Study the Word

Guest (Male): Why do some go through such fiery trials? Here's Pastor Tom Keller.

Pastor Thom Keller: There's some purification that only happens by a certain heat of fire. And I know a lot of people that have been through stories like this and they'll say the same thing. I would never want to go back to what I went through again. But yet I know that God did a work through that that has made me a better person today.

Guest (Male): Has God ever tempted you to sin? Of course, the answer is no. But that being said, God does sometimes allow Satan to test us. But Pastor Tom Keller says God will only allow the temptation when it will work out for your good. You're listening to Study the Word. Today we continue our verse-by-verse study in the book of Job. Today we'll look at what Job does when Satan takes all that he has in a manner of seconds. What would you do in that situation? Would you blame God? Listen in as Pastor Tom expounds on Job's response to calamity.

Will we be like Job in the face of Satan's torment?

Pastor Thom Keller: I believe sometimes God doesn't allow Satan have access to it all, not at all. As Job, he hedges you and he protects you. Maybe do the situation that it's a temptation you couldn't endure, he he'll protect you from that. But there are times where he will allow. And why does God allow it? Only and always for one reason, because he knows it can work out for your good, because he's going to use it to work it out for your good. How can we be sure of that? Cuz God promises that to you in Romans 8:28, right?

All things work together for the good to those who love the Lord and are the called according to his purpose. All things work together for the good. So even here with Job, even in your life, God only ever allows it with limits. And those limits are designed not to take you beyond the point where he can't use it for your good anymore. And I'll be saying this again about the book of Job. But Job went through Oh my word. If you've not read the book yet, you don't know yet. If you've read the book, what he goes through and then after all the physical stuff, then his friends show up and make it worse yet, right?

What he goes through. Now in the light in the end, God blessed him. But my guess is if you would say to Job, let's say before he died, you'd say to Job, Job, are you glad you went through all that? If you if you had to do it over, would you go through that again? This is what I guess he would say. Before he died, my guess is he would say I would never want to go through that again. But it did a refining work in me that could have never happened in any other way.

I learned more about God. I learned more about who I am than I ever could have learned had I just been living with my 5,000 sheep, 7,000 whatever it was. And and here's here's here's the real point truth to that. Imagine Job in heaven. Now he ended well, twice as many of everything. He ends well. But imagine him going to heaven and people start popping in. And they say, Man, I read your book. Let me tell you how it saved my life. Let me tell you how it saved my marriage. Let me tell let me tell you how that chapter 33 God used that to change my life.

Do you think Job is up there saying I got a raw deal with all those people coming in? No. No. And it's the same thing with you. Every limit that God puts on what Satan can do to you is designed to allow you to go through something that will deepen your faith, sharpen your confidence in God. That's how it is. You know, years ago, 20 years ago, I went through a thing that was so difficult, um so painful that you know, I I you mean I didn't consider committing suicide. I was way past that at that point.

But wow, it was terrible. I felt like I felt like I didn't deserve to eat. I mean, that's how bad it was. I was just really. And so, if you would say to me, would you want to go through that again? I would say never. I'd have to be a masochist to want to go through that. But I know it did a work in me that could not have happened any other way. You know what? There's some purification that only happens by a certain heat of fire. And I know a lot of people that have been through stories like this and they'll say the same thing.

I would never want to go back to what I went through again. But yet I know that God did a work through that that has made me a better person today. So you may be hit with something and say this is harder than I can take. And the truth is that's not true. God will not put you through any test beyond your ability to hold up under that, except that he would provide with that a way of escape. What good did God see coming out of this? Look at James chapter 1 verse 2. This is a good that God saw coming out of this.

James chapter 1 verse 2. Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. Boy, that's our natural thinking, isn't it? Wow. Whenever whenever whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. Boy, I am such a baby in my faith when I read that. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow. For when your endurance is fully developed, here it is, you will be strong in character ready for anything. So when you go through a trial and you know that God has allowed that trial, it's really an honor that you're going through it because because God knows that he is preparing you for something.

And you need to learn this lesson in order to be able to do what he wants you to do down the road. It's an honor. It really is. And that's true of Job. Some of you can say that's true of you. You saw that same thing. But you have to get through the trial with your faith still intact. And if you do, just three verses, look at Romans 5 verse 3. Romans 5 verse 3. And we rejoice when we run into problems and trials. For we know that they are good for us. They help us learn to endure.

And endurance develops strength of character in us. And character strengthens our confidence, our confident expectation of salvation. And this expectation will not disappoint. For we know how much God dearly loves us. And then one more, 2 Corinthians 1 verse 4. It says he, God, comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When others are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort that God has given us. You can be sure the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. So here's the idea.

That God allows you to go through trials so that when others go through trials, you can comfort them with the same comfort he comforted you with when you went through that trial. Now here's how that plays out. And guys, this is a really important point. It really is. When we go through trial, what most people will say is God is allowing me to go through this trial to make me stronger. That's not really correct. It's not the whole story. It's not the most important part of the story. Because if he allows you to go through a trial to make you stronger, then it all ends with you.

Everything God does for you and does through you is for the benefit of other people, not you, others. So when you go through a trial and you say, God, let me go through this trial to make me stronger, add the second part. God, let me go through this trial to make me stronger so that I can help others when they go through a trial because of the strength that he gave me, because of the lessons he taught me, because of the grace that he showed me. See, if again it's like the Dead Sea. If if I go through trials and God makes me stronger and there's no outflow in the life of another person through that trial, I'm just a dead sea.

I just keep collecting and collecting and collecting and nothing comes out of me and I become stale and stagnant and what that what what use is that lake if it doesn't bless anyone? So the same thing with you. Every time you go through trial, yeah, it's to make you stronger, but so that you can be a blessing to someone else. There's always the outflow from that. So you know, if you short circuit that and just say, well, he's going to make me stronger through this, that goes someplace. But if you really stop and think about what it says in 2 Corinthians, that God's allowing me to go through this so that when other people go through it down the road, I can encourage them.

That's that can take you to a different place because that is the objective. That's the goal. That's exactly it. Do you ever think that maybe sometimes we've gone through things in our lives because someday our son, our daughter is going to go through a similar trial and they're going to need us to know how to relate to them when that happens? Do you ever think about that? That's possible. And and you know, that's 10 20 years away maybe. But we have that experience. Yeah. So verse 12 says, go ahead. God says, you may test him.

You can do whatever you want with his possessions, but do not hurt him physically. And so what we discover here is that refining is necessary if we want to reflect Jesus's image. That's pretty good. So God puts a bubble around Job's body. He said you can hurt Job, you can hurt his possessions, but don't hurt him physically. But did you notice he didn't say anything about Job's children? You can't hurt Job, but there were no other limits. And Satan takes God at his word. So he loses everything. Starting in verse 13, it says one day when Job's sons and daughters were dining at the oldest brother's house, a messenger arrived at Job's house with this news.

So another again, Job's at his home, probably with his wife, while all of his children are at the oldest brother's house having a party. And while they're having that party, while Job is at home, a messenger arrives with this news. He says, the messenger says, your oxen were plowing with the donkeys feeding beside them. When the Sabeans raided us, they stole all the animals and killed all the farm hands. I am the only one who escaped to tell you. While he was still speaking, another messenger arrived with this news. While he's still speaking, the fire of God has fallen from heaven and burned up your sheep and the shepherds.

He had 7,000 sheep. The fire of God has fallen from heaven and burned up your 7,000 sheep and all the shepherds. How many shepherds does it take to take care of 7,000 sheep? A lot of shepherds killed all of them. I'm the only one who's escaped to to tell you. While he was still speaking, now there are three guys line up in Job's house. A third messenger arrived with this news. Three bands of Chaldean raiders have stolen your camels and killed your servants. I'm the only one who's escaped to tell you. While he was still speaking, messenger number 4 runs into the living room, arrived with this news.

Your sons and daughters were feasting in their oldest brother's home. Suddenly, a powerful wind hit came in from the desert and hit the house on all the sides. The house collapsed and your children are all dead. I am the only one who escaped to tell you. Job was having a normal day. And I timed this how long it says to say all those things, 45 seconds. In 45 seconds, he went from having a wonderful day thinking about his sons, his grandchildren, his daughters, all his possessions, how God has blessed him to having nothing, losing it all.

Verse 20. Job stood up and tore his robe in grief. Then he shaved his head and fell to the ground before God. And he said, we'll we'll come back to that know them yeah, let's read that. He said, I came naked from my mother's womb, and I will be stripped of everything when I die. The Lord gave me everything I had, and the Lord has taken it away. Praise the name of the Lord. Praise the name of the Lord. Verse 22, the end of the chapter. In all of this, Job did not sin by blaming God.

How many of us would not have blamed God? You know, now you think about this, we have the benefit of the first part of the chapter. We know that Satan went to God and they had this discussion. Job knows none of this. He picks up the story. Listen, he picks up the story when that first man runs the first man runs in the in his house. That's where his story starts. That's all he knows. Man number one, man number two, man number three, man number four. That's his story begins. What's he left with? Well, he said, you know, he doesn't know Satan did it.

In fact, he credits God, doesn't he? Because he said, you gave me everything and the Lord has taken it away. He doesn't say Satan did this. He says God did it. That's all he knows. He doesn't know what we know. And yet in that, it says, praise the name of the Lord. Amazing. Now several things to take note of here is first, while the last one is speaking, that means all of this happened within a very short period of time. And as I said, I timed it. It takes 45 seconds to read what all four men said.

It happens that quickly. He goes from being the wealthiest man in the area with a beautiful family, 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 teams of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and as many servants and shepherds who are all now dead, everything except him and his wife and his house cuz he's still in his house. His grandchildren is not specified. All those son the word used here in Hebrew is bane spelled b e n bane, but it's the broadest use of the word of son in Hebrew. And there are a lot of words for son. And the word bane can include grandchildren.

So when it says, your sons and daughters have been killed, your bane has been killed, that can be children and grandchildren. The Hebrew allows for that. He lost everything. Now just put yourself in that scene for a while. And second, consider the power that Satan can have when God allows it. The mastery that he can have over nature when God allows it. For instance, verse 14, Satan causes a group of people to attack Job's possessions. He incited those people to attack and to kill and to take all of and plunder all of his goods. He caused that.

How do we know that the timing of all of this? You you can't look at the timing and say this was just by chance. He did it with precise timing. So he can put that idea into someone to go rob and pillage and take and steal. He did here. No question about it. He had permission to do it. Big point, big caveat, but he had the ability to do it. How he do that? Strong temptation, luring. I don't know, but he could do it. Verse 17 says fire came down verse 16 fire came down from heaven.

It says fire came down from God. That's what the man said. No, the fire didn't come down from God. The fire came down from Satan. Now many believe this was lightning. Most believe it was a lightning storm, but it burned up 7,000 sheep. That's a lot of lightning. That's a lot of lightning. And numbers verse 17 and then in the other group of people, one was the Sabeans and and the other was the Chaldeans. Thank you. Yeah. Two different groups. Again, he convinces them to go and and attack and steal. And by the way, this was Sheba, which was the grandson of Abraham.

This family lineage those are the Sabeans. They came from Abraham's grandson. And verse 18, it says that a wind came up and knocked the house over. So Satan can master the winds when he's allowed to do so. Think about that. Hurricanes, tornadoes, fires, and even pinpoint that wind is taking down a particular house. That's incredible. He can do that. You know, I love the Bible because it's true. And if it says at one place in the Bible, it's true. It doesn't need to say at five places. Doesn't need to say 20 places. If one place is true, he can do this if God allows it.

And so the question would be, what would your response be to this 45-second message from these four guys when they come and tell you that all that you love, all that you own is gone. Not missing, gone. You're not going to get it back. They don't they your children aren't in the hospital in critical care. They're done. Your sheep haven't been taken away and you can take your take your little army of maybe some servants you have left and go get them back. They're gone. They're dead. They're gone. You know, I tried to process this today as I thought about this and I can't.

It's just too overwhelming. I can't imagine what you would do with that. How would you even begin to deal with that? And yet in verse 20, Job says, this is how he processed it. He grieved. It says Job stood up and tore his robe in grief. Then he shaved his head and fell to the ground and said, I came naked from my mother's womb, and I will be stripped of everything when I die. The Lord gave me everything I had and the Lord has taken it away. Praise the name of the Lord. It says he shaved his head.

This was common and usual in mourning during this period and they tore their robes. It was the mantle. Again in the day, clothing was very expensive. Some many people would have numbers of undergarments, but which was a a long a gown of sorts. But the outer robe was expensive and heavy. It was their winter coat of sorts. And so when they mourned, they would tear that outer garment as some translations here it says. And on this idea of grieving, McLaren is a commentator, just a brilliant commentator. Listen what he says. It's worth our while to stay for one moment with the thought that we are meant to feel grief.

God sends sorrows in order that we may feel pain. Sorrow has its manifold use in our in our lives and in our hearts. It's natural. That is enough. God set the fountain of tears on our souls. We are bidden not to despise the chastening of the Lord. It is they who are exercised thereby to whom this chastisement is blessed. He says it is sanctioned by Christ. Jesus wept. He bade the women of Jerusalem to weep for themselves and for their children. We grieving is natural. And after expressing his grief and sorrow, his very next words are in verse 21, I came naked from my mother's womb and I will be stripped of everything when I die.

The Lord gave me everything I had and the Lord has taken it away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. He says I came into this world with nothing. And ultimately, regardless of what happens during these decades between my birth and my death, I will still leave this world with nothing. The fact that I lost it all now doesn't change a reality that I would have lost it anyway at some point. I'm not going to take anything with me. So he brings us back to reality. And Job's bottom line, this is his bottom line. Since God gave me everything, it's his right to un give it to me anytime he likes.

It's his, not mine. And you know, folks, you know how you you know how we get this right in our minds, that you learn not to grasp anything in life. You hold everything with an open hand. You don't grasp it. Not money, not a car, not a job, not a wife, not children. You hold it with an open hand because anytime you grasp something, what you're saying to God is I don't trust you with this. That's what you're saying. I remembered a man saying this one time. He said, you know, when we become Christians and really give our lives to Christ, we're good at surrendering things to him.

We give him our job. We give him our car. We give him our apartment. We give him our you know, all some of those things, those things of medium value, low value. But our our future, our wife, our children. And then this is what the person said. Where that leaves you is you have given God the right to control and oversee those things of medium value in your life. And the things that are of greatest value, you give to Satan. Cuz you're not giving God the control. You're holding onto it. And that's why the wisest thing you can do with everything in your life is you give it to the Lord, everything.

And that means whatever you want to do. Listen, you can almost hear this in Job's heart. God you can almost hear this in his heart the morning before those four messengers showed up. You can almost hear this in his heart. God, everything I have came from you. It all belongs to you. It's yours. And if you ever choose to take it away, that's your right to make that call. See, I think the reason he processed this in that moment, the way he did in such with such a way a manner of integrity was because he lived that life understanding that all along.

It's it's it's not mine. And and that's where God wants us to get to to realize that everything we have has come from God and it all belongs to God. And he has the right to take any of it back whenever he wants to.

Guest (Male): Thanks for listening to Study the Word with Pastor Tom Keller. You can hear this message from Job again online at ccleb.com or subscribe to our YouTube channel at Calvary Chapel Lebanon. If you'd rather have a CD copy, call us at 717 273 5633. Have you been helped by the ministry? Let us know that. It would be so encouraging to Pastor Tom. Give us a call at 717 273 5633 or write to Study the Word 740 Willow Street, Lebanon, Pennsylvania 17046. You can also email us through the website at ccleb.com. Study the Word is made possible through the generous support of listeners just like you.

And thank you for helping us reach thousands with the love and truth of Jesus. You can give online at ccleb.com or call 717 273 56 We hope you'll visit us sometime here at Calvary Chapel Lebanon. For our service times and more information, go online to ccleb.com. You can also watch our live stream there at ccleb.com or on our YouTube channel at Calvary Chapel Lebanon. Study the Word with Pastor Tom Keller is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Lebanon. Join us next time when we'll again be in the book of Job. And may God richly bless you as you study the Word.