This is the third in a series of messages on the book of Job. This message was delivered at Hillcrest Baptist Church on the evening of March 3, 2013. This message deals with Job’s response to some very difficult trials, how we should respond to trials, and deal with those who are going through trials. This post contains an audio recording of the sermon, plus my sermon notes. Please note that the notes are not a full transcript. To get the entire message, you’ll need to listen to the Audio.
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SERMON NOTES:
Job Chapter 2 / The 2nd Test
vv.1-2:
Here comes the second test, as Satan comes back before God.
God certainly knew that satan wasn’t satisfied with Job’s last test, Satan doesn’t give up easily.
Again, it was God who brought up the subject of Job, and the conversation was much like the last.
v.3:
God said the same thing about Job in his pain as He did in his prosperity. Job still had his integrity.
God says very plainly that there was no cause against Job.
This doesn’t mean that God didn’t have a reason, it simply means that none of this affliction was because of Job’s wrongdoing.
God did have a reason, as He always does. His reason was to disprove Satan’s slander.
Not to mention that He would be giving believers an encouraging testimony through all the ages.
That Job was not at fault, should be enough to kill any argument that job was wrong and his friends were right.
Job still had his integrity, and a man’s integrity comes from a direct relationship with God that is separate from anyone or anything else.
vv.4-5:
What Satan is really saying is “Every man has his price, Job can raise another family and start another business because he still has health and strength. Let me touch his body and take away his health, and You will soon hear him curse You to Your face.”
He was wrong about Job, but what about you?
Satan insinuated that Job had willingly traded the lives of his own children because in return God had spared his own life. This again implied that Job was selfish.
He was wrong about Job, but what about you?
Do you serve God simply for the benefits, for His protection?
Do you have a price? Is there a point at which you would abandon God?
Once again, Satan challenges God.
v.6:
This time, God allowed Satan to actually afflict Job, but once again, God placed a limit on Satan’s power.
It’s important to remember that God is in control, and nothing happens that He does not permit.
1 Corinthians 10:13
We need to also remember that God always has a reason.
God permitted this to happen, to reveal Job’s integrity.
Have you ever considered that reason for your suffering might be to reveal your integrity?
Do you view your suffering in that light? Or do you just throw a pity party, and try to place blame anywhere you can, even on God?
We spend too much time trying to find blame for many of the things that we suffer.
To be sure, some things have a very obvious cause, but many sufferings do not.
Ultimately in those situations, the cause is not important.
It doesn’t really matter if Satan has inflicted it, if God has inflicted it, or if someone else has inflicted it.
What matters is how you respond to it, and the response should be the same, no matter what the cause.
Don’t waste time spinning yourself into the ground, trying to figure out why something has happened.
Instead, keep your focus on God. Have faith in Him, worship Him, and trust Him.
vv.7-8:
These boils completely covered Job’s body. They were so painful and miserable that Job tried to find relief by scraping them with a piece of broken pottery.
vv.9-10:
As if Job hadn’t suffered enough, along comes his wife.
Have you ever wondered why Satan didn’t kill Job’s wife during his first affliction?
He wasn’t barred from doing so. I think he had a plan for her, Satan was able to use her.
Job’s wife is the voice of a quitter. All that Job humanly had left was his wife, and she turned on him.
“Curse God and die!” was exactly what Satan wanted Job to do, and Job’s wife put the temptation before her husband.
Satan certainly can work through people who are dear to us.
Matthew 16:22-23
Acts 21:10-14
Adam listened to Eve, even though he knew that it was wrong.
Genesis 3:6
1 Timothy 2:14
Adam was not deceived, he knowingly gave in to a very great temptation.
Job; however, did not listen to his wife.
Of course she was dead wrong, but she was an easy target for Satan. Consider her situation.
She had lost ten children in one day, and that would be enough to devastate any mother.
The family wealth was gone, and she was no longer the “leading lady” in the land.
Her husband, once the greatest man in the East (Job 1:3), was now sitting at the city garbage dump, suffering from a terrible disease.
What did she have left?
Rather than watch her husband waste away in pain and shame, she would prefer that God strike him dead and get it over with immediately.
Perhaps if Job cursed God, God would do it.
She had the wrong focus, but it was the focus that many of us have in times of trial.
In trials, our first question shouldn’t be “how can I get out of this?” it should be “what can I get out of this?”
Job’s wife thought she had the problem solved; but if Job had followed her counsel, it would have only made things worse.
Faith is living without trying to scheme your way out of your trials.
Faith is obeying God in spite of feelings, circumstances, or consequences.
Faith is knowing that He is working out His perfect plan in His way and in His time.
The two things Job would not give up were his faith in God and his integrity.
When God permitted evil to come into his life, Job would not rebel against God by taking matters into his own hands.
When life gets tough, it’s easy to give up on life and God, but instead, let God be in control.
Dying may be the easy thing to do sometimes, but that doesn’t make it the right thing.
Paul found himself with a similar decision in his suffering.
Philippians 1:21-23
Paul did not give up. In fact we see his dying words to Timothy some 7 years later.
2 Timothy 4:17-18
Job recognized that God was in charge of it all, the good and the bad. Job still did not sin.
vv.11-13:
Enter Job’s friends. These men had some admirable qualities about them.
They obviously cared a great deal for Job, they traveled a long way, each from a different country.
When they got there, they didn’t sit in a comfortable house or a hospital room. They sat on an ash heap surrounded by refuse.
They wept and grieved when they saw Job, and at first they didn’t recognize him.
They were so grieved that they simply sat with him.
It all started out very well, they were there as true friends.
It isn’t always necessary to have something to say when someone is grieving and suffering.
Sometimes the best thing to say is nothing.
We will soon see that things drastically changed. These friends began to speak, and that’s where it went downhill.
Their comforting would soon bring nothing but hurt. Be very careful about how you comfort those who are hurting.
If you don’t know what’s going on, don’t try to explain it. Sometimes, just be there.
In Defense: The Blog 
Posted on March 8, 2013
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