GoodNewsTour'com

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GoodNewsTour.com
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Job
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Big picture

• At the conclusion of the story, God rebukes Jobs
  friends
• You did not speak the truth about me, the way my
  servant Job did (Job 427 - GN).
• The issue of the whole book, as God said, is the
  truth about me.
• Through this story, God is revealing more truth
  about his character

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Satans challenge

• When the day came for the heavenly beings to
  appear before the Lord, Satan was there among
  them. The Lord asked him, What have you been
  doing? Satan answered, I have been walking here
  and there, roaming around the earth. Did you
  notice my servant Job? the Lord asked. There is
  no one on earth as faithful and good as he is. He
  worships me and is careful not to do anything
  evil. Satan replied, Would Job worship you if
  he got nothing out of it? You have always
  protected him and his family and everything he
  owns. You bless everything he does, and you have
  given him enough cattle to fill the whole
  country. But now suppose you take away everything
  he hashe will curse you to your face! All
  right, the Lord said to Satan, everything he
  has is in your power, but you must not hurt Job
  himself. So Satan left (Job 16-12 GN).

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Trial 1 loss of family and wealth

• One day when Job's sons and daughters were
  eating and drinking wine in their oldest
  brother's home, a messenger came to Job. He said,
  While the oxen were plowing and the donkeys were
  grazing nearby, men from Sheba attacked. They
  took the livestock and massacred the servants.
  Im the only one who has escaped to tell you.
  While he was still speaking, another messenger
  came and said, A fire from God fell from heaven
  and completely burned your flocks and servants.
  Im the only one who has escaped to tell you.
  While he was still speaking, another messenger
  came and said, The Chaldeans formed three
  companies and made a raid on the camels. They
  took the camels and massacred the servants. Im
  the only one who has escaped to tell you. While
  he was still speaking, another messenger came and
  said, Your sons and your daughters were eating
  and drinking wine at their oldest brother's home
  when suddenly a great storm swept across the
  desert and struck the four corners of the house.
  It fell on the young people, and they died. Im
  the only one who has escaped to tell you. Job
  stood up, tore his robe in grief, and shaved his
  head. Then he fell to the ground and worshiped.
  He said, Naked I came from my mother, and naked
  I will return. The LORD has given, and the LORD
  has taken away! May the name of the LORD be
  praised. Through all this Job did not sin or
  blame God for doing anything wrong. (Job 113-22
  GODS WORD)

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God 1 Satan 0

• Again God initiates a very public conversation
  with Satan
• When the day came for the heavenly beings to
  appear before the Lord again, Satan was there
  among them. The Lord asked him, Where have you
  been? Satan answered, I have been walking here
  and there, roaming around the earth. Did you
  notice my servant Job? the Lord asked. There is
  no one on earth as faithful and good as he is. He
  worships me and is careful not to do anything
  evil. You persuaded me to let you attack him for
  no reason at all, but Job is still as faithful as
  ever. Satan replied, A person will give up
  everything in order to stay alive. But now
  suppose you hurt his bodyhe will curse you to
  your face! So the Lord said to Satan, All
  right, he is in your power, but you are not to
  kill him (Job 21-5 GN).
• Poor Job!

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Trial 2 Physical suffering

• Then Satan left the Lords presence and made
  sores break out all over Jobs body. Job went and
  sat by the garbage dump and took a piece of
  broken pottery to scrape his sores. His wife said
  to him, You are still as faithful as ever,
  aren't you? Why dont you curse God and die? Job
  answered, You are talking nonsense! When God
  sends us something good, we welcome it. How can
  we complain when he sends us trouble? Even in
  all this suffering Job said nothing against God
  (Job 27-10 GN).

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Jobs depression

• I hate my life I do not want to live forever.
  Leave me alone because my days are so brief.
  "What is a mortal that you should make so much of
  him, that you should be concerned about him?
  (Job 716-17 GODS WORD)

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Why?

• Why would God allow such punishment to be brought
  upon a man of whom he just said, there is no one
  on earth as faithful and good as he is (Job 18
  GN)?

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Who was watching?

• The angels are described as present in these
  conversations between Satan and God
• How many remained loyal to God?
• This earth is a spectacle for the whole world of
  angels (1 Corinthians 49 - GN)
• The angels are even described as learning from
  the experience of Gods followers (the church) on
  earth
• God, who is the Creator of all things, kept his
  secret hidden through all the past ages, in order
  that at the present time, by means of the church,
  the angelic rulers and powers in the heavenly
  world might learn of his wisdom in all its
  different forms (Ephesians 39,10 GN).
• Even the Good News is not only for us, but for
  angels as well
• God revealed to these prophets that their work
  was not for their own benefit, but for yours, as
  they spoke about those things which you have now
  heard from the messengers who announced the Good
  News by the power of the Holy Spirit sent from
  heaven. These are things which even the angels
  would like to understand (1 Peter 112, GN).

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Who was watching?

• God is teaching the sinless angels
• And we are watching
• God, despite having all power, has chosen to
  achieve victory by demonstration and evidence
  not power
• Though everyone else in the world is a liar, God
  is true. As the Scriptures say, He will be
  proved right in what he says, and he will win his
  case in court (Romans 34, NLT).
• What are we to learn from this story? What did
  the angels learn from this story?

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Trial 3 The friends

• While they were still a long way off they saw
  Job, but did not recognize him. When they did,
  they began to weep and wail, tearing their
  clothes in grief and throwing dust into the air
  and on their heads. Then they sat there on the
  ground with him for seven days and nights without
  saying a word, because they saw how much he was
  suffering (Job 212,13 GN).
• Was everything the friends said false?
• Has Satan ever quoted scripture?

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Big picture

• From reading the entire book of Job, we know that
  God declares Job to be good at the beginning of
  the book, there is no one on earth as faithful
  and good as he is (Job 18).
• And, after the conversation with the friends is
  over, God says to the friends, you did not speak
  the truth about me, the way my servant Job did
  (Job 427).
• We need to ask, what did Job say that was right?
  What did the friends say that was wrong?
• Why did God come in the end and apparently rebuke
  Job?

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Eliphaz speaks

• Once a message came quietly, so quietly I could
  hardly hear it. Like a nightmare it disturbed my
  sleep. I trembled and shuddered my whole body
  shook with fear. A light breeze touched my face,
  and my skin crawled with fright. I could see
  something standing there I stared, but couldnt
  tell what it was. Then I heard a voice out of the
  silence (Job 412-16 GN).
• Who inspired this vision?
• Job
• But you you terrify me with dreams you send
  visions and nightmares (Job 714 GN).

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Eliphaz

• Can anyone be righteous in the sight of God or
  be pure before his Creator? God does not trust
  his heavenly servants he finds fault even with
  his angels. Do you think he will trust a creature
  of clay, a thing of dust that can be crushed like
  a moth? (Job 417-19 GN).
• He repeats this assertion later
• Can human beings be really pure? Can anyone be
  right with God? Why, God does not trust even his
  angels even they are not pure in his sight. And
  we drink evil as if it were water yes, we are
  corrupt we are worthless (Job 1514,15 GN).
• Do you agree with these words?

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God doesnt trust anyoneWe are worthless

• But yet, hadnt God just declared Job as good?
  Perfect and upright (Job 18 KJV).
• Does God ever refer to his children as worthless?
• Abraham But you, Israel my servant, you are
  the people that I have chosen, the descendants of
  Abraham, my friend (Isaiah 418 GN)
• Moses The LORD would speak with Moses
  face-to-face, just as someone speaks with a
  friend (Exodus 3311 GN)
• David is referred to as a man after his own
  heart (1 Samuel 1314, KJV)
• The angel tells Daniel, O Daniel, man greatly
  beloved (Daniel 1011, NKJV)
• How damaging to hear this in a parent-child
  relationship

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God doesnt trust anyoneWe are worthless

• Jesus I do not call you servants any longer
  because servants do not know what their master is
  doing. Instead, I call you friends (John
  1515).
• Jesus When the Son of Man came, he ate and
  drank, and everyone said, Look at this man! He
  is a glutton and wine drinker, a friend of tax
  collectors and other outcasts! (Matthew 1119
  GN)
• Jesus The sisters sent Jesus a message Lord,
  your dear friend is sick.Jesus saw her weeping,
  and he saw how the people with her were weeping
  also his heart was touched, and he was deeply
  moved. Where have you buried him? he asked
  them. Come and see, Lord, they answered. Jesus
  wept. (John 113,33-35 GN)
• Jesus Jerusalem, Jerusalem! You kill the
  prophets and stone the messengers God has sent
  you! How many times I wanted to put my arms
  around all your people, just as a hen gathers her
  chicks under her wings, but you would not let
  me! (Matthew 2337 GN)

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Satan undermines Gods character

• God does not trust his heavenly servants he
  finds fault even with his angelsWhy, God does
  not trust even his angels even they are not pure
  in his sight
• If the words of Eliphaz are true
• God is cold, distant, severe, and regards his
  children (even the sinless angels) as worthless
  and untrustworthy

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Worthless to God?

• Bildad
• Then what about a human being, that worm, that
  insect? What is a human life worth in Gods
  eyes? (Job 256 GN)
• Job
• Who inspired you so speak like this? (Job 264
  GN)
• God
• For God so loved the world that he gave his only
  Son (John 316 GN)

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Eliphaz again

• Good people are glad and the innocent laugh when
  they see the wicked punished (Job 2219 GN).
• Using Jesus as our model, can we imagine him
  laughing over the suffering of his children?
• God
• The people I love are doing evil things
  (Jeremiah 1115 GN)
• How can I give you up, Israel? How can I abandon
  you? (Hosea 118 GN)
• Tell them that as surely as I, the Sovereign
  LORD, am the living God, I do not enjoy seeing
  sinners die. I would rather see them stop sinning
  and live. Israel, stop the evil you are doing.
  Why do you want to die? (Ezekiel 3311 GN).
• Should not good and innocent people reflect
  the attitude of God?

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Is suffering evidence of Gods curse?

• Eliphaz asks Job
• Think back now. Name a single case where someone
  righteous met with disaster (Job 47 GN)
• Happy is the person whom God corrects! Do not
  resent it when he rebukes you (Job 517 GN)
• Is God correcting or testing Job in this story?
• From Gods own statements at the beginning and
  the end of the book, we know that this is not the
  point.
• Job You have gone far enough. Stop being
  unjust. Dont condemn me. Im in the right (Job
  620 GN)

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Do good people ever suffer loss?

• Paul writes of the prophets in the Old Testament
  
• Some were mocked and whipped, and others were
  put in chains and taken off to prison. They were
  stoned, they were sawed in two, they were killed
  by the sword. They went clothed in skins of sheep
  or goats poor persecuted, and mistreated. The
  world was not good enough for them! They wandered
  like refugees in the deserts and hills, living in
  caves and holes in the ground (Hebrews 1137, 38
  GN).
• Paul describes the suffering he endured
• Five times I was given the thirty-nine lashes by
  the Jews three times I was whipped by the
  Romans and once I was stoned. I have been in
  three shipwrecks, and once I spent twenty-four
  hours in the water. In my many travels I have
  been in danger from floods and from robbers, in
  danger from my own people and from Gentiles
  there have been dangers in the cities, dangers in
  the wilds, dangers on the high seas, and dangers
  from false friends. There has been work and toil
  often I have gone without sleep I have been
  hungry and thirsty I have often been without
  enough food, shelter, or clothing (2 Corinthians
  1124-27 GN).
• Jesus
• Happy are those who are persecuted because they
  do what God requires the Kingdom of heaven
  belongs to them! (Matthew 510 GN).
• The Cross

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Do good people ever suffer loss?

• From a worldly point of view, the lives of Gods
  best friends on earth often appear to have been a
  complete failure
• For he makes his sun to shine on bad and good
  people alike, and gives rain to those who do good
  and to those who do evil (Matthew 545 GN).
• Job sarcastically asks
• Was a wicked persons light ever put out? Did
  one of them ever meet with disaster? Did God ever
  punish the wicked in anger and blow them away
  like straw in the wind or like dust carried away
  in a storm? (Job 2117,18 GN).

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Rich/healthy blessed by GodPoor/sick cursed
by God

• Teacher, whose sin caused him to be born blind?
  Was it his own or his parents sin?
• Jesus answered, His blindness has nothing to do
  with his sins or his parents sins (John 92,3
  GN).
• How hard it is for rich people to enter the
  Kingdom of God! It is much harder for a rich
  person to enter the Kingdom of God than for a
  camel to go through the eye of a needle. The
  people who heard him asked, Who, then, can be
  saved? (Luke 1924-26 GN).
• Happy are you poor the Kingdom of God is yours
  (Luke 620 GN)

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You are being punished Job

• Put your heart right, Job. Reach out to God. Put
  away evil and wrong from your home. Then face the
  world again, firm and courageous. Then all your
  troubles will fade from your memory, like floods
  that are past and remembered no more (Job 114-6
  GN).
• But now you are being punished as you deserve
  (Job 3617 GN)
• God is punishing you less than you deserve (Job
  116 GN)
• Any sensible person will surely agree and the
  wise who hear me will say that Job is speaking
  from ignorance and that nothing he says makes
  sense. Think through everything that Job says
  you will see that he talks like an evil man. To
  his sins he adds rebellion in front of us all he
  mocks God (Job 3434-37 GN).

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Job questions God

• You think you are better than I am, and regard
  my troubles as proof of my guilt. Cant you see
  it is God who has done this? He has set a trap to
  catch me. I protest his violence, but no one is
  listening no one hears my cry for justice. He
  has taken away all my wealth and destroyed my
  reputation. God has made my own family forsake
  me I am a stranger to those who knew me my
  relatives and friends are gone. Those who were
  guests in my house have forgotten me my servant
  women treat me like a stranger and a foreigner.
  When I call a servant, he doesn't answer even
  when I beg him to help me. My wife cant stand
  the smell of my breath, and my own brothers won't
  come near me. Children despise me and laugh when
  they see me. My closest friends look at me with
  disgust those I loved most have turned against
  me. My skin hangs loose on my bones I have
  barely escaped with my life. You are my friends!
  Take pity on me! How I wish that someone would
  remember my words and record them in a book! Or
  with a chisel carve my words in stone and write
  them so that they would last forever (Job
  195-7,9,13-21 GN).

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Job questions God

• Was God offended by Jobs accusation and
  complaint? Was Job about to renounce God?
• Job continues
• But I know there is someone in heaven who will
  come at last to my defense. Even after my skin is
  eaten by disease, while still in this body I will
  see God. I will see him with my own eyes, and he
  will not be a stranger (Job 1925-27 GN).
• I still rebel and complain against God I cannot
  keep from groaning. How I wish I knew where to
  find him, and knew how to go where he is. I would
  state my case before him and present all the
  arguments in my favor. I want to know what he
  would say and how he would answer me. Would God
  use all his strength against me? No, he would
  listen as I spoke. I am honest I could reason
  with God he would declare me innocent once and
  for all (Job 231-7 GN).

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Jobs picture of God vs. Satans false
caricature of God

• Elihu
• Cold, distant, severe God. One to be avoided.
• I wont ask to speak with God why should I give
  him a chance to destroy me? Gods power is so
  great that we cannot come near him (Job
  3720,23 GN).
• God zaps people on the spot who speak to God the
  way you are Job
• Job
• Intimate, personal, loving, approachable.
• Would God use all his strength against me? No,
  he would listen as I spoke. I am honest I could
  reason with God he would declare me innocent
  once and for all (Job 236,7 GN)
• Does God allow the emotion that Job expressed?
• Take this cup away from me
• My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

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We can talk to God as a Friend

• Moses Lord, why do you mistreat your people?
  Why did you send me here? Ever since I went to
  the king to speak for you, he has treated them
  cruelly. And you have done nothing to help them!
  (Exodus 522,23 GN).
• Abraham Surely you wont kill the innocent with
  the guilty. Thats impossible! You cant do that.
  If you did, the innocent would be punished along
  with the guilty. That is impossible. The judge of
  all the earth has to act justly (Genesis 1825
  GN).
• The Psalms

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What was most painful of all for Job?

• Where is my Friend?
• I have searched in the East, but God is not
  there I have not found him when I searched in
  the West. God has been at work in the North and
  the South, but still I have not seen him. Yet God
  knows every step I take if he tests me, he will
  find me pure (Job 238-10 GN)
• If only my life could once again be as it was
  when God watched over me. God was always with me
  then and gave me light as I walked through the
  darkness. Those were the days when I was
  prosperous, and the friendship of God protected
  my home (Job 291-3 GN)
• I call to you, O God, but you never answer and
  when I pray, you pay no attention (Job 3020
  GN)
• But Job knew God well enough to say this
• Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him (Job
  1315, KJV).