Bible Survey - Job
Vern Peterman · May 18, 2014
Bible Survey, No. 20
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926427582291

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Alright, taking a look at the book of Job here. It's a fascinating book. It is a unique book because there's none other quite like it in the Bible. It's written in Hebrew, but Job was not an Israelite from anything in the record of the book. The book appears to have been written during the time of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and we'll go over some of the reasons for that here shortly.

Like Melchizedek in Genesis, Job believed in the one true God, though he was not related, as far as we know, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It should be pointed out that other time frames for the writing of Job have been suggested, including that he was a contemporary of Isaiah. Myself, I don't believe it. The absence of references to Israelite history or the Mosaic Law. Job's long life. Those are some of the things that point to being around the time of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Job's role as a priest for his family. Under the Mosaic Law, could you be a priest if you weren't of the right tribe and lineage? No, you could not. and yet being a priest for the family was something that was seen in the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So it certainly appears to have been written before the time of Moses.

In addition to that, a measurement of Job's wealth in terms of livestock similar to what you see with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and then references to angels as the sons of God. In Genesis 6, 2, and 4, there are a few different interpretations, and so this connection here assumes that sons of God means angels there, which I believe is the case.

That God speaks directly to Job is another indicator. God just talks directly to Job, just similar to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Does God go around talking directly to people these days? God has revealed things in His Word, but obviously people during the time of Genesis didn't have any books to work with, so God spoke directly to them, right? He revealed himself directly. So that fits with the pattern in Genesis, and it fits with the case with Job. All these things point to the time of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, rather than to later in Israel's history.

Now, Job can be divided into three parts, the three Ds. The Dilemma of Job, the Debates of Job, and the Deliverance of Job. The Dilemma part, first two chapters, and the Debates, chapters 3-37. There is a lot of talking back and forth in the middle part of the Book of Job. And then the Deliverance of Job, the last chapters where he has conversations with God, and then the Lord restores him. So we also have the literary structure of the book of Job, sandwiching a series of poetic debates, that's chapters 3 through 42.6, and a prose prologue, so the first couple of chapters, and then that introduces Job and reveals God's confidence in him, and then recounts the tragedies that reduced him economically, physically, and emotionally.

Anybody like to volunteer for the tragedies that came upon Job? Not so much, huh? You don't see hands going up. And then finally an epilogue, chapter 42, verses 7 through 17. So you've got those kind of divisions and sections and styles and whatnot. The basic question of the book, why do the righteous suffer if God is loving and all-powerful? Suffering itself is not the central theme, rather the focus is on what Job learns from his suffering.

Yes, Al? It's kind of humorous. The world has an expression, the secular world does, about the patience of Job. Yes. But they haven't read the book of Job. He's anything but patient. No, he's not patient. He wants God to come, come on, let's have a courtroom trial.

Let's get it on, right? Yeah. Yes. Well, there are a lot of things that people think that the Bible says that the Bible doesn't say, right? Yes, and that's one of them. Yes. And along with that, it doesn't tell us how long this thing went on. Yeah. Well, and here's one thing.

The book of Job says that when his friends came there and gathered around him, they came and sat with him silently for a week. They sat with him silently for a week. So it doesn't say how long this whole thing went on, but there was silence before all these words for a week.

They're waiting for him to confess. Yes. In the culture of the day, it was considered rude to say something to someone who was mourning. So that's what they're doing. They wait around for a week for him to kind of get over the peak of this thing before they start talking. And we don't know how long before they came that he was in action. No, no. So really this, you know, we don't have like a time schedule for this whole thing. But you know, with all those chapters of talking, that had to have been a while. And then they had that week-long silence.

Right? So this thing went on for a while. Let's ask another question. Here is this book that's got you know, a lot of chapters in it. I mean, we're getting, you know, several dozen chapters in this book. Is everything you need to know about suffering in the Book of Job? No. And I think that's one of the things that's interesting. It's this lengthy book. It's got some really neat stuff in it. We'll look at some details here shortly. It's got some really neat stuff in it, but it's not everything you need to know about suffering.

Why isn't it everything you need to know about suffering? Because you don't know about God's grace to deliver. You don't know that God's going to provide a way to escape the effects of the trials and tests. All the things that are written in the New Testament, there are a great many new things that aren't revealed in Phil. The book of James that we have studied. The book of James would be a good example. There's no actual prophet there that could actually be telling the truth and pointing out the truth of the suffering. There's four guys. The last guy is probably more accurate than the first three.

You've got some guys that are saying things and they're really off the mark. In great part, they're off the mark. It's a common expression with friends like these. You know, a lot of words that are off course. A lot of words that are off course. Again, it shows the pride that goes with that period of time when you had the patriarchs and you see a lot of it even today and even with the Pharisees. I mean, I personally, maybe I'm wrong, but there's a lot of pride involved with his friends. Yeah, right. Except for maybe the third one who seems a little bit more humble. Yeah, his friends have all kinds of misguided advice and insights.

Then finally what happens, after the three friends have their back and forth with Job on things, then who talks? God talks directly to Job, which is a pattern we've seen in Genesis, one of the things I think that points to an earlier date, being a contemporary of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And then he said he was sorry to Job that he put him through all this, and then he gave him the exact explanation why he was being put through all this. And here's something else, God talks to Job and he doesn't go and just deliver a bunch of spiritual insight. What does he do? God sits there and questions Job.

Were you there at this time? Were you there for this? Were you there for this? There does seem to be some revelation of things that were in the heavenly places, though, that did come to Job at some time, or someone there, so that we would understand what was going on and who has the cause.

It is also amazing. Somebody look up Job 19, 25 through 27. Absolutely phenomenal passage, tucked away in the middle of the book of Job. It is astounding what Job does know. And so far as we have any indication or revelation, he didn't have a Bible to learn this from. I know that my Redeemer lives. Yes.

Some of you read Job 19.25-27? As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives. And at the last, He will take His stand on the earth. Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God. I know that my Redeemer lives. Who is that? Christ, right? And what's the significance of I know that He lives? He hasn't even been born yet, and yet what does this talk about?

And in the end, my Redeemer will take his stand on the earth. What is he talking about? He's talking about the second coming in the Millennial Kingdom. And then Job himself talks about his own flesh, and yet he is going to see his Redeemer. Let me ask you this question. Is Job going to be among the resurrected saints in the Millennial Kingdom? Yes. That's what he's talking about. I will see him with my own eyes and a new body. This is astounding in terms of saying what he knows.

And by the way, this isn't I hope so, or it would be nice if, but I know it. But that chart you gave us some time ago showed the length of lives and how they overlap with all these different people. So if he was in the age of the patriarchs, we don't know where, but obviously some of this information was being put out. Adam, Noah, so... I mean, it's the fact that he didn't just come up with that idea, but he believed it. Yeah, he says, I know it. I know it. And he knows that he has and needs a Redeemer.

Despite all his questioning, in the middle of it all, when his wife exhorts him to curse God and die, he says, though he slay me, Yet will I trust him. So he had a confidence in God, even though he wasn't seeing it in circumstance. Though he slay me, yet will I trust him.

That's basically saying, I'll trust him with my life. and everything up to that point. Sounds like the Abraham and Isaac type of... Yeah, this is... His wife is exhorting him, you know, curse God and die, and he says, I'll trust Him with my life all the way up to the end.

No matter what. So here's the guy, I mean, has he got things to learn? Yeah. But phenomenally, he's got absolute knowledge that his Redeemer lives, and his Redeemer is going to take a stand upon the earth, and that in a new resurrected body, he's going to see his Redeemer personally, face-to-face. That's amazing. He knows it. He doesn't hope it. He doesn't just think it. He knows it.

I know that my Redeemer lives, and I will trust Him even all the way up to death. If He wants to take my life, That's his to take. That's just really astounding. Really amazing. Amazing knowledge and amazing faith. Yeah. He may trust Him with his life, but he's not necessarily trusting Him with his mind. At least in the first part of the book. Yeah. He's got some things to learn. It's amazing what he understands. It's amazing what he says that he knows. But he's got some things to learn, too. Yes?

I just have a quick question. It's not associated with the suffering part, but when you said that he is going to be resurrected when Jesus comes back, he's not a church-age saint, so he's not going to be ruling with Christ, right? No, he will be among the Old Testament saints. And so far as we know, he's not Jewish. Okay? And so he would be among the Gentile saints like Noah and like Melchizedek. Okay. And their role when they're resurrected? Because they're not going to be radiant.

You know, what's very interesting, we're not given a lot of detail on that, but Jesus talks about being at table. in the kingdom with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Here's one of the other things. When a new ruler came to power, they had a long introductory banquet.

So it's likely that's what Jesus is talking about. The resurrection of Old Testament saints, Daniel 12, 1 and 2, talks about that. Now, we've got some other things here, some amazing truths. Job acknowledges a Redeemer, so we saw that in Job 19, 25-27.

He cries out for a mediator. I want some kind of a go-between. Now, this fits with what Al was talking about, that Job was not all that patient. He was pressing, and notice the chapter spread between the first time he cries out for a mediator, and then the next, and then the next. I mean, this is spread early, and then later on, he's crying out for a mediator, three times.

And then, the book raises problems and questions which are answered perfectly in Christ, who identifies with our suffering, is what we saw in Hebrews 4.15.

Christ is the believer's life, and when I sent this to the printer, this kind of rapped funny, but Christ is the believer's life, that's Colossians 3.4.

Next here, we've got Christ is our Redeemer, so here's Galatians 4.5 and Titus 2.14. Christ is our Mediator, so He's calling out for a Mediator.

Christ is our Mediator, 1 Timothy 2.5.

And 1 John 2.1, He is our Advocate.

So all these New Testament truths are tucked away in the book of Job. Isn't that amazing? and focuses on Christ. We have a timeline then that shows when the events of Job occurred, and it shows it as concurrent with Abraham and the subsequent generations in that time. And then we have Job at a Glance, which is kind of a graphical outline. It shows the different parts of that.

And by the way, in the book of Job, How does Satan show up? How does Satan show up in the book of Job? Yeah, he talks to God. He's a roaring lion that patrols. Yeah. Does it seem Curious to you that Satan has access to heaven. Let me ask this question. Why would God allow that? Because he has a stewardship. What's that? He has a stewardship. Ah, isn't that interesting? Satan has a stewardship. Tell me more about this. He patrols the earth. Is Satan useful? Sure. Is Satan useful? He seems to show God's power. Now, let's think this through. You say to show God's power.

Is Satan the opposite of God? Is he opposed to God? He's opposed to God, but I heard no when I said opposite. What's the difference? God is the supreme ruler of the universe. Satan does not have all the omnipotence that God has. Isn't it interesting that what you see in Job is Satan has access to heaven and could Satan do things without God's permission? No, he has limits. Isn't that interesting? Satan has access to heaven, which is real curious, Satan doesn't just go off willy-nilly and do things.

He has to get God's permission, and apparently, especially in dealing with believers. That limit showed up with Job in the sense that he was allowed to afflict, but he wasn't allowed to take his life. God said, okay, Job is going to be faithful. You can test him. And you asked the question whether Satan was the opposite of God.

And I don't quarrel with saying no he's not. But it's almost like light and dark. We use light and dark as opposites. But dark is really the absence of light. And Satan is really a creature, he's a creation, a created being, and so he doesn't have qualities of God. It's more, he has the absence of God's love and grace and mercy and holiness and all the other attributes of God. So it's a You can call it an opposite in a way, but it's really the absence of all the good things that God provides.

Yes, I think if we start to think about it, some of the generalizations that Christians often think in their mind that don't seem to square up with what scripture says. That you're right, he's the prince of darkness, right? And he's opposed to God, but it's not equal and opposite, right? supposed to God, but not equal and opposite. And here is this guy, Satan, who apparently, especially in talking about believers, has to get God's permission down to the detail. You can touch this, but not that. Yes? Yeah, both of you. Randy and Stan?

If Satan is a created being, then if his purpose was not there, And that would mean that God had made a mistake. Yeah. God is the only self-existent being. All other beings, Satan included, are created beings. Did God know that Satan would rebel when he made it? Yep.

One of the reasons I ask the question, is Satan useful? And the answer is yes, Satan is useful. And what you find is that God gives Satan permission to do certain things. The Apostle Paul did something that is apparently an apostolic, that is an Apostle's prerogative, and twice he writes about turning a saint over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. I guess Satan must be useful. And, do you see Satan actually been giving some, he's given some particular powers and assignments during the tribulation period?

Well, let's ask one other question. Is there a place for we as believers to bind Satan? Is there a place for we as believers to bind Satan? Ultimately, the answer is no, not us directly. There will be a time when Satan is bound, and that will be during the coming millennial kingdom. And one angel will do it. That's all it takes. Yeah, not correct. As a matter of fact, we see in the book of Jude, here's Michael the archangel.

He says, the Lord rebuke you. And even warnings against us trying to directly revile and rebuke Satan. Warnings. And those who step aside from that warning, it doesn't describe them well. These are characterized as false teachers. And outrageously, They're on TV right now.

Yes. So a lot of what Christendom has embraced about Satan is not quite the right picture. When God is done using Satan, Satan will be in the lake of fire, which Jesus says was prepared, perfect tense, completed past action, ongoing results on the future for Satan and his angels.

It's something like asking, are health problems and financial problems and other such things useful? Yes. And we don't think of useful. No. In that sense. And yet scripture, the New Testament, and I think back to James, the trying of your faith, and Peter writing about try of your faith to see whether you're got gold, silver, precious things, whether it's wood, hay and stubble, are you just talking about it, or are you walking in faith? And God seems to use various things, including Satan, as a sifting device to test the true from the false, and to get us to see that as long as we're depending on the flesh, we're in trouble, and we've got to get beyond that. Yes, Pat? Correct me if I'm wrong, but it's my understanding that because of God's love and His character, that He does not bring bad things and disasters to us.

Is that a correct assumption? Well, let's think about that. Do you have a thought or a comment? Let's think about this. Think of Romans 8. God causes all things to work together for good. Now, is everything good? No, we can actually say, you know, this is not good. We can actually say this or that's not good. And there's a lot of not good things that happen here on this planet. What's the distinction between God causes all things to work together for good, and if I were to make the statement, God just causes all things to be good.

Well, there's a further verse that's an important one. Okay, and what is that? To those who are trusting Him to work it. Okay, and what's the good that these sometimes bad things accomplish? A greater security in your faith and dependence on God is usually what a better connection is. Yeah, Clare? Isn't the ultimate? But here's what's very interesting.

You're thinking of 2 Corinthians 3.18, right?

And one of the things we had an elective a couple of years back, what God's doing in the life of the believer. There are two different processes that work in parallel while we're here on this planet. Two different processes, both of which are directed to making us into the image of Christ. And Romans 8, 28 and 29 says that the good that God works together is the being conformed to the image of Christ. And 2 Corinthians 3, 18 says that we are being transformed as we behold the Lord Jesus Christ in His Word. And so here is, we're looking at Christ, but the transformation is accomplished by the Holy Spirit, as we're looking at Christ. So both of those are in the direction of making us into the image of Christ.

And so one of the ways that I illustrated it in the elective, and we can see it here in Job, One of the ways I illustrate it, when they would make the shields for the Roman soldiers, they had a bar on the inside of the shield that the soldier could grab to hold the shield.

On the front of it, they had a piece of metal that was kind of rounded, sort of like a bowl, that started off as a flat sheet. How would they make that bowl shaped? What they would do is they'd take the piece of sheet metal that they'd started off with, and they would take a piece of, like a wood log or trunk, and they would make a bowl shape in that piece of wood. And then they'd lay the sheet metal on top of it and go tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, again, and again, and again, and again, until the metal was conformed to that bowl shape.

So the various things that are happening in our life, including things we say, Ouch, that hurts. That's the tap, tap, tap, tap, tap that is conforming us to the image of Christ. And then in parallel with that, as we behold Christ through his word, we are also being transformed into that same image.

So two parallel and very different processes, both with the same end. Both with the same end. It works not just for the body, but for the mind. For the mind, yes. Being conformed to his image, being transformed into his image, yes. Are you saying that the confirmation and the transformation both happen after you're saved, or is the confirmation before and the transformation after? Both of them are processes after we're saved. Both of those are being transformed into His image and being conformed into His image. Both of those are processes that God is doing in the life of the believer.

Yes? It says God causes all things to work together for the good that you're being conformed to the image of Christ. God causes. So we will say sometimes God allows. What is God's goal in conforming us to the image of Christ? Yeah, in other words, ultimately, here is Christ, that's where we're growing, that's where we're headed. And so, is everything that happens along the way good?

Not even sort of. So we're free to say, you know, this was really not good. This was really awful. And it may well be, we don't know, it may well be that Satan went and asked God permission. But God is going to use it to conform us to the image of Jesus Christ. Even things we look at and say that is not good, but being conformed to the image of Christ, is that good? Yes, that's good. And that's the distinction.

Now, whether you say God causes every little thing, or whether you say God allows it, God is sovereign such as to, even in a world where people make their own choices, God is sovereign such as to bring things to a point that we are conformed to the image of His Son.

Scripture teaches that these difficulties and problems can come from the world, they can come from our flesh, and they can come from the devil. I split Wilson's The Devil Made Me Do It, so to speak. But again, I have made some stupid choices and some sinful choices, foolish choices, but God is still working to bring about the end result that I realize that I can't make it on my own, but I need Him. And so He uses all those things to produce that end result of dependence on Him.

Something we'll be talking about in the main service is that there are trials and then there's discipline. And one of the things that is critical for Christians to get squared away in their mind is that if you're going through a difficulty, it's either a trial for you to grow from or it's discipline. It's one or the other.

It's really not complicated. Isn't that amazing? It's really not complicated. It's one or the other, and both of them are intentional. God doesn't paste the floor of heaven and say, oh heavens, I forgot about Vern. Everything has a purpose. Every difficulty has a purpose. No exceptions. It's either discipline to help us realize we need to get back in fellowship and back on track, or it's trials to grow us as we're walking in fellowship. That's it. It's that simple. It's one or the other. Yes?

And that is in James where it says, all good things come down from the Father of lights. So does that mean only all good things? Or what it says, all good things. So the source of all good is God, right? So if you start to think of it, and then towards the end of the book of Job, God begins asking Job Questions, you know, were you there when I did this? Were you there when I did that? Do you understand this? Do you understand that? And Job's going, uh-uh. I wasn't there and I don't understand.

And that's a part of it, is God knows what He's doing with these things, but we're not of a perspective to always understand what it is that God's doing and why He's doing it. We do have the insight from the New Testament that He's got a purpose in every single thing that comes along. One way to put it is we need what's happening to us. We need what's happening to us. You ever hear somebody say, boy, I don't need this. Well, guess what? You do. I don't need this. Yes, I do. Yes. That still applies to believers, right? Yeah, here's the situation.

We're talking about believers, and we also have some New Testament insights, the being conformed to Christ's image, transformed. We don't know that Job had any of that kind of an insight, right? So these are from New Testament revelations. And yet, the perspective that we get here is Really amazing, just out of the book of Job, what is revealed.

Here is Satan who has to ask God permission. In certain portions of Christendom, it's real common to just go around attributing everything that seems bad to Satan. You're always binding him, and I'm not sure who lets him loose, but you're always binding him and rebuking him, and everything that seems bad, that gets credited to Satan. But is Satan just out on the loose, completely opposed to God and free to do whatever he chooses? Opposed to God, yes, but not free to do whatever he chooses.

So Satan is a created being, limited, cannot act outside of the permission, at least for believers, cannot act outside of the permission that God gives him. There's a really important principle that comes out of Genesis, and that is that the Creator is the owner. The Creator has dominion and domain, and so when God sets up things on the earth, He hands dominion over to Adam and Eve before the fall. And then at the fall, they lose that, and it seems that Satan then takes over as How did Satan get that role and position?

How did he pull it off in the garden? Right, and how do you do it? Deception. Very key. Deception. Does Satan ever deceive God? Never. Satan does not deceive God. Satan deceives human beings. Satan never gets anything past God. He must ask permission and he cannot deceive God. We're the ones who get deceived. situations in our lives. Some people say, I don't need that. In fact, they do.

But now if it's a choice because of your free will and a consequence of a mistake that you've made, is that something that's predestined for you or is that something that you just caused upon yourself because you did have free will and you chose not to do what God wanted you to do. Let's look at Romans 8, 28 and 29.

What is predestined? What is predestined? That God is able to make it work out in the image of good. And that good is that we're conformed to the image of Christ. That's what's predestined. So a lot of people will think, oh God predestines and so every little move I make and every breath I take and people think of that.

What's predestined is not all the choices we make. What's predestined is not all the little movements and actions happen here on the planet. What is predestined is not that. What's predestined is that we will be conformed to the image of his son. That's predestined.

So it's amazing that God is able to have all these things happen and people have their choices. Somebody can make a choice to get bombed with booze and then get behind the wheel of a car and they've made a terrible choice. And that guy comes and pulls in front of me and now I have some horrible accident.

And was it a good choice the guy made? Did I make a bad choice? No, I just was driving. So here is this thing that this guy made a bad choice and we can all say it's a bad choice. I didn't make a bad choice, but guess what? Now I've got some consequences. Is God going to use that accident from that other guy making a bad choice in order to conform me into the image of his son?

Yes. Verse 28 and 29 says exactly that. He foreknew. He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. So it's not that God is controlling every move that you make and every breath you take. He's not making decisions for you. He has predestined that you'll be conformed to the image of His Son. Still leaving people free to make choices, even some bad ones. because it's the predestination to conformity to the image of the sun. And by the way, that's a spiritual side thing, it's not a physical side thing. So he can use physical actions and activities and what not to impact us spiritually. Do you have a hand up? Yeah.

Is that what they do sometimes when they're talking about salvation, that they're predestined, they either are believers or are not believers? You know what's interesting, a lot of like Calvinism goes to Boyer, you know, every pin, if a pin's going to drop, that that's something God determined, that, you know, this is going to happen and that's going to happen. And Calvinism works in that way, and it thinks through that way. But what the Bible actually says is we're predestined to be conformed to His image, which is all on the spiritual side, and that God is able to work sovereignly so that you're conformed to the image of his son. That's what's predestined, is the conformity to the image of his son.

Not God controls every little breath and thought and whatnot. Because I think that whole mindset that God just manages everything, every jot and tittle, is not biblical. Yeah, I was not predestined to wear a blue shirt. I was not predestined, apparently, to come to church with my pants off or something. Everything is such that for the believers, you are predestined to be conformed to the image of the Son.

That doesn't mean that God sits there and makes every choice for you and overrides your will. God is not holding you responsible and giving consequences to something where He overrode our decision-making process. Yes, and God made me sin because that's what He predestined, and now He's going to discipline me for the sin that He made me do. God made me do it.

No, that's not the way it works. That's not the biblical picture. There's a lot of belief out there in some Christians that if something bad is happening to you, it's because God is punishing you for disciplining yourself. And that's not correct. No, it's not correct. I think this is a motivation, but how would you direct somebody to whether it's really true that he's disciplining himself?

Ultimately, we will be looking at that next week in the main service as a major subject because there is God's discipline and yet the Bible talks a lot about trials and God's purpose in trials. Here's James, rejoice when you encounter various trials. So everything that happens to us that seems to have some negative face on it, is either discipline or trials.

It's that simple. It's one or the other. And if there isn't some sin that God is pointing His finger at, you know, hey, I want you to look at this and I want you to get back in fellowship. If it's not that, then it's a trial. It's a trial designed to grow us. That's it. It's really that simple.

Let's say, for example, if I say everything that is bad that happens is Satan's doing. Well, I've really gotten myself messed up then, because I don't then understand God's process. If I say everything that happens that I don't like is from Satan, then I'm mistaking Satan as the source when in fact it is very likely something that God is using either for trials or discipline and Satan may not have anything to do with it. Right?

So it's a real mistaken thing to go around pointing to Satan as the source of everything that is bad that happens. It keeps people from growing because they don't correctly attribute, you know, what is this for? Why do I have this bad thing going on? It keeps people from growing spiritually.

Instead of saying, God, thank you for this, rejoice when you encounter various trials. Instead of seeing what God is doing in this and getting growth and God's purpose in it, I'm pointing to Satan as the source and he may not have anything to do with it.

As you have pointed out before, we're good at the blame game. We take the responsibility for our actions and then ask God, what are you trying to teach me or show me? It's different than saying, well, it's their fault. Adam started it off by saying, well, the woman who you gave me, you gave me the woman. Yes, the blame game, right? Yes, Dan?

If all good things that come down from heaven are from the Father of Light, can we also say that all deception is from Satan? There are certain realms in which deception is actually a valid function. And a lot of that is in government and military kinds of things. So to say all deception is from Satan isn't quite correct.

However, outside of those valid functions that are in military and government purposes, then I'd have to say yes, ultimately. Even those things come from as a result of the fall. Yeah, there's a result of the fall. The function of government having to deceive came as a result of the fall. That doesn't mean that the government is wrong in carrying out those deceptions in military and related purposes.

Paul, in his first chapter of Romans, when he comments that having known the Creator, they deliberately turned their eyes, they self-deceived. Yes, they self-deceived. Satan is in the midst of the process. They chose to ignore what God had revealed and instead said, no, no, no, I'm going to go this way. So, Satan is certainly assisting, As was just mentioned, since the fall, we have to be careful because we enter into that process. But Satan could have put this deception out there, and people choose to go that direction. Yeah, people make choices, don't they? Yeah, exactly. People make choices.

It's just, I think that as we take, you know, kind of step back and say, what are the big lessons from Job? One of those things is to correctly understand Satan's role. and not get sucked into some of the things like a lot of Christendom has, where, okay, if I start attributing everything that seems bad to Satan, I'm going to miss out on what in fact God has given permission to take place. And I also misunderstand Satan as if he's somehow out of God's control. You know, God's just throwing up His hands, what am I going to do with that guy? Right? No. That's not the way it works. In your outline there, Job's first response, he didn't quite get it.

But then when God pointed out further, Job essentially fell on his face before God and said, yes, you are sovereign. So the sovereignty of God and the seeing of His purposes behind the circumstances was the big thing for Job at the end of the day. Here's one other thing.

If I go around and attribute every bad thing to Satan, I'm going to fail to see what God is actually doing, and what God's purposes are, and the fact that these bad things are intended to conform me to the image of His Son. God actually has a purpose in these things. One of the things that Job ends up doing is he ends up beholding the Lord through this whole thing. But if we take on what a lot of Christendom has, we're going to end up beholding Satan. Focusing all our attention on him.

Sometimes really bad things happen. Does it drive us to God or to Satan? Yeah, it should be God, and yet every time something bad happens, we attribute it to Satan, we're headed the wrong direction. If we're beholding Satan and attributing every bad thing to Satan, will we be transformed and conformed into the image of the Son as a result of that?

No. So the misattribution gets in the way of understanding what God's doing. It is contrary to what we see in the book of Job. By the way, you see Satan in the first couple chapters. Where else does he show up in the book? He doesn't. He disappears. Ultimately, what happened to Job was only done by permission, and in the end, Job's not talking to Satan, Job's talking to God. A key lesson, and just a lot of Christendom has gotten pulled off into spending a whole lot more time paying any attention to Satan. Satan is a limited being.

Is he omnipresent? Is he omniscient? Is he omnipotent? None of the above, right? He's a limited being. Good chance he doesn't even know your address, without looking it up, right? But God, God does know your address, and He searches your heart, and He knows everything about you. He is omnipotent. He is omniscient.

So Satan is opposite, but he is no equal, not even close. So our focus needs to be on the Lord, not on Satan, who in the book of Job, after the first couple chapters, just kind of disappears from the pages. Yeah, when the Bible talks about Satan, it doesn't talk about acknowledging things. It says resist the devil. Yeah.

If he comes upon you, resist him. And then, what is Satan going to do if you resist him? He says he'll flee. He says he'll flee. Okay. If he shows up, I'll resist him. Otherwise, I'll pay him any attention. I heard one person say, if Satan knocks on the door, send Christ to answer. Yeah. Yeah. It's not something that should be grabbing our attention all the time. We ought instead to be turning to the Lord all the time.

Isn't there a certain amount of Gideonism in the book of Job? Because you've got Job out there who has faith and he believes in a Redeemer just like Gideon saw the angel, and I'm sure that in his faith he believed that it probably was a theophany of Christ, or at least an angel.

But he still needed reality. He still needed something to lift up his faith. Did he not? Is that not kind of what Job's doing as well? I mean, he's asking constantly, I just want to talk to God. I just want to talk to God. So, to me, he's really trying to support his faith, is he not? Yeah. Well, what he's trying to do, he's wanting to get understanding. And he's actually demanding understanding. I want to understand this.

And in the end, God's saying, you know, God's got a bunch of questions for him. Were you there? Are you going to get this? God is doing things in our lives and we're given in the New Testament some additional insight into those things, but the reality is we're not going to understand all the ins and outs and whys and wherefores of what God's doing. We have some things revealed and some things not. But it says in Isaiah that he's a hidden God. So I think Job is, in a sense, asking this hidden God to come out of his hiding and just talk to me. To reaffirm my faith and know that all these things that I believe and that I'm living out in my life because I'm blameless, talk to me. I don't know anybody else, but I've felt that way a million times. We've run out of time, so let's pray.

Lord, thank you for the lessons out of this book. The perspective is just amazing. It starts off with Satan certainly having a focus, and yet he basically disappears from the pages. And in the end, it's our relationship with you that matters. Thank you for the big-scale lessons of this book. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.