Jeff Miller

December 22, 2024

Divine Intervention

A Miraculous Entrance

Jeff Miller

December 22, 2024

Divine Intervention

Introduction:

John 8:41 - "You are doing the works your father did." They said to him, "We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father--even God."

Why I believe in the virgin birth of Jesus Christ (and why it matters) (Matthew 1:18-25):

It is the Straightforward Teaching of scripture.
It is Certainly Possible with God.
Luke 1:34 - How will this be, since I am a virgin?

Luke 1:37 - Nothing will be impossible with God.
It is Essential for Salvation.

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

01:08-01:10
Open up those Bibles to Matthew chapter one.
01:12-01:18
And for today and on Tuesday night, Pastor Taylor and I will be talking about divine intervention.
01:19-01:20
So what is that?
01:20-01:22
What does that mean, divine intervention?
01:24-01:25
Well, it just simply means this.
01:26-01:35
It's when God shows up in the world, causing or preventing something from happening.
01:36-01:37
We say that's divine intervention.
01:39-01:49
And there are some people that deny that there's any divine intervention and anything that looks like divine intervention is explained away.
01:51-01:57
When I was in community college, I took an ancient history class.
01:58-02:01
And this was before I was saved.
02:01-02:07
But I remember in this history class, They were talking about the events of the Exodus.
02:08-02:14
And the professor was systematically just denying every single thing that happened, like with the plagues.
02:16-02:24
They said, "Well, the Bible says that God, "through Moses turned the water into blood, "but it wasn't really blood.
02:24-02:36
"It just looked red because it was an unusually "high iron content in the water suddenly." And they went on and on, they talked about the frogs.
02:37-02:38
Do you know how they explained the frogs?
02:40-02:45
It was an unusually high mating season for frogs.
02:48-02:59
Like I said, this was before I was a Christian, but I remember sitting in this class going, I think it takes more faith to believe what the professor's saying than to believe what God said.
03:00-03:11
But there's some people that just deny that there's any divine intervention, we wanna intellectualize it, and we wanna explain it away in the name of science, which isn't really science.
03:13-03:17
And as people do, we swing to the other end of that spectrum.
03:17-03:21
Some people see everything as divine intervention, right?
03:22-03:24
Like, you're not gonna believe this.
03:25-03:27
I went to Pantera Bread today.
03:28-03:30
I got the last Cinna Crunch bagel.
03:32-03:33
That was a God wink.
03:35-03:36
Please don't use that term.
03:39-03:41
And look, do I believe God's sovereign over everything?
03:42-03:50
Absolutely, but I do think sometimes there's just a danger of reading hidden meaning into every little thing.
03:52-03:53
Well, what does the Bible say?
03:55-03:58
The Bible says that divine intervention is a real thing.
03:59-04:00
You wanna proof text?
04:02-04:08
Genesis through Revelation. Okay, don't look now, but there's your proof text.
04:08-04:54
But today what we are going to look at is what is the ultimate example of divine intervention, and that is the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. That the Bible says that God who created everything, God became a man. And the Bible says that he became a man through a woman who was never with a man. Let's bow our heads and I'm going to ask that you would please pray for me to be faithful to proclaim God's Word, and I will pray for you to believe what He said. Let's just take a moment and pray.
05:00-05:43
Father, as we turn to your Word, I pray that your Holy Spirit meet us all where we are, because there are some people that are sitting here that maybe they've heard this story 10,000 times. Father, I pray that we would look at it with fresh eyes. And I'm sure, Father, there are people that are listening to this, whether sitting here now or in the next service or listening to a podcast later, that they don't believe what you actually said. And I pray, Father, that you would once again prove that faith comes by hearing and hearing through the Word of Christ, that Father, you would do something supernatural.
05:46-05:52
That it would be, maybe for those who doubt, Father, maybe it would be a divine intervention for them.
05:53-05:55
Father, glorify your name through your word.
05:56-05:58
We pray in Jesus' name.
05:58-06:01
And all of God's people said, amen.
06:01-06:03
Let's look at Matthew chapter 1.
06:03-06:05
We're going to start in verse 18.
06:05-06:12
It says, "Now the birth of Jesus Christ "took place in this way.
06:14-06:22
"When his mother, Mary, had been betrothed to Joseph "before they came together." Let's stop there for a second.
06:23-06:27
It says here that Mary was betrothed.
06:28-06:33
Now in those days, a wedding was a little different than the way we do things today.
06:33-06:36
There are actually two stages of a Jewish wedding.
06:37-06:40
The first stage was called the Kedushim.
06:40-06:44
That's the engagement or the betrothal.
06:45-07:00
And what happened in this stage is the families would actually come together and they would draw up a contract so that the couple was legally married, but they had no contact with one another.
07:01-07:04
for a significant period of time.
07:05-07:05
Why?
07:06-07:07
Well, it was to prove a couple of things.
07:09-07:16
First, it was to prove the faithfulness of the wife that she wasn't pregnant.
07:17-07:25
And it would also prove the commitment of the husband as he was setting up a place for them to live.
07:26-07:31
But you see, this was much more serious than engagements in our culture.
07:32-07:36
Or it's just like, oh, we don't wanna be engaged anymore, I'm gonna give you your ring back.
07:36-07:43
It was much more serious because to break off an engagement in this culture meant you had to get a divorce.
07:46-07:48
You needed a divorce to end the betrothal.
07:49-07:51
But the second stage of the Jewish wedding was the chuppah.
07:54-07:55
And what was that?
07:56-08:06
Well, at an unexpected time, the groom would come back to receive the bride and have the wedding.
08:08-08:10
And their weddings were seven days.
08:10-08:12
You've been to some weddings you thought were long?
08:13-08:19
Seven days of wedding and wedding feast and wedding reception.
08:20-08:22
And I know you're thinking, did they have a cookie table?
08:23-08:23
I don't know.
08:24-08:25
I don't know.
08:26-08:28
The Bible doesn't speak to that.
08:32-08:35
But it says they were yet betrothed, okay?
08:35-08:42
So it's important to understand that Mary and Joseph here were in the first stage of the Jewish wedding.
08:43-09:02
Look at verse 18, the rest of it, it says, "Before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit." Look, I gotta admit, that was a tough one.
09:03-09:09
For Joseph, you're gonna see here in a second, but that would be tough for any man, really, if you think about it.
09:10-09:32
You're engaged, you're excited, and your bride-to-be says, "Hey, I need to tell you something." "What?" "I'm pregnant." "Why?" And you know the first natural question you have.
09:33-09:35
Well, who's the father?
09:37-09:40
And she's like, "You're not gonna believe this.
09:41-09:45
"It's God." Oh, oh.
09:46-09:47
Oh, okay.
09:47-09:48
Well, that explains it.
09:49-09:50
Look at verse 19.
09:50-10:05
It says, "And her husband Joseph, being a just man, "and unwilling to put her to shame, "resolved to divorce her quietly." Okay, so Joseph was like, okay, we were engaged, we're gonna get married, she's pregnant.
10:07-10:10
There's only one course of action, and that's divorce.
10:11-10:13
But you see, in those days, you had two options for divorce.
10:13-10:22
You could do the public option, which you could understand, a man who felt betrayed would go for that, right?
10:23-10:27
Like, oh, okay, you're gonna mess around on me while we're engaged, okay.
10:28-10:30
You're gonna embarrass me, I'm going to publicly embarrass you.
10:30-10:32
You can see why men would take that option.
10:36-10:38
Joseph, what does your Bible say?
10:38-10:40
He was a just man.
10:41-10:45
There was a private option where you could just have two or three witnesses.
10:46-10:52
It was done in secret, the divorce, and no one needed to know.
10:53-10:55
And Joseph was a just man.
10:55-11:00
He obviously loved Mary very much, and he decided, he goes, "I'm gonna do this quietly.
11:02-11:07
"I'm not gonna shame her." The Bible says he resolved.
11:09-11:10
He resolved.
11:10-11:14
Like, okay, this is what has to happen.
11:14-11:15
It's over.
11:17-11:24
And at this point, you would think, Man, it would have to take a message from God himself to change Joseph's mind.
11:26-11:28
Oh, good, because that's what he got.
11:28-11:29
Look at verse 20.
11:29-11:50
It says, "But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, 'Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
11:55-12:05
So Mary's condition was confirmed and God spoke to Joseph in a dream through an angel.
12:06-12:06
Why?
12:06-12:08
Well, these were the days before Maury Povich.
12:12-12:13
Look at verse 21.
12:14-12:17
says, "She will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus.
12:20-12:24
For he will save his people from their sins." So interesting here.
12:25-12:30
You know, one of the exciting things about having a baby is naming the baby, right?
12:31-12:33
Well, this wasn't Joseph's baby to name.
12:34-12:40
God says, "Here is what you're going to be calling this child." God told him the name.
12:40-12:47
And if you know your Bibles, when God names someone, the name defines the person, right?
12:48-12:58
God's not looking at a list of popular baby names and saying, "Well, I'll just pick one from that." God names someone with divine purpose.
13:01-13:06
You're gonna call this baby Jesus, which means Jehovah saves.
13:09-13:15
So Mary was told that God would deliver a baby through her and Joseph was informed of the fact.
13:16-13:25
And Matthew reminds us that we were all told about this a long time ago, back in Isaiah chapter seven and verse 14.
13:25-13:26
Look at these next couple of verses.
13:28-13:41
Matthew says, "All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophets." Again, Isaiah 7, 14, "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel.
13:44-13:47
Emmanuel, that's a compound word.
13:48-13:54
It's not really a name as much as it is a description or a title.
13:56-14:04
Emmanuel, Emmanuel means with us and El is the power name of God.
14:07-14:15
So this child means God is literally physically with us.
14:18-14:24
Look at verse 24, it says, "When Joseph woke from his sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him.
14:26-14:33
He took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son.
14:35-14:37
And he called his name Jesus.
14:40-14:41
So Joseph was obedient.
14:41-14:46
He didn't know her until after Jesus was born.
14:47-14:53
That dispels the perpetual virginity of Mary myth that some churches hold on to.
14:55-15:00
And he gave this child the God assigned name.
15:03-15:06
This is the ultimate example of divine intervention.
15:08-15:15
And like we said at the top of the message, some people, they deny that there's any divine intervention at all.
15:15-15:30
They wanna explain it away when it looks like God intervened in worldly affairs, and unsurprisingly, the virgin birth gets explained away a lot.
15:31-15:40
You're like, "Well, how do people explain away the virgin birth?" Well, people say, "You know, Joseph was the father.
15:41-15:50
And Joseph and Mary had relations before the wedding was finalized as they were not supposed to do.
15:51-15:55
And this story was just a big coverup." Like, "Oh no, she's pregnant.
15:55-15:57
What are we gonna do?" "Oh, I know.
15:58-16:06
We'll just tell everybody that God did it." It's nothing new, right?
16:08-16:15
I wish that I could tell you that, yeah, there is a bit of an issue on the front end, but eventually it went away, but that's not the case.
16:16-16:41
Because you see, even when Jesus, as an adult was doing ministry, John 8, 41, Jesus was having an exchange with the Pharisees, And Jesus said, "You are doing the works your father did." And they said to him, "Look at this, we were not born of sexual immorality." What do you think they meant by that?
16:43-16:47
I think that they intended for that to be a burn on Jesus.
16:47-16:50
Like, "Oh, oh, you're telling us about daddy.
16:52-16:59
We weren't born of sexual morality, parentheses, like you were.
17:00-17:02
We have one Father, even God.
17:05-17:17
I wish I could tell you that after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the issue kind of went away and people embraced what the Bible actually says about the virgin birth, but it's still an issue even until today.
17:20-17:25
I was looking up the latest statistics on this 'cause these kinds of things fascinate me.
17:28-17:37
They said the most recent that I found, 34% of Americans do not believe in the virgin birth of Jesus Christ, 34%.
17:39-17:43
That's one out of three people just don't believe it.
17:43-17:59
And that was shocking to me, but that wasn't near as shocking as what I saw in another poll that said 66% of clergy expressed doubts about the virgin birth.
18:00-18:01
You know what clergy is?
18:02-18:10
Those are people that are supposed to be standing up, representing God, speaking the word of the Lord.
18:11-18:14
That's what a clergy is supposed to be.
18:17-18:22
But two thirds of them said, "Eh, I don't really believe.
18:23-18:34
I don't really believe this, that Jesus was born of a virgin." You're like, "Oh, I know, you're talking about like, these are fringe people, right?
18:35-18:43
A wackadoos, you know, snake jugglers or whatever you call them." Oh, I wish I could say that.
18:44-19:02
I wish I could say it was just the fringe weirdos, but I read an article about an extremely well-known pastor, I'm not gonna say his name, but somebody that has a huge popular following among people that would call themselves conservative evangelicals.
19:03-19:22
He said this, he said, "If somebody can predict their own death and resurrection, "I'm not at all concerned about how they got into the world." This pastor said in a Christmas sermon at his church, which draws somewhere around 50,000 attendees every week.
19:24-19:46
This pastor said, "Christianity doesn't hinge on the truth or even the stories around the birth of Jesus, it hinges on the resurrection of Jesus." You see, so many people like this pastor, They think that the virgin birth of Jesus Christ, it's just a minor issue.
19:46-19:49
It's really not that important, is it?
19:51-20:03
And I would suggest to you of everything that you celebrate this Christmas, the virgin birth of Jesus Christ is the most important point.
20:05-20:07
Like, well, can you defend that?
20:08-20:13
I want you to write some things down, why I believe in the virgin birth of Jesus Christ and why it matters.
20:15-20:16
Are you a little skeptical?
20:19-20:22
I'm just gonna tell you why I believe in the virgin birth of Jesus Christ.
20:22-20:26
Number one, it is the straightforward teaching of Scripture.
20:30-20:52
Look, if we're going to read the Bible straightforwardly, if we're going to understand what God said as God presented it, it says that the Savior, Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, it says that he was born to a woman that was never with a man before he was born.
20:56-21:05
I watched a video this past week of this preacher, and I use that word very loosely.
21:06-21:11
But this video was, his sermon was about denying the virgin birth of Jesus Christ.
21:13-21:16
And this pastor was scoffing at Matthew.
21:18-21:34
And he said this, "Matthew based the virgin birth story on a mistranslation of scripture." Is it time out for a second?
21:37-21:38
Just time out for a second.
21:39-21:41
I would love to sit down with this pastor.
21:44-21:47
I don't wanna ask him about the virgin birth, I know what he thinks about that.
21:48-21:49
You know what I'd like to ask him?
21:51-21:53
I'd like to ask him why he got into ministry.
21:55-22:02
Did you really get into ministry to stand in front of people and say, "This is why God's wrong"?
22:02-22:05
Was that your dream about going into ministry?
22:08-22:10
To deny the word of God.
22:14-22:25
Anyways, he said that Matthew was basing the virgin birth story off of a mistranslation.
22:26-22:26
Like, what does he mean?
22:27-22:36
Well, here's the thing, like, okay, in Isaiah 7:14, The Hebrew word is a young woman.
22:37-22:40
That's what a young woman, this is the sign of young woman.
22:40-22:50
And when they translated the Hebrew to Greek, they took a Greek word for this translation and that word means virgin.
22:51-22:54
So he's saying there was this mistranslation from the Hebrew to Greek.
22:54-23:03
It went from young woman to virgin because of the words And that is a really popular argument among foolish people.
23:07-23:25
I'm sure you've heard it, but people say, "Well, you know, Isaiah 7:14, virgin, "could mean maiden, it could mean young woman." Okay, Hebrew scholars, do you know what else that word can mean?
23:28-23:29
Yeah, it could mean virgin.
23:31-23:32
Shocker.
23:35-23:38
But look at Matthew's commentary on the issue.
23:38-23:40
Look at verse 18 again real quick.
23:40-24:04
Matthew's commentary, it says, "Before they came together," and then jump down to verse 25, "But he knew her not." Like Matthew was making a point that she was never with a man when she was pregnant with Jesus.
24:06-24:08
I think Matthew knew what he was talking about.
24:10-24:16
And by the way, this reference to Isaiah 7:14, you're like, what's the original context of the passage?
24:16-24:19
Well, the short version is this.
24:19-24:24
Israel was afraid Syria was going to wipe out Israel's royal line.
24:25-24:47
And God says, "No, no, no, here's a sign "that the royal line's going to continue." Well, let me ask you this, if virgin, if the word virgin in Isaiah 7:14 just means young woman, then what kind of a sign is that?
24:50-24:51
God's like, "Here's a sign.
24:53-24:54
"A young woman will have a baby.
24:59-25:01
That would be like, some of you aren't on board yet.
25:01-25:04
It would be like if God says, I'm gonna give you a sign.
25:04-25:08
In 2024, a teenager will wear Crocs.
25:09-25:10
(congregation laughing)
25:11-25:13
Now you get it, right?
25:14-25:15
What kind of a sign is this?
25:16-25:24
I don't know if you noticed, but you can go back to the children's wing after service, but young women give birth all the time.
25:24-25:27
That's not really a sign, right?
25:27-25:29
Here's your sign, a young woman's gonna give birth.
25:29-25:30
(gasps)
25:32-25:34
No, this sign has to be something unique.
25:34-25:45
This sign has to be something unlike anything else, which would be a virgin giving birth.
25:47-25:53
Now look, I totally get why people believe the Bible.
25:53-25:54
I get that.
25:56-25:58
The Bible has satisfied the greatest minds in history.
25:58-26:09
People that have taken an honest look into what the Bible says, verifying it with science, archeology, history, looking at fulfilled predictive prophecy.
26:09-26:11
I get why people believe the Bible.
26:11-26:12
I totally get that.
26:15-26:20
I also get why people don't believe the Bible.
26:21-26:28
because when somebody doesn't want God speaking into their life, they don't wanna hear anything that God has to say.
26:28-26:31
So I get why people would reject the Bible.
26:33-26:35
But do you know what I don't get?
26:36-26:38
Maybe you can explain this to me sometime.
26:40-26:45
I don't get why people choose to only believe parts of the Bible.
26:46-26:47
I just don't understand that.
26:50-26:55
because faith in God necessarily means believing in what he said in his word.
26:59-27:12
But you know, if you don't wanna trust God, but you don't wanna outright deny the Bible, you're gonna try to intellectualize it by trying to reinterpret what are very clear passages.
27:16-27:24
In other words, If you don't wanna believe the Bible, don't try to make it say something else.
27:27-27:28
He said what he meant.
27:29-27:35
And what he said is the Savior was born to a virgin woman.
27:35-27:36
All right?
27:37-27:38
So it's a straightforward teaching of Scripture.
27:39-27:40
That's just what it says, all right?
27:41-27:53
Number two, why I believe in the virgin birth Jesus Christ, it is certainly possible with God." You're like, "I don't know.
27:53-27:55
I don't know, Pastor Jeff.
27:55-28:09
The story seems a little far-fetched." I'm like, "How do you think Mary felt?" I don't think anybody thought it was more far-fetched at first than her.
28:09-28:09
Like what?
28:10-28:10
What?
28:10-28:10
I'm...
28:11-28:12
She believed.
28:13-28:15
I gotta tell you, that had to have been shocking to hear.
28:18-28:23
Luke 1:34, this was Mary's response when she was told this.
28:24-28:30
She says, "How will this be since I am a virgin?" You know that word virgin can mean young woman.
28:32-28:34
And Mary's like, "How can I be pregnant?
28:34-28:38
"I'm a young woman." Oh, we already talked about that.
28:39-28:41
You see how foolish that argument is there, right?
28:43-28:44
Look at Gabriel's response.
28:45-28:54
Gabriel's response, Luke 1:37, he says, "Nothing will be impossible with God." And my friends, that's just theology 101.
28:55-28:58
God can do anything.
28:59-29:00
He can do anything.
29:03-29:04
And he always does what he promises.
29:06-29:08
I love the story of C.S. Lewis.
29:08-29:16
He was sitting in his office with an unbelieving friend, and there were carolers down in the street below singing their Christmas carols.
29:16-29:22
And there was a song they were singing that mentions the virgin birth.
29:23-29:33
And C.S. Lewis's unbelieving friend was like, "Aren't you glad now that we know better?" And C.S. Lewis is like, "What are you talking about?
29:33-29:39
"What do you mean?" He goes, "Well, we know better now, you know what I mean?" And C.S. Lewis was like, "Now you're gonna explain what you mean.
29:39-29:50
"I don't understand what you're saying." And his unbelieving friend says, "Isn't it great that now we know that virgins don't give birth?" And C.S. Lewis pointed to the Carolers.
29:50-29:57
He goes, "You don't think they know that?" He goes, "That's the whole point." Right?
29:58-29:59
That's the whole point.
30:00-30:01
Yeah, they don't.
30:01-30:03
Virgins don't give birth.
30:07-30:11
unless God shows up and miraculously makes it happen.
30:14-30:25
So for these people, especially these preachers that wanna deny the virgin birth of Jesus Christ, it's astounding to me because, do you believe that Jesus Christ resurrected?
30:26-30:32
Do you believe that he fed 5,000 men plus women and children with the two little fishes and the five little loaves of bread?
30:32-30:37
Do you believe that Jesus walked on water and he healed the sick and he evicted demons.
30:37-30:40
And we believe that Jesus did these miracles.
30:43-30:51
But I would suggest to you that a man who performed so many miracles, it would only make sense that he also had a miraculous entrance into the world.
30:53-31:12
If Jesus had a human father, if Joseph was Jesus' dad, Well, not only would that make the Bible untrustworthy, but we wouldn't have any explanation for the supernatural life that Jesus lived.
31:15-31:17
Do you believe in a virgin birth?
31:17-31:21
I would say, well, it's certainly possible with God.
31:24-31:28
And then finally, number three, it's essential for salvation.
31:29-31:31
Why do I believe in a virgin birth?
31:31-31:33
because it's essential for salvation.
31:36-31:44
Understand that Jesus Christ had to be fully God and fully man at the same time.
31:45-31:46
He had to.
31:47-31:47
Why?
31:49-31:53
Well, it was man who brought sin into the world.
31:55-32:00
So a man had to bear the punishment for sin.
32:00-32:16
But he also had to be God to be a sinless and perfect once and for all sacrifice that would save all who would believe.
32:18-32:23
So if Jesus just simply had two human parents, then he was just another human being.
32:24-32:30
Oh, and that really popular preacher that was sort of poo-pooing the virgin birth of Jesus Christ.
32:31-32:40
Remember the guy who said, Christianity doesn't hinge on the truth or even the stories around the birth of Jesus, it hinges on the resurrection of Jesus.
32:40-32:48
My response to that is, if Jesus Christ wasn't fully God and fully man in the manger, he wasn't fully God and fully man on the cross.
32:50-32:56
And if Jesus Christ wasn't fully God and fully man on the cross, then the cross means nothing.
32:57-33:02
and Jesus was just another martyr cut down in his prime.
33:05-33:10
Now, the virgin birth isn't some peripheral doctrine.
33:13-33:15
It's central to who Jesus is.
33:20-33:28
And the sacrifice of Jesus only has power if Jesus is who the Bible says he is.
33:29-33:32
Our worship team would make their way back up front.
33:37-33:43
Listen, your sin has separated you from God.
33:43-33:44
We're all born with it.
33:46-33:49
We're sinners by birth and we're sinners by choice.
33:49-33:53
And the bad news is trying to be good can't help you.
33:55-34:25
because you still stand condemned. Feeling sorry about the wrong things you've done can't take away your sin. And doing good works and being religious isn't going to make up for it. What you need is a divine intervention. And thanks to the virgin birth of Jesus Christ.
34:27-34:28
That's exactly what we got.
34:29-34:29
Let's pray.
34:32-34:37
Our Father in heaven, we believe your word.
34:39-34:47
And yeah, there's parts of your word that maybe we can't wrap our brains around because we've never seen it personally.
34:48-34:55
that we don't know somebody that these things have happened to personally.
35:00-35:01
But God, we trust you.
35:03-35:07
And we believe that it went down exactly as you said.
35:10-35:27
Father, we believe in the virgin birth of Jesus Christ, because you've said that, because you're certainly able to make that happen, Father, and because we believe that the same God-man in the manger is the same God-man who was on the cross.
35:29-35:44
So Father, I just wanna pray specifically for those who maybe are on the skeptic side, because if the statistics are anywhere near true, there are a lot of people that would just flat out deny what you've clearly said.
35:47-36:01
Father, I pray that they would wrestle with who Jesus is, and they'd wrestle with what Jesus has done, and they would truly understand why that had to happen for our salvation.
36:03-36:05
We pray in Jesus' name, amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Matthew 1:18-25

What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
Why do you think the doctrine of the virgin birth of Christ is so consistently denied?
Why is believing in the virgin birth an important doctrine to embrace? What are the implications if Jesus was just naturally Joseph and Mary’s son?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

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.
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On a much more serious note, it's very easy to question God, isn't it?
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It's tempting to question his divine calls, to critique his performance, or evaluate his plans for our lives or this world.
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We can point a finger at God and blame him for our suffering.
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We've all done it in the past and we're all gonna do it at many points in the future.
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We've all thought things like, what in the world is God doing?
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How could he possibly think that something like this is a good idea?
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Or if I was in charge, if I was the God of the universe, I would do things much differently.
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Well, we're in good company because do you know who else questioned God during his suffering?
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Job.
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And you may be thinking, hold on a minute.
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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.
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In chapter two, verse 10, in all this, Job did not sin with his lips.
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Well, that is all right and true.
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At that point in the story, Job did not question God.
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But his questioning came during chapters three to 31, which most people totally skip or heavily skim as they read the book of Job.
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As a recap, these chapters record a back and forth conversation between Job and his three quote unquote friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar.
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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.
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We studied these 29 chapters two weeks ago, but we focused on the Three Stooges side of the conversation.
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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.
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But you will also come across a lot of him questioning God.
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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.
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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.
29:32-29:35
What would I possibly do if I found this parrot?
29:36-29:40
Am I capable of controlling this parrot and making it come to me?
29:41-29:44
As I walk Murdoch, I think of all these different scenarios of what I could do.
29:45-29:49
I look up parrot calls on YouTube, all walking around with a butterfly net.
29:50-29:57
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.
29:58-30:02
With each scenario I came up with, I came up short, to be honest.
30:04-30:10
The answer to the question of am I capable of controlling this parrot and making it come to me became obvious, no.
30:12-30:17
And the same answer goes for God's questions about Job's ability to control all the animals around the world.
30:19-30:21
I am not a Pittsburgh aviary worker.
30:21-30:22
I am not the parrot whisperer.
30:23-30:26
And Job cannot keep every single hungry lion fed.
30:27-30:30
He cannot make sure that every single bird is taken care of.
30:31-30:33
He can't groom every single horse.
30:33-30:37
He can't make sure that every single hawk and eagle can fly.
30:38-30:41
In the grand scheme of things, Job cannot do very much.
30:42-30:47
His contributions to making the earth function is so negligible that it's laughable.
30:49-30:55
It's truly astounding to consider how much God directs and how little we actually control.
30:57-31:03
But it's equally shocking how much we try to advise God and give him suggestions.
31:04-31:07
Does anyone else ever try to give God advice when they pray?
31:08-31:09
All right, me and Candace, we definitely do that.
31:10-31:10
Nobody else, I guess.
31:11-31:14
Well, me and Cain's will listen to this verse, it'll be really helpful for us.
31:14-31:16
Romans 11, 34 to 35.
31:16-31:19
For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?
31:21-31:24
Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?
31:26-31:30
So we're clear on the fact that God does not want or need a counselor.
31:31-31:37
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.
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Address their conduct.
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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.
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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.
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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?
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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.
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"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.

A Miraculous Entrance

Introduction:

Why I believe in the virgin birth of Jesus Christ (and why it matters) (Matthew 1:18-25):

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):

Upcoming Small Group Questions CLICK HERE

How much of the Bible have we covered since 2011?

Introduction:

Why I believe in the virgin birth of Jesus Christ (and why it matters) (Matthew 1:18-25):

Audio Transcript

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