Well, we have today our third teaching from the Book of Job, and I've entitled this sermon, Shall We Accept Good from God and Not Accept Adversity? The father of the Reformation, Martin Luther, faced many trials and tribulations. upon being excommunicated from the Roman Catholic system on January the 3rd, 1521, and with his life in danger, his friends secretly took him away to wait in hiding. After nearly a year of holding out in the Wartburg Castle in Eisenach, he returned to Wittenberg, Germany, to carry on the hazardous ministry of the Reformation. In 1527, as the bubonic plague, the Black Death, had swept across the nation, and many had abandoned the cities, and especially Wittenberg, he, along with his expectant wife, Katharina, sensing the call of God, determined to stay and minister to the sick and the dying. They turned their home into a hospital and cared for the sick. And during that time, of course, they suffered their own illnesses. And then early the next year, they lost their second child, Elizabeth, only a few months after she was born. Stephen Lawson writes, this man of God faced many difficulties and adversities throughout his life, but none more painful than what he encountered in 1527. In this most difficult hour of his life, Luther chose to worship God by writing his famous hymn, A Mighty Fortress. As I read the lyrics of Luther's song, A Mighty Fortress, I thought it sounded like something Job could have written. And so as I read the lyrics, I'm gonna ask you to listen carefully and consider your life, the trials and tribulations you face, and by these powerfully inspired words, allow your faith to be lifted up as we look to the Lord our God. A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing. Our helper he amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing. For still our ancient foe does seek to work us foe. His craft and power are great, and armed with cruel hate on earth is not his equal. Did we in our own striving and strength confide, our striving would be losing. We're not the right man on our side, the man of God's own choosing. You ask who that may be? Christ Jesus. It is he, Lord Sabaoth, his name, from age to age the same, and he must win the battle. And though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo us, we will not fear, for God has willed his truth to triumph through us. The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him. His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure. One little word shall fell him. That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them abideth. The spirit and the gifts are ours through him who with us sideth. That goods and kindred go, this mortal life also. The body they may kill, God's truth abideth still. His kingdom is forever. Amen. His kingdom is forever. God's kingdom is the eternal kingdom. Nations and kings come and go, but our Lord is the eternal sovereign. Devils rise and fall, but our God stands forever and ever. Our Lord and God is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. He has no beginning and he has no end. He is the great I am, the self-existent one, the self-sufficient one, who was and is and is to come. It is with eyes, heart, and mind set on this glorious, almighty God, that in the midst of the trials of this life, we find him to be our hope and sway, knowing that all of this, will be swallowed up in victory. It is with eyes of faith set on him that we can join with the Apostle Paul saying, thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15 7. It is through Christ Jesus, our Lord. Lord Sabbath, Lord of hosts, Lord of armies, Lord of the legions of angelic beings, that God gives us victory over every trial, every temptation, every test, every tribulation, every persecution, and as the context of 1 Corinthians 15 has it, victory over sin and death. And church what? If we die? If they kill us? we will rise again. As Christ our Lord rose from the dead and we are in him, so too shall we live. Jesus said, John 11, 25, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me shall live even if he dies. So we like Luther, like Job, learn to give god praise and to worship him in the midst of our severe trials because we know him and we know that it is his kingdom that is Well, having considered the first chapter of Job over the last couple of weeks, and having read how he suffered the severe loss of all his possessions, of all but a few servants, and worst of all, all ten of his dear children, we are humbled and encouraged, as the scripture says in Job 1, 20 through 22, then Job, having heard all of this horrendous news, the loss of his animals, the loss of his servants, the loss of his children. He then arose, tore his robe, shaved his head. He fell to the ground and worshiped. And he said, naked I came from my mother's womb and naked I shall return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Beloved, we should memorize that verse. Amen. Through all this, the scripture says Job did not sin, nor did he blame God. Well, with this in mind, please open your Bibles to Job chapter 2, and here we read of a second heavenly scene. Here Satan, the accuser, continues in his accusations against God and Job, and then obtains God's permission to test Job beyond what he has already endured. Job passed the first test, maintaining his integrity before God. How will he fare in this greater second test? So with your Bibles open to Job chapter two, we will read the first 10 verses, verses one through 10. Please stand for the reading of God's word. Job chapter two, verse one, this is the word of the Lord. Again, there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord. And the Lord said to Satan, where have you come from? Then Satan answered the Lord and said, from roaming about on the earth and walking around on it. And the Lord said to Satan, have you considered my servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil. And he still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to ruin him without cause. And Satan answered the Lord and said, skin for skin, yes, all that a man has, he will give for his life. However, put forth thy hand now and touch his bone and flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face. So the Lord said to Satan, behold, he is in your power, only spare his life. Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. And he, Job, took a potsherd to scrape himself while he was sitting among the ashes. Then his wife said to him, do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die. But he said to her, you speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity? In all this, Job did not sin with his lips. Let's bow in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, I admit to you today that this is a difficult text. We try to understand what is going on in the heavens and how that affects our life today. And Lord, we will also admit that we don't like trials. We don't like tribulation. We don't like suffering. And yet we know your word that in this world, we will have trials and tribulations and there is suffering. We live in a fallen world. There is evil in this world. So Lord, may we learn to be as Job was People who are faithful to you no matter what we suffer That we would be so Humble before you So intent to worship you for who you are That no matter what you send our way We would lift up your name and glorify you Lord may it be that we understand that we have the victory in Christ Jesus our Lord May we live these days, some of them very, very difficult. May we live these days looking to you, glorifying you. And may it be as the apostle Peter wrote. that then people will see that there is a hope within us, a hope that doesn't make any sense in this world. And when they ask us, Lord, let us be ready to tell them about our Savior, that we have a hope that surpasses all understanding. And we have that hope because we have a Savior, our Lord Jesus. So, Lord, may we hope in you, not a false hope, a true hope. And may we be ready to tell others about We ask that you would grant us these things and that we would hear what you are saying to us today through your word. In the name of Christ, I pray. And the church said, amen. God bless you. Please be seated. In the exposition of the word today, we have our outline, five points. I always like, you know, they tell us we're only supposed to have a three point sermon. That's all you're supposed to have. My three-point sermon consists of five points. Number one, the Lord and the accuser, verses one through six. Number two, the accuser and Job, verses seven and eight. Job and his wife, verses nine and 10. And then as I've been doing, following up at the end of the teaching, I want to talk about our Lord God and our Lord Jesus. Though Job suffers a second and greater test, he maintains his integrity as he worships God for who he is. God is always the all-glorious one and is ever worthy of our worship. Our trials, great and small, do not change the fact of who God is. Well, let's talk about verses one through six, the Lord and the accuser. Verse one, again, there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord. Following all that transpired in the first chapter, the again of chapter two, verse one sounds rather ominous, again. We might initially think, surely it can't get worse, but it does. As in the first chapter, between verses 5 and 6, we were instantaneously taken from the earthly scene to a heavenly one, the same thing happens now from the last verse of chapter 1 and the first verse of chapter 2. Chapter 1 ends with Job glorifying God. Chapter 2 begins, and we are translated from the earthly into a heavenly scene. Again, there was a time when the angelic beings of God came to present themselves before the Lord Reporting on their various activities and again the accuser came along with them to give an account to God and again There is a similar dialogue between the Lord God and his fallen angels Satan and again verse 2 the Lord said to Satan where have you come from that matches the first chapter perfectly doesn't it and Then Satan answered the Lord and said, from roaming about on the earth and walking around on it. Like a savage beast, Satan prowls about the earth seeking someone to devour. That's what he does. He comes seeking to kill, steal, and destroy. He enviously desires to defame God by getting God's people to stumble and fall, turning against God, failing to worship him, cursing God. Satan is satisfied with anything but true worship. The prowling accuser is quite satisfied if, of selfish motives, someone insincerely worships God only for the blessings they get from Him rather than knowing Him and worshiping Him because of who He is. Satan hopes that all of us will curse God when things don't go right, that we'll rejoice when everything seems good and the blessings of God are flowing, but that we'll curse God when we don't get what we want. That's what Satan wants, and that's what he tempts us to do. Well, in the illustration, many marriages fail. on account one loves, quote unquote, loves the other because what they get from them rather than because who they are, their spouse, the one they committed their love to. As soon as they do not get what they want, then the shallow self-seeking love they had wanes away and they quickly forget their solemn vow to love and to cherish. This is what Satan accuses Job of. False worship, false love of God. Only loving God because of the good God gives him, rather than loving God because of who he is. But with Job having passed that first test, verse three, the Lord said to Satan, have you considered my servant Job? For there is no one like him on earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil. And he still holds fast his integrity. He still fears me, he still worships me. Although you, devil, incited me against him to ruin him without cause. Wow. Without Job's knowledge, The Lord again, a second time, brings Job to the devil's attention. It makes me want to pray and say, Lord, please don't ever bring me to the devil's attention. But the Lord does. And as the Lord did previously, he commends Job. Job is a unique individual, for there is no one like him on the earth. He is blameless, upright, fearing God, and turning away from evil. If there were any doubt concerning Job's integrity, his passing the first test proved what kind of a man he was. After losing all his possessions, his vast herds of livestock, his numerous servants, and his 10 beloved children, he still holds, present tense, holds fast his integrity. He still holds fast his integrity. God proclaimed to Satan, although you incited me against him to ruin him without cause. Now the Hebrew verb translated ruin in that phrase to ruin him without cause. It is an intensive verb and it means to destroy or more literally to swallow up, to swallow whole. Three things we would do well to ponder here. First, the Lord says that the accuser incited him. Well, how are we to view this? Can Satan incite the Lord against his people? Well, that's what God says here. You incited me. That's what God says, but we have to understand that that is only in a limited sense. It was God who brought Job to Satan's attention, true? It was God who rubbed Job's righteousness in the accuser's face, true? Is it not true that God actually incited the devil to incite him? And by this, among the many righteous things God will accomplish, one is to prove the accuser to be a false accuser. God is going to have the victory. To work his sovereign will, the Lord incites Satan to incite him. Obviously, Satan could not incite the Lord against his will. Who can make the Lord do anything? And when the Lord allowed Satan to incite him, he only allowed the devil to incite him so far, for God put definite limits on what Satan could work against Job. Yes, God says you incited me, but we know that God incited the devil to incite him. This is all within the will of God. God is in control. Second, God takes responsibility for what happened. So if we say, well, no, God's not in control. Well, then who is? And are we just given the chance? But God says, hey, I'm in control. I take responsibility for what happened. With double emphasis, the Lord says, you incited me against him to ruin him. God does not say, you convinced me to allow you to ruin him. God being the sovereign holds and acknowledges his responsibility in the matter. Thirdly, God says that he ruined Job without cause. There was no reason, no sin in Job for which he should suffer such a trial. He was in fact blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil. Job was not sinless for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, amen? But he had no sin in his life for which such a trial should come upon him. There was no cause for which Job should justly suffer such a terrible thing. Beloved Church, Job, in this case, Job did not suffer because of his sin, but actually because he was righteous. Because he was blameless, he was put to the test. Because he was upright, Satan wanted him to fall down. because he feared God and turned away from evil, Satan wanted to undo him. You know, we want to believe that if we live right, that everything will go right. We want to believe that. But the apostle Paul prepared Timothy for life in ministry saying 2 Timothy 3, 12, and indeed all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Well, wait a minute, we wanna say, well, wait a minute, if I live godly in Christ Jesus, nothing shall come against me. Oh, let me tell you, all hell will break against you. All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. And Jesus said this, John 16, 33, in the world, you have tribulation. But take courage, I have overcome the world. Amen, greater is he who is in us than he who is in the world. The point I desire to bring out is that not all our suffering is due to some personal sin, and it certainly wasn't the case for Job. Now, throughout this teaching, over the coming weeks, I will come back to this subject over and over and over. Because one of the things that I have Had a hard time, well, that's an understatement. One of the things I have really disliked in the Christian community is how we so often are ready to say someone's problem came upon them because of their sin. We just love to do that. In fact, Job's friends are gonna tell Job over and over and over, Job, you've had these problems because of your sin. Job is going to have to pray for them Because they're wrong Job was blameless upright Fearing God and turning away from evil. So throughout this teaching I'm going to be talking about this thing It is common for Christians to thoughtlessly presume that the other person's suffering has been brought on by their sin and And I want to tell you, if that's your theology, you have some problems with your theology. Sadly, many find some kind of assorted, disconnected, unsympathetic comfort in blaming one's problem on their sin, rather than thoughtfully, compassionately committing all things to God. We want to blame the person, we want to blame the devil, but while occupying ourselves with arrogant blame, blaming others, playing the blame game, we fail to occupy ourselves with the humble adoration of our sovereign Lord. What about just saying, this too is in God's hands? And remember, judge not lest you be judged. More shamefully, some Christians seem to delight in pointing out the sins of others, themselves acting as an accuser. Here we see that in Job's case, and so in other cases, the suffering is not brought on by their personal sin, but by the will of the sovereign one on account that they are righteous and they are hated enemies by the enemies of God. Now, this is very important. For if Satan were to act on his own and were to be blamed, then God would not be the sovereign, would he? And if God is not the sovereign, then we would have no hope of victory and redemption and resurrection in eternity. We might hope that God does it, but we wouldn't know if he could do it, except he is the sovereign, the almighty one. Further, in Job's case, if he were under discipline because for a cause of his own sin, then Job's worship of God would be conditioned on what God does rather than who God is. This is all necessary then to prove that Job genuinely worships God for who God is rather than what blessings God gives. Chapter 13 verse 15 of Job when Job says though God slay me yet. Will I trust him? He is not saying if God slays me for good cause then I will trust him. That's not what he's saying He's not saying if God slays me for good cause then I'll trust him But he is saying though God slay me for no cause Yet will I trust him? It is one thing to worship God because of what he gives us. But what high and holy worship it is when we glorify the Lord as we bear up under suffering brought upon us for no apparent cause. The Lord brings Job to the accuser's attention, saying, he still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to ruin him without cause. And how does the accuser respond? How does an accuser respond? The accuser responds by making accusations. And he says, verse four, and Satan answered the Lord and said, skin for skin, yes, all that a man has, he will give for his life. So in the tone of accusation against God, the devil says, of course, Job still worships you, but only because you preserved his life. That's the only reason. Take away his life, take away his skin. and he will no longer worship you, but will indeed curse you. Job worships you only because you've granted him health and life, skin for skin. So Satan maintains his accusation against Job that Job worships God of impure, selfish motives, only for what you give him, Lord, not for who you are. And again, as I addressed in the first teaching, to make an accusation against Job is to make an accusation against God. This is one thing we can be sure of, church, as believers, when someone falsely accuses us, they're making an accusation against Christ our Lord. So when Satan makes an accusation against God, he's accusing God. To accuse Job of ill-motivated, self-centered worship is to accuse God of accepting Job's worship as pure when it is not. It is to say to God, how do you glory in Job's ill-motivated worship? You fool yourself, God. How do you glory in insincere, impure, ill-motivated, false worship? It is false worship that you glory in God. You are a fake, just like Job. You see, church, if Job's integrity is faulty, then his worship is faulty and God is faulty and glory in it. His fallen premise Satan challenges God saying verse 5 however put forth thy hand now and touch his bone and his flesh He will curse thee to thy face Satan accuses Job of only caring for himself he portrays Job as one who maintains his integrity before God only because he has his life and Everything else that's happened to him has been outside of him outside of his own self His servants his children who died that's all outside of Job, but if you attack Job himself Satan says he's done He'll curse you to your face Let me attack him let me at him God Let me inflict him with physical pain to the point of death And he will curse you to your face verse 6 So the Lord said to Satan, behold, he's in your power, only spare his life. Under the authority of God, Satan is given permission to torment Job by touching his bone and flesh. The only limit is this Satan. Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and smoked Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. As the language indicates, the accuser was anxious to prove himself right, and by doing that, proving the Lord wrong. It was a defining moment for Satan. This was his chance. Going out from the presence of the Lord, he immediately smoked struck, inflicted upon Job's sore boils. And it would not be a boil or two, but he inflicted upon Job very sore boils from the sole of his feet to the crown of his head. There was no position Job could get in where he was comfortable. This affliction was instantaneous and supernatural. Some propose that this affliction was a form of leprosy. or elephantiasis. What we do know is that it was a great torturous affliction. It was such an awfully tormenting nature that one would think to prefer death over such suffering. The symptoms are described throughout Job and include pruritus, chapter 2, verse 8, disfigurement, chapter 2, verse 12, worm-infected sores that scab over, crack, and ooze, 7-5, sleeplessness, nightmares, and delirium, chapter 7, verse 4, 13 and 14, choking, 7-15, depression, 7-16, putrid breath, 19-17, emaciation, 19-20, excruciating pain throughout the body, chapter 30, verse 17, blackened the skin, blackened dying skin, chapter 30, verse 30, and burning in the bones, chapter 30, verse 30. Satan, the accuser, smoked Job without cause, the sore boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. Then along with the physical affliction, there was the stigma, the stigma. In the ancient world, disease was associated with God's personal judgment upon a soul. David Allen writes, in the culture of Job's day, such a malady was almost universally regarded as punishment inflicted by the gods for heinous sin. And John Hartley explains, ancient people did not assign the death blow to the disease itself, but to God. Such chronic illnesses like Boyle's were often considered a divine curse. Job's contemporaries, as we will read, would quickly conclude that he was being punished for some moral wrong. They're gonna throw that in his face for months. Indeed, as Exodus 9, 8 through 12 holds, boils were one of the 10 plagues with which the Lord smote the Egyptians. When the Israelites were about to cross over the Jordan, Moses pronounced a blessing on them if they obeyed the Lord, and a curse if they did not. As a part of the curse, he warned this, Deuteronomy 28, 35, Yahweh will smite you with grievous boils on your knees and on your leg, from which you cannot be healed from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head. Not only did Job suffer the disease, but it certainly appeared, it appeared that he was under the curse of God. And Satan supposed that if it appeared to Job that he was under the curse of God, that Job would turn around and curse God himself. Incomplete and utter misery. Job, verse eight, took a posture to scrape himself while he was sitting among the ashes. The picture is one of complete agony, dejection, loneliness, grief, and sorrow. The man who once had it all and was known, famous throughout the land for all he had and the blessings of God upon him has nothing to do now but to tend to himself, seeking a very little, at best, temporary relief. Here is Job. Scraping himself with shards of broken pottery sitting among the ashes as the ancients did expressing great grief But now I want to ask you a question where now in this story is the accuser Satan has dealt his worst hand and He can do no more So thanks to God, Satan is no more mentioned in this book, hallelujah, glory be to God. We will not read of him again. I tell you, church, in the midst of our trials, even if Satan has had a word and has brought any kind of affliction, I tell you, he is a defeated foe. There is no need for me to deal with Satan today. My God deals with him and Christ the crucified lamb has defeated him. Let us recall James 4, 6 through 10. But God gives greater grace. Therefore it says, God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Submit, therefore, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord and he will exalt you. Now we might say, well, now's the time to exalt me, Lord. It'll be at his time. But if we will repent, if we will humble ourselves, if we will sorrow over sin, If we will seek to worship the Lord, then let me tell you something. The scripture says, humble yourselves in the presence of God, and he will exalt you. So thanks be to God. From here on out, in the account of Job, there is no more mention of Satan. The matter, as it were, from the beginning, was between Job and his God. While we may think God is silent, praises be to God, from here on out, it is Satan who is silenced. He is a defeated foe, he wiggles, he twists and squirms, he flails and thrashes, but let me tell you, his head is crushed. For Job, his testing continues as he now has to deal with others who are close to him, his wife and friends who are themselves in sin. While Job and his suffering maintains his integrity and fear of God, others come and they buffet him for months on end. Church, it is one thing to stand against the devil. It is another thing to stand faithfully among the arrogant self-righteous who think they know God, who think they speak for God, but are in sin themselves. Here, Job, the righteous suffers while others self-righteously testing for Job. Number three, Job and his wife. Verse nine. Then his wife said to him, Do you hold fast your integrity, curse God and die? Well, here's the picture. Job is down. But he's not out. He's down. And quite obviously, we can't blame her in this. She his wife is down also. We cannot forget that along with Job, she lost all her possessions. She lost her children. And now she sees her husband in this miserable condition. Her words show that she is pretty much without hope. Her integrity and her fear of God is in question. Now, many commentators over the years, I mean, back as far as Chrysostom, have condemned Mrs. Job. And I will say even as I have tended to do. But upon studying this text, I feel somewhat repentant about that. Why should I go beyond the text and accuse and condemn her? Many have gone to great extent to read into her statement. Some can condemn her and others excuse her. But the point is less about what she said and more about Job's response. We can be thankful that she said this so we could hear Job's response. The Bible is real, it hides nothing. When God's people fail, it says here, God's people have failed. This is what happened, and by this record, we have much to learn. Job's wife, who had been stripped as of much as he, sees him suffering, and in a demanding fashion, as one astonished, she questioned, do you still hold fast your integrity? Well, what do we learn from that question? Church, from that question, we learn that Job was still holding fast his integrity. And if anyone were to know his failures, his behind closed door slip ups and his private under the breath curses, it would have been his wife. She knew he was a blameless man and that his sufferings were undeserved. She sees it and she says, this man does not deserve this. Why would God do this to my husband? She cannot understand how he continues to be blameless, upright, fearing God, turning away from evil. Perhaps she was mad at God and upset with her husband that he had not joined her in her anger and resentment. But it is her fiery question that reveals what kind of a man Job was. Before God, Job held on to his integrity. Oh, may it be that we are such a people that in the worst of it, people look to us and say, They hold their integrity. They still worship God. Then, Job's wife, Mrs. Job, comes out with this two-edged demand, and it is the demand, it's in the imperative. She tells him, she's not suggesting, she's telling him, curse God and die. Denounce God, she told her husband. She told her husband, do what you fear your children would do and what you continually made sacrifice for. Do that, curse God. She told him to do what Satan said he would do, to curse God to his face. Whether she thought he would die as a mercy or as a means of bringing it all to an end, whether she meant that he should commit suicide or thought by cursing God that God would strike him dead, we don't know. And really what exactly she meant doesn't really matter. What matters is Job's response. Her question and demands opened the door for Job to speak. And it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks. Job verse 10 a said to her You speak as one of the foolish woman speaks Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity? Now Job's word is a word of correction and Please note. He does not call his wife a foolish woman. I but tells her she's talking like the foolish women. That is the unbelieving, faithless, godless woman. You're talking like an unbeliever. Listen to the things you're saying, dear. You're talking like an unbeliever, and I will not permit it in my house. She speaks as one who's forgotten the God whose kingdom is forever. Job responds with words that echo his statement in 121, where he said, the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Here he says, shall indeed we accept good from God and not accept adversity? Lamentations 338 says, is it not from the mouth of the most high that both good and adversity go forth? We have to appreciate in addressing his wife, Job says, shall we? Shall we? You and I, dear. He addresses her as one with Him. Job well comprehends that those who are true to God, who worship and fear Him because He is God, because His kingdom is forever, must also worship Him faithfully in good times as well as bad times. Our situation does not define God, nor does our situation change God. God, whether he is giving or taking, whether his hand undergirds us or is heavy upon us, is just the same, all worthy. Just the same. David Allen writes, Joe reminded his wife that we cannot, indeed, must not judge God's actions according to our own expectations. John Hartley writes, Job knows that the faithful must express their trust in God regardless of the circumstances that befall them. The verb accept describes active, positive participation of what God decrees, not mere passive reception. Job's total submission to God for good and for ill is clear in his response. By his rebuke, he sought to prevent Dear, you sound like an unbeliever. Don't become an unbeliever. Indeed, Job's efforts were not merely to rebuke his wife, but church to minister to her, to turn her to that which is right, to point her to the sovereign. Job in his misery, in his pain, with his wife demanding that he curse God and die, ministers the high and holy truth of God to her. Dear, we do not employ our breath to curse God and die, but my dear wife, we employ our breath until our dying breath to worship him. In this way, Job was interceding for his wife. picture Jesus on the cross he's being crucified and what does he say father forgive them they don't know what they're doing Then the 10th verse ends with this awesome statement of commendation, and all this Job did not sin with his lips, and all this Job did not sin with his lips. I'm always shocked at teachers and the things they come up with. You know, the name it, claim it teachers, the hyper-faith, speak it into being teachers, will say, Job, they'll say exactly the opposite of what scripture says. The reason these things happened to Job was because he didn't have faith. The reason these things happened to Job was because he did have faith. Here there are teachers saying all this job did not seem with the lips. They say all he did sin with his lips But it was in his heart Well, wait a minute out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks Because Job did not send with the lift. What do we know? He didn't hold sin in his heart. He was blameless. He was upright. He was fearing God and turning away from evil Amen Let's briefly talk about our Lord God. I The first half of the second chapter we find God in the heavens ruling and reigning ruling and reigning over all things and then church Where is God from verse 7 on? Well, if you were here last week, you know the answer to that question He is in the same place as he was in the first six verses He is on his heavenly throne ruling and reigning. Yes over all things and We may not hear from him. We may wonder why he's silent, but let me tell you something. He is ever on his throne. He is ever the sovereign, and he ever rules and reigns over all things. And the church said, amen. Now let's talk about our Lord Jesus. As we've stated in previous teachings, Job is an early type of the Lord Jesus Christ. Job foreshadowed the Christ who was to come. We've been speaking of Job as the shadow and Jesus as the reality. Job pointed to Jesus. Job the lesser pointed to Jesus the greater. As it was said of Job that no one was like him on all the earth, he foreshadowed the Christ who was to come. In reality, Jesus alone is the unique, only begotten son of God. There is not another like him in all the earth and in all the heavens. He alone is the God-man, the incarnate God who came to save his people from their sin to everlasting life. And also, in this text, we find Job suffering in his body. In this, Job foreshadowed our Lord Jesus Christ. Hebrews 10.5, the scripture says of Jesus, a body thou hast prepared for me. And then in verse 10 it says, by this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Jesus suffered in his body to save us from our sins. And as the suffering Job ministered saving truth to his wife, Christ died for his bride, you and I, the church. In his suffering, he brought us the gospel so that we who were in sin might be corrected, healed, right-minded, and saved. As Jesus was suffering in his body, dying on the cross, he ministered, interceding, saying, Father, forgive them. They don't know what they do. And Jesus continues to wash the church, you and I, with the water of his word. So we see many pictures of Jesus here. In closing, Job was faithful because he understood what Luther came to understand. That God's kingdom is the eternal kingdom. God's kingdom is forever. And in Job ministering to his wife, what became of her, we might ask? We never hear of her again. What became of her? Is she like the devil? She's just gone? No. Read the end of the book. Job and his wife were blessed of God with more than they ever had to begin with, and more children. Job ministered well to his wife. Apparently she believed. And she was blessed. So I ask you, will you believe in this God? The almighty, the sovereign who gave his son Jesus to save you from sin to life everlasting. Will you believe in this God? Will you believe in the God of this book? You know, sometimes we read things like, I don't know about that God. I don't really like that God, but we have to come to the point to say, well, but God is the almighty one. He is the sovereign. He's the one who does all things right. Will you trust this God? Will you glorify him? And let me tell you, the former will be better than the latter. We see this in Job. Amen? Let's bow our heads. Our Heavenly Father, we come before you to know you as you are. Let us not think you to be the God we want you to be, but the God you are. Let us understand by the revelation of yourself, your word, that you are a true God, that you do all things right. We confess that by faith because, Lord, sometimes we just can't see how these are the right things. And as we talked about last week, we try to understand how is God glorified in this? And we understand that oftentimes he's not glorified in the act, but he's glorified in our response, which is the case with Job. God was glorified because Job worshiped him. Help us, Lord, to be a humble people who bow low before you and worship you. you are the one true God, there is not another. And Lord, may all who are within the sound of my voice believe upon Jesus, for he is the Christ of God who came to save us from our sin. If you will believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ,