he has to say in chapter three, verse 11 through 16.
08:52-08:57
Job says, "Why did I not die at birth, "come out from the womb and expire?
08:57-09:01
"Why did the knees receive me, "or why the breasts that I should nurse?
09:01-09:03
"For then I would have lain down and been quiet.
09:03-09:20
"I would have slept, then I would have been at rest, "with kings and counselors of the earth, "who rebuilt ruins for themselves, "or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver, or why was I not as a hidden stillborn child as infants who never see the light?
09:22-09:26
The word depression doesn't even seem to touch what Job is experiencing here.
09:27-09:31
He is in this dark pit, and he can't see any light whatsoever.
09:33-09:47
And then Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, or the three stooges, as I like to call them, pile on and make matters even worse by giving long speeches to explain why they think Job's life has exploded into a million tiny pieces.
09:49-09:59
And after each speech, Job responds to what they had to say until in chapter 26 where he's fed up and he gives himself a six chapter long defense of himself.
09:59-10:04
He puts a bow on the entire conversation and shuts his friends up.
10:05-10:07
Because in Job's mind, he didn't do anything wrong.
10:08-10:14
to justify the horrible things that have happened to his family, his livelihood, and even his own body.
10:16-10:31
And as you read through the lengthy monologues of the three Stooges, it becomes crystal clear that these men fail to recognize two glaring blind spots in their own theology, their own hearts, and their counsel to Job.
10:33-10:44
So do you fail to recognize you have blind spots, letter A on your outline, by assuming God's plans and people's motives, by assuming God's plans and people's motives.
10:48-10:50
Have you ever met a know-it-all?
10:51-10:55
Don't nod or point to the person next to you if they're a know-it-all.
10:56-10:58
Maybe you're not shaking your head, thinking I don't know any know-it-alls.
10:58-11:00
I have some bad news for you.
11:00-11:03
You might be the know-it-all in your family or your friend group.
11:03-11:06
You can ask for confirmation later after the service is over.
11:07-11:16
We all know those people who are always ready to correct, who are always ready to insert their opinions, who always point out the flaws in everything.
11:17-11:29
When you say something, they respond by saying, "Actually, they're always ready to pounce "on what you have to say." And that is exactly how Job's three friends act in these chapters.
11:29-11:35
They assume that they fully understand the mind of God in the heart of Job.
11:36-11:44
At the end of his first lecture in chapter five, verse 27, Eliphaz lays out his credentials and explains why Job should listen to him.
11:45-11:47
He said, "Behold, this we have searched out.
11:47-11:58
"It is true, hear and know it for your good." Chapter 15, verses nine through 10, Eliphaz gets really fired up that Job isn't responding to their advice.
11:58-12:01
He says, "What do you know that we do not know?
12:02-12:16
"What do you understand that is not clear to us, "both the gray-haired and the aged are among you, "older than your father." In other words, Job, who are you to disagree with us?
12:16-12:21
We're older, we're wiser, just sit down, shut up, and listen.
12:24-12:27
You can't miss the air of arrogance there, right?
12:27-12:30
You can't miss the know-it-all attitude.
12:31-12:39
And this overconfidence leads them to take some wild swings at Job's character, which we'll talk about more in a few minutes.
12:39-12:44
This overconfidence leads them to think way too highly of themselves.
12:45-12:51
And without even realizing it, they put themselves in the place of God himself.
12:53-12:56
And Job calls this out in chapter 13, verse seven.
12:57-13:03
He says, "Will you speak falsely for God and speak deceitfully for him.
13:05-13:18
As I was meditating upon this verse this past week, I couldn't help but think back to 2005 and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, when so many professing Christians put their foot completely in their mouths.
13:18-13:32
After this devastating hurricane hits New Orleans, all these radio preachers, all these televangelists say they know exactly why this hurricane hit New Orleans, because of the homosexual community that lives there.
13:33-13:39
In their minds, there is no arguing that this is exactly why this tragedy took place.
13:42-13:54
Listen, we spent two months recently walking through the Book of Micah and studying the reality that our country has been experiencing the consequences of rejecting God and pursuing evil.
13:54-13:55
There is no denying that.
13:57-14:06
But we cannot make unwise assumptions and unproven declarations about things that God has not clearly revealed in his word.
14:08-14:14
My main question to those people who definitively declared why Hurricane Katrina happened has always been the same.
14:14-14:16
How do you know that?
14:17-14:18
Who told you that?
14:19-14:21
Did God invite you to a secret council meeting in heaven?
14:22-14:24
Did he send you an angel, Graham?
14:25-14:25
No?
14:25-14:27
Then stop talking about it.
14:28-14:31
Stop saying things that God did not clearly say.
14:31-14:35
Stop puffing yourself up and start humbling yourself.
14:37-14:39
Stop being a know-it-all because no one likes a know-it-all.
14:41-14:45
But unfortunately, all of us struggle with being know-it-alls more than we care to admit.
14:47-14:56
We all need to do some soul searching this morning and do the hard work of asking others to point out our blind spots because we can't see them in and of ourselves.
14:58-15:05
You know, I sometimes can make wrong assumptions about why God chose to do something or why he didn't choose to do something.
15:06-15:11
As if I have the right, as if I have the intelligence to make such a judgment call.
15:13-15:25
I can sometimes judge the heart of someone else and assume their motives, Even though scripture makes it so clear in 1 Samuel 16, seven, the Lord sees not as man sees.
15:26-15:31
Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.
15:33-15:39
When someone irritates me, when someone annoys me, I can think, oh, they're just trying to get, they're trying to get under my skin.
15:40-15:43
They don't respect me, and they're just trying to really just stick it to me.
15:46-15:52
a family member or a friend is moping around and I think to myself, they don't always wanna be the center of attention.
15:53-15:55
You know, they're probably not even struggling, they probably just want me to ask them what's wrong.
15:56-15:59
I'm just so tired of playing their games 'cause their heart is not in the right place.
16:02-16:08
I can judge someone else's heart, but fail to see that my heart is in trouble and should be my primary concern.
16:09-16:18
My desire to be right, my desire to justify myself, causes me to assume the worst of others and treat them very poorly.
16:21-16:23
Does anyone else ever assume the motives of other people?
16:25-16:27
Do you ever think that you know someone else's heart?
16:30-16:42
If we truly wanna help other people, especially those who are suffering, we must have a posture of humility and compassion and not a posture of pride and cold-heartedness.
16:43-16:49
You will not be able to help anyone with anything until you realize that you are not that smart.
16:51-17:00
You will not understand people and their problems until you grasp the truth that people and their problems are far more complex than they first appear.
17:03-17:06
The more mature you become, the more immature you should find yourself.
17:07-17:12
The more you learn, the more you should realize how little you actually know.
17:14-17:17
So do you fail to recognize you have blind spots?
17:17-17:22
Letter B on your outline, by having unbiblical and unhelpful convictions.
17:23-17:27
By having unbiblical and unhelpful convictions.
17:29-17:35
You know, during my time at Geneva College, I was one of the leaders of an on-campus ministry called Upper Room.
17:35-17:40
I'll never forget this one particular meeting, I had to lead a breakout prayer group.
17:40-17:44
and I asked everyone in the group to share their prayer requests.
17:46-17:52
And one guy said something that stopped me completely in my tracks and froze me up 'cause I didn't really know what to say.
17:53-17:59
He said, "You know, I've really had this burden "on my heart lately to pray for Satan.
18:00-18:03
"He is just so lost and headed for destruction.
18:03-18:08
"We should pray for his salvation." Pause the story for a minute.
18:09-18:11
Has anyone ever heard that prayer request before?
18:12-18:14
Okay, that was a first and a last for me.
18:14-18:18
You can see why at 20 years old I was like, I have no idea what to say here.
18:21-18:23
Okay, press play on the story again.
18:23-18:35
And so I finally gather my thoughts, after really not knowing what to say, and I told this guy as lovingly, yet gently as I could, that Satan is unredeemable, and we shouldn't waste our breath praying for that jerk.
18:38-18:40
He is God's enemy and that's not gonna change.
18:42-18:45
It was glaringly obvious that this guy wasn't taught very well.
18:45-18:48
And he had some very bad theology.
18:50-18:55
You know, bad thinking will always come out of your mouth in bad speaking.
18:56-19:01
His bad theology led him to give some very bad counsel to the prayer group.
19:01-19:04
I had to shot block it to protect everybody in the group.
19:06-19:08
And we see this happen with Job's friends.
19:08-19:12
Bad theology leading to bad counseling.
19:13-19:24
They had very bad theology when it came to suffering in general, which led them to give very bad counsel to Job in the midst of his suffering.
19:26-19:31
Their distortive view of suffering can be broken down into two sides of the same coin.
19:31-19:32
Make sure to write this down.
19:33-19:42
All success is a result of your obedience, and all suffering is a result of your sin.
19:43-19:43
We say it again.
19:44-19:53
All success is a result of your obedience, and all suffering is a result of your sin.
19:56-20:04
And there is no better way to summarize the bad theology of the three stooges than to read chapter four, verses seven through nine.
20:04-20:06
Listen to what Eliphaz has to ask Job.
20:08-20:13
Remember who that was innocent ever perished, or where were the upright cut off?
20:13-20:17
As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same.
20:18-20:23
By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of his anger they are consumed.
20:24-20:28
In other words, Job, buddy, you believe the same things that we do.
20:28-20:33
You know that good people do not have bad things like this happen to them.
20:34-20:38
You must have done something to deserve it.
20:41-20:45
Bildad really crosses the line and goes to the jugular in chapter eight, verse four.
20:47-20:48
Can't imagine saying this to a friend.
20:49-20:55
If your children have sinned against God, he has delivered them into the hand of their transgressions.
20:57-21:01
In other words, Job, your kids died because they sinned against God.
21:01-21:03
They got what they deserve.
21:03-21:05
There is no other explanation.
21:06-21:08
What a loving and caring friend.
21:10-21:15
And then Zophar steps up to the plate to offer this doozy in chapter 11, verse six.
21:15-21:22
"Know then that God exacts of you "less than your guilt deserves." Job, you think this is bad?
21:22-21:23
You deserve way worse.
21:24-21:26
God should have done more to you.
21:29-21:35
To Job's three friends, the formula for success and suffering is very simple and it can't be argued with.
21:36-21:39
The equation is like two plus two equals four.
21:40-21:45
Good intentions plus good actions equal success.
21:47-21:51
While bad intentions and bad actions always equal suffering.
21:53-21:58
You know, this theology didn't just end with Job's friends, but it's alive and well today.
22:00-22:07
Do you know that there are pastors and churches in this area that tell you that you are still sick because you don't have enough faith in God?
22:09-22:16
You don't have a lot of money because you don't have confidence, you don't truly believe that God wants you to be abundantly wealthy.
22:17-22:20
You are suffering because your faith is not strong enough.
22:23-22:28
If you do the right thing, God is obligated to give you a life that is all smooth sailing.
22:31-22:35
Please hear me when I say this, that line of thinking is stupid.
22:36-22:41
It is unbiblical, it is overly simplistic, and it is not true.
22:41-22:47
You see in Scripture that all the righteous and holy people suffer the most, not the least.
22:50-22:57
Yes, suffering is always a result of sin, but suffering is not always a result of your own sin.
22:59-23:04
Yes, sometimes you are in pain because you're reaping the consequences of very bad decisions.
23:05-23:12
Your marriage is terrible because you belittle your spouse, because you lust after women online.
23:13-23:15
You get fired from your job because of laziness.
23:16-23:20
You're lonely because you drink way too much and push people away.
23:21-23:23
Who is at fault for that?
23:23-23:25
Who is responsible for that suffering?
23:26-23:28
The person looking right back at you in the mirror.
23:30-23:33
You can also suffer because of other people's sins.
23:34-23:38
You lose out on the big promotion because a coworker lied about you to the boss.
23:39-23:50
Someone that you thought was your best friend stabs you in the back and slanders your good name, and for some reason, everyone believes him or her, even though you did nothing wrong.
23:52-23:55
And finally, you can suffer because of the sinfulness of this broken world.
23:57-24:03
You have a sudden heart attack out of nowhere, even though you never smoked, you ate clean, you worked out your entire life.
24:04-24:09
You lose a loved one due to a car accident, even though they obeyed the rules of the road.
24:10-24:15
You miscarry a child that you deeply love and you pray for.
24:17-24:23
You didn't do anything to bring these things upon yourself, No one else sinned against you either.
24:25-24:29
But the shadow of this fallen world has touched you nonetheless, and you have no idea why.
24:32-24:39
Job's friends failed to consider the complexity of sin and the complexity of this broken world.
24:39-24:44
And this failure led them to adopt some very unbiblical convictions.
24:45-24:49
And unbiblical convictions proved to be unhelpful without exception.
24:51-24:56
And in this case, their unbiblical convictions were aggressively unhelpful.
24:57-25:02
Instead of pulling Job up in love, they push him down with their lies.
25:05-25:06
And here's the problem this morning.
25:07-25:10
These guys were blind to their unbiblical convictions.
25:11-25:15
They were blind to their bad theology, and so were we.
25:16-25:22
If I asked you to raise your hand this morning, if you possess some bad theology, how many hands would go up?
25:23-25:24
Zero, none.
25:25-25:32
But I guarantee that many of you have bad thinking in your minds that is resulting in bad sharing from your mouths.
25:33-25:37
Bad sharing that makes hard situations even harder.
25:37-25:44
Bad sharing that intensifies problems and gives even more pain to already hurting people.
25:46-25:49
This is why you need to grow in your ability to discern.
25:50-25:53
Pastor Jeff has talked about this so much over the past few months.
25:53-25:58
You need to be able to discern what is biblical from that which is unbiblical.
25:59-26:09
This is why you need to be in a small group, to be in community with other believers who can sharpen you and point out your blind spots and point out your unbiblical convictions.
26:10-26:15
This is why you need to be in the word of God every single day and not just on Sundays.
26:17-26:26
There is nothing more dangerous than misinformed and undiscerning Christians who have a passion to share what they think they know.
26:29-26:33
But by God's grace, he's still at work in the midst of our foolishness.
26:35-26:49
I wanna wrap up this point by reevaluating the question that Eliphaz asked Job in chapter four, verse seven, which must have seemed so profound at the time, but should appear very foolish to us as Christians in 2024.
26:49-26:51
Read this with different eyes.
26:52-26:59
Jehovah, remember who that was innocent ever perished or where were the upright cut off.
27:00-27:03
What is the Sunday school answer to this question?
27:04-27:05
Jesus Christ.
27:06-27:08
All right, Aliphaz, when has the righteous ever suffered?
27:09-27:12
When has someone never done anything wrong and have been rejected for it?
27:12-27:13
Oh, I don't know.
27:13-27:14
How about God himself?
27:15-27:21
Jesus Christ is the only innocent and righteous person who has ever walked the face of this planet.
27:22-27:26
And yet he willingly perished in our place and on our behalf.
27:27-27:36
He was completely upright, but he was cut down and cut off on the cross to save wicked sinners like you and me.
27:39-27:40
Scripture makes it so clear.
27:41-28:12
2 Corinthians 5, 21, "For our sake he made him, Jesus, "to be no sin, who knew no sin, "so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 1 John 3, 5, "You know that he, Jesus, "appeared in order to take away sins, "and in him there is no sin." 1 Peter 3, 18, "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous that he might bring us to God.
28:14-28:21
This question from Eliphaz, which he asked in foolish ignorance, gets to the very heart of the gospel.
28:22-28:25
It points to the very heart of our Savior.
28:26-28:35
And if you're here this morning and you have not yet turned away from your sin and trusted in Christ for salvation, I am so glad that you're here.
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Now I wanna talk to you for a minute.
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I'm gonna say something that's not very popular nowadays.
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You are not a good person deep down.
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Sorry to break it to you.
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You are not innocent.
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You are not righteous.
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You have sinned against a perfect and holy God.
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You are unrighteous in your thinking, in your speaking, and your living.
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That's the bad news.
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The good news is you can become holy and righteous and innocent in the eyes of God this very moment if you submit to Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
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Your list of blameless, your list of blame is endless.
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But the blameless Son of God will wipe it away in a millisecond if you turn to Him for salvation.
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Because apart from Christ, you don't just have blind spots.
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you are completely blind to the truth of God's word and the glories of the cross.
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I've been praying for you all week that the Lord would bring you here this morning, that your spiritual sight would be restored as you look to Christ for the very first time.
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So how to figure out if you're being that guy?
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Second question on our outline today.
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Do you mean well but fail to comfort well?
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Do you mean well but fail to comfort well?
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At this point in the sermon, you may be thinking, Taylor, I don't really relate to Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar.
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I mean, I have good motivations.
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I don't assume God's plans.
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I don't judge other people's hearts.
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I really think my heart is in the right place, so I don't think I'm being that guy or that girl.
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Well, that's great to hear, but sometimes your right intentions don't translate well into right actions.
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And let me explain it to you this way.
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My almost three-year-old daughter, Emmy, loves to help my wife clean.
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And I use the air quotes very purposefully.
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That girl has such a heart for tidying up the house, but her cleaning leaves a lot to be desired.
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She'll try to help clean up after dinner and she'll rub ketchup into the table.
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She'll get blueberries all throughout her hair somehow.
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Last week I was raking leaves, she just knocked over my bag and ruined all my progress.
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She uses the handheld vacuum, drops it, dust and debris, gets everywhere.
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Emmy's heart is certainly in the right place, but her actual cleaning leaves much to be desired.
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And I think a lot of us are in the same boat as Emmy this morning when it comes to helping those who are suffering.
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Our hearts are in the right place, but our comforting needs a lot of improvement.
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We try to help clean up a very messy situation, but we end up making it even messier in the process.
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So let's get practical by dealing with how we can fail to comfort well.
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Do you mean well to fail to comfort well, letter A, by talking way too much, by talking way too much.
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In chapter 16, verses two through three, Job gets fed up with all of his friends' lectures.
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And he says, "I have heard many such things.
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"Miserable comforters are you all.
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"Shall windy words have an end, "or what provokes that you answer?" In other words, you guys can stop trying to make me feel better because you stink at it.
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How much longer do you have to talk, 'cause I can't stomach much more.
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These guys fell for one of the classic blunders.
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they couldn't keep their mouths shut.
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They lectured far better than they listened.
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They could barely wait for Job to stop talking so that they could start talking.
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You know, some of us in this room or watching online are more reserved and we don't talk a lot.
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And there are others of us who are a bit more chatty and you know exactly who you are.
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And those of us who are more chatty should really listen to what Job has to say in chapter 13, verse five.
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You can make this your life verse for this week.
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Oh that you would keep silent and it would be your wisdom.
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Sometimes the wisest thing to say is nothing.
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This is good advice for any area of life, but especially when it comes to loving those who are walking through the dark valleys of life.
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Do you mean well but fail to comfort well?
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Letter B, by saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.
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by saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.
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At this point, you may be thinking, well, Taylor, I can't just be completely silent when comforting someone.
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I have to say something, right?
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We all know that really awkward, uncomfortable moment when someone is grieving, going through a loss, and we have no idea what to say.
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And unintentionally, we can say some very ignorant and unhelpful things.
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Most, not all of us have been on the receiving end of that, and some of us have been on the giving end of that, of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.
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A couple with a kid or two finds out they can't biologically have any more children, and a well-meaning relative says, "Well, at least you already have kids." A 60-year-old is diagnosed with a very serious illness, And a well-meaning member of their church says, well, at least you had all those years of health.
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Count your blessings.
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Someone loses their spouse and they feel like half a person now.
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And someone at the funeral says, well, at least you had all those years with your husband or your wife.
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At least they're not suffering anymore.
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Quick poll, are any of these comments helpful on any level?
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No, they are extremely unhelpful.
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If your attempt to comfort starts with at least The least you can do is keep it to yourself.
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And I'm not pointing fingers here.
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I can be guilty of this as well.
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I've recently realized I can be an upsider.
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I try to point out the silver lining in every bad situation.
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I try to point out the upside.
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And sometimes that can be helpful, but other times it can be downright hurtful.
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And I certainly mean well by pointing out the upside.
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but I often don't comfort well by pointing out the upside.
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More often than not, sufferers just need you to sit with them as they experience the downside.
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Acknowledge their grief, agree that the situation is hard and they have every right to be sad.
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If you attend a viewing, if you show up at the hospital, if you're first on scene as a loved one is unraveling, I can guarantee you one thing that Pastor Jeff shared with me years ago.
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They will most likely forget everything that you said, but they will never forget that you were there.
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They need your comforting presence far more than they need your chatty presentations.
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Remember, that's what Job's friends did very well in the very beginning, right?
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They got a gold star for comforting until they opened their mouths to say the wrong things at the wrong time.
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All right, finally, do you mean well but fail to comfort well?
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Let her see by saying the right thing in the wrong way.
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By saying the right thing in the wrong way.
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As I said earlier, Job's friends do say some true and right things, but they often say these true and right things in the completely wrong way.
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Job highlights this in chapter six, verse 14.
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He who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
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Even if Job's suffering was a result of his sin, which it wasn't, his friend should have handled him with much more care, consideration, and love.
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Romans 2.4 is very clear that it's God's kindness that leads people to repentance, not our jerkiness.
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Job was like a fragile vase on the verge of breaking and his friends approached him like bulls in a china shop.
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Their tone was very often judgmental, unkind, and impatient.
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And this should serve as a lesson to us that we need to be cautious of not just what we say, but how we say it.
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Our tone, our posture, our faces communicate just as much, if not more, than our words do.
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Let me prove this to you.
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I'm going to say the same thing in three different ways, and you're going to tell me how I come across in each example.
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That sound good?
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We get it?
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All right.
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You ready?
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That's great!
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How did I come across there?
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Positive, happy, excited?
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How about this one?
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That's great.
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What do we think?
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Sarcastic?
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How about this?
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That's great.
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Sad, indifferent, bitter.
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But I said the same exact thing in each of those examples.
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But the way I changed my face, the way I changed my voice totally changes the message that I'm communicating.
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Do you see how easy it is to be misinterpreted, to be misunderstood?
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You don't wanna communicate the wrong thing to someone who is suffering.
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You don't want to come across as uncaring.
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You don't want them to think that you'd rather be anywhere else in the world right now than sitting with me and listening to what I am going through.
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You don't want a good word to be ruined by a bad delivery.
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You don't want to say the right thing in the wrong way.
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Well, as we come to the end of this message, you may feel a bit overwhelmed by how much you tend to be that guy or that girl.
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I know I am overwhelmed by how much I tend to be that guy.
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You may feel like it's hopeless to offer comfort to someone who is struggling.
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You may feel like it's hopeless to make a difference in someone's life who's really in a dark struggle.
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But instead of avoiding sufferers or turning away from their uncomfortable situations, I want to encourage you to run into the arms of your Lord and Savior, who always knows what to say and do.
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Jesus Christ has never been and will never be that guy.
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He knows exactly what you need as you suffer.
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He knows exactly what the people around you need as they suffer.
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Listen to how Jesus is described in Isaiah 42, verses two through three.
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I love these verses.
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He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice or make it heard in the street.
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A bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench.
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Harvest, Jesus knows how weak we really are.
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We are like brittle branches that are so close to breaking.
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We are like candles that are almost out of wax and one breath away.
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from being extinguished.
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But Christ wraps us with his mighty hand so that hope will not be blown out.
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And the worship team can make their way forward.
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The amazing thing to me is that Jesus wants to use you and me as his agents of peace and comfort in a chaotic and tormented world.
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Jesus wants to share his comfort through you to that family that's been devastated by a suicide or a drug overdose.
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He wants to communicate the truth of his word to that neighbor who is suffering in silence down the street through your faithful witnessing.
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He wants to impress his unconditional love upon that teenager in your house or in this church who feels isolated and depressed through your caring presence.
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Do not turn away from this amazing privilege It's a massive responsibility.
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Realize that you can't do it on your own.
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Without Jesus Christ and growing closer to him, you will continue to be just like Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar.
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But with Jesus, you can and will delicately handle those who desperately need what only he has to offer.
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Let's pray.
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Father, we come to you.
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We all admit that we contend to be that guy or that girl who makes sufferers experience even more suffering.
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The Lord, we can wrongly assume what you're up to.
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We can judge other people's hearts.
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We can mean well but fail to comfort well.
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Lord, for those of us in this room who are suffering, who are going through the valley of the shadow of death, Lord, may they find the comfort that you alone have to offer.
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And may they find it at Harvest Bible Chapel through your people.
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And may all of us become more like Jesus Christ.
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Help us to lean into him and trust that he will guide us.
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He will lead us, that your Holy Spirit will help us to know what to say and do and what to not say and what not to do.
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And we ask all these things in the name of Jesus Christ.

Small Group Discussion
Covering Job 3-31

What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
How do you see yourself being THAT guy or THAT girl right now when it comes to helping others especially those who suffer?
Why is it so unwise to assume God’s plans and other people’s motives?
What are some unbiblical and unhelpful convictions that many Christians have bought into?
How can you grow in your ability to comfort well?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

Are You Willing to Wait?

Introduction:

Why I'm Willing to Wait on the Lord While I Suffer (Job 42:7-17):

Do You Control It All?

Introduction:

How to Make Sense of Suffering: Four Questions You Must Answer (Job 40:1-42:6):

Do You Know It All?

Introduction:

Questions to Ask Myself When I Question God (Job 38-39):

Be More THAT Guy

Introduction:

How to Help Sufferers Who Are in a Bad Place (Job 32-37):

Don’t Be THAT Guy

Introduction:

How to Figure Out if You're Being THAT Guy:

Upcoming Small Group Questions CLICK HERE

How much of the Bible have we covered since 2011?

Introduction:

Why I'm Willing to Wait on the Lord While I Suffer (Job 42:7-17):

Audio Transcript

Introduction:

How to Make Sense of Suffering: Four Questions You Must Answer (Job 40:1-42:6):

Audio Transcript

Introduction:

Questions to Ask Myself When I Question God (Job 38-39):

Audio Transcript

Introduction:

How to Help Sufferers Who Are in a Bad Place (Job 32-37):

Audio Transcript

Introduction:

How to Figure Out if You're Being THAT Guy:

Audio Transcript