Introduction:
What Do We See Behind the Curtain? (Job 1):
- Heaven takes note of your Conduct .
- Your Motive is what really Matters .
- Satan does Nothing without God's say so.
You WILL Worship While You Suffer:
- If you are a worshiper Before you Suffer . (Job 1:5)
- If you remember that you're Leaving Earth with what you Brought . (Job 1:21)
- If you believe that God has a Purpose for literally Everything . (Job 1:22)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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01:12-01:14
Open up your Bibles to the book of Job.
01:16-01:20
The first service was packed, and I think it was because of that whole extra hour, right?
01:22-01:24
I had an idea for that, now hear me out.
01:25-01:27
You know, daylight savings, you get an extra hour, right?
01:28-01:35
I always thought they should give you some sort of a coupon or something that you can use that hour whenever you want, right?
01:35-01:39
Like if you're late for work, you're like, I'm gonna cash in my hour today, please.
01:40-01:41
I mean, isn't that a great idea?
01:42-01:43
Who's with me on that?
01:44-01:50
Okay, I'd like to cash in my extra hour right now for this sermon.
01:52-01:55
You're like, I don't think that's such a good idea anymore.
01:57-01:59
Let's bow our heads.
01:59-02:02
I'm gonna ask that you would please pray for me and I will pray for you.
02:04-02:13
Pray for me to be faithful to communicate God's word And I will pray for you to receive it for what it is the word of God.
02:14-02:14
Let's pray.
02:16-02:20
Father, we believe that faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.
02:22-02:32
So I pray, Father, that you would increase our faith today, strengthen our faith on what is a very sensitive subject.
02:35-02:38
Open our hearts and minds for what you have to say.
02:38-02:40
We pray in Jesus' name.
02:41-02:44
And all of God's people said, amen.
02:46-02:47
Job chapter one.
02:50-02:58
Many of you know, I have a very sick son.
03:00-03:06
And I'm not sure how many of you realize the extent of his disorder.
03:08-03:11
At a very young age, he was diagnosed with autism.
03:13-03:26
And we've been to some of the best autism doctors in the world, and one of the world's greatest doctors in this field said that my son's case was one of the worst he's ever seen.
03:27-03:29
Not what you wanna hear from the doctor, right?
03:30-03:32
But he's mostly nonverbal.
03:33-03:35
But he has some other conditions too.
03:36-03:40
We found out, for example, that he's always producing adrenaline.
03:41-03:47
Something in his body is constantly producing adrenaline and he doesn't produce melatonin.
03:48-03:52
And when you put that together, what you have is somebody who never gets tired.
03:53-04:02
But the other problem with that is he is, with the constantly producing adrenaline, he is so often in his life in fight or flight mode.
04:03-04:19
And if you've ever been so scared that you could run through a wall, or so angry that you're tempted to punch somebody in the mouth, he lives in that on top of his other issues.
04:20-04:27
He also has a condition we found out several years ago called pandas.
04:27-04:36
That's the pediatric version, and there's a different name for it when you're an adult, I can't remember what it is, but it's a strep A blood infection.
04:38-04:50
And his mixture of problems results in violent outbursts that are always so unpredictable.
04:51-04:55
We can go a couple of weeks where he's happy.
04:58-05:02
We can go a month where he's raging nonstop.
05:03-05:19
And when the levy breaks and he rages, it results in him, he's put holes in walls, he's attacked a dog.
05:23-05:27
One of his favorite things to do is to just smash glass.
05:27-05:32
So he'll get a candle or a drinking glass or anything that he can shatter on the floor.
05:33-05:39
And maybe the worst is there've been many times where he's attacked his mother.
05:41-05:43
And he's bigger than me now.
05:48-05:56
And there have been so many times that I've been here at work and I'll get a phone call.
05:58-05:59
(congregation laughing)
06:02-06:08
And I've had to race home because he's attacking his mother.
06:11-06:15
I know if my other son calls me, I know that that's always a bad thing.
06:16-06:24
He usually texts me, but if my younger son calls me, I'm like, we're having problems.
06:29-06:34
One time when I got the call, it sounded like a war zone in the background.
06:34-06:36
There was just so much screaming and smashing.
06:39-06:43
I jumped in the car and was racing home again.
06:44-06:50
And as I often do in these situations, as you would, I pray while I'm heading home.
06:52-06:54
Usually text Pastor Taylor and ask him to pray.
06:55-07:03
But one time in particular, and I'm not proud of this, but I'm just being honest with you, I was angry praying.
07:05-07:06
I remember what I said.
07:10-07:51
I was screaming while I was driving, I'm 19 here, I was screaming, "God, I know that you see what's happening, "but what I don't understand is how you can watch and not do anything about it. I don't understand that. I was angry, crying out, "God, why? Why don't you stop this? Why would you allow this kid to suffer that results in suffering for the whole family? Why would you allow this, God?
07:52-07:58
Why don't you do anything about it? Why?
08:02-08:18
That's always the question, isn't it? When you're suffering, it's why. And in this In series through Job, we want to make sense of suffering.
08:22-08:24
We all face suffering.
08:24-08:29
Like, I'm not telling you my story as if I got the market cornered on suffering.
08:29-08:31
We all got our share, right?
08:31-08:34
For some of you, maybe it's a relationship issue.
08:35-08:38
You're suffering because of a problem with someone else.
08:38-08:43
For some of you, Maybe it's a financial hardship.
08:46-08:49
For some of you, maybe it's problems in your business.
08:52-08:59
A business that you've poured yourself into and now there's problems.
08:59-09:01
There's, you know, am I gonna have to close the doors?
09:01-09:02
Am I gonna be bankrupt?
09:04-09:10
And I know for a lot of you, it'd be personal loss.
09:12-09:15
Saying goodbye to somebody when you weren't ready to say goodbye.
09:18-09:23
But in all this, whatever your suffering is, wouldn't you like to know why?
09:25-09:29
Wouldn't you like to know why God would allow that to happen to you?
09:32-09:34
Well, let's look at God's word together, shall we?
09:36-09:38
Let's look at chapter one.
09:38-09:39
Let's start in verse one.
09:41-09:42
It's a good place to start.
09:43-09:48
It says, "Now there was a man in the land of Uz "whose name was Job.
09:51-09:57
"And that man was blameless and upright, "one who feared God and turned away from evil.
09:59-10:02
"They were born to him seven sons and three daughters.
10:04-10:21
"He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, "500 yoke of oxen and 500 female donkeys "and very many servants, "so that this man was the greatest "of all the people of the East." That's a little bit about the man, Job.
10:21-10:24
He was a good guy.
10:24-10:29
He was honest, he was upright, and he was loaded.
10:30-10:32
He had so much wealth.
10:36-10:36
They had a big family.
10:37-10:47
Look at verse four, speaking of, "His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day." Sounds like he's talking about like a birthday party.
10:47-10:51
They'd get together on each other's birthdays and have a big party, is what it sounds like.
10:51-11:03
"And they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them." Okay, so Job not only had a big family, he had what looks like a very functional family.
11:03-11:10
All the kids got along and they enjoyed being together Great. He goes on.
11:11-11:20
"And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and consecrate them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings.
11:20-11:31
According to the number of them all," that tells us Job probably lived in the patriarchal area, like in Abraham's day, because this was pre-Mosaic law, right?
11:33-11:34
Kind of dates it a little bit for us.
11:36-11:49
It says, "For Job said, 'It may be "that my children have sinned "and cursed God in their hearts.' "Thus Job did continually." So we learned quite a bit about this man.
11:49-11:56
He was a wealthy man, he was a family man, but he was also a godly man, right?
11:56-11:58
He was a worshiper.
12:01-12:02
Let's jump down to verse 13.
12:05-12:13
It says, "Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking in their oldest brother's house." Okay, birthday party.
12:13-12:20
"And there came a messenger to Job and said, 'The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them.
12:20-12:25
And the Sabeans fell upon them and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword.
12:26-12:32
And I alone have escaped to tell you.'" Like this is horrible news.
12:35-12:36
He was robbed.
12:37-12:44
And if you've ever been robbed, somebody's ever stolen something from you, you know how violated that makes you feel.
12:44-12:44
It's happened to me.
12:44-12:52
You just feel so just angry and like, can't believe somebody would, horrible.
12:55-13:02
Verse 16, it says, "While he was just speaking, "there came another and said, "the fire of God fell from heaven." probably lightning, right?
13:03-13:07
And burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them.
13:07-13:09
And I alone have escaped to tell you.
13:09-13:10
Like what?
13:10-13:10
What?
13:13-13:24
You mean to say I was not only robbed, but you're telling me that some natural disaster wiped out many of my servants and some more of my wealth?
13:24-13:24
What?
13:28-13:40
New verse 17 says, "While he was yet speaking, And there came another and said, the Chaldeans formed three groups and made a raid on the camels and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword.
13:41-13:43
And I alone have escaped to tell you.
13:44-13:46
That was a little more than just a robbery, wasn't it?
13:46-13:49
That was like a calculated attack.
13:49-13:51
They formed groups.
13:51-13:54
That was a deliberate hostile attack.
14:00-14:04
And if you're like Job, you would think, man, can this day get any worse?
14:07-14:22
It says, "While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, "Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine "in their oldest brother's house." I imagine at this point, Job was like, yeah, yeah, okay, yeah, I know, I know, yeah.
14:22-14:23
What about them, what about them?
14:27-14:36
"Behold, a great wind came across the wilderness "and struck the four corners of the house, "and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead.
14:37-14:46
"And I alone have escaped to tell you." That's the worst thing a parent can hear.
14:49-14:51
There's been a terrible accident.
14:54-14:56
Your kids didn't make it.
14:57-14:58
I'm so sorry.
15:00-15:01
Why?
15:02-15:06
I mean, we saw in the first few verses what kind of a guy he was.
15:08-15:17
So why would a godly man who was so dedicated to his family and so dedicated to the Lord suffer the way that he did?
15:22-15:22
Why?
15:24-15:25
Why is always the question, isn't it?
15:28-15:30
Why are there tragic car accidents?
15:33-15:34
Why are there hurricanes?
15:34-15:37
Why do children get sick?
15:41-15:46
And then my son goes to the Watson Institute when we can get him there.
15:48-16:04
And it is absolutely heartbreaking to sit in a parking lot and watch these parents pull up in their vans and kids being wheeled in, AIDS coming out, some kids have walkers, some in wheelchairs or wagons.
16:09-16:12
And it's hard to just sit and watch that.
16:13-16:15
So often I just think, why?
16:18-16:19
Why would God allow that to happen?
16:22-16:24
Why is always the question, right?
16:24-16:27
Why did my faithful friend's church plant fail?
16:29-16:33
Why was my close friend Mike killed in a motorcycle accident years ago?
16:36-16:39
Why does my son have to suffer with this horrible condition?
16:40-16:44
I'm a piece of garbage, I deserve to suffer, but not him.
16:44-16:46
He doesn't deserve this.
16:47-16:47
Why?
16:51-16:57
Why did Job have the worst day that a person can have?
16:58-17:00
And go ahead and challenge me on that.
17:00-17:02
Have you had a worse day than this?
17:04-17:04
Why?
17:08-17:18
Do you realize in one day, in one day Job dealt with like the whole spectrum of like bad things that can happen to a person, right?
17:19-17:26
He dealt with a malicious attack, sin, robbery.
17:27-17:31
We could just label that under sins at the hands of others.
17:33-17:36
He dealt with that twice, by the way, same day.
17:36-17:54
He dealt with two natural disasters, lightning, hurricane that wiped out not just his stuff, but in one day, not only losing his servants and all of his wealth, he lost all 10 of his kids one day.
17:57-17:58
Why?
18:01-18:10
Well, you know, in Job's case, we actually get the why.
18:13-18:24
And we, listen, church, we really need to sit up and pay really close attention for all of the times that I've had to ask myself why, and you've asked yourself, why am I going through this?
18:25-18:31
We actually get insight to why Job suffered the loss of his wealth and servants and children.
18:33-18:34
And maybe there's something here for us too.
18:38-18:43
We actually get a peek behind the curtain of heaven.
18:45-18:48
I skipped a section, did you notice that?
18:49-18:50
I wanna go back and look at that.
18:53-19:03
I wanna look at these events, that this peek behind the curtain of what was going on in heaven sometime before Job had this horrible day of tragedy.
19:06-19:07
Go to verse six.
19:08-19:16
It says, "Now there was a day "when the sons of God "came to present themselves before the Lord.
19:17-19:23
"And Satan also came among them." Like, what's he talking about here?
19:24-19:27
Well, sons of God, did you know there is a divine council?
19:29-19:33
Beings that are supernatural, but beneath God.
19:35-19:37
It's all through the Old Testament, by the way, and in the New Testament.
19:39-19:42
Psalm 82, Psalm 89, 1 Kings 22.
19:43-19:45
I don't have time to unpack all of that today.
19:46-19:49
But if you're interested, buy me Chick-fil-A and we can sit down and talk about it.
19:51-19:57
But it says that the sons of God, this divine counsel, they came to present themselves.
19:58-20:01
Now that's kind of a technical term in the Hebrew.
20:02-20:06
It's when you show up before a superior to get your assignment.
20:07-20:10
Like, hey, I'm showing up, tell me what you would like me to do and I'll do it.
20:10-20:11
That's what's going on here.
20:13-20:15
And it says that Satan came among them.
20:16-20:17
Now, something we lose in the English.
20:18-20:22
In the Hebrew, there's a definite article attached to this.
20:23-20:25
It is the Satan came.
20:26-20:28
Satan's not a name, by the way, it's a title.
20:29-20:30
It means adversary.
20:30-20:32
It means an opponent.
20:33-20:36
So the adversary came among them.
20:38-20:47
Look at the next verse, verse seven says, "And the Lord said to Satan, 'From where have you come?'" Do you know when God asks a question, he's not looking for information.
20:47-20:48
You know that, right?
20:50-20:51
He's looking for a confession.
20:53-21:07
So he goes, "From wherever you come, "Satan answered the Lord and said, "from going to and fro in the earth "and from walking up and down on it." So God's like, "Report, what have you been doing?" And Satan sounds like a teenager.
21:09-21:11
God's like, "What have you been doing?" And Satan's like, "Stuff."
21:11-21:13
(congregation laughing)
21:14-21:15
Where have you been?
21:15-21:16
Oh, you know, here and there.
21:20-21:44
Verse eight, "The Lord said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job, "that there is none like him on the earth, "a blameless and upright man "who fears God and turns away from evil?" Now, you know, this verse here, apparently one of Satan's jobs is to search man and woman who legitimately loves God.
21:46-22:01
Because God, do you notice, he initiates this part of the conversation, but God here highlights somebody that he sounds actually proud of, doesn't he?
22:06-22:12
He says, "If you consider Job," and then the Lord repeats the same description of Job that was written in verse one.
22:15-22:20
Okay, back in verse nine it says, then Satan answered the Lord and said, "Does Job fear God for no reason?
22:24-22:29
Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has on every side?
22:29-22:39
You have blessed the work of his hands and his possessions have increased in the land." So Satan agrees with the assessment.
22:42-22:52
But he asks the big question, "Why?" Oh, we've been talking about why.
22:52-22:53
Satan has a why, though.
22:54-22:59
His is this, "Why does Job worship you?
23:01-23:11
Does Job worship you because you are worthy of worship or does Job worship you because Job benefits from you?
23:14-23:25
I mean, come on, let's face it, you gave Job a wife and they must get along pretty good because they got 10 kids.
23:26-23:29
So you've given Job this big, amazing family.
23:30-23:33
Oh, by the way, you also gave Job so much wealth.
23:34-23:36
Oh, and protection?
23:36-23:40
You're like a personal security guard for Job.
23:40-23:41
You put a hedge around him.
23:44-23:46
Satan's like, well, who wouldn't sign up for that?
23:48-23:55
If there's a God who's gonna just give all of this stuff like that, like who wouldn't wanna follow a God like that?
23:57-23:58
Look at verse 11.
24:02-24:27
He says, "But stretch out your hand "and touch all that he has, "and he will curse you to your face." Satan says the only way to know that Job is legit, take his stuff away and see if he still worships you.
24:29-24:29
(laughs)
24:31-24:32
That's evil.
24:35-24:37
That is evil.
24:40-24:41
But he's right.
24:45-24:52
He's right in that that's a way to find out what somebody's really made of, isn't it?
24:54-25:07
I mean, Satan's probably seen it countless times before, where people were like, when things are good, praise God.
25:08-25:11
Then hard times come, God hates me.
25:13-25:17
Satan has probably seen this so many times.
25:19-25:24
I'm sure of that because as a pastor, I've only been a pastor for like two and a half decades.
25:25-25:39
I've seen it so many times, just in that short amount of time, so many times, that when somebody comes to the church for help and you help them, you're the greatest thing since Chuck Spurgeon.
25:41-25:50
But the minute you can't deliver for them the way they want you to, you're trash.
25:52-25:55
There was this one guy, he had just gotten out of jail and he had nothing.
25:56-25:59
I can't remember what holiday it was, but it was on a holiday.
26:00-26:08
But my wife and I, we put him up at this hotel, it was this place in Route 8, and we went to the store and we got him groceries and got him all set up.
26:08-26:31
And he's just like, "Oh, Pastor Jeff, "you're the greatest pastor in the world." And I'm like, "My dog thinks so." And he's like, "You are just awesome." And then like almost immediately he goes, "I need you to get diapers and wipes "'cause I gotta deliver my kid." And I'm like, "I can't, I just can't do that right now." And I'll never, he just completely lashed out at me.
26:32-26:42
He goes, "You know, I thought you knew the Lord." And I'm like, "So, let me get this straight.
26:42-26:46
"I'm only great if I can do something for you.
26:48-26:55
"But if I don't, I'm no good." You see, that's exactly what Satan was saying about Job.
26:55-27:02
Oh, he's only gonna worship you as long as you keep bringing him his stuff.
27:06-27:06
But you take that away.
27:09-27:10
He's not gonna worship you.
27:10-27:18
In fact, Job will do to you, God, the very thing that he feared his kids would do, and that's curse you.
27:22-27:27
All right, verse 12, it says, "And the Lord said to Satan, 'Behold, all that he has is in your hand.
27:28-27:41
Only against him do not stretch out your hand.' So Satan went out in the presence of the Lord." I got to tell you, this is an astonishing verse to me.
27:43-27:50
It's a hard pill to swallow, that Satan would come and make such an accusation and God goes with it.
27:56-28:12
That the Lord would actually say, "Okay, he's all yours, but don't touch him." the verses six through 12 here, we get a peek behind the curtain.
28:13-28:25
We get a little glimpse of heaven and what happened before actually, what prompted Job's suffering.
28:28-28:31
So the question is, what do we see behind the curtain?
28:31-28:32
We got our peek.
28:33-28:33
What do we see?
28:34-28:35
Oh, we see a lot of things.
28:38-28:46
I just wanted to share with you three things that really caught my attention at this peak behind the curtain.
28:46-28:47
Write these down on your outline.
28:48-28:50
Here's the first thing we see.
28:51-28:54
Number one, heaven takes note of your conduct.
28:58-29:01
You're like, hang on, Pastor Jeff.
29:01-29:06
Don't you mean God takes note of your conduct?
29:09-29:22
Well, sure, I mean, God commended Job's conduct, but did you notice Satan immediately recognized who God was talking about?
29:26-29:27
Here's what I mean.
29:28-29:37
When God says, "If you considered my servant Job," Satan wasn't like, "Hang on, "I'm gonna have to Facebook stalk him." How do you spell that?
29:39-29:41
Well, like job, only we say Job.
29:41-29:42
I'm gonna...
29:44-29:45
Do you have a last name?
29:45-29:46
From us, right?
29:48-29:49
Satan didn't have to do that.
29:50-29:51
Do you notice that?
29:52-29:57
As soon as God said, "Have you considered Job?" Satan, he knew right away.
29:57-30:09
"Oh, yeah, yeah, I know that guy, "the guy that you hedged, the guy that you blessed." Do you know what that tells me?
30:12-30:17
That being godly doesn't make you exempt from suffering.
30:19-30:27
And according to this peak, maybe we say being godly makes you a target for suffering.
30:32-30:41
Do you ever know somebody that just seems like, just every angle of life just seems to be battering them?
30:42-30:51
And I've said this about people, and I'm sure you have too, that you just look at certain people and you're like, man, he is such a good guy.
30:53-30:58
Like, I don't understand why he's always struggling.
30:59-31:00
He's such a good guy.
31:05-31:08
Well, maybe he's struggling because he's a good guy.
31:12-31:17
And again, as a pastor, we hear things like this often.
31:19-31:22
You know, as soon as I got baptized, my life got really hard.
31:23-31:24
(congregation laughing)
31:27-31:33
Or as soon as I joined the church, boy, it just seems like the wheels came off of everything in my life.
31:37-31:39
And I've heard this one a lot.
31:41-31:49
That there's somebody that needs to repent from a certain sin, and you counsel them and walk them through that, and they make the decision they are going to turn from this sin.
31:49-31:55
I've had people come back and tell me, You know, as soon as I repented from that sin, my life got so hard.
31:59-32:01
You think that's a coincidence?
32:07-32:13
Maybe God took note of your conduct and Satan is challenging your sincerity.
32:15-32:21
Oh, speaking of sincerity, number two, What do we see behind the curtain?
32:21-32:23
We see that your motive is what really matters.
32:26-32:27
Your motive is what really matters.
32:28-32:29
This is what Satan called into question.
32:30-32:42
Notice Satan didn't say, "How does Job worship you?" He said, "In essence, why?
32:45-32:53
Why does Job worship you, really?" Satan didn't call his conduct into question, he called his motives into question.
32:53-32:54
And do you know what that tells me?
32:55-32:59
That tells me that you can do all the right stuff for all the wrong reasons.
33:02-33:17
I mean, you can look the part, you can go to church, you can serve, you can look like you have your family together, your home's in order, you can be a nice neighbor.
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but do you really do what you do because you love the Lord?
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Your motive is what matters.
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Number three, I'm sure you noticed this.
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What do we see behind the curtain?
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Number three, Satan does nothing without God say so.
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Satan does nothing without God's say so.
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People give Satan way too much credit.
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Is he powerful?
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Yes.
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Evil?
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Yes.
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Sovereign?
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No.
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Look, Satan isn't running around willy nilly.
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Like God's sitting on the throne in heaven going, I wonder what Satan's up to?
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God's like, I wonder who Satan's going after today.
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That's not happening.
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Satan does nothing without God signing off on it first.
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Do you notice here, God even gives Satan clear, specific parameters.
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You know what that tells me?
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That tells me that there is nothing that you and I are going to face that God doesn't sovereignly allow into our lives, and that includes suffering.
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So this scene in heaven, This wasn't just a wager between a couple of college buddies.
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This is important.
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For the entire heavenly host to see, for everyone on earth to see, God is worthy of worship and his worth is not dependent upon his gifts.
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So here's the real question. How will Job respond? It will reveal Job's heart, as Satan indicated it would, but is Job going to curse God as Satan predicted that he would?
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Well, let's find out, jump down to verse 20.
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This is after the four waves of incredible tragedy.
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It says, "Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped.
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And he said, 'Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return.' the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away.
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Blessed be the name of the Lord.
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And all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.
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After all the loss, his money, his servants, his 10 kids, Job worshiped.
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Now, of course, he mourned.
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The Bible tells us that.
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When it says he tore his robe and he shaved his head, those are signs of anguish.
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Those are signs of mourning.
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He wasn't a robot, okay?
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He mourned.
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But Job was not angry with God.
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And Job did not curse God.
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Your Bible tells you that Job worshiped God.
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Satan was wrong.
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And I think my church friends, I think that we read this account of Job and there's something deep down in us that immediately wants to think, "Man, I would love to respond to suffering the way Job responded to suffering, right?
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I mean, isn't that what you want?
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Don't you wanna kind of put yourself in a story like, man, if that was me suffering, I'd wanna respond in worship.
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And my response is, you will.
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And your response to that might be, how can you be so sure that I will?
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Well, write this down on your outline.
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You will worship while you suffer.
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I am convinced of that.
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If you meet certain conditions, I guarantee you that you will, the same conditions that Job met.
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You will worship while you suffer, letter A, if you're a worshiper before you suffer.
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You see, this horrible day didn't give Job character.
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It revealed his character.
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By the way, Job did not know about this whole scene in heaven, this whole exchange between God and Satan.
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Job didn't know that he was being tested.
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He was fighting blindfolded.
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And it didn't matter.
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Because that's just who Job was.
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He was a worshiper.
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And listen, my friends, if you aren't sincerely worshipping the Lord from your heart now, You're not going to be magically inclined to worship the Lord when suffering comes.
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We all suffer with things.
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I shared mine.
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We could bring every one of you up here to share a story.
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We're all suffering with something, but listen, suffering doesn't make or break you.
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It exposes you.
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So you will worship while you suffer if you're a worshiper before you suffer.
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Letter B, you will worship while you suffer if you remember that you're leaving earth with what you brought.
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Verse 21, we see that Job already knew the truth that Solomon stated long after Job.
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I think it's in Ecclesiastes 5, but it goes something like this.
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You're leaving the earth with what you brought, which is what?
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Nothing.
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And that's why Job was able to say, because of this reality and everything he's been blessed with on the earth, he says, "The Lord gave, "and the Lord has taken away." Did you know that every single thing on the earth belongs to God?
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Did you know that?
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You better know that.
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We just spent four weeks talking about that.
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Don't you pretend now like this is news.
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Everything belongs to God.
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And everything he gives me is a gift that I'm going to enjoy for a season on the earth because God might take it away from me or he might take me away from the earth.
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But I love God, not his gifts.
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And finally, letter C, if you believe that God has a purpose for literally everything.
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You will worship while you suffer if you believe that God has a purpose for literally everything.
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Look at this last verse again, verse 22.
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It says, "And all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong." Literally, this can be translated, "And all this Job did not charge God with doing that which is empty." Despite everything that was happening, Job says, I know that there's meaning to this.
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This isn't a meaningless event that's going on.
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Do you truly believe that God is sovereign?
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I mean, do you really believe that?
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Not just sitting in Harvard's Bible Chapel on Sunday morning.
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I mean, do you believe that God is sovereign?
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Because I gotta confess to you in some of my weaker moments, when I'm patching a hole in a wall, or I'm cleaning up glass for the umpteenth time, there have been so many times that I have said, this is so senseless.
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And I've had to repent from that.
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Because that statement directly contradicts what God's word says.
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Nothing is senseless.
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Nothing is senseless.
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Even suffering.
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Wait, wait.
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I want a do over on that last statement.
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Can I get a do over?
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We're not streaming this service, are we?
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Okay.
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I need a do over on that one.
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Nothing is senseless, especially suffering.
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We learned this from Job, spoiler alert, but we learn this reality through the cross of Jesus Christ.
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Because I imagine if we were there while our Lord was being crucified, there might've been a real temptation for us to see this perfect, sinless, godly man and teach and demonstrate God's goodness and God's power and kindness through miracles and has taught the most profound thing anyone's ever heard. We see this this perfect innocent man being publicly humiliated and executed. I imagine some of us might have looked at Jesus dying on the cross and thought This is senseless. This is so senseless!
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But was it? Because it was through the death of Jesus Christ that my sin can be forgiven. So I have to look at the cross and see that God took the absolute worst suffering ever endured and turned it into the greatest thing that ever happened. Can he do that with the suffering that I'm experiencing in my life? Our worship team would make their way up. I just want you to bow your heads and close your eyes for a minute, please.
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And I want you to think of whatever you're suffering through right now.
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As I said earlier, maybe it's some financial thing, work-related thing, maybe you've experienced loss, maybe it's a health issue.
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Whatever your suffering is, I just want you to think about it right now, Just take a moment, think about that thing that is causing you so much suffering.
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And with that thing in mind, I wanna ask you one question.
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Will you still worship?
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Heaven is watching.
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God knows the answer.
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And Satan is waiting to find out.
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Now's your chance to show God.
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So I want you to stand up and we're going to worship and you are going to demonstrate, God, I love you, not just your gifts.
Small Group Discussion
Read Job 1
What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
Have you ever suffered a terrible trial and struggled with the question “Why, God?” As much as you’re comfortable, share your story with the group.
What was Satan’s accusation against Job (see Job 1:9-11)? Why do you think Satan made this accusation?
How would you respond to someone who says, “As soon as I started going to church, everything in my life got so much harder.”?
Walk us through Job 1:21. Why was this Job’s reasoning for blessing the Lord? How can we get there now to prepare us for when we suffer?
Breakout
Pray for one another.
