Please join with me to the book of Job, Job chapter one, in connection with Lord Satan of the Heidelberg Catechism concerning God's providence. Job one, we, a few months back, looked at some of Job one, particularly at Satan's challenge to the Lord. Really more of the first half of the chapter, I like to We can actually, in Lord's Day 10, consider the latter half, especially the last verse, or second to last verse, Job's confession as he endures the, in many ways, bitter providence of the Lord in his life at this point. Job 1 at verse 1, God's holy word we give our attention to. There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and very many servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the East. His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and consecrate them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, it may be that my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. Thus Job did continually. Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. The Lord said to Satan, from where have you come? Satan answered the Lord and said, from going to and fro on the earth and from walking up and down on it. And the Lord said to Satan, have you considered my servant Job? That there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil. Then Satan answered the Lord and said, Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face. And the Lord said to Satan, Behold, all that he has is in your hand. only against him do not stretch out your hand. So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord. Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house. And there came a messenger to Job and said, the ox were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them. And the Sabaeans fell upon them and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword. And I alone have escaped to tell you While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, the fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you. While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, the Chaldeans formed three groups and made a raid on the camels and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you. While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house, and behold, a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead. And I alone have escaped to tell you. Then Job arose and tore his robe, and shaved his head, and fell on the ground, and worshipped. And he said, naked I came from a mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this, Job did not sin or charge God with wrong. And then to the back of the Psalter hymnal, page 17. Page 17. The Lord's Day 10. Last time we considered those first words of the Apostles' Creed, I believe in God the Father, Almighty Maker of heaven and earth. And now the catechism goes on for one more to Lord's Day on this to talk about what the providence mentioned in Lord's Day 9 means. And so it's asked in question 27, what do you understand by the providence of God? And we confess that providence is the almighty and ever present power of God by which he upholds, as with his hand, heaven and earth and all creatures, And so rules them that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and lean years, food and drink, health and sickness, prosperity and poverty, all things in fact come to us, not by chance, but from his fatherly hand. And how does the knowledge of God's creation and providence help us? We can be patient when things go against us, Thankful when things go well, and for the future we can have good confidence in our faithful God and Father, that nothing will separate us from his love. All creatures are so completely in his hand that without his will, they can neither move nor be moved. Congregation of the Risen Jesus, this morning we consider the doctrine of providence, a wonderful, mysterious doctrine. And boys and girls, when we talk about God's providence, it's a big word, but you can associate it with God's hand. God doesn't literally have a hand, but he speaks in the Bible about his hand because he stoops down to use language that helps us understand. And the catechism picks up on that and speaks of God's hand, I think, three times in there. The hand of God, providence is the good news about God's hand. And when you think of God's hand in Providence, it's really in two positions. It's beneath the world and it's above the world. It's under the world, holding it up so that the snow comes down because God sustains the world. The sun shines behind the clouds because God upholds the world. You are breathing right now because God upholds your life. This whole world holds together right now and doesn't disintegrate because God upholds the world. But God's hand is not just beneath the world holding it up. God's hand is over the world to govern it, to control it, to guide it, to rule over everything that comes to pass, every detail. God rules over the stars and planets. They go and do what God bids them do. God rules over the decisions of senators and presidents and judges. They don't make any decision apart from God ruling over their thought process, their decision-making process. God rules over every single snowflake that comes down. Not a single one lands the tiniest fraction of an inch from where God has destined it. God rules, as we saw last time, over every single hair in our head is numbered by Him. So the doctrine of providence is that God upholds all things and He rules all things for the great glory of His name and for the good of the church that He loves in Christ Jesus. So that nothing comes by chance, but all things, rain and drought, food and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, all things come, not randomly, not meaninglessly, mysteriously yes, but not without purpose, all things come from his fatherly, that is his loving, wise hand. Now that's not a confession that anyone makes naturally. Even among those who might say they believe in providence, it's not even a confession that anyone naturally embraces or finds comfort in or submits to. In fact, Satan in Job 1 suggests, really, that no one, no one humbly, lovingly bows their head before the God of providence. God holds up before Satan Job, a work of God's redeeming grace. He says, have you seen my servant Job? And Satan says, in effect, Yes, he praises you because you pay him. Satan brazenly charges the Lord of having bought Job's piety. Job loves to confess Lord Satan because you give good things to him. But take it all away and he will curse you. He will turn on you. What does God do? God invites Satan to test Job. God's really inviting Satan to test the Lord's redeeming grace. Has God, is God making a people who love God for God's sake? Who will accept from God's hand riches and poverty, health and sickness? Can God make a people like that that praise God in all things? God gives Satan permission to strip Job, and he does. And one single day, he strips it all away, and yet Job blesses the name of the Lord. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Job here is not some superhero. He's simply a man of faith. And the Spirit of Christ was at work in him, the Spirit of Christ who is still at work in us today. And so we see the good news, even in what happens here, that the Lord Christ leads Job. The Lord Christ leads us to a door. the good, the faithful, the sovereign hand of God's providence. He does that, first of all, by giving to us humility. Notice the humble place that we must take for ourselves. He does it, secondly, by causing us to recognize God's rightful sovereignty, the sovereign position we ascribe to God. And he does it, thirdly, by leading us to offer up sincere praise through him. Those three things we consider this morning. The humble place we must take for ourselves, the sovereign position we must ascribe to God, and the sincere praise we must offer through Christ. Well, Job is a godly man, we're told right away. Verse one, man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. A priest in his own home, one concerned with the piety of his children and with their own need for atonement before the Lord. Job in chapter 29 sings about what he used to have. He was well known as a holy man. He had good days when his young people were around him. His steps, he says, were bathed in butter. The rock poured out rivers of oil for him. In those days, he talked about how the young and the old revered him. He came to town and the young men went silent and the princes covered their mouths. Everyone waited upon the words and the wisdom and the counsel of Job. Job was a deliverer to the poor, a help to the fatherless. He caused widows' hearts to sing for joy. He was eyes to the blind and feet for the lame. People waited for Job, Job tells us, as they wait for refreshing rains. When will Job come here again? Job lived a life beneath the smile of God. He speaks of days when God watched over me, when his lamp shone upon my head, when the friendship of God was upon my tent, when the Almighty was with me. So we see that although Job's life was in many ways unique, it was actually a life common to all of God's people. It was a life lived beneath the smile and favor of God, a life beneath God's blessing. It was the Christian life. In the midst of all the blessings Job enjoyed, one day came when Satan stripped it all away. Everything he had was taken from him. Robbers, raiders came in and took all his livestock. Fire and lightning fell down and devoured his sheep. And a tornado came across the house where his children were having probably a birthday party, and they were all killed. Buried in the rubble, Job loses virtually everything. And what is Job's response? Is he unmoved by all of this? Sometimes people mistakenly think that the doctrine of providence means that believers don't shed any tears, that they're unmoved. Well, thankfully, Job was not a unnatural, unaffected man at burying all of his children in a single day. Of course not. We read that Job got up, that Job tore his clothes, that he shaved his head, that he fell to the ground. There was intense mourning and overwhelming sorrow and he was not tearing his clothes because this is the custom of how we mourn. He was tearing his clothes because his heart was shredded. He was not shaving his head out of mere formality. He was shaving his head because all his hope for the future of his children upon earth was cut off. We see here that the doctrine of providence that Job knew so well does not insulate us from the sorrows and the griefs of this world. And a Christian person who believes and confesses providence is not some stoic force, a rock unmoved, who refuses to feel anything. That is not Christian. For the godly, there are real tears and there are real losses, there are real struggles, there are real questions, as the book of Job reveals, as the book of Psalms reveals, real wrestlings and griefs, perplexities, crying and groaning before God. Because believers, godly believers like Job, face suffering. Believers experience sickness and chronic pain and undiagnosed diseases and Loss of limbs in accidents. Believers, real believers, endure friction in relationships. Believers, godly believers, struggle with finances and jobs and Christian school tuition. Believers lose loved ones, experience a deep emptiness of the heart. Job knows the doctrine of providence, clearly he does. but he tears his robe, he shaves his head, and he grieves. The doctrine of providence is not some secret magical thing that elevates us to the status of gods. We are creatures, creatures, with needs and trials and emotions. Our humble place is to acknowledge that, that we before the God of providence are but creatures, feeble, frail. It's dust. We need food. We need warmth. We need water. We need clothes. We need friends. We need fellowship. We're affected by relationships. We're affected by words that are spoken. We feel pain in our bodies. We get discouraged when we can't physically move around or do things or come to church. We're full of needs. God knows this and He calls us to acknowledge it and to know before Him that we are not gods, we are not self-sufficient, we didn't make ourselves. Know that the Lord, He is God and it is He who made us and not we ourselves. We are not self-sustaining, we are little creatures. with nothing of ourselves. Job acknowledges this humble place before God. Naked I came from my mother's womb and naked shall I return. Came into the world as helpless and naked. Acknowledges that. Acknowledges I didn't have anything and I of myself don't deserve anything. Job knows nothing of the culture of entitlement. He acknowledges that God made me and I came with nothing. It's all been a gift of God. Everything I have has come from God's hand. 1 Corinthians 4 verse 7, For who makes you differ from one another? And what do you have that you did not receive? It's all a gift of God's grace. We were made by God and we were made for God. That's what Job is acknowledging in reality. I didn't bring myself into the world, God did. I belong to him, I'm his creature, I was made for his glory, I don't exist for myself. All that I had, God had given me for his purpose for my life upon earth. First Timothy six, for we brought nothing into this world and it certainly can carry nothing out. We are servants of God, temporarily assigned a place upon earth for a number of years upon earth to fulfill a mission God's given us upon earth. And for that mission, God has given us supplies and resources. And when God plucks us out of the world and calls us home, then we leave all those resources behind. We're small. We are sons of Adam, made from the dust, and Job says, in effect, I go back to the dust. Naked shall I return. And then he also acknowledges his sinfulness, doesn't he? That we are sons of Adam, not just in terms of our creatureliness, but in terms of our sinfulness. It was the curse upon us that we returned to the dust because of our rebellion. The consequence of sin, the curse upon sin in the world that brings us so low is God's design, isn't it, to remind us of our great need of God and His salvation. Every thorn and thistle that we wrestle against, every sickness and disease, every brokenness, every sorrow, it's all part of the humbling hand of God that reminds us how desperately we need the Lord. that we who are made in such glory threw it all away, became in a new way naked and ashamed now. Job, you see, is humbling himself before God, saying, I don't deserve anything, Lord. I didn't create myself. In fact, I have sinned in Adam. I deserved only your wrath. I cannot lift up my hands and scream at God. Naked I came from a mother's womb, and naked shall I return. I am not God. I myself am not righteous. I humble myself before you." But not only does Job recognize his place before God, notice secondly that he acknowledges the Lord's place, the sovereign position of God. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Embedded in that statement is There's an acknowledgement of the Lord's power that reigns, of his pleasure that decides everything, of his prerogative to do what he will with the things that belong to the Lord. Job acknowledges that it's the Lord's power. Job was completely unaware of the discussion that took place in heaven between Satan and God, but Job, regardless of that ignorance, Job knows God has done it. He doesn't say the Lord gave, but the Sabaeans took it away. The Lord gave, but the Chaldeans robbed me. No, he says the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Doesn't say the Lord gave and some strange lightning bolts took it away. The Lord gave and some weather pattern robbed me of my children. No, the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Two of his losses caused by evil men, two of his losses caused by what the insurance company would call acts of God, but Job goes straight to the source. He looks right past himself, he looks right past secondary causes, he looks right past Satan. God has done it. In Lord's Day 10, we acknowledge nothing by chance, but everything from God's hand. God rules over weather patterns. God rules over lightning bolts. God rules over evil men. God rules over Satan. William Henry Green in his book on Job writes of Satan. With all his hatred of God and spite against his people, he cannot emancipate himself from that sovereign control which binds him to God's service. In all his blasphemous designs, he is, in spite of himself, doing the work of God. In his rebellious efforts to dethrone the Most High, he is actually paying him submissive homage. He goes on to speak about how God so rules over Satan, that Satan is actually accomplishing God's holy will in the life of Job. In moving heaven and earth to accomplish the perdition of those whom Christ has ransomed, he's actually fitting them for glory. Fiend as he is, full of bitterness. and malignity, and intent on every form of mischief, he is constrained to be that which he most abhors, and is furthest from his intentions and desires, helpful and auxiliary to the designs of grace. God is using Satan, even in Job's life, to make Job what God would have Job to be. God is ruling over this one who abhors God, abhors holiness, abhors Job. to make him serviceable to God and serviceable to Job's salvation. Satan serves God's purpose beneath God's hand. The Sabaeans serve God's purpose beneath God's hand. The Chaldeans serve God's purpose beneath God's hand. The wind, the lightning bolts serve the Lord. God reigns. God reigns over everything for His sovereign purposes. the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. But Job confesses not just God's power and not just his pleasure in choosing how to employ all of these things. Job is confessing God's prerogative as God. If the Lord has given it to Job, the Lord has the right to take it away. Our mistake in this world is often to assume that what God gives us has now become ours. And God has abandoned all claims to it. And therefore, if what God has given me is taken away by God, then God has wronged me. And I have a right to rage against Him in protest. But God actually tells us in this word that all that He gives us is entrusted to us, but not abandoned to us. God does not release His ownership over anything. in this world. He retains all rights of ownership. He is the Lord and He remains the Lord. He gives us to use, He gives us to enjoy, He gives us so He can give away to others but it's always His. You see in chapter 2 then Satan is allowed to strike Job's body with those painful boils And then Job's wife will say, do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die. She wants him to dispute with God. She thinks he has a right to protest against God. And Job replies, you speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God and shall we not receive evil? Are we not God's creatures and God's children? For God to give us what he will at his time, I haven't been violated by God. Job bows before the Lord, acknowledges that all that he has belongs to God, but even his own person belongs to God. God has given spouse and house and wealth and money. job for his glory. But if he judges that he's better glorified by taking it away, then God has the prerogative for we exist for his glory. And all that we have is of the Lord and for the Lord. The Lord has given and the Lord has taken away. He's reading this past week in Joel Beeky's book, which is a book of supposed to be encouragement for pastors. And he talks about men in the ministry getting discouraged. And then he says, so in times of loss or sorrow, ask yourself the following questions. Are you discontent, feeling you have too little? Submit to God, knowing that he gives you your portion with the Father's love. Is your father not wise? Do you envy others for having more than you, he asked secondly. The Lord gave, he writes, appealing to Job 1. Doesn't he have the right to do as he pleases with his possessions? Does God have to ask for your permission? Is it wrong for God to show grace to someone other than you? But then he asks, are you proud because you're abundantly blessed? All good things are gifts from God. And then he asked, do you look with contempt at those who have less than you? The Lord gave. So he could as easily have given them more than you, for he gives freely. Those are good test questions, aren't they? Am I discontent? Am I envious of what others have? Or if I have more than them, do I have contempt then for them? They're not so blessed in their business. They're not so healthy as I am. The Lord gave. the Lord has taken away. All we have is what the Lord has given. All that we lose, the Lord has taken away. But what then finally do we say? Blessed be the name of the Lord. Notice that's where Job ends up. That's the sincere praise that we offer through Christ. Not just that God is good and just in all that he does, but that God is good and right in what he's done. You know, it's possible, isn't it, to acknowledge God's power and to acknowledge God's providence, say God is in control, the Lord gave, the Lord has taken away, but not to bless the name of the Lord. It's possible just to be the boy who in the school playground submits to the bully, he's bigger than me, he's gonna take my lunch money, that's the way it is, there you go. But that's not what the Lord's after from us. He wants us to worship from the heart, to love Him, to adore His goodness. Blessed be the name, the revelation of God's glory and love and wisdom. Blessed be God, the God I know. It's a confession of trust. It's a praise from the heart. Job is showing forth here the wondrous grace that God works in our hearts. God be praised. I say again that the Christian response to suffering is not stoicism, just keeping a stiff upper lip and being unmoved. That's not the Christian response. Nor is the Christian response simply to acknowledge providence and say, God does it. God has done it. God gave. God's taken away. That is not yet the Christian response. The Christian response is to worship. It's to give our hearts to God. It's to draw near to Him and trust. It's to bring our questions and sorrows to Him. It's to find our rest in the Lord, that His hand is good. God is good. In the midst of the mysteries and the things I don't understand, I know God is faithful. God brings about good, even from the worst. Blessed be the name of the Lord. That's the name Jehovah, Yahweh, the covenant Lord. The God has bound himself to me by the blood of Jesus. He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all. Will he not give us the lesser things? Where does such faith come from? You see, what Satan didn't understand as he attacks the Lord, as he attacks Job, as he calls it all a big fraud, what Satan does not comprehend is the grace of God in Christ Jesus. It's the Lord who's at work in Job. It's the Lord Christ who was coming and has now come. It's the Lord Christ who was born naked as we are and who died naked It's the Lord Christ who had to fight through the questions. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? But it's the Lord Christ who blessed the name of his Father, even in death. and who, Hebrews 2 says, stands among us now to declare the Lord's name to his brethren. It's the Lord Christ who's at work in us to make us worshipers, even in the midst of tears and pain and questions and confusion, to lead us to praise God, to love God, to know God. For those who aren't experiencing deep distress this morning, then perhaps the greatest concern is the future. What if the Lord takes something away? How will I cling to him? What will I do? I don't know that I can do what Job does. But you see the comfort is in saying that Job didn't work this up of himself. That as Job stands so strong, and Satan brings another assault, Boyle's, and another assault, his wife, and another assault, three friends with misapplied theology, that as Job begins in some ways to stumble by trying to call God to account, God doesn't give up on his servant, Job, but God speaks to him, and God speaks to him, and God works in him. Those concluding chapters where God reveals himself and reminds Job, were you there when I made this? Have you the wisdom of God, Job, and the power of God? And he brings Job back to that humble position that Job has back here in chapter one. He brings Job down again. God does that. Christ does that. He's the God who doesn't give up on his people. But he brings us to see him again and again and again. What a blessing it is that our Lord doesn't forsake us, but he shows us himself over and over. There's an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal this week about awe experiences, feeling awesome. Studies find an emotion has myriad benefits. And so it's about how having all experiences in life makes a person more kind and more generous and less with a sense of entitlement and more with understanding of how small we are in the world and all these things. And so it says you can have all experiences anywhere at a sports theater, or at a concert, or especially out in nature. And so they give examples of a paralyzed woman who goes scuba diving at night, a person jumping out of a plane, or a kayak trip in Alaska. And all these experiences, the writer says, they bring such physical and emotional benefit. But to a Christian reading this, of course, it's obvious. It's obvious. This is the story of our lives, the awe experience. We come to worship every Sunday to have the living God set before us again and be reminded of our creaturely place, our sinful place, and the transcendent glory of our God, that he is God, and he is so good, and he is holy, and he is filled with love for us in Christ Jesus. And it brings us far more than emotional benefit. It is our life. It's our faith, it's our salvation. And we need that over and over, too. The author of this article has something, right? We need these continually. We need the awe experience of standing before our God, not just in creation, which is beautiful out there today, blanketed in snow again, but of standing before the living God and his word. And seeing how great and mighty our God is. but also how faithful he is to his children in love, that he never forsakes us, that he has a detailed, comprehensive plan for our lives, that it is for his glory, that it is for our ultimate good, and that nothing, not even Satan himself, will undo it. And when we have that awe experience, when we stand before the awesome God, Then we do more than be nice to other people. We fall down and we worship the Lord. Lord, I don't understand it all. Lord, I don't know all of your mysteries. Lord, I grieve in my heart and it hurts, but Lord, I will bless your name for you, Lord, are good. Your hand is right. You are faithful. And I have a good confidence for the future that nothing will separate me from your love, not even the weakness of my faith. But you, God, as you did for Job, you will stick with me. And in the end, by my worship, Satan will be crushed beneath my feet." Oh, the doctrine of providence is a sweet, sweet doctrine. It has been the stability of God's people throughout the ages. It has been the precious comfort to believers in days of persecution. It has been the mainstay during the assaults of Satan and the enemies of the church. It has been the comfort for the weak and the broken when disease sweeps through. It has been for God's people, the source of their ability to worship and praise. And may it be that for us. Amen. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for your rich grace to us in Jesus, for your sovereign and loving hand in our lives, and for working upon us as you labor within Job, giving to us the faith to worship. O God, you who give, we thank you. O Lord, you who take away, we trust you. O Lord, our God in Christ, we praise you. Blessed be the name of the Lord, amen.