I've shared this story with you before, and it's indelible in my mind, of when I was a boy. And my dad was a pastor in Grand Rapids, Michigan, of Trinity Baptist Church. And I remember as a boy looking out and seeing the horizon black. I mean, just dark, ominous. It was unusual. And what was happening was there was a huge tornado that was coming down in the Grand Rapids area, and it hit the outskirts of Grand Rapids. And it literally swept houses completely off their foundations. Well, my dad, being a pastor, was able to get a pass to go into the devastated area because one of the families in our church lost their house completely. And so I remember going with dad into that area, and it was amazing to see it just firsthand. I saw little saplings where the wind was so forceful it took a piece of straw, as fragile as that is, and drove it like an arrow right through the sapling. And so you could break the straw off on this side and this side, but it went through that tree with such velocity and force. We came to the lot where the family from our church had lived, and the house was gone. It was just completely gone. All that was left was a gaping hole, the basement. The family shared with us that as the tornado passed over, they were huddling in the basement next to a wall. And during that time when the tornado passed over, the wall began to lean in about two and a half feet, and then it stopped. And their lives were spared, for which we were so thankful. We went outside and went for a little walk down about a hundred yards. And the car had been in the driveway, but now it was a hundred yards away, wrapped around a huge oak tree like a pretzel. And again, just seeing firsthand the force of God's creation, nature, and what it can do is something that I'll always have staying in my mind. But of course, one of the things that Reminds me of the power of God even in nature and creation Not only through the wind but through nature of how he designed an oak tree That oak tree stood it was a huge oak tree It could take the force of a car being wrapped around it and it still stood And I thought isn't that amazing what God can do, you know an oak tree is They can grow up to being 80 feet tall. Our sanctuary is about 60 feet tall, so go on up another 20 feet or so. They have a huge canopy of leaves. And what is it that holds all that up, that huge trunk? Well, it's the root system. And that oak tree has a tap root that goes straight down deep. But then that root spreads out, And it has roots that go deep and wide. Remember that song some of us sang when we were kids, deep and wide, okay? That's how the root system goes. So you'll get a root system that can go out as far as 80 yards. So just think of an oak tree here and it's just filling up this whole room. It's amazing the strength then that comes from that root system. And sure enough, that oak tree stood. It withstood the storm. And it becomes a great illustration to us today as we study the life of Job, whose root system, going deep in God and broad in his dependence on God in every area of his life, He stood the test. When the storm came in on his life, beyond perhaps what any of us could ever experience in our life, he stood because his roots were in God. God carried him through that time. So we want to learn today from the life of Job. If you'll turn in your Bible with me to Job chapter 1, I want us to take a look at the Strength that God gave to Job is God pointed out Job as being an example of a godly man and I think we Recognize storms are going to come in our lives. We want to be able to stand and Well, what is it that we could learn from Job? The New Testament tells us that all scriptures breathed out by God, all of the old and new, and it's given for us for our examples. Here's a prime example, and you'll notice when we get down to verse eight that God himself picked out Job and said, he's an example, he's an example. And so that should be a goal for us to emulate, is Lord, I would like to so grow in my faith that you could use my life to be an encouragement to other people. So let's pray that that'll happen as we look at some lessons from Job about how to grow our faith deep and wide in God and in Jesus Christ. I want you to see five things from Job. Number one, he believed God exists and forgives those who trust in him. You see, God in the Old Testament is referred to by different names, but the name Yahweh, God, Yahweh, the covenant God, the God that makes covenant with sinners to save us by grace through faith. That goes all the way back into the Old Testament, the time of Job. He's one of the patriarchs who lived at the time of Abraham. This would be around 2000 to 1800 BC before Christ. So look at Job 1.1. There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. The man was perfect, that is, blameless and upright, one that feared or reverenced God. An astute or turned away, he shunned evil. Now living in the time of Abraham, He lived in northern Arabia in a walled city, and he was a highly respected man. He wasn't sinless, but he clearly had put his faith in God for redemption, for the forgiveness of his sins. He lived a godly, faithful life, and he sought to honor God in his personal life, in his marriage, and in his family and in his community. Living about this same time frame, God spoke to Abraham in Genesis 15 1 and he came to Abraham and he said fear not Abram. I am thy shield I'm going to protect you. I am your exceeding great reward And he said in verse 5 of the genesis 15 look now toward heaven see the stars So shall thy seed be and then a key verse quoted over and over in the bible verse 6 He believed in the lord He God counted it to him for righteousness. Here is the way of salvation from the old to the new We're saved by grace through faith. It's believing God God puts on our account his own righteousness through Christ when we trust when we believe in him and and so it is true to his word God used Abraham and through him came the Jewish people as well as the Arab people and through Abraham in the line of Abraham Isaac and Jacob came Messiah Jesus promised the very tribe and family through which he would come So that he then would be the lamb of God who would die on the cross for our sin and rise again from the grave Granting eternal life to every person who will repent of our sin and put our faith in Jesus So get this picture The Old Testament saints looked forward to the cross. All the lambs and the sacrifices that were made by the patriarchs, they offered sacrifices. Then came the time of the tabernacle. Then came the time of the temple. All those animal sacrifices, all those lambs that were, the blood was shed. where a picture sin must be paid for. It's a serious penalty. It brings death. But the substitutionary sacrifice can take your sin. God will provide a Redeemer. And so they looked forward to the cross. We, as New Testament believers, we look back to the cross and the finished work of Jesus. How are we saved? By grace through faith in the blood of Jesus. And we're going to celebrate that at the end of our service today with the communion, picturing the broken body of Jesus and the shed blood. Now, the Bible tells us in 1 Peter 1, For as much as you know, you were not redeemed with corruptible things. You can't buy your way into heaven with silver or gold. From your vain conversation, your useless, unproductive way of life, spiritually, received or inherited by tradition from your fathers, your forefathers, the Jewish forefathers, many of them trusted in their own good works. Or they trusted in external religious deeds. That was a faulty salvation view. But you were purchased, Peter says, with the precious blood of Christ, the sacrificial lamb without blemish, without spot, who truly was foreordained or foreknown from the foundation of the world, but he was manifested, he appeared publicly in these last days when he was incarnated, took on flesh, went to the cross, died, was buried, and rose again. Peter goes on to say, who are by through Him, Jesus, you who believe, you who confidently put your trust in Jesus, that God the Father raised Him from the dead. and gave him glory so that your faith and your hope might be centered and resting in God. That's where our faith is. Our faith is in God, not in ourselves, but in the grace of God provided through the Lamb of God. So all of those sacrificial lambs pointed toward Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. That's the first lesson. Abraham Also Job, they were men of faith. They trusted God for the forgiveness of their sins through the sacrifice he would provide. Number two, Job believed God blesses and rewards those who reverence God and turn away from evil. Notice in Job 1.1, from the land of us, blameless, upright. He reverenced God. He turned away from evil. In verse 2, there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters. His substance or possessions were 7,000 sheep. Boy, that's a lot of sheep. 3,000 camels, 500 yoke, or a total of 1,000 oxen, 500 she-asses or donkeys, a very great household, so that this man was the greatest, the wealthiest, the most respected of all of the men of the east there in the area of northern Arabia. Now think of it. He was blessed with family. God blessed this man of faith. I mean, seven sons, three daughters. That was wonderful. But 7,000 sheep. Well, from sheep, They were provided with food and clothing. 3,000 camels. This provided transportation and milk. The 1,000 oxen provided food and milk and power for plowing. The 500 donkeys provided additional transportation. This was a wealthy man. He was blessed way beyond measure. This estate of all these animals then would require a lot of land to maintain this, and then many, many workers. Hebrews 11, six tells us this. Without faith, it's impossible to please God, for he that comes to God must believe that he exists, that he's real, and that he's the rewarder of those who diligently seek him. And so it is. Job believed God exists. He saw Him in creation and he said, this didn't all just happen. God created this world. And then he believed the revelation of Scripture. That the way we approach God is through sacrifice and faith and the sacrifice God will provide. And so this man of faith fits the definition of scripture of what faith looks like. It's a choice to believe God exists and that he will reward those who diligently seek him. Clearly, Job did that. And we'll see more of that as we look at the text. Matthew 6.33, you're familiar, says, seek ye first, make it your top priority, the kingdom of God, that is the rule of Christ, his values, his teachings. Seek that first in your life and His righteousness. Seek to do what's right. And then all these things, material things, food and clothing, they'll be added to you. Don't make the pursuit of material, temporal things your God. Make God your God. God will meet your needs. And so this is a principle in the Bible is that God does reward faithfulness and he will bless you and he will meet your needs. That clearly had happened with Job. He was blessed beyond measure. He saw himself not as an owner but as a steward. God gave me all of this. I was born with nothing. Everything I have has come from God and his goodness. And so he wanted to steward what God had given to him and he was doing a good job of that. He believed that God will bless those who reverence Him and trust Him. He did not believe God owed him these things. If it was all taken away, he would still believe, and he would still worship God. And as you know, those things were taken away, and he did continue to believe and trust in God. Lesson number three. He provided faithful spiritual leadership to his family. Look with me at verse four. And his sons went and feasted in their houses every one his day. They took turns and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. Job reared children that loved each other. They wanted to be together. They would rotate eating their main meal each day among the homes, each other's homes, and the brothers cared for the sisters. They loved each other. They had harmony in the home. That didn't just happen. Those kids were raised that way. They were taught that way by God and by their parents. Verse 5, and so it was when the days of their feasting were gone, about or over that job sent for them and sanctified or consecrated them rose up early in the morning and offered burnt offerings the father was is that before the time of moses like the priest of the family he was to be the spiritual leader and the head of that family he would offer burnt offerings according to the number of them He said, it may be my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts, thus he did continually at all such times. And so his ministry began in his own home and family. He trained and taught his children to love and to serve and worship God. They were his greatest joy. He never quit praying for them. He knew that, like himself, they were a work of God, a work of grace, and they needed forgiveness regularly, and they needed prayer support, and they needed the grace of God. What a great example of a man of faith. A fourth thing. He was a believer whose motives and faithfulness were severely tested by Satan through human and natural forces. He lost all his possessions. He lost his wealth. He lost his servants. And this is hard to even fathom. In one day, he lost all 10 of his kids. It's hard to even fathom. All of that happening. You see, God had warned Adam and Eve, hadn't he? That in the day you willfully sin and disobey me, you're gonna bring death into the world. And with death is gonna come suffering beyond anything you would ever imagine. And we all know the story. In pride and unbelief, Adam disobeyed God and sin did come into the world. And so it is, what a sad thing. that we have to live in a world filled with sin. Not only did Adam sin, but we have sinned. We've come to our own Garden of Eden where we knew right and wrong, and we chose wrong. And Satan's influence then was greatly expanded by Adam's sin. He is our adversary. He goes about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Well, in the text, the scene now shifts. And it shifts from a scene on earth to a scene in heaven. Things Job could not have known were going on behind the scenes. Satan is a powerful fallen angel who took a third of the angels with him when he rebelled in pride. And so it is, he was successful, Satan was, in getting Adam to sin. and be prideful and go against God, bringing death into the world. Satan believed he could get Job to sin. So we see a conversation that went on in heaven recorded here in inspired scripture between God and Satan. And I want you to notice that God's sovereign. He's still in control. It's God who initiated this conversation. Verse six, now there was a day when the sons of God, this would be the angels in heaven, came to present themselves before the Lord. And Satan, the adversary, the accuser, came also among them. And the Lord said to Satan, from whence or where have you come from? Where have you come from? Satan answered, I've been going to and fro, roaming in the earth, walking up and down around it. The Lord said to Satan, have you considered, have you reflected on my servant Job? that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect or blameless upright man, one that fears and reverences God and eschews or turns away, he shuns evil." God pointed out to Satan an example of a believer, a man of faith. Satan answered the Lord, does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not made a hedge, a hedge of protection around him, his house, all that he has? You've blessed the work of his hands. You've given him prosperity. You've given him happiness. His substance and possessions have increased. But, verse 11, put forth your hand now, touch or destroy all he has, and he surely will curse you to your face. This was the challenge of Satan. The Lord said to Satan, Behold, all he has is in your power, it's in your hand, only upon himself, on the man himself, put not forth thy hand. So Satan went forth, departed from the presence of the Lord. And there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest or older brother's home. There came a messenger unto Job and said, Thy oxen were plowing, and the donkeys feeding beside them, and the Sabaeans fell upon them, they attacked. they took the animals away they have slain or killed all of your servants tending them with the edge of the sword i only alone am escaped to tell you now the sabians were people who lived in arabia they were descendants of abraham through his wife katora and they swept in on all these servants overseeing the animals, and they came in 1,000 oxen, 500 donkeys, and they stole them, and they killed the servants. Well, no more had this messenger finished his message of great loss, great financial loss. Verse 16 says, while he was yet speaking, there came another messenger and said, the fire of God, lightning, is falling from heaven. burned up the sheep, 7,000 sheep, a huge flock, a fire created, and the servants were consumed also. I only am escaped to tell you, one wave of problem after another, now he's lost all of his sheep, a fortune in sheep. Verse 17, while he was yet speaking, verse 17, there came another messenger and said, the Chaldeans, made out or formed three bands and fell upon, they made a raid on the camels, 3,000 camels now in another section of this huge ranch. And they have carried and taken them away. Yea, they killed the servants with the edge of the sword. I only am escaped to tell you. Well, the Chaldeans were a semi-nomadic people who lived in the Arabian desert and they were expert in marauding. and in killing and in war. And now they came in and stole all of the camels. Verse 18, while he was yet speaking, there came another messenger and said, This is the hardest blow of them all. Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house. Suddenly there came a great wind, a tornado, and we know what they can do. From the wilderness, across the desert, and smote and struck the four corners of the house, it fell upon the young men, the young people. They're dead, and I only am escaped to tell you." Oh, Satan's assertion was that true believers are only faithful as long as they're prospering. That was his premise. Take away their prosperity, and they're going to reject God. Well, God, in His sovereignty, decided, I'm going to prove that genuine faith perseveres. It can't be destroyed. I'm going to give an object lesson that I have the grace and the power sovereignly to sustain my people no matter what they go through. And Satan, I'm going to let you go so far. You're on a leash. I'm not the author of ego. You are, but I'm going to let you go so far And I'm going to prove that I, God, am able to sustain my people and that faith, genuine faith, will persevere. And so, by God's grace, we look at the life of Job. What happened? God has promised us, we know these New Testament promises, that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. That the God who has begun a good work in us will continue it until the day of Jesus Christ. He's promised he will sustain us and his grace is sufficient no matter what we go through. Are these promises true? Yes, they are. God allowed Satan to test Job's faith. And Satan attacked Job big time. His livestock, his wealth, all of his servants except four messengers who brought the bad news, they were all killed. But on top of that, all 10 of his children in one day. That's a blow. Any one of those blows would have been devastating. But to think, it's hard to even imagine the brokenness of heart that Job must have felt that day. When after all those other things, The biggest thing was the severe loss of all of his children in a day. The wave of anguish, the wave of deep, deep heartbroken hurt. We can't even fathom it, but that's what Job experienced. Lesson number five. Job was a believer whose deep-rooted, strong faith stood, stood the storm of Satan's most severe test that he could throw at him. He responded, yes, with grief, he was human, but he responded with worship. It's hard to even fathom the greatness of our God that God could sustain under such a severe test. Job was human and he loved and grieved deeply. Someone has said that sorrow is the price we pay for deeply loving and he deeply loved his children. He deeply loved his family. And so it was, we read in verse 20, that Job arose and tore his mantle, his robe. He shaved his head. He was in mourning for his children. He fell down on the ground. You can't get any lower than the ground. And his heart was broken. But what does it say? And he worshipped. He worshipped God. He didn't curse God. He worshipped God. Oh, that is only by the grace of God. We read of Jesus that when his dear friend Lazarus died, Jesus wept. And we see the heart, the humanity of Jesus, that though he is God, he's fully man. And he understands our deepest grief, our sorrows, when we go through great loss and disappointment in life. And so it is Jesus' grief. But why would Jesus grieve when he knows that he's going to resurrect Lazarus from the grave? Jesus is weeping the human condition. that sin has brought death into the world. And it touches every one of us. Every one of us will die physically. And we will get those messages of a loved one who's passed away. And it will break our heart. And Jesus' heart is broken over sin. And our heart should be broken over sin. We should deeply grieve the sorrow that sin has brought into this world. It's a terrible thing. Sin's a terrible thing. We live in a culture that makes light of sin, that takes things that God calls wrong and calls them right. And we live in a world that just makes a casual look at sin. Oh, sin is serious. It has eternal consequences. And we need to learn to grieve sin in our own life, as well as the lives of others, and the devastating effects of sin, just like Job did, and just like Jesus did. Well, we see from the example of Job, it's not wrong to grieve. That's just human. Jesus wept. It's okay to grieve. Grief's a normal thing. We have a class here in our church on grief share, helping people to work through grief. It's a process of working through grief. And yet we see also that it is wrong to grieve without hope. That's the difference. We believers have hope. That is a firm confidence in the person of Christ, the presence of Christ, the power of Christ, the promises of Christ. So in the midst of our tears, we still have joy. Because Jesus is our source of hope, our confidence. And so it is Job humbly acknowledged God as creator and owner and first cause. Look with me at verse 20. Job arose, rent his mantle, shaved his head. He's mourning. He falls on the ground and he worships God. He worships God. And here's what he says. What are the words that come out of his mouth? Satan said he's going to curse God for sure. God says, no, he won't. He's got genuine faith. I'm gonna sustain him. What does he say? What comes out of his mouth? What comes out of your mouth shows what's in your heart. Here's what was in his heart. Verse 21, he said, naked, without possessions, came I out of my mother's womb and into this world, and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. God was right. Satan was wrong. God was right. And so it is Job attacked Satan. Job was attacked by Satan for reasons he couldn't comprehend. He could not see or understand a conversation that was going on in the heavenlies. He acknowledges that everything he has has come from God. God, you don't owe me everything. Everything you've given me has been from you. And if you take it all away, you're still a good God. He submits to God, even in his brokenness, he submits to God. And so we see that true believers in God are given a faith and a grace that sustains that faith because we keep looking to God by his grace. He sustains us in the hardest of times. It's not what happens to us, it's how we respond that proves in the genuineness of our faith and the greatness of our God. Job was submissive to God, proving God true. Remember, God said in verse 8, no, he's the real thing. But Satan said, no, he'll curse you. Satan was wrong. God was right. Job believed and kept on believing. He worshipped and kept on worshipping. In times of great gain, he gave God the glory. In times of deep sorrow, he trusted God. He chose to trust when he couldn't trace. He couldn't fully understand the circumstances going on in his life, and that will happen in our lives too. And verse 22 tells us, in all this Job sinned not, nor charged or blamed God foolishly. He submitted to God. In the worst of circumstances, he blessed God. He blessed the name of his great God. There is no way he could have known that conversation in heaven. There is no way he could know that his sufferings and his response to those sufferings would teach millions of believers who would follow him. There's no way he could know that he would become the acid test proof that God is able to sustain his people. To sustain us in the worst of circumstances and in the best of circumstances. You see, it takes deep-rooted, strong roots of faith to remain standing when the storms of life come into your life. And they will. Into every life they'll come. We live in a fallen world. That's why Paul said in Ephesians, My brothers, be strong in the power of His might. Live a life of faith, not in your ability, but in God's. Put on the whole armor of God so that you can stand. Having done all to stand, put on the shield of faith. Your faith can and will remain strong if you keep looking to Jesus, the author and the finisher of your faith. And so it is, Peter tells us, grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus. Our faith should be growing. We don't have a static faith. We should have a growing faith. Colossians tells us that we receive Christ Jesus by faith, now live by faith. When you go through the time of suffering, go through it in faith, in confidence in Christ's person, his promises, his presence, his power. And Colossians tells us that we're to be rooted in faith, rooted, deep roots that go deep and wide. I think of the fact then that God wants us to believe and keep believing, trust and keep trusting, worship and keep worshiping, let our roots go down deeper and deeper and broader and broader in Christ. That's God's will for us. Colossians warns us, don't let false philosophies of men Mislead you keep trusting the promises of God I go to prepare a place for you to be with Christ is far better That in Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily and you're complete in him you have everything you need because you have Jesus That's what God is teaching us and so by God's grace we should make it our desire to become and grow mature into being a living letter and of a believer like Job with deep-rooted, strong faith. We should say, God, by your Holy Spirit, let me grow up in you and let the roots go down deep that I can develop a thankful, worshiping, confident heart that will praise you when the sun is out and will praise you when it's storming and all my losses surround me. Remember Paul and Silas for preaching the gospel of Jesus In Acts 16, we're told they are beaten with rods. That was no small thing. That wasn't a light spanking. They were beaten with rods. Then they were thrown into prison. And the guard was warned, you watch them. And so he put them in the deepest dungeon of the prison in stocks, which were not at all comfortable. And there they are, bruised, beaten. And what did they do at midnight? Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises to God. Somehow they had a bigger picture. They were taking the long look into eternity. God, we don't understand it, but you told us to be willing to suffer for your name. We've suffered for your name. You're going to work this together for good. You know the account. The Bible says that God sent a great earthquake. The foundations of the prison were shaken. The doors were opened. Their bands were loosed. The keeper of the jail would lose his life if he lost one prisoner, and he assumed that they had gone. He pulls out a sword to kill himself, and Paul sees it, and he tells him, don't harm yourself. We're all here. They called for a light. They came in. He came in trembling. He fell down before Paul and Silas. He cries out, he's heard their singing praise to God in the midst of it, and he can't even understand, how could that be? And now he sees the power of their God in their lives and in their circumstances, and he says, sirs, what must I do to be saved? Paul and Silas, in their response to difficult things by faith, became the vehicle through whom the Philippian jailer and all his family came to faith. He said, it's real. You don't make this stuff up. God is real. He's real in the lives of these believers, and he became a believer by God's grace. So it is. We need to pray. Lord, help me. You can grow a squash in a few weeks or months, but it takes years to grow an oak tree. We need to decide, from the youth here to the senior citizens, whatever it takes, I want God to grow me deep and wide. I want my faith to grow. I want my roots to go down deeper and deeper in Christ every day I live and every year I live. And I want to broaden out those roots. I want to, like Job, believe that God exists and He forgives those who trust Him. I want to believe God blesses and rewards those who reverence Him. I want to provide spiritual leadership for my family and those around me. I want to connect them to Christ, that they would know Jesus, but then they would get connected in a broad support system with a good Christian school, with a Sunday school, with a Juana youth group, with Bible studies, with everything that can be a supporting system to their faith to grow deeper and wider. As a believer, I want to have the motives that will stand true when I'm tested, and count every day as precious, enjoying the things God gives me, but not worshiping them. And then finally, to be so deep-rooted in Christ that when those storms of life come, the roots hold, because the roots go deep into Jesus Christ. God wants to grow our faith to be an oak tree that stands when the storms come. Would you pray with me that by God's grace, he'd make each of us an oak tree that will stand strong in the storms of life for his glory.