Job 1:13-22 | Men's Bible Study by Rick Burgess

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome into the Wednesday Bible Study. We are so thrilled
that you are here. We are in the Book of
Job and if you're new to this Bible study, the
good news is you've only missed one session. You can
go back and grab that we did the first twelve
verses of chapter one and that is now available at
the Manchurch dot com. You can watch it click on

(00:21):
watch or you can listen to it by clicking on listen,
so you can stay caught up pretty quick on this
latest series. Now we are part of an ongoing men's
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I thank all of you who watch and listen. I
mean all over the world, men and women and ladies.

(00:43):
You're always invited to join us on the streaming, but
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this for over a decade now, so there's so many
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go and get those. And I love hearing from some

(01:04):
of you that are you're going through stuff from years ago.
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(01:26):
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(01:46):
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We are turn key, so if we can help you,
let us know. Let's open up in the Word of
Prayer today. We will pick up in chapter one of

(02:09):
Job and we're going to finish chapter one going verses
thirteen through twenty two so here we go. Lord, thank
you for today. I pray Lord for your help anytime
we're unpacking your Holy Word. It is just a what
a pleasure that the beginning and the end would make
sure that we have this information. If we're uninformed about you, Lord,

(02:32):
it's on us. You have allowed yourself to be known.
You've said, if we seek you will find you have
you have given us your inspired Holy Word. And Lord,
I just pray today that we continue to use this
opportunity that you have afforded us to draw nearer to
You and your holy name. We pray Amen. All right,

(02:54):
So here's what happened if you missed last week. The
bottom line is this say has had the opportunity to
stand before the one and only Living God with the
other angels. And here's what this is. The accusation he
makes about us human beings. He says to the one
and only Living God, these creatures you have, they're all

(03:15):
basically the same. And the case he's making is that
though you have condemned me, Satan Lucifer talking about him,
sayf you condemn me, and I see you're going to
offer them some sort of other deal. But at the
end of it all you condemn me for being prideful
and rebellious, and I'm no different than them. They're just

(03:38):
like me. So if you allow me this test, you're
gonna find out that this guy's no different me. He's
gonna rebel against you and he's going to be prideful
if you take away your blessings from him. And that's
really the message that the You know, because we know
that the term satan means to accuse. It's Lucifer who

(04:01):
this is, and he became satan because of his rebellion.
And what he does is he makes accusations that none
of us should be being forgiven because we're no different
in him? Why are they being forgiven for being as
rebellious and prideful as I was? And the third of
the angels that went with him, they all had this

(04:22):
attitude and they hate human beings because of God offering
mercy and grace and redemption to us that they didn't
get offered. So just remember, and I remember the first
time a friend of mine told me this, and I've
never forgotten it. As much as we know that our

(04:44):
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, as much as we know
how much God loves us, through his son and his
son going to the cross, sacrificing his own son for
our benefit. And you look up there and you see
remember the two things we do see how serious God
takes sin and how holy is which is gonna be
a message in this once we're done. But we also

(05:05):
see how merciful and gracious and loving God can be.
And I never forget when the friend told me this,
he says, so get that. Now turn around and realize
that Lucifer and the third of the demons, they hate
you as much as God loves you, which is pretty intense.
So and they seek to what we know this from scripture,

(05:26):
to kill, steal, and destroy. So it should not surprise
us today. Once God lays out to the boundaries, Satan
moves quick and he know what he's gonna do. Remember this,
it's important to learn today. Whatever boundaries that God lays
out for Satan, he will maximize it. He's gonna run

(05:49):
right to the end of the boundary. He's not gonna
go well, I know you allowed me to go all
the way over there. I'm good. Right here. He's gonna
go all the way where He's gonna do everything he
can do. He's gonna maximize the opportun unity. Okay. So
he put it this way, he's never bringing back any change.
He gonna spend it all. Okay, So you're gonna find
that pretty quick. So let's look at the verses thirteen

(06:12):
through nineteen. After God has laid out the boundaries for Satan,
which is crucial. In thirteen, he says, now there was
a day talking about Job when his sons and daughters
were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house,
and there came a message to Job. And then we

(06:33):
can start getting in that. So let's start. He's gonna
move quickly. He's gonna inflict the max inside the boundary
set by God and he would now remember this, this
is back to God's sovereignty again, which is an important
lesson throughout Job. If it were possible, Lucifer and the

(06:55):
demons would not abide by the arrangement. They would break it.
So keep in mind, apparently they can't break it, because
if they could, they would don't think that. Lucifer says, well,
you know what, I made a deal with God and
I'm gonna stick by that. That's what we agreed on.
That's not happening here. He cannot literally, he cannot exceed

(07:17):
the boundary. Now he's going to go right up to it,
but he can't get past it. So God's the one
in control. Don't ever get in your mind that Lucifer
just agreed to the arrangement says I won't violate it.
He would violate it if he could, he just can't.
I want that to be something that's peaceful to you today.
I want that to bring you comfort, Okay. So anyway,
when God says this is the boundary, it is the boundary. Okay.

(07:40):
So he tries to figure out exactly what he's going
to do here, and he's going to go out there
and he's going to do four things that are going
to be catastrophes for job, and we're going to run
through them all. Number one is going to be in
the form of theft, and we're going to see that.
Number two will be in the form of fire. Number

(08:03):
three he's gonna go back to theft again, and then
of course number four again he's gonna use natural disasters
for the worst thing that he's gonna do. Okay, So
remember that you're gonna see here something that you may
not know, but we're gonna explain that that when it
comes to natural disasters, apparently Lucifer can do those things.

(08:29):
He can bring fire down, he can he can bring
storms down. We know that because he does. Okay, So
here we go. Let's start first with verses thirteen through fifteen,
and this is gonna involve theft. Okay. So there was
a day when Job's sons and daughters were eating and
drinking wine in the older brother's house. And there came

(08:50):
a messenger to Job, and he said the oxen were
plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them. And I know
a lot of you want this to be Orbama fans Sabians,
but it's actually not pronounced that way. Okay, So it's Subbians.
The Subbians, their nomadic tribe. They fell upon them and

(09:12):
took them and struck down the servants with the edge
of the sword. And I alone have escaped to tell
you all right, So let's look at this one first,
thirteen through fifteen. Now we already know we've already been
educated in last week's study. If you missed it, I'll
try to catch you up again. We've already been educated
that there were feasts that the children had in each

(09:34):
other's homes, and they seemed to kind of move around
from each child's home. They're gonna figure this meeting of them.
They're gonna figure in the first and the fourth calamity.
One day. We're not sure how long Satan waited, but
I would say not very long. I bet he moved
right into action. One day. Satan was probably moving immediate.

(09:58):
They were drinking wine. Now this this is different. In
the first part of this, In the first twelve verses
of one, we were just told they were drinking. We
didn't know what they were drinking. But now as we
get to the end of one, now that calamity has come,
we are now being specifically told they are drinking wine.

(10:19):
Now we weren't told this in verse four, but we're
being told that now. So is this for us to
assume that they were drunk? I think to assume that
you can't. Really. It doesn't tell us they were drunk.
It doesn't say that. That's not clear. And the reason
why I want it's important not to go too far there.

(10:39):
Even though I'm not gonna leave it, I'm going to
still leave it open. But remember what God has allowed
here is not a judgment on Job's children. It's a
test of Job, So don't miss that. You know, this
is not him judging the children, it's him testing Job.
So it's important for us to keep that at the

(11:00):
forefront of this. However, however, with that being said, and
that's absolutely true, it does tell us back in the
first twelve verses, in verse five, it does tell us
this that this father job is concerned that when they
get together for these feasts, that it's possible they have
sinned and cursed God. That kind of brings us back

(11:23):
to now, why is he concerned about that? Well, and
again this is just this is speculation. It's okay to
speculate as long as you acknowledge you're speculating. Would it
be more likely speaking to my life, the answer would
be yes, would it be more likely that they would
sin and curse God if they were getting drunk? But
the answer to that is a resounding yess. I can

(11:45):
look back on the sin in my life when I
had a problem with drinking, and I can attribute the
majority of my regrets to drunkenness, the majority of them. Okay,
so that's something we can't let off the table. Now, again,
they're not being judged by God. Job's being tested. That's true.
We're not going to leave that. However, the concern this

(12:07):
father had, would I just be concerned that my kids
were getting together and eating and drinking grape juice. Probably
not that they're going to sin and curse God. But
if I knew this turned into more of a party,
I'll probably get concerned. Right, So to me, that's just logical.
But again I'm speculating. Nothing here tells us they're getting drunk.

(12:28):
I'm just thinking that if you put those two together
as a detective, I probably would would have an assumption
that that probably is going on. Okay, So anyway, and
remember he would always try to consecrate them and all that.
So it's the firstborn's turn. Now apparently he's hosting. He's
picked on this fateful day that it's his term. Maybe

(12:50):
he's the most wealthy of the bunch. We do know
that that if you look at scripture in Deuteronomy twenty
one seventeen, we are told that the eldest son will
receive a portion of his father's wealth. So we do
know that. So he may be the most wealthy. Maybe
he can throw a bigger party. It might have been
the beginning of just a new cycle that maybe they

(13:11):
did the feast like this oldest to the youngest, or
youngest to the oldest, and it's just come back around
to him. Again, we don't really know, but we do
know that if these thieves are coming on the property
on this particular day which is happening, it's likely that
they would be coming onto the property of the most
wealthy child. They would wait. So even though this is

(13:35):
all under the sovereignty of God, there's a reason this
is the day, okay, and that brings this calamity. So
they likely would target that child above the others. So
in fourteen we see that a messenger reports the background
of the first disaster, the oxen were plowing, the donkeys

(13:57):
were grazing beside them. Now, knowing where us is located,
we know this is on the edge of the desert,
and and we know this, so probably this would happen
if you're looking at the calendar sometime in the fall,
because that's when the first rains would have fallen and

(14:17):
that would have had the ground soft. Uh, So that
probably when you do that, you're plowing. So when when
they show up, when the when the Sabeans show up,
they're nomadic marauders. Uh. They descended from Sheba. And now
this is this is before the Queen of Sheba and
and all that, but it is that place. But they

(14:38):
were like pirates, so this was not a wealthy place.
Now they they were marauders at this time. So so
they're pirates and and uh, and so they're just you know,
you see these children, and you see all the servants,
and you see, really Job's farmland is just kind of
going through a normal day. Uh, when these marauders show

(14:59):
up up uh, and they invaded, They stole the livestock,
and they slaughtered all the servants and those who work
for Job. Now keep in mind, we're not talking about
enslaved people that don't have any rights. You know, Job
didn't operate that way. You really could look at this
and these are people who work for Job and they
were treated quite well. But anyway, they come in, uh

(15:22):
and they slaughter every one of them except one. And
when you look at what he says. This, when when
this messenger comes back to Job, if you take our
language and you look at the original Hebrew here, what
really is being said, He is only only me, only me,
and alone only me. I loan can tell you what happened.

(15:45):
There's no one else that can tell you. Everybody else
is dead. So we got servants dead, and then we've
got oxen, and we've got the sheep that were grazing
beside them. They're all gone. Okay, so we have one
messenger that makes it back. Now that was theft. Well,
next Lucifer is going to move into using apparently what

(16:06):
he is able to do. He's going to use natural disaster.
Now that's gonna be the next calamity. So after this
in sixteen, while he was yet speaking, maybe now picture this.
You ever had this kind of day, You ever had
this kind of day where it just seems like nothing
going right. This messager is still giving details about what happened,
and here comes another one. So while he was yet speaking,

(16:30):
there came another and said, the fire of God. I
would underline that fell from heaven and burned up the
sheep and the servants and consume them. I long have
escaped to tell you, so I'm sorry, I said, cheap
donkeys and oxen have already been stolen. The donkeys were
grazing beside them. Now we get to the sheep. So
while he was speaking he said, I'm out here with

(16:50):
the sheep, and all of a sudden there was fire
that came from heaven and burned up the sheep, and
the servants burned them up to consume the I hear
the same words again, I alone have escaped to tell
you the fire of God. What does this mean if
Lucifer's doing it and they're calling it the fire of God, Well,

(17:13):
if you do some research on this, this is really
just a way that's not literal that they don't know
where this fire came from. It was very common to
use a phrase like that, like when you hear the
Mother of All explosions. What they're saying is you would
not believe this fire. This was the fire of God.
It came from heaven. It was an impressive bolt, probably

(17:36):
some sort of lightning or something that came from heaven.
Now let's talk about how big it is, which is
why it's labeled fire from God. It was so big
that you res how many sheep seven thousand is that's
a lot of sheep, and so it consumes seven thousand sheep.
And we don't know how many servants were there, but
we know a lot and numbers eleven one. We see

(17:58):
the term the fire of the Lord struck the grumbling Israelites.
We see Elijah and we're talking about the kindled sacrifice
for Elijah's sacrifice at Mount Carmel, member and it struck
the first two groups and also killed fifty the fifty
men that King Isiah sent to Elija. You remember that.

(18:19):
But here it's not really indicating that, because you can
tell that these are different phrases if you go and
look at those books of the Bible. Here it's really
just indicating how impressive and fearful the fire was to
the sky. Maybe it is lightning, but whatever it was,
it had incredible power. But what we can say without hesitation, though,

(18:42):
God is still in control because he set the limits. Okay,
we can never say that Satan can make God do anything.
So what we can say is that God allows Satan.
So keep in mind, this is the This is Satan

(19:04):
doing this being allowed by God. So we do take
away that Satan has the ability to deal in natural disasters.
And we're gonna get deeper on that as we go.
So because the words again come back and we and
we'll come back to that in a minute. So hang
on to that because I'm going to get to this
last natural disaster. Then we're going to unpack that a

(19:25):
little more. So once again, the servant says, I loan escaped.
I alone am the only witness to this. Everybody else
is dead, so there's some really bad things going on here.
Now we get back to theft verse seventeen. While he
was yet speaking, there came another what a day, and

(19:46):
this one says, hey, the Chaldeans they formed three groups,
and they made a raid on the camels and took
them and struck down the servants with the edge of
the sword. I alone have escaped to tell you, well,
I think what we take away from this if you
want something a little bit humorous here, and I know
there's nothing real humorous going on here. Apparently camels are

(20:07):
harder to get, because it look like the Caldans had
to put together a plan to get all these camels.
I mean they got up in three different groups. I
came to you go grab some ox, and you go
grab some donkeys the sheep. Of course they were burned.
But apparently if you've come for the camels, you got
to have a plan. So he says, hey, they broke
them in three different group. They grabbed all of our camels.

(20:28):
They were organized that the Cawdeans came from the northeast.
And of course he says that that I alone, I alone,
have survived this. And they have once again not just
taken the camels, they've killed all the servants. So job
has gone down. He's lost all his livestock. He's lost

(20:50):
all of his servants except three. Okay, so and three
can't work a place like this. Of course he didn't
need them. They didn't have me livestock. So all of
this is gone, okay, And I'm going to tell you,
and I know we all know this, but but all
of this is bad. It is okay, And I want

(21:12):
you to imagine, you know, being in this situation for
all of us. It would be anything that you own,
it'd be your house, it could be all these kind
of things, your livelihood. But see, Job is a very
very shrewd businessman. He's done quite well. We know that
Job is good at this. And you know, like I

(21:35):
think about to myself, I've just been honest, and I
thought about this while I was studying it this week.
If I were to lose this job, I know that
I can get back on my feet and get another job.
I can replace what was taken, and Job, I would think,
knows that, dude, this is bad. It's going to be
a hassle. I've lost a lot of money day, but

(21:57):
I have a lot of money. Job is thinking and
I know how to build this up. I can build
this back up. So really, this is this is a test,
no doubt, but it's nothing compared to what's coming next.
Because what's coming next he can't replace right now Job. Honestly,

(22:17):
it's a bad day, but he can overcome it. I
can replace these ox oxen. I can replace these donkeys.
I can replace these sheep. I'm upset that my all,
my all, my all, my workers have been killed. That's sad,
but not being crude. They can be replaced too. But

(22:40):
next is the climactic scene. This is when and this
is what you got to know. This is that thing
where you think to yourself, This is a moment where
you got to think to yourself, just how much the
adversary hates you and hates me and hates Job. There's

(23:01):
not even an inkling inside this evil, twisted, prideful angel
that says, let's see how this does. That's probably enough.
Let me back off a little bit. No, all he's
thinking is to see these boundaries. I can't touch job.
But he didn't say anything about his kids. And I

(23:24):
want us to think about that because I've been through it.
If he can't get to you, he's coming somewhere. I mean,
I've seen it time and time again. I've seen it
with the I've seen it in the ministry work that

(23:45):
I've been allowed to be part of. You can see it,
you know. I've had people asking me before about these
megachurches and they'll say, what do you think about the megachurch? No,
I don't know. I mean, I'm sure there are megachurches
that have sound theology. There's mega ture churches that are
doing great things, and there's I said, my only concerned
about a megachurch is too many people. And they said,

(24:08):
what do you mean, you mean congress, I'm talk about congregation.
I'm talking about the staff that's too big a staff.
They ain't enough solid people in the world to fill
those roles. And Satan's gonna find his way in through
some through one of them are multiple, They're just too
many flawed human beings. Okay that that just seems a
lot to keep up with. And what I have noticed

(24:29):
is that wherever you know picture this? Have you ever
have you ever watched like animals test the boundaries, test
the fence? You know you ever done that? Do you
ever get the electric fence? Your dog tries it to
begin with, doesn't he He's gonna find out where it is? Well. Satan,
we have been told, prows around like a roaring lion.
You ever seen a line pace in a zoo? You think,

(24:50):
why is he pacing? He's trying receiver as any way
to come kill you. Have you ever have you ever not?
Have you ever been on safari? Anybody? They act different there.
They're not pacing back and forth in a cage. They
look at you in that jeep and say, please step
out of that jeep if you step outside that jeep,

(25:11):
And sometimes they'll even roll their shoulders at you like
I'm ready. And it's a terrible, terrible feeling because you
realize this is different than the zoo. And I remember this.
This actually preaches I haven't put a message around this yet,
but it preaches I was on a safari. Because we
use the analogy of Satan as a lion, I was

(25:33):
on a safari and one of the guides. Some of
you have ever heard this story, but it preaches, okay,
this is why we are called by God to what
I didn't call you to? A spirit of fear, be
anxious about nothing? Why is that what shows me rick
that I trust God? True? But there's also some spiritual

(25:55):
warfare advice there, because here's what I was told by
the God. Now, remember, Satan is referred to in an
analogy as a lion, okay, looking for someone to devour.
You know what the God told me in that deep
South African accent. If we are charged by a lion

(26:16):
or a predator, do not run. If you run, you
will just be tired when you die. Why did he
not want me to run? It triggers it triggers the
predator that your prey. It triggers the predator to attack.

(26:40):
If you just stay calm and let him get his
gun up, he'll shoot the animal before it gets you.
But if you run, then that animal goes from prowling
and easing his way to you to a full out sprint,
and he's a lot harder to shoot it, and he's
closing the gap between you and him, and you ain't

(27:00):
gon outrun it. We're not gonna outrun Satan. And what
he's looking for is are you afraid? Can I scare you?
Can I get you to be so afraid? It triggers
my attack. That's why he's called a roaring line. And
he's also roaring why trying to claim territory. And they

(27:23):
say that male line that you can hear him from
five miles saying this is mine. And if he thinks
that you'll give up ground, he'll take it. So the
next thing that happens is just an all out of
salt on Job's children. While he was yet speaking verse eighteen,

(27:48):
there came another and said, your sons and daughters were
eating and drinking wine. Again it's specified, it isn't in
verse four, but it is in these two verses in
their oldest brother's house. And behold, a great wind came
across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house.

(28:11):
And it fell upon and look at this this description.
It fell upon the young people. It's almost like the
guy just couldn't say your children. It just couldn't say
it the young people, and they are dead. I long
have escaped to tell you so. So notice a word

(28:36):
in here that none of the other messengers use. None
of them do. And it's in verse nineteen, and behold,
he realizes he's about to deliver news it's unlike what
the others have delivered. And behold, this is this is

(28:56):
a this is a this is a prompt in the
holy world to God, to us to understand. This is
the climactic episode of this part of the study. Okay, behold,
livestocks numbers were larger, But there's no comparison to the
wealth that he has lost to the animals that he

(29:20):
has lost, no comparison. No matter how weird this world gets,
God has never elevated animals to the same value that
he does human beings. To pretend so is blasphemy. There's
nothing wrong with you having a little pet and enjoyed
it taking care of it, But when you elevate them

(29:41):
to human status, that is twisted. It's not of God.
So again we realize that they can all be replaced.
And you'll see later that this will be completely confirmed
by the time we end this study. Okay, I won't,
I won't tell the ending yet. There's no comparison to

(30:04):
the grief of the earthly death of your children. Nothing comparison,
and it's I mean, you've all been there. We've all
been there, right. I remember before it ever happened to me,
I remember seeing it happen to other people. I remember
one scene vividly, uh at at at the church, and

(30:27):
I saw a couple, you know, down at the altar,
and I just remember thinking, man, that's that's unsurvivable. How
how were they ever even face another day? And I
remember praying for them. I was in the balcony and
I remember looking down. I was like, and you know,
I had the kind of same reaction we all do.

(30:48):
You're almost like, I don't even know that I want
to go near that. I don't. I don't want to
see that scene. I don't want to I don't want
to step there. And you hear that in the messager,
don't you. He can't even call them his children. It
fell on all the young people. They're all dead. Now.
We also see here that while they were feasting, and

(31:14):
the timeline seems so short, that all this has happened
in such a time period, if you want to know
how quick this happened. And I read this in one
of the commentaries, and I thought, I've never even thought
about this if you want to get a timeline on
how quick Lucifer devours so much. It apparently all happened

(31:35):
in the length of one feast. They're not even done
with the feast and all this has happened. That's not
a long period of time. And I don't care how
long your family sits around the table. That's a lot
going on in this short period of time. We actually
have the timeline because we know the feast was still going.

(31:57):
So now, like the second calamity with the sheep, we
do see this again something that may make us uncomfortable.
We see this was done with the force of nature,
some sort of storm of some kind. It might have
been some of these sandstorms that come off the desert, desert.

(32:17):
Whatever it was, it was tremendous wind. And you see
that Satan once again is behind this, but his weapons different.
It's almost like he has access to these weapons. He's like,
here comes theft and murder, Here comes fire, Here comes

(32:37):
theft and murder again. Let's go with let's go with
a storm this time, let's just collapse the roof on them.
And apparently, if allowed, he can do it. So there's
a lot here too that is symbolism, but we won't
unpack that till we get later about the four corners
of the house and all this. But it fell on

(32:59):
his chiin children and and they're dead. See when you
there's just something about and I saw it in so
many different ways. The animals again, were a lot of wealth,
a lot of that's it's it's bad, it's it's the
servants are horrible. They're human beings, so that's another level

(33:20):
of horror. But still, let's just let's just say it, okay,
even though these other human beings have been murdered, that's awful.
He knows them, he has a relationship with them. And
and the animals they can be replaced, but there's some
there's nothing quite like flesh and blood. Now when I

(33:41):
say that, and I say this all the time because
I've seen it with my wife as well, I don't
mean that these have to be children that you birth.
If you've adopted a child, if you've taken on children,
and you've been given the role to connect with them,
and even in a step parent way in a broken family.
What I'm talking about is is there is a paternal

(34:02):
and a maternal connection to children that are yours. That
is unlike anything else in the world. It's it's it's
even different than your connection to your spouse, which is
powerful and should be the most powerful. But but that
that child connection is different, especially dealing with with in

(34:25):
this culture, because you know, the children were always the
glory of their father. Uh and uh and and Job
is hearing this news. And then if you get into practical,
because you know the wife will see later, you know
she doesn't do as well as the husband. But I
will say this, even though I've seen my wife just

(34:46):
cling to the one and only living God, I had
to learn as a dad that there's a maternal connection
to these children. We're not in a there's something about
the wound that God gave them that there's a yearning
and a and a screeching and a mourning that comes

(35:07):
from there that is that has a whole different tone.
And there's a connection with the father that is unique
to the father. But but this is horrible, horrible news.
And this is this is the moment for Job early on,

(35:27):
and Lucifer didn't stick around to say let's let's extend this.
He said, let's go and see if I can take
him out. I tell you what Lucifer does have you
ever have you ever been you know, like a I
in a battle or even a sporting event. You know,
there's there's a there's a great strategy that says, let's
take them out. Let's take their legs out from them,
right out of the gate. That's what he's doing. I'm
gonna kill his kids as quick as I can, and

(35:48):
we'll find that where he is. I want this game
to be short. Okay, Well we know that too, that
we are told by the Psalmist in Some one twenty seven,
verse three that these could not be replaced because they
are a special gift from God. Behold, children are heritage

(36:09):
from the Lord, the fruit of the womb, a reward,
natural disaster used by Satan. So so how how does
that work? Why? Why? Why? Why? You know? Because we
will say many times that it's allowed by God. That's true.

(36:30):
But I think you may see storms and natural disasters
a little bit different. And this is gonna get kind
of deep. But what you have here is that Lucifer
is an independent agent. Okay, he's he's contract. Okay, I'm independent,
I make I make my own choices living. He's making

(36:51):
choices inside the boundaries that God has set. So God says,
I understand when this place fell, everything things out of whack.
We got all these storms coming. And if you want
to get down to it, I want you to think
about that. When we get into earthquakes and volcanoes and

(37:11):
tornadoes and hurricanes, you have Satan initiating these things, but
then you have God having to permit it. Do you
remember that? Does that make sense? See, it's a lot
of times we want to sometimes make a case, you know,
to try to figure out what God's doing in this
This horrible incident came from Satan. Really the better question

(37:34):
is to say why, why was it allowed? What? What?
What are you trying to accomplish in this? But Satan
did it, He exercised his free will, but God allowed it,
which is sovereign. You see all that working together. This
is that dance. I think sometimes we try to pretend
like we figured out when when let's just be honest,

(37:58):
we haven't. We just we just we just have faith.
We say that's the truth, and I have faith. But
governs God's sovereign hand controls the universe. But Satan's free
will is the force that always instigates evil in the world.
God doesn't instigate evil. Satan instigates evil and God sets

(38:20):
the boundaries. Don't want to let that sit for a minute.
So why does God allow these things? Is he allowing them?
And this is what you got to watch out for
when people start this kind of stuff which is blasphemy.
God does not allow these things because he's like being
cruel or sadistic in some way. Now see that's what

(38:43):
Satan wants you to believe. So no, be careful, stay
right here. I've talked to people that have told me
they went through this. I think God protected Sherry and
me from this. I don't recall ever having this thought.
I understood it, but it wasn't anything negative. He comforted me.
But I have talked to people that have been through

(39:04):
horrible calamity, people of faith strong, and I've been in
that hospital room and I've sat down with him and
I've had to pray with him because they knew what
was happening, and it was this either a demon, likely
a demon operating on behalf of Lucifer will come to

(39:27):
you knowing that he can't get you not to believe
in God because that's absurd, but you know what he'll do.
So you you think God is in control of all things? Yes,
I do. Get away from me Satan. So, yes, that's
what you believe. I absolutely believe. Oh so he did
this to you. So he did it to you to

(39:53):
try to get you to say, why would God be
cruel like that? That's why we got to understand suffering.
That's why we got to understand difficulty. It's so important
that we understand it. And the Bible is not silent
on this. Now, if you don't know the Bible and
all of a sudden, some demon or some spiritual force

(40:14):
on behalf of Satan begins to manipulate things about God
that you don't know aren't true, you got problems, and
he can get you to real quick start seeing God
in a way that is not correct. We know that God,
if you know scripture, is working out all things for
good for those who love Him. Now, if you have

(40:37):
rejected God, you're just in the middle of a bunch
of calambity and chaos that God really has no parting. Now,
he might be allowing something to get you to come
to him, Okay, but you don't really have the assurance
that everything's working out for good because you are not
with God. I mean, we just studied the end of

(40:58):
all time in the Tribulation. For those people, these things
aren't working out for good, it's working out to their destruction.
But for those that love God and for those that
have been redeemed, we are assured that whatever he's working out,
he's working it out for our good. We were taught
that by Joseph early on. You meant this for bad

(41:19):
against me, but God had a plan that I'd be
sitting here ready to save y'all. He worked me all
into one of the most powerful people in Egypt, right
when y'all needed me. Okay, so we know these things,
but remember God is merciful. He is compassionate, and when
he's disciplining us, it's like a parent that hates that

(41:42):
he has to discipline his children, but he's doing it
because he loves them. We studied this in Hebrews, and
he is realizing that this is what's best for you.
And you're going to see before we're done, job is
actually being refined by God and is being taught by God.
It is going to go to a place with God

(42:04):
where he's not right now, and God's going to use
this to get him there. Now Satan doesn't know that.
Satan has no idea what God's doing. He can't believe
he's been allowed to do it, so he's just doing it.
He's trying to kill still and destroy. But remember, go
back to Jesus in the storm of Galilee. What does
it say to you in the storm of Galilee? When

(42:28):
we're studying about this, we hear the term that when
you remember this, don't you even care? Don't you even
care about us? Don't you see all this? Now? He
does two things here. He shows them he's God because
they knew that. The Psalmist said that God tells the
wind what to do. God tells the weather what to do,

(42:48):
and the weather does it. They knew that, so he
is showing them once again, I am God. Watch this.
But what did he do to the wind? He rebuked it?
Now that's important. Why doesn't it say he controlled it?
He rebuked it. Why did he rebuke it? Because it
was Satan himself that was bringing the storm on the boat.

(43:12):
But he had control over Satan, who at the moment
had controlled over the wind. That's important. That'll change your
whole look at everything. What you should be saying when
that tornado is coming for your house. Rebuke it, Lord,
But Satan's driving that Tornada towards your house, I promise you.

(43:32):
And God has decided whether he's gonna let hit you
or not. Why do I know that he allows it
because he sure could stop it. So maybe we need
to have God rebuke what's happening to us because Satan's
initiating it. But God allows the boundaries that already give
you a whole new look at everything. But that look,

(43:54):
I want you to be comforted by this, not distraught
about it. Okay. And then comes the response I think
about first. Peter Sherry unpacts this first incredibly in her book.
You know, when people ask me about on this topic

(44:14):
of suffering and they're asking me about what commentaries I'm
using all that, and I'm happy to share that with you.
But I will say, one of the God inspired, most
powerful resources on this topic, and it's all what God
has said, not what Shery has said, is her book.
It's as good as anything you ever read or listen
to if you want to do audio. It really really

(44:34):
Sherry was like, I want God to tell me everything
about this. I want to search everything about this. I
want to know exactly what God's doing and all this
and you know what she found it. He's never been
silent on this. Now, remember what first Peter says in this,
This is chapter one, verse six and seven. In this

(44:57):
you rejoice the so now for a little while, if necessary.
All that's crucial. Say those words again in this you
rejoice though now for a little while if necessary. You
have been grieved by various trials, So Peter says, sometimes

(45:18):
it's necessary, and God makes that call. But why are
we rejoicing? Because you must understand that most of the
time he's testing the genuineness of your faith. He doesn't
tempt us, but he does test us. And then Peter says,
and what is the hope is is that your faith

(45:42):
will pass the test because it's more precious than gold.
And gold can't handle the fire. Peter says, it doesn't
make it through fire, but your faith can. And when
it does, it results at the revelation and the glorification
of Jesus. And guess who passes test number one? Job?

(46:06):
And you know what, God, I can just see God
sitting there. Satan is convinced that Job is about to
rebuke God. He's convinced that Job is about to turn
on God. But remember what we were told in the
first part of the chapter that Job was blameless and
upright and his piety was not exaggerated. Look at this response.

(46:34):
Look at this response in verse twenty. Then Job, what
has he just heard? All ten of your children are dead,
not one. I've buried one. I can't imagine bearing ten.
You know we can all. You don't have to look
too far as you can find. Somebody, says hell, try
to try to end. Okay, So when we do our

(46:55):
poor poor Pito for me, there's always somebody that's got
worse than you do every time. Okay. We certainly don't
have the corner market on pain and suffering, as a
lot of it going on with a lot of people. Okay,
so now we hear that he goes into action. These
are all listen to these verbs. Okay, he goes. Then

(47:21):
Job arose, He stands up Torre's robe, shaved, his head,
fell on the ground, and worshiped. Maybe this wasn't an
exaggeration about Job. And you know who knew who was

(47:42):
gonna do that, the one and only living God. You
know who didn't know, Lucifer. So I want you to
that he got up. Okay. Remember five of the nine
Hebrew words in this verse are verbs, and job is
the subject of all five. Got up, tore, shaved, fell worship. Now,

(48:09):
tearing and shaving was always a sign of grief, so
he is grieving rightfully. So okay, so this this was
a standard for that culture. Now you notice we don't
see any sackcloth yet. We'll see that later. We don't
see that right now. That's not there. That would have
been the other thing that would have been normal, but
that's not there yet, But that's going to come. He
tore his it would be his outer garment. Okay. The

(48:32):
tearing and the shaving were expected. Okay, Now keep in
mind that you know, have you heard that before? Well?
I expected that. What you do you expect a father
to grieve that his ten children are dead? So that
was expected. Oh but what's next was unexpected? Tearing the clothes,

(48:52):
shaving the head. Kind we thought that's what the messenger's
standing like, that's what we thought we'd see. But they
don't expect what's next. And I want to ask you
and me this question. Okay, when we're going through calamity,
when we're going through difficulty, is our reaction always about
what would be expected, or is our reaction always includes

(49:17):
something that was unexpected that maybe shows a supernatural power,
maybe shows a devotion to God that proves that our
faith is actually genuine. Well, the next things he did,
they did not expect him to fall down and worship.
That was unexpected. What about you and me? Do we

(49:42):
respond the way everybody goes? Well, Well, they're upset, they're angry,
they're grieving. Nothing wrong with that, but that's expected. Is
there anything happening in the difficulty of our lives that
looks unexpected? Well, I'm going to tell you something. It's
only the unexpected stuff that it gets anybody's attention. The

(50:03):
other stuff just has people going, which is fine. I
feel so bad for them. Man, that's bad, that's awful.
But what about unexpected Like when we were standing at
the memorial service and people, you know, not one person,
not one person, ever said to me, you know, I
saw your wife crying. Man, I was really moved by

(50:25):
her crying. I was really moved by her grief. They
might have been heartbroken by it, but they weren't moved
by it. You know what every one of them said
when she reached her hand up and started grabbing for God.
I'll never forget that she began to praise and worship
the one and only live in God. And I'll never
forget that that was the turning point for people that

(50:49):
on that memorial service. I can't remember the exact number,
but it was high, two hundreds into three hundreds, something
like that. I know there were thousands that were there,
but there were hundreds of people that that was their day.
And I assure you, the crying is not what brought
them to Jesus. It might have broke their hearts, but

(51:11):
it didn't bring them to Jesus. It was the worship
of the God that could have saved the boy, that
changed everything. It was unexpected, so falling down in worship
was unexpected. You know what they thought, they'd say, A
fist in the air. That's what Lucifer. He couldn't wait.

(51:34):
He couldn't wait for Job to put his fist in
the air and say, how have you done this to me?
That's what he was hoping for. And you know what,
if you did it, you know what a human being
would say. That's perfectly natural, perfectly normal. And that's why
it's wrong because it ain't supernatural, and it's just the

(51:56):
way sinful people would act. There's nothing special about it.
It's mediocre. It's normal. And nobody comes to the Lord
because you shook your fist at heaven and cried out,
why did you do this to me? Why me? Doesn't
really draw anybody to Jesus. Now worship the God that

(52:17):
was in control. That's different because you know what that says.
Whatever you're doing is right. I stand with you, God,
and that's what we're seeing. No, why me, Lord, he's
bowing to God? And what is he bowing to? Here?
It is? What is he bowing to God's sovereign will?

(52:44):
Here will be done? Y'all heard me tell that story
a thousand times. Say, in the hospital, watching them try
to bring our little boy back to life, and all
of a sudden, out of nowhere, she's super naturally begin
to pray a different prayer. She'd been praying for him
to be revived, revived, revived, perfectly natural. But she said,

(53:08):
then something supernatural happened, unexpected. She said, I heard my
voice saying, not mine will be done, but your will
be done. Lord. And she said, there's no way I
could pray that Romans chapter eight for the Redeemed. Sometimes
the Holy Spirit intervenes and groans we cannot understand, and

(53:30):
he changes our prayer and corrects it. And the Holy
Spirit corrected Sherry's prayer. And that's what you see job doing.
I am submitting to your will, not mine. That was unexpected.

(53:51):
And then listen to what he says next. And he said,
naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I
shall return. I was born with nothing. You don't owe
me anything, and I'll die with nothing. I don't know
how to break that to y'all. Y'all may have a
lot of nice, cool stuff I do, it ain't going

(54:14):
with us, okay, you know. And as long as you're
doing it like this and you're saying, thank you, Lord
for allowing me to have it for a little while
before you take it away with open hands, you go
enjoy the blessings of God. Now, don't worship it, and
don't have so much stuff that you can't be part
of his kingdom. But if he allows you to have
stuff and you're responsible what he gave you, enjoy it.

(54:37):
But I assure you, when you're dead, it ain't gonna
mean anything. And that's what Job said. When I was born,
I didn't have anything, and when I die, I'm not
gonna have anything. And then he goes on and says,
remember he's submitting to God's sovereign will. The Lord gave,

(54:58):
and the Lord has taken. He knows who's in charge
of this. Do you hear him say in this? Are
you ready? Do you hear him say? The Lord gave
and Satan took it away. Satan just ran in here
and just did whatever he wanted to do, and God
couldn't do anything about it, and he took it away

(55:20):
from me. You don't live in that world. I don't
live in that world. He can't do anything to us
that God doesn't allow. He said, the Lord gave this
to me. I didn't earn it. The Lord gave it
to me. It's his and he has every right to
take it away. And then the next thing he says

(55:41):
is blessed be the name of the Lord. He's saying,
blessed be the name of the Lord that allowed his
children to be killed. Yes, that allowed all of his
livestock to be taken. Yes, so he's now poor, He
now has nothing, and his chill dren are dead, and

(56:02):
he's saying, blessed be the name of the Lord. Yes,
I hope, brothers and sisters that are out there, I
hope that our devotion to the Lord isn't solely based
on what he does for us. The cross is plenty,

(56:26):
It's plenty if he didn't do anything else. Like I say,
I've gotten to the point where I'm so thankful that
I'm allowed to even function. He should have killed me
a long time ago. And as I've said many times,
I'm not surprised by his judgment. I'm surprised by his
mercy and his grace. I'm not surprised by his refinement.

(56:50):
I need it. I'm surprised by how little he refines me,
how many good days he allows me to have versus difficult.
That's what amazes me, because what I deserve is constant difficulty,
constant calamity. That's what I deserve. But he's been gracious

(57:11):
and merciful. So when the time comes along that he
thinks I need some refinement, Blessed be the name of
the Lord. I trust him. And that's what Job is saying.
And look at twenty two and all this Job did

(57:32):
not sin our charge God with wrong. If he had
charged God with wrong, what would everybody say? Understandable? Understand
he's angry with God right now? Do you know? That's
the question that I dread the most anytime somebody wants

(57:54):
to hear our story about this calamity. And it's not
the only calamity we've ever been through. It's the one
that is most prominent ever. Angry rick with the Lord?
Were you and sure? Angry with the Lord? No? No,
not a minute, because of how merciful and gracious he
has been to us both. I have no case against

(58:19):
the Lord. Now the adversary tries to make a case
against me, and he's got a lot to work with.
But Jesus stands up and said I made him fully righteous,
and Lucifer says he didn't deserve that, and jessaid, you're right,
But he repented with a sincere heart, and he asked

(58:40):
me to forgive him and said only I could, so
I did. That's why Lucifer hates us, because God has
told him he's to be punished and be destroyed and
he did not get that deal, but we did. And

(59:00):
how Daris abuse it? And how Daris accuse God? And
how Daris ever be angry with God. After all he's
done for us. If he never did another thing, redemption
was more than any of us deserved. May we have
the same heart that when things are tough, that that
toughness doesn't cause us to enter into sin or to

(59:24):
charge the one and only living God. And a short time,
Job went from the greatest of the men to the
least of the men. And see, this is the part
that I'll close on. We know how this ends. Job,
didn't we know something he didn't know. He doesn't know

(59:45):
about this conversation between God and Satan. He knows none
of this. We know that we know that he was
a chosen test case. He doesn't know that. We can't
really enter his sorrow because he doesn't know how this ends.
He's just believing by faith. And here's what we'll close with.

(01:00:10):
Why was Job chosen for this trial because of his godliness?
He thinks I've been I've done everything right exactly, so
he was perfect, perfect for the trial because he could

(01:00:33):
be trusted. Let's pray, Lord, thank you for today, thank
you for this powerful message. My goodness. We just rest
in you. Lord. Thank you for being so kind and
so gracious, and thank you for teaching us so much.
Thank you for loving us, thank you for refining us,
Thank you for disciplining us because you love us. May

(01:00:56):
we not fail the test and your name we pray Amen,