"Suffering Always Comes From Sin."

Intro

Me: I’m in my house sitting in the living room with my wife and I hear a sound that literally caused me to shake! Boom! I hop up without my shoes unlock the door and go outside and I see an old pickup truck speeding down the street, and they turn the corner fast and head out of our neighborhood! At this point my neighbor is across the street is outside and he’s looking in disbelief at my car. I come to see what he is looking at and I see that the loud noise was the old pickup truck crashing into my car! This was the first car that I had ever paid off! This was the car that I was OK with driving until the wheels fell off! This car was now totaled, involved in an accident where I was not even in the car! And the worst part was that we did not have the extra money at the time to make a car payment. Upon calling the police and insurance company they did not initially want to help me. They came and looked at the vehicle and said there is no way that the damage was done without it being on the road! I was devastated! I never missed an insurance payment and I paid for full coverage! I had done nothing wrong, yet I was still suffering! Thanks, Geico! In the end after a lot of phone calls, pictures, and the help of others they finally cut me a check to get another vehicle.

We:

a. We may share in having family members we thought the world of only to see them die to viscous diseases.

b. We may have trusted friends with our deepest and darkest secrets and helped them at their lowest points only for them to turn on us.

c. We may have done our best to raise children up according to the will of God and they end up going astray.

d. But to say that suffering always comes from sin is not a Biblical concept and here’s why…

God:

Job 1:1–5 CSB

1 There was a man in the country of Uz named Job. He was a man of complete integrity, who feared God and turned away from evil. 2 He had seven sons and three daughters. 3 His estate included seven thousand sheep and goats, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very large number of servants. Job was the greatest man among all the people of the east. 4 His sons used to take turns having banquets at their homes. They would send an invitation to their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 Whenever a round of banqueting was over, Job would send for his children and purify them, rising early in the morning to offer burnt offerings for all of them. For Job thought, “Perhaps my children have sinned, having cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular practice.

V1- A Blameless man who respected God

V2- He was a father

3- He had been blessed with much (rich) (wealthy)

V4- Kids used to have parties

V5- Job would make sure that they were right with God just in case they were no right with God.

Point: Being obedient to God leads to the receiving of good things.

Satan wants to test Job- V 6-19

This heavenly court appears before God. Satan is there and after God questions his whereabouts, he states that he has been going around the earth. God mentions that Job is blameless. Satan says that he only worships him because He has placed a hedge around him, his house, and his things. Satan basically tells God that Job is only blameless and obedient because of what God has given him and how he protects it. God allows Satan to destroy everything in ONE DAY! He loses his children, his possessions, and what seems to be his livelihood. And it was in an order that grew progressively worse! His children were taken last!

Job 1:20–22 CSB

20 Then Job stood up, tore his robe, and shaved his head. He fell to the ground and worshiped, 21 saying: Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will leave this life. The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. 22 Throughout all this Job did not sin or blame God for anything.

job

Point: Job understood that his previous condition was a blessed one. But then he remembered where he came from, who brought him, and who blessed him. He seems to say to himself, “while those things were lovely and praiseworthy, there’s only one thing truly worth praising and that is the name of the Lord.”

Point: The way we see suffering is not always the same as God

Satan is still not convinced (2nd Trial) 2:1-9

Satan again is in the presence of God. God being there mentions how faithful Job is even when Satan wanted God to tear up his life. God is proud of Job for retaining his integrity throughout all of that. Satan says that was a fluke and hints at the fact that men don’t really care about the loss of things or people but if you allowed to be attacked to the point of death, they will turn their back. Satan wants to attack Job physically now. God allows only citing that Job not be killed. Job then has boils on his body from the bottom of his feet to the top of his head. It is so unbearable that he begins to scrape the boils from his skin with a broken piece of pottery! His wife is fed up and asks him to curse God so that he may die instead of suffering.

Job 2:10 CSB

10 “You speak as a foolish woman speaks,” he told her. “Should we accept only good from God and not adversity?” Throughout all this Job did not sin in what he said.

Job’s Friends

i. When Job’s friends first come to him, they feel bad for him and weep for him. ()

Job 2:11–13 CSB

11 Now when Job’s three friends—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite—heard about all this adversity that had happened to him, each of them came from his home. They met together to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. 12 When they looked from a distance, they could barely recognize him. They wept aloud, and each man tore his robe and threw dust into the air and on his head. 13 Then they sat on the ground with him seven days and nights, but no one spoke a word to him because they saw that his suffering was very intense.

ii. Eliphaz: "Consider now: Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Where were the upright ever destroyed?" ().

Job 4:7 CSB

7 Consider: Who has perished when he was innocent? Where have the honest been destroyed?

iii. Bildad: "Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right?" ().

Job 8:3 CSB

3 Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right?

iv. Zophar: "Yet if you devote your heart to [the LORD] and stretch out your hands to him, if you will put away the ... ()

Job 11:13–20 CSB

13 As for you, if you redirect your heart and spread out your hands to him in prayer— 14 if there is iniquity in your hand, remove it, and don’t allow injustice to dwell in your tents— 15 then you will hold your head high, free from fault. You will be firmly established and unafraid. 16 For you will forget your suffering, recalling it only as water that has flowed by. 17 Your life will be brighter than noonday; its darkness will be like the morning. 18 You will be confident, because there is hope. You will look carefully about and lie down in safety. 19 You will lie down with no one to frighten you, and many will seek your favor. 20 But the sight of the wicked will fail. Their way of escape will be cut off, and their only hope is their last breath.

v. Young Elihu

1. A young respectful man. Who waited his turn in hopes that the “wise” old men would have answers? They did not. ()

Job 32:1–10 CSB

1 So these three men quit answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. 2 Then Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite from the family of Ram became angry. He was angry at Job because he had justified himself rather than God. 3 He was also angry at Job’s three friends because they had failed to refute him and yet had condemned him. 4 Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job because they were all older than he. 5 But when he saw that the three men could not answer Job, he became angry. 6 So Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite replied: I am young in years, while you are old; therefore I was timid and afraid to tell you what I know. 7 I thought that age should speak and maturity should teach wisdom. 8 But it is the spirit in a person— the breath from the Almighty— that gives anyone understanding. 9 It is not only the old who are wise or the elderly who understand how to judge. 10 Therefore I say, “Listen to me. I too will declare what I know.”

2. God can do no wrong!

a. (CSB) 12 Indeed, it is true that God does not act wickedly and the Almighty does not pervert justice.

Job 34:12 CSB

12 Indeed, it is true that God does not act wickedly and the Almighty does not pervert justice.

3. The question should not be “What is God doing to me?” but “What is God doing in me?”

a. (CSB) 26 Yes, God is exalted beyond our knowledge; the number of his years cannot be counted. 27 For he makes waterdrops evaporate; they distill the rain into its mist, 28 which the clouds pour out and shower abundantly on mankind.

Job 36:26–28 CSB

26 Yes, God is exalted beyond our knowledge; the number of his years cannot be counted. 27 For he makes waterdrops evaporate; they distill the rain into its mist, 28 which the clouds pour out and shower abundantly on mankind.

vi. Point: Choosing the right master & friends is important.

1. Satan may offer pleasantries, but he offers nothing good or useful.

God’s Convo

Job 40:9–12 NRSV

9 Have you an arm like God, and can you thunder with a voice like his? 10 “Deck yourself with majesty and dignity; clothe yourself with glory and splendor. 11 Pour out the overflowings of your anger, and look on all who are proud, and abase them. 12 Look on all who are proud, and bring them low; tread down the wicked where they stand.

Job 40:9–14 CSB

9 Do you have an arm like God’s? Can you thunder with a voice like his? 10 Adorn yourself with majesty and splendor, and clothe yourself with honor and glory. 11 Pour out your raging anger; look on every proud person and humiliate him. 12 Look on every proud person and humble him; trample the wicked where they stand. 13 Hide them together in the dust; imprison them in the grave. 14 Then I will confess to you that your own right hand can deliver you.

Job 40:14 NRSV

14 Then I will also acknowledge to you that your own right hand can give you victory.

i. & 14

job 40 1

ii. God does not apologize to Job

iii. God does not explain the conversation between He and the adversary

iv. God challenges Job to do and understand the things that He can do

v. Hairstyling ex. With my daughters and wife.

1. They feel immense pain and sorrow for a time

2. They question what they cannot do

3. And yet in the end it is for their good.

4. A bond is made in the suffering between the obedient and the master

vi. Point: Let God be God.

Conclusion: In the end Job after losing his wealth, family, and health learns an important lesson. God makes the good possible

You: Our suffering is not always the outcome of sin. We may never know the reason for our suffering. But we can be sure that God will use take care and cause all our situations to end for our good!

WE - Inspiration

a. Community: What would homes if spouses understood that suffering is not a cause for divorce? What would happen if our community chose to wait on God through suffering instead of taking their own lives?

b. Church: How great would our church become if suffering was understood as a necessity and we waited on God to be God?

c. World: How much influence would CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News have if God was trusted through suffering?