This morning I'd like to introduce you to a man unlike any other man on the earth in his day. A man whom the Lord declared was blameless and upright. This man was tempted by Satan to renounce his loyalty to the Lord. He was scrutinized for sin by the supposedly friendly religious leaders of his day. This man faced unjust suffering because of his loyalty to the Lord. Yet after his humiliation, the Lord exalted him to a position of a priest through whom redemption is offered. The Lord accepting offerings through this man for the sin of others and granting his requests for forgiveness on behalf of those who sinned against him. And beyond that, the Lord abundantly blessed this man. who then granted an unexpected inheritance to those who are normally excluded, making his daughter's joint heirs with his sons. I want to introduce you to a man named Job. Let's look together at the book of Job and see that unjust suffering can be turned to redemption. unjust suffering turned to redemption. You see, God delights in exalting his servants who suffer unjustly for his name's sake. I'm looking forward to preaching through the book of Job. I want to take a moment and thank you on behalf of your pastors. This weekend, Pastor Tad is at a Nine Marks Weekender, as it's called. It's a conference on looking at trying to build healthy churches. And so I'm thankful that you have allowed your pastors to attend conferences like that. Part of the impetus for me preaching through the Book of Job was going to a Simeon Trust workshop on preaching wisdom literature where we had to look at the Book of Job. And so it was a challenge and I can remember thinking, I'm not going to tackle this now. But then as I got into it and I got back here and I saw the suffering that some of you face in your lives and the difficulties that you face in your life and then looking forward into What I would speculate is the future for Christians here in the United States of America. We're going to face some unjust suffering. And so I thought, you know what? Let's go for the book of Job. And so preaching through wisdom literature is is a little different for me preaching through large portions. We're going to look at Job chapter one through verse chapter two, verse 10. And you just now thought I may hit lunch about three based on pastors. We're going to try not to do that. OK, we are in uncharted territory here with this large of a passage, but Job is Job is, I believe, the most clear presentation of the Lord Jesus Christ as the righteous sufferer that we see in the Bible. At some point, I think Jesus was reading this, you know, as God developed his ability to read and everything else. And then he realizes that he's this book is about him. He's reading the book of Job and he's like, oh, OK, let's see how this is going to go. Right. So let's get in to the book of Job. Let's look at verses one through 12 and set the stage here for the book of Job. We've got two chapters here that are kind of an introduction. And then the poetic portion gets into the middle part. And then we have the conclusion, which is not necessarily poetry. But let's begin in Job, chapter one, verse one. There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and 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? But 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've 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. First, I want you to notice Job's place. He is described as being from the land of Uz. Also, in verse 3, he is from the East. The East is typically bad. And when we see that in the Scriptures, the writers of the Scriptures place the East as a bad place to be. Adam and Eve were placed to the east of the Garden of Eden when they were kicked out of the Garden of Eden. Cain, when he was given his mark and told to leave, went to the east. In fact, when God built the tabernacle, the way to the Lord's presence in the Holy of Holies is in the western part. So you begin in the east as you approach God. So Job is a very unusual character. Probably a Gentile, but someone who is in covenant with the Lord. We see that because he is the way his character is described, says that he feared God and turned away from evil. That phrase that he's blameless and upright and that he fears God and turns away from evil is repeated three times in this passage that we will go through today. The fear of God and turning away of evil. Is wisdom in the book of Job in the center of the book of Job in chapter twenty eight, verse twenty eight, there's a there's a hymn that concludes the hymn is about wisdom and where can it be found? And in Job, twenty eight, twenty eight, it says, and he that is the Lord said to man, behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. And to turn away from evil is understanding. And so we see that Job's character is, is that he fears God. We put it another way. He loves God above all things, so much so that he will not take part in evil. So we see Job's character is impeccable. We see his possessions and that he is the richest person in the land. If you go to us and you look at the surrounding areas, they're like, who's the rich people here? Well, that would be Job. He is the one that stands out, but also notice in verses four and five, his priestly intercession in verses four and five. And I did want to take a note. If you don't have a paper Bible with you, I encourage you, I encourage you last week to bring your paper Bibles. We do have some pew Bibles underneath the chairs or the red books. When we're preaching a larger passage like this, the limits of electronic electronics kind of goes away. Right. Unless you just have a screen that's about as big as the thing up here, you know. So it's handy to be able to look back and forth. So if you want, please avail yourself of those few Bibles if you don't have a Bible. But in this verses four and five, we see Job making intercession for his children. And there's this introduction of sacrifice for sins. And so I think we can assume that Job understands that he is sinful and he needs to make offerings for himself. But nowhere in the book is that ever said. OK. But I think he understands it because he's doing it for his children. He is interceding for them like a priest would. And in this introduction in verse five, we have the introduction of this phrase curse, cursing God. It may be that my children have sinned and cursed God. in their hearts. Four times in this passage this morning, we're going to see this phrase cursed God in verse eleven. Satan talks about cursing God and he does so again in chapter two, verse five, and then Job's wife in verse nine tells Job, curse God and die. We see then that's Job. Now, what's God's view of Job? I think it's important we need to know what God thinks about Job. As far as what God thinks, there's nobody like Job in all the earth, he says. So like in God's eyes, Job's the greatest man walking the earth. He's proud of Job. He's when Satan walks in, he says, have you have you seen Job? God is proud of Job. Job is blameless. Job has done nothing that warrants punishment from God. From God's perspective, there's absolutely no reason for Job to suffer, and that's key and critical for us to understand as we go through the book of Job. From God's perspective, there is no reason for Job. Job has done nothing to deserve punishment or suffering. But what about Satan's view of Job? Satan says, does Job fear God for no reason? Satan believes that Job's faith is wrongly motivated. And I was trying to think about what's what's something in our society today that would that we could describe that would be what Job or what Satan thinks about Job. And I think probably the best thing that I can come up with is a gold digger. Believe it or not, WebMD has a definition of what a gold digger is. Let me read to you. A gold digger is someone who pursues and forms a relationship with someone else for the sole purpose of using or taking that person's money and wealth. The gold digger doesn't have an honest emotional or physical attraction to their partner. Rather, their goal is to enter into a relationship in order to have access to the target's wealth. While anyone can be a gold digger and the gender and age dynamic can vary, the stereotypical gold digger relationship is of a young woman who goes after an older, richer man. She either waits for the older man to die to inherit his wealth, files for divorce and tries to obtain money through legal proceedings, or will simply stay in the relationship and take advantage of it while providing as little in return as possible. That's WebMD's definition of a gold digger. I would put it this way. The gold digger is someone who enters a marriage covenant with someone not because they love them. but because of the benefits of being married to them, such as fortune or fame, comfort or security. But take away the riches and fame and suddenly the gold digger flees the marriage. This is Satan's view of Job. Does Job fear God for no reason? So Satan believes That Job serves God because God protects him and blesses him with many possessions. Job is just a gold digger in Satan's eyes. And so the question this text seems to answer is, will a person serve God for God's sake only? Will a person serve God for God's sake only? We have test number one, and I think this is important for us to realize, too, is that Satan is going to make Job suffer because he is righteous. For reasons unbeknownst to Job, his faith is being tested for genuineness. So first, Job loses all of his possessions, and as we go through this, You can you can check off in his possessions in the introduction of chapter one. He loses them all. Verse three, verses 13 through 19. 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 oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them, and the sabayons 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. And 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. And while he was yet speaking, there came another and said, Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in the 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. They are dead and I alone have escaped to tell you four messengers come to Job and in the book of Job, four is a very significant number. God speaks four times, two at the beginning of the book and then two at the end. There are four friends who examine Job, three friends examine him up into the middle of the book. And then we have Elihu who speaks after them. Trials and testing are usually indicated by some division of four and other books of the Bible. We hear of 40 days and 40 years mentioned with trials. That's the first thing to note. Second thing I want you to note about this portion of the scriptures is Satan, Satan's power. He influences men to commit horrible acts of evil. I have no doubt in my mind. That there are spiritual forces influencing what is going on in Russia right now. We see those spiritual battles in the book of Daniel, if you want to read there about unseen spiritual forces that somehow through some means are influencing men to commit horrible acts of violence. And we see that here with two different groups of people. We also see Satan's power. Over weather, a storm comes, the fire of God, ironically, the messenger uses, comes and strikes the camels. I can remember a co-worker of mine in West Virginia talked about how he was driving by after a storm to work. And he drove by a field and there were lightning had struck some cattle that had been under a tree and it hit the tree and it had blown the hooves off of the cattle. The weather is incredibly powerful and we see here Satan allowed to control it. He is the prince of the power of the air. He is not to be trifled with. I want you to note something else here. Children are considered possessions. Children are considered possessions. They are a secondary blessing of marriage given by God. You say, what do you mean by secondary blessing? Well, this is what this is very similar to what Satan is getting at with Job. He's saying Job loves God because of the secondary blessings he receives from God. So children are a secondary blessing. of marriage. In other words, when I married Kim, I didn't go, boy, I'm going to marry Kim because I think she's going to produce good kids. Right. The point of marrying Kim was I get Kim. That's the primary. I get Kim. Now, kids are a wonderful blessing and grandkids are even better. But the point of marriage is not children. That point of marriage is getting a spouse. That's the blessing. So Job loses his children. Now, some may question how God could allow Job's children to die. And at the end of this message, hopefully I'll remember to put up my email address so that you can email me questions. Job's the book of Job brings up tons of questions and I can't answer them all in a sermon. But I will say this quickly with the time given. about why would God allow Job's children to die? Why would God allow Job's children to die? First of all, evil and suffering exist in the world. We can see that, right? We don't even need the Bible to tell us about that. We see evil and suffering in this world. The book of Job wrestles with God's justice in an unjust world. Then secondly, And I hate to reveal this at this time because I want us to feel Job's desperation as we move through this book. But secondly, if we peeked ahead to the end of the book, God restores all of Job's possessions doubled, like as many donkeys as he had, he had twice as many at the end, except children. He had 10 children at the beginning and he has 10 children restored at the end. Now, why do you think he did that? Besides having mercy on Job's wife, right? I believe it's because Job didn't didn't eternally lose his first 10 children, right? He didn't end up he didn't he didn't need 20 children at the end because he still had 20 children. Ten of them are just in the presence of God awaiting him. So Job does end up with double the children he had here at the beginning of the book. There is injustice in this world, and God works through those injustices to do righteous things. So Job loses all of his possessions. So let's look at his response in verses 20, chapter one, verses 20 through 22, says, Then Job arose, tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said. Naked I came from my mother's womb and naked shall I return. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this, Job did not sin or charge God with wrong. Job views all things as belonging to God. They are his to do with as he wills. God can give and God can take away even our children. Job brought nothing into this world and he can take nothing with him when he dies. Job mourns his loss. That's the shaving of the head and tearing the garments, that's not something our culture does, but in Job's culture they did. He mourns the loss, but he worships God instead of cursing God. Job praises God. So let's move on, then, to attack or test number two, Job, chapter two, verses one through nine. 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, From where have you come? And 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. He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him. What's the next two words? Without reason. Again, God sees no reason for Job to have to suffer because of his sin. There is no sin. Then Satan answered the Lord and said, skin for skin, all that a man has he will give for his life, but stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh and he will curse you to your face. And the Lord said to Satan, behold, he is in your hand. Only spare his life. So Satan went out. from the presence of the Lord and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes. Then his wife said to him, Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die. Job's wife has given up. She's lost any hope that Job is going to bounce back from this tragedy. that has taken his wealth and his health. Her suggestion is to join her in her despair and do what Satan really wants. Still behind the scenes, Satan working, but Satan desires for Job to curse God. And so this is the suggestion of Job's wife. Again, it's important to emphasize Job has not done nothing that warrants punishment from God's perspective. Notice what the Lord says to Satan to verse three, you incited him against as he incited me against him to destroy him without reason. Job's health problems are not an indication of God's judgment. Job's health problems are not an indication of God's judgment. Some of you are suffering with physical ailments this morning. Some I know of and some I don't. And I would say to you this morning, your sickness is not an indication of God's judgment on your life. Job doesn't know what is going on here, but he's done nothing from the Lord's perspective to deserve these health problems. Because Satan is making Job suffer because he's righteous for reasons unbeknownst to Job, his faith is being tested for genuineness. And he responds in verse 10. But he said to her, you speak as one of the foolish women would speak. And as he doesn't call her foolish, he said, but you're talking like someone who is foolish. Shall we receive good from God and shall we not receive evil? In all this, Job did not sin with his lips. Job views all things under God's sovereign hand. If he is to receive good things from God, he should also receive bad things. Nothing is outside God's providence. I want to read you a quote from Francis Anderson's commentary on Job. He says this such positive faith is the magic stone that transmutes all to gold for when the bad as well as the good is received at the hand of God. Every experience of life becomes an occasion of blessing, but the cost is high. It is easier to lower your view of God than to raise your faith to such a height. It's easier to lower your view of God than to raise your faith to such a height. Shall we receive good from God? Shall we not receive evil? In all this, Job did not sin with his lips. Job has passed the test. Satan is humiliated and he is never mentioned directly in this book again. Now, let us consider Jesus. The Lord declared that Jesus was blameless and upright when on the Mount of Transfiguration, God the Father said, This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him like Job. Jesus was tempted by Satan to renounce his loyalty to the Lord. In Matthew chapter four, verses one and two, it says, Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting 40 days and 40 nights, and then we're going to skip down because it gets into his first his first temptation. But I want us to focus in on the temptation that we find in verses 11, 8 through 11, because Jesus here is tempted with possessions. Verse eight says, Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, All these I will give to you if you will fall down and worship me. Then Jesus said to him, Be gone, Satan, for it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve. Then the devil left him and behold, the angels came and were ministering to him. You see, Jesus served God despite not having any possessions, he said in Matthew 8 20. Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. Jesus was tempted by being offered possessions and he did not sin. Well, what about his health and his help? Like Job was tested, help being his wife in regards to help when they came to arrest Jesus. What happened to his disciples like cockroaches when you turn the light on right gone, they disappear. Jesus was abandoned by his disciples, Peter even denying him in regards to health. It doesn't get worse, much worse than death on a cross. Jesus suffers death, the ultimate loss of health, but Philippians 2, 7 says this, Jesus emptied himself by taking the form of a servant being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross, the most brutal of deaths. Hallelujah, what a savior. And Hebrews 415 says, For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are yet without sin. Jesus had his faith tested for genuineness and his faith was real. I said before, Job was just a man and we've seen that with the sacrifice of animals. But so sin was a part of his life. But for the book of Job, we are told he is blameless. And unlike the book, unlike Job in the book of Job and unlike Jesus, you and I have sinned and we are deserving of God's wrath. But God sent his righteous servant, Jesus Christ, to come and to live a righteous life despite being tempted and being tested and despite having his health taken away from him. In the ultimate act of injustice, a perfect man was crucified on a cross and God turned that for our salvation. So if we place our faith in Jesus Christ and his death, burial and resurrection for our sins, God forgives us. If you've never trusted Christ as your savior, I urge you today. Do that. Repent of your sin and ask God to forgive you of your sins, not because of anything you've done, but because of what Christ did for you. Now, some general takeaways before we get specific, some general takeaways. Number one, God delights in blessing the righteous. OK, blessings of prosperity and health are not wrong. We don't want to get that takeaway here that when God blesses a Christian, they're doing something wrong. That's not the case. There are blessings to be enjoyed, but not more than God himself. Secondary blessings are good, but God is the best. Remember when I told you I wasn't marrying Kim because I wanted to have kids with her? I got Kim. Well. When we repent of our sins and follow Jesus as the Lord, the ultimate purpose of that is we get God. Now, there are secondary blessings that come with that. But the main thing is we get God. If we get focused on the secondary blessings, having heaven is going to be really boring, right? Because we're going to be in the presence of God. God is the best. So, number one, God delights in blessing the righteous. Number two, Satan is real. He is powerful and he influences humanity. He is the prince of the power of the air. He's not to be trifled with. He is to be resisted, resist the devil and what he will flee. But the good news is, is that God is sovereign and every being, even Satan, must answer to him. Satan cannot do anything that God doesn't allow him to. He is sovereign. And then the next thing is, is that injustice and suffering is real in this world. And one of the causes of injustice is unseen spiritual warfare, unseen spiritual warfare. Now, do I think? that any one of us rises to the warrant of Satan himself coming before God and asking to bring us under temptation. No, I don't. OK, I hope that doesn't bruise your pride too much, but I include myself in that. But the apostle Paul says we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against rulers and principalities and powers, spiritual powers in the unseen realm. So there is a spiritual battle going on. And you and I are involved in it. We're wrestling in it. And then I would say the fear of God gives us wisdom in this life. Fear God and turn from evil. But for reasons unbeknownst to Job, his faith was tested for genuineness. And the question we're trying to ask is, will a person serve God for God's sake alone? Job did, despite losing everything. But what about us? Well, for reasons unbeknownst to us, our faith may be tested for genuineness. And so I would say this morning to Christians who are experiencing the blessings of God, life's pretty good, not necessarily easy, but, you know, it's pretty good. You're not worried about what you're going to eat for lunch besides picking out where you're going to go. Don't be a gold digger. Sometimes serving God is easy and his blessings are great. But what if it all went away? What if you lost everything? What if you lost your health? Would you still be able to say God is good all the time? Why are you serving God is because is it out of gratitude for what Christ did for us and the fact that we get God or is it for the secondary blessing? And then I would challenge you, be grateful for God's blessings. They're not wrong to have God's blessings, but be a true comforter for your brethren who are suffering. Be a blessing with the blessings that you've been given. But then some of you are suffering. Maybe it's your health. Maybe it's financial ruin. Maybe it's the loss of loved ones or even mistreatment by others. And you may ask yourself, What did I do to deserve this? To the best of your knowledge, you are living for God's glory. You're living wisely by fearing God and turning away from evil. There's no known sin in your life. I would say to you this morning, for reasons unbeknownst to you, your faith may be being tested for genuineness. Look at first Peter chapter one. Verses three through seven, you have your Bibles turn their first Peter chapter one. I think first Peter dovetails very nicely with the book of Job because it it speaks about the trials that Christians face in this world on our way. to the promised land of heaven. First Peter, chapter one, verse three says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for you. Notice verse five, because it's very important. You who? by God's power are being guarded through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. So God's power is keeping us. How is he keeping us through our faith, our faith in him? But our faith in him is going to be tested. We're going to see that here in verse six. In this you rejoice, because that's all been good news up to this point. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, your faith may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. You're going to be proven through testing and trials and different things that you're not a gold digger. You're not just serving God for the secondary benefits. You're serving God for God. Something that we learn from our passage today is that your circumstances are an unreliable guide to God's favor in your life. So place your trust in the God of your circumstances. For reasons unbeknownst to you, your faith may be being tested for genuineness. I would say to you, hang in there. By God's grace, your family, your friends and your co-workers will see that you are not a gold digger. You're not serving God just for the benefits of finances, security and health. No, you are a genuine servant of God. And that is revealed by your enduring faith, kept by God's power despite your circumstances. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you for this time to come and to look into your word and to see Job tested, to see whether he would serve you for your sake alone. Father, I don't think anyone here is going to go through as much testing as Job went to, but Father, we've got some folks that are going through trials. and difficulty. I pray that You will encourage them this morning. And for those of us who are experiencing Your blessings, I pray that we will be an encouragement to them and that You will use us to help them in their walk as we go through these grievous trials on our way to our promised land that is undefiled and unfading in heaven with You. Lord, we love You. I thank You for Jesus Christ. We ask these things in his name. Amen.