There Was a Day | Part 1
In the next two episodes we look at the heart-wrenching narrative of Job’s trials, illustrating how his character was shaped not just by his successes but by his suffering. We delve into the nuances of Job’s relationship with God, exploring how his unwavering faith serves as a model for us today. What does it mean to stand firm when the storms of life hit? How can we encourage our families to maintain their faith in the face of adversity?
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Transcript
Welcome to the Fortifying youg Family podcast.
Speaker A:It can be daunting to navigate through an anti marriage and family culture.
Speaker A:Our teacher will expound biblical principles to help fortify our families and keep these sacred institutions strong.
Speaker A:And now here's this week's teaching from Sam Wood.
Speaker B:Turn to Job, if you would.
Speaker B:Chapter one.
Speaker B:I'm going back there tonight, as I said this morning, and I want to start at verse six.
Speaker B:And this morning I did talk about Job was a man of great character.
Speaker B:And we looked at that just really briefly.
Speaker B:I told Debbie at home, I said, really, if I had time, I would probably preach a message on each one of those individually.
Speaker B:That is on his integrity, on his uprightness, on him being a God fearing man, and also on him eschewing evil.
Speaker B:It's so much there to unpack.
Speaker B:If you really had time to go into it, a lot more depth.
Speaker B:But what a wonderful testimony of his character.
Speaker B:Then we looked at his concern physically for his family, but primarily we looked this morning at his concern spiritually for his family.
Speaker B:And he was a great man of character and a great man of concern.
Speaker B:But we're going to see tonight he was a great man of calamity too.
Speaker B:Now we want to be those first two, the last one, not necessarily, but he was also a great man, calamity.
Speaker B:So look at it with me tonight.
Speaker B:And we'll start at verse six.
Speaker B:I'm going to read down through verse 22, job, chapter one and verse six.
Speaker B:Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.
Speaker B:And the Lord said unto Satan, whence comest thou?
Speaker B:Then Satan answered the Lord and said, from going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.
Speaker B:And the Lord said unto Satan, hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and upright man, one that feareth God and escheweth evil.
Speaker B:Then Satan answereth the Lord and saith, doth Job fear God?
Speaker B:For naught hast not thou made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side.
Speaker B:Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
Speaker B:But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.
Speaker B:And the Lord said unto Satan, behold, all that he hath is in thy power only upon himself, put not forth thine hand.
Speaker B:So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord.
Speaker B:And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine, and their eldest brothers house, there came a messenger unto Job, and said the oxen were plowing and the asses feeding beside them, and the Sabians fell upon them and took them away.
Speaker B:Yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword.
Speaker B:And I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
Speaker B:While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, the fire of God has fallen from heaven and hath burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them.
Speaker B:And I only am escaped alone, tell thee.
Speaker B:While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, the Chaldeans made out three bands and fell upon the camels and have carried them away.
Speaker B:Yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword.
Speaker B:And I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
Speaker B:While he was yet speaking, there came also another and said, thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house.
Speaker B:And behold, there came a great wind from the wildern and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead.
Speaker B:And I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
Speaker B:Then Job arose and rent his mantle and shaved his head and fell down upon the ground and worshipped and said, naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return.
Speaker B:Thither the Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away.
Speaker B:Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Speaker B:In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.
Speaker B:After reading the first five verses of Job, we're left feeling, what a great story about a great man and his wonderful family.
Speaker B:Actually, you could.
Speaker B:If you stop right there, it actually could look like.
Speaker B:I thought about this, a picture of the prosperity Gospel.
Speaker B:I mean, if you do and live right, then God will bless you, and he will bless you abundantly.
Speaker B:And so we could stop right there and we could say, well, that really kind of looks like a picture maybe of the prosperity gospel, some of which we might even hear today.
Speaker B:But the prosperity Gospel collapses when we get to verse six.
Speaker B:At the beginning of verse six this morning, I guess I said if I had a title of the message, it would be There Was a Man.
Speaker B:Tonight's message I'm taking from Scripture, the beginning of verse six.
Speaker B:And that is.
Speaker B:And there was a what a day.
Speaker B:There was a day.
Speaker B:Many people can look back at life and see that everything seemed glorious, everything seemed wonderful, everything was going well.
Speaker B:But there was a day when it all changed.
Speaker B:A day when the accident happened.
Speaker B:I remember the day when the accident happened.
Speaker B:I've shared it here before with my brother.
Speaker B:When he was 23 years old.
Speaker B:An accident happened, and my brother was killed in that car accident.
Speaker B:There was a day, a day when maybe someone was fired from their job.
Speaker B:It left them in financial situations that were desperate.
Speaker B:A day when the husband walked out.
Speaker B:A day when the wife left home.
Speaker B:A day when the report came back from the doctor and the report was that the cancer was malignant.
Speaker B:A day when news came of the death of a family member.
Speaker B:A day when everything turned upside down.
Speaker B:And certainly that's the day that we're talking about here in Job, chapter six.
Speaker B:Oh, what a day it was for Job.
Speaker B:Christopher Ash states, he says in this drama we shall see that it is necessary for it publicly to be seen that there is in God's word a great man who is great because he is good, yet who will continue to be a good man when he ceases to be great.
Speaker B:I thought, wow, that's true.
Speaker B:What a statement, really.
Speaker B:If we take these first several chapters of Job, there are four scenes that we're given in these first several chapters.
Speaker B:We read two of them tonight.
Speaker B:Scene one is in heaven, verses six through 12.
Speaker B:Scene two is back on earth, verses 13 through 22.
Speaker B:Scene three is back in heaven, chapter two, verse one through seven, the beginning of chapter verse seven.
Speaker B:And then we go into scene four, back on earth from the end of verse seven in chapter two through verse ten.
Speaker B:Tonight we only have time to look at the first two scenes, but I do want to look at them and draw some things from these that I pray will be helpful tonight.
Speaker B:So let's go back and look and start at verse six.
Speaker B:Now, there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.
Speaker B:And the Lord said unto Satan, whence comest thou?
Speaker B:Then Satan answered the Lord and said, from going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.
Speaker B:Now that's two very interesting verses.
Speaker B:Have you ever stopped to reflect and think on the scene in heaven and what this really might look like?
Speaker B:Because it says in verse 6 that the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:The sons of God, I believe, speaks, if we study Scripture, speaks of beings whose existence is from God.
Speaker B:Hence they are sons of God, but they are superhuman, we might say.
Speaker B:The term sons of God is also translated in other places as angels.
Speaker B:For example, in Psalm 29 and Psalm 82, they refer to a divine council or heavenly cabinet, we might call it that God Summons to himself to do his bidding or to do his will.
Speaker B:For example, in Zechariah, chapter six and verse four and five, if you want to go back and look at that story later, at some point when the four chariots go out into all the world, if you remember that story, the four chariots go.
Speaker B:Going out, it says they go forth from standing or presenting themselves from before the Lord.
Speaker B:So these angels present themselves before God for duty.
Speaker B:Then God sends them out, we might say, for action.
Speaker B:But notice at the end of verse six, back to Job, chapter one, that only one member of this heavenly council is mentioned by name.
Speaker B:And what is his name?
Speaker B:Satan, it says.
Speaker B:And Satan came also among them.
Speaker B:The name Satan suggests his role in this divine heavenly council.
Speaker B:His name means, as you probably are aware, it means accuser, it means opponent, it means enemy.
Speaker B:We might ask a question, and I know I asked a question when I began to study this.
Speaker B:Is Satan a member then of this heavenly council?
Speaker B:Or does he just barge into this heavenly council uninvited?
Speaker B:We would naturally assume that Satan is not a member, at least that's my first assumption.
Speaker B:And cannot be a member of this heavenly council because Satan is evil.
Speaker B:However, notice in verse six, very important, it says that he came.
Speaker B:Notice what it says among them.
Speaker B:That's a very important word because the word among suggests that he is a member of this group of heavenly beings.
Speaker B:He came among them.
Speaker B:He came as a member of this group.
Speaker B:So in verse seven, God is asking Satan, where have you been and what have you been doing?
Speaker B:When he asked him that question, it's kind of like a president summons his cabinet together and asks a member of cabinet, where have you been and what have you been doing all this time?
Speaker B:I remind you of another passage you might want to hold your finger at Job, chapter one and turn to First Kings, chapter 22.
Speaker B:If you look down at verse 19, it says there these words.
Speaker B:Very interesting passage.
Speaker B:You may have noticed this reading through First Kings before.
Speaker B:And he said, hear thou therefore the word of the Lord.
Speaker B:I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the hosts of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left, all the host of heaven.
Speaker B:And the Lord said, who shall persuade Ahab that he may go up and fall?
Speaker B:Ramoth, Gilead.
Speaker B:And one said, on this manner.
Speaker B:And another said, on that manner.
Speaker B:And there came forth a spirit and stood before the Lord and said, I will persuade him.
Speaker B:And the Lord said unto him, wherewith?
Speaker B:And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.
Speaker B:And he or God said, thou shalt persuade him, prevail also go forth and do so.
Speaker B:Very interesting.
Speaker B:As we look at this, it says that a lying spirit is being sent forth by God to do his bidding or to do his will.
Speaker B:So I believe, as I have studied this very much, that just as God uses this lying spirit for his purposes, and this lying spirit is part of this heavenly council, so is Satan.
Speaker B:This is why Martin Luther calls Satan God's Satan.
Speaker B:God will use Satan in a strange way that serves God's purposes for his glory.
Speaker B:That's not to say God is any part of sin or any part of evil.
Speaker B:Certainly we need to understand that.
Speaker B:Christopher Ash says this.
Speaker B:Some will object that since God cannot look or have fellowship with evil, that he cannot allow Satan to be in his presence.
Speaker B:But this is to confuse fellowship with government.
Speaker B:God can have no fellowship with evil, but he can use evil in his government of the world.
Speaker B:And he does, even as Scripture shows us.
Speaker B:Now look with me at verse 8.
Speaker B:The Lord said unto Satan, hast thou considered my servant Job?
Speaker B:That there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and upright man and one that feareth God escheweth evil.
Speaker B:So God says to Satan, actually points out Job to him and says, have you considered my servant Job?
Speaker B:Look over here at Job.
Speaker B:And he goes back to verse one of chapter one that I mentioned this morning, and he points out these four different aspects or attributes of Job's character.
Speaker B:The question that God asked Satan in verse 8 implies that Satan's Job as God's opposition is to search the earth to find any men and women who genuinely and truly love God and then accuse them.
Speaker B:He is the accuser of the brethren.
Speaker B:And notice that God calls Job my servant, which means that he is again highly esteemed.
Speaker B:God's eyes.
Speaker B:So God is bragging on his servant Job.
Speaker B:You say, what a wonderful thing that is, that God might point from heaven and point down to one of us and say, have you considered my servant David?
Speaker B:Have you considered my servant Mary?
Speaker B:David is someone.
Speaker B:John is someone who is upright, someone who has integrity, someone who fears God, someone who.
Speaker B:Someone who eschews evil.
Speaker B:Have you considered this servant?
Speaker B:And that's exactly what God does.
Speaker B:And you say, might say to ourself, well, that would be a wonderful thing if God could point down and he could point to us and say, have you considered me as your servant?
Speaker B:But would it really be wonderful if he did that to you?
Speaker B:Would it be really wonderful if he did that to me?
Speaker B:Because by singling out Job and bragging on his godliness.
Speaker B:It will prove to be devastating to the person, to the man of Job and all that he has and his family.
Speaker B:Let me remind you that God at this point is sovereign.
Speaker B:It's so important we understand and we continue to remind ourselves in a story like this that God is sovereign.
Speaker B:God is in total control of everything.
Speaker B:He knows that Satan ahead of time will go after Job to do what he is wanting to do and God allows him to do.
Speaker B:John Christendom says this, and I think it's a great statement.
Speaker B:He says, many men, when they see any of those who are pleasing to God, suffering anything terrible or offended, not knowing that to those especially listen this especially dear to God, it belongeth to endure these things.
Speaker B:But in keeping with Satan's role as an accuser, he spends God's statement with a different interpretation.
Speaker B:He takes what God says, he spends it, and gives it a total different interpretation.
Speaker B:After all, Satan is a liar.
Speaker B:In verse nine, he says this, and Satan answered the Lord and said, doth Job fear God for naught?
Speaker B:Satan answers God by saying that the only reason that Job fears you, God, the only reason that he fears you, the only reason he walks with you is because of the way that you have blessed him.
Speaker B:Job doesn't fear you.
Speaker B:Job doesn't worship you.
Speaker B:Job doesn't love you for who you are.
Speaker B:Job only loves you and worships you and fears you because of what you've done for him.
Speaker B:Then Satan continues his argument by saying in verse 10, Hast thou not made a hedge about him and about his house and about all that he hath on every side thou has blessed the work of his hands and his substance is increased in the land.
Speaker B:Satan says, not only that you have blessed him with all this wealth, you have blessed him with 10 children, you blessed him with all the world could afford.
Speaker B:But not only that, you put a protective hedge around him.
Speaker B:And we can't even.
Speaker B:I can't even touch him.
Speaker B:No one can touch him.
Speaker B:Sure he worships you.
Speaker B:Sure he goes to church every week.
Speaker B:Sure he helps those widows and the fatherless and gives in the offering plate when the offering plate is passed at church.
Speaker B:But the only reason he does this is because you blessed him.
Speaker B:And now you're not only blessing him, but you're protecting him.
Speaker B:He's discovered that if he honors you, you'll make him richer.
Speaker B:And we have wonderful children and we have a lovely wife.
Speaker B:He'll have good health and he'll be a success in everything that he does.
Speaker B:Satan is saying to God, who wouldn't be godly if this is what they get?
Speaker B:Now we have to stop right here and we have to admit this is a really great argument that he presents to God.
Speaker B:Satan is pointing to the problem that all of us as humans face.
Speaker B:For example, have you ever had somebody who wants to be your friend or befriend you, but when you find out why they're befriending you, you find that it isn't because they want you to really be their friend, it's because of something they want from you.
Speaker B:Anybody had that experience before.
Speaker B:Or maybe someone wants to get to know you better and get you to help them because they know that you know people that they want to know.
Speaker B:And it would help you help them if they knew you, because you could help them network what they're doing.
Speaker B:Or maybe it's a guy, young guy that comes on to a young girl and he's very kind, he's very smooth, he seems very interested in this young lady.
Speaker B:He tells her he loves her, but when he finds out that she won't sleep with him, then forget her, it's only because of what he could get.
Speaker B:You're being exploited not because someone truly loves you, but because they can use you for the purposes they have for you.
Speaker B:This is exactly Satan's argument.
Speaker B:God, Job is just like every depraved human.
Speaker B:He's using you, God, not because he really loves you, but because of what he can get from you.
Speaker B:So Satan continues by saying this in verse 11.
Speaker B:But put forth thine hand now and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.
Speaker B:When he says put forth thine hand, it means to stretch out and act against him.
Speaker B:The word touch means actually to smite, stretch out your hand, act against him, smite him, and then he'll curse you.
Speaker B:Oh, he won't be a God fearing man anymore.
Speaker B:He won't be upright.
Speaker B:He won't be who you think he is.
Speaker B:You'll see he doesn't really love you.
Speaker B:He will curse you to your face.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:Now listen closely.
Speaker B:The truth of the matter is that I don't think there's any other way to find out if Job is genuine in his love for God without this happening in his life.
Speaker B:Think about that.
Speaker B:It's really no way to really prove that he is genuine, a genuine believer of God, genuinely a man who is pious, genuinely a man who walks with God without something like this happening in his life.
Speaker B:David Klein says that the converse would also be true if a poor man were Godly.
Speaker B:It might be necessary to enrich him, to absolutely be sure that his godliness is not the result of his poverty.
Speaker B:Interesting to think about too.
Speaker B:Listen, Satan is paradoxically doing something for the glory of God.
Speaker B:God knows that it's necessary for the world to see that man's worship and love for him is in no way dependent upon what he has done for man, so he allows it to prove Satan is wrong.
Speaker B:Peter says something very similar if you remembered in 1st Peter chapter 1 and verse 6 and 7 he says, wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, you're in heaviness, heaviness through manifold temptations.
Speaker B:Here's why.
Speaker B:Verse 7 that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than that of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.
Speaker B:At the appearing of Jesus Christ, the whole world will see that the suffering Christian stood fast in his faith, even through the mist, even through enduring severe trials.
Speaker B:The suffering Christian shows the universe that God is worthy of all worship, even when God's blessings are taken away.
Speaker B:Lloyd Jones calls this the acid test of Christianity, that the true Christian stays faithful to God even when it appears that God is nowhere to be found or nowhere around.
Speaker B:Christopher Ash adds, he says the glory of God is more important than you are my or Job's comfort.
Speaker B:Satan has a ministry.
Speaker B:It is a ministry of opposition, the ministry of insisting that the genuineness of the believer be tested and proved genuine.
Speaker B:It is a hostile and malicious ministry, but a necessary ministry for the glory of God.
Speaker B:You have listened to the first part of a two part message by Evangelist Sam Wood.
Speaker A:Thank you for joining the Fortifying youg Family podcast.
Speaker A:And if you feel encouraged by today's teaching, give us a follow so we can invite you back and share us on your socials so more marriages and families can be strengthened and fortified through the truths of God's Word.
Speaker A:Remember, fortifying your family starts with a strong belief in God's Word.
