Peter Tan-Chi - Learn From Job, Endure
Do you know that the reality of pain and suffering is something we cannot avoid? Many times people will honestly ask questions like: If God is love and God is almighty why does He allow suffering? Have you ever thought about that question, if God is love and He is omnipotent, why does He allow suffering? I hope I'm sharing God's truth with you this morning so that you can learn how to work through pain and suffering because the truth is, we all experience suffering and pain, both good and bad. How many of you have experienced pain and suffering? Please raise your hands. Why did you all raise your hands? Because it's an integral part of our life experiences.
Just recently, my brother's wife, my sister-in-law, passed away from cancer. Recently, my sister who lives in Canada was diagnosed with cancer. Many of our friends, many of our pastors' wives, Gina Ma Pastor Katie's wife, cancer, Owen's wife, Gee, cancer, our own staff, senior staff, Paige, lung cancer, brain cancer, now I don't know about you but a lot of times you feel pain too when our friends have cancer and that's right It's hard for us so how do you get through the pain and suffering? You can't deny it's happening, so are you willing to learn how to get through it? I praise God for the Bible.
We are doing a series on a biblical character. Today this character will show us how you respond to pain and suffering. Are you interested? Guess what this character's name is? Job So this is our topic today, folks: Learning from Job: Patience Again: Learning from Job: Patience What does the word patience mean? Let me share with you how this word is used in the Bible. There was a time when I was afraid to read the Book of Job. I was afraid to search the Book of Job. Are you afraid? Well, I have good news for you.
When I came across James chapter 5, the Lord spoke to my heart and let's read it together brothers… He is writing to you Christians that you should be those who have previously served the Lord. The prophets who spoke famously were used as examples of suffering and endurance. Have you noticed? Suffering and endurance, they are related How do you cope with suffering? Just be patient. What does this mean? Let's find out the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. When you read the word prophet you may begin to understand that it refers to the Old Testament because the Old Testament was written by Moses and the prophets.
Now look at the next verse, Everyone read the next verse. Those who were patient, we call them blessed. The word patient comes up. You heard about Job's patience, patient. Everyone please read hupomeno. I'm going to explain the Greek word hupomeno, Patience, you have heard about Job's patience and know the outcome the Lord gave him. It is obvious that the Lord is full of mercy and has great mercy. The key point of the word patience is to deal with... Job clung to the Lord and the Bible said: Look at the result. So hupomeno, the word endure is not passive. When the Bible uses the word endure it is not like this Tagalog expression I have no choice. No no. In the Bible, endurance is active. You look forward to it, full of hope, but it anchors set on the Lord.
So today we are learning a new word, please say it: hupomeno. Hupomeno is a combination of two Greek words called hupo. Below, what is meno? It's about staying down, waiting forever, do you understand? Waiting with Anticipation So how do you deal with pain and suffering? Folks, what must you do to learn from Job? Patience, come together: What must you do to learn from Job? Endure hupomeno Endure, hupomeno Through trust Today when you go home, shake your family up Tell your loved ones I learned a new Greek word What is that? hupomeno, can you turn to your neighbor and tell your neighbor Hupomeno this is active anticipation it's not passive it's not laziness because you have nothing else to do you just wait and that's not biblical so how do you endure?
How do you wait with expectation and strength? We're going to look at the life of Job. The life of Job, if you read the book of Job, can be divided into three main parts. What do I mean? Chapters 1 and 2 of the Book of Job relate to his dilemma. Job didn't know why he was suffering. It was a dilemma, it was a matter of the reality of the physical world and the spiritual world. Chapters 3 to 37 are A debate on why do we suffer? They were arguing, why? Why do we suffer? Human reasons, you'd be surprised the reasoning here is partially correct but that's a danger, 80% correct, 70% correct ultimately leading to heresy, false teaching but they are debating and then chapters 38 to 42 are the highlight moments. Is God's response, a divine response How do you address this problem, the mystery of suffering? God explains to Job, are you ready?
Okay, let's start with the first chapter of the Book of Job and read it together: There was a man named Job in the land of Uz. He was a perfect and upright man who feared God and shunned evil. So what I want you to know about Job is that he was a true man. The book of James talks about him. Ezekiel chapter 14 talks about Job. So Job was a real person, it's not a myth. It's not a made-up idea. It was a real person. So what kind of person was Job? Woolen cloth? The Bible is clear He is a good man Why did I say yes? Because the Bible says that he was perfectly upright, feared God, and shunned evil. When the Bible talks about someone being perfectly upright, the Bible is not talking about perfection.
The Bible is saying that the direction of this person's life is to please God. We can all be blameless. We can all be blameless. Anyone can be righteous as long as you have a very sincere desire to please God. You must be willing to repent and change when you see something is wrong. A perfectly righteous person means turning away from evil. His direction in life is very clearly to please God. Next we learn Here are some things about Job. He was very wealthy. He had seven sons and three daughters. His wife was very productive. He had 10 children. Please read: 7,000 sheep.
You see, this was not the case in Job's time. Wealth was measured in money and gold bars but in livestock. Three thousand camels, the most important animals in the desert, 500 pairs of oxen for farming, 500 she-donkeys, and many servants. This man was the greatest among the people of the East in Israel. To the east, somewhere near Edom. Now what do you know about Job? Upright, a good man, and rich. Third, you learn some things about Job. Let's read it: His sons held feasts in their houses according to their days. This family met frequently and moved around frequently. You will notice a few things. thing, they invited their sisters to eat and drink with them.
Everyone read: When the days of the feast were over, Job sent to them to sanctify themselves. He rose up early in the morning and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, lest my son Job sinned and rejected God in his heart. Job often did this. So what did you learn about Job? Job was a good father. He cared about the spiritual health of his children. How many of you are fathers? Please wave to me, fathers, say hello to me. Fathers, most of us are focused on providing financially. You want to take care of your children.
But how many of us are like Job? He cares about his children spiritually. Wellness this is Job he cares about their spiritual condition he will pray for them please notice this is a constant thing I pray that you will care so much about your children that you will do it with intention and intention please say with me: do it with intention To be a caring father, to be a caring mother, that's Job, he was a good man, he was rich, he was a good father. Now the Bible tells us that one day, one day, the sons of God will come and stand before the Lord. Now, all of a sudden, you see the spiritual world. Job knew nothing about it.
Job couldn't see what was going on. The Bible says that the invisible spiritual world is even more real than the physical world. There's a meeting going on right now. So you Can you imagine? The Bible tells us about the sons of God, which in the Old Testament refers to angels. They are called the sons of God because they are created beings. Then there is Satan. Satan means the enemy. Enemies of God, don't be fooled and say that Satan cannot today. Enter into the presence of God. Satan can enter into the presence of God.
Do you understand? They all have to give an account to God and this is what is happening so Satan and the angels appear before God and then the Lord says, everyone read: The Lord said to Satan: Where do you come from? Satan replied: I walked up and down the earth and back. This is very biblical. The Bible says that Satan reported to God that I was circling the earth. Do you know what he was doing? Let me tell you: What Satan is doing today. Let's read together: Be on guard, be on the lookout. Hey, everyone, be on the lookout. In Tagalog: Don't resign yourself to fate and live heartlessly. Be on the lookout. Why? Everyone read: Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Resist him with strong faith.
In other words, listen to me. What do you learn about the spirit world and Satan from the book of Job? Reality, it's real He's out there to devour Christians It's out there to capture you. Let's go back to the book of Job. The LORD said to Satan: Have you carefully considered my servant Job? There was no one like him on earth who was perfectly upright, feared God and shunned evil. God was so impressed and pleased with Job. God was saying to Satan: Hey, do you see this man Job? He is my servant He is a good man.
These things were completely unknown to Job. The Bible tells us that Satan answered the Lord and said, read together, Did Job fear God for nothing? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and everything he has? The work of his hands has been blessed by you, and his possessions will increase on the earth. If you stretch out your hand to destroy everything he has, he will reject you to your face. Now you must understand Satan's theory, Satan's philosophy.
Satan said: Job loves you, Worship you because of one thing: Because of the things you can do for Him He doesn't really love you He doesn't really care about you In other words Satan is painting a picture of many Christians today You come to CCF, you Go to Bible study with your mind based on what you can get from God. It's called superficial Christianity. It's called commercialism. It's a consumer mentality toward God. It's called transactional: I worship you and I follow you. You, in return, you do this to me. This is what you call superficial Christianity and Satan is pretty accurate in that. There are a lot of self-centered people who don't know God and they don't really worship Him. They really What you worship is yourself.
God is the one who can be used. God is Santa Claus. I follow God because I can get something from God. That's his theory, but have you noticed? Satan told God: Didn't you surround him with a fence on all sides? The meaning of the fence here is actually a thick wall. Satan told God: I can't touch Job, I can't touch his family, I can't touch his business because you have been protecting him. This is the power of God. At the same time, Satan is Limited do you know what God said? Well, Satan is challenging God. People will curse you, God said. The Lord said to Satan: Behold, everything he has is in your hand. But do not lay out your hand against him.
So Satan withdrew from the presence of the Lord. What can you learn? Nothing can happen to us and our families without God's permission. This is my comforting warning: Satan is alive and wants to capture us. In fact the Bible warns you: Do not let the sun go down on your wrath. Do not give the devil a chance. What does chance mean here Don't let the devil have a place in your life What is the context? Anger, Temper Many men and women are full of anger, bitterness. They don't realize that by being angry by not learning to forgive you have given Satan a foothold and he is now allowed to destroy your life.
So my friend, please note: Christianity is not Be lazy and do nothing. God is powerful, but God warns you: You must protect your life. Are we clear? Well, what did Satan do? Oh my God! In one day Satan was so busy during the day. Oxen and donkeys were attacked and taken captive by the people of Sheba. In other words, Satan could stir up bad people to attack God's people and this is what happened. Sheep and servants were killed by fire/lightning. Oh my god! Satan has some control over nature Wow! Next, the camels were taken captive by the Chaldeans and the servants were killed in one day, note, if you read the Bible all this happened after this happened, the ox died and a man came: boss boss boss, Your sheep are dead, boss, boss, your camels are dead.
Then this is the most painful: the last person has not finished reporting. The Bible tells us that someone came to report to him: Boss, a strong wind blew from the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house. You The children of the house are dead. Their sons and daughters are dead. Let me ask you a question. Tell me honestly, how would you feel? Put yourself in Job's shoes. In one day, you don't even have time to process. You've lost your wealth. You've lost your family. How do you feel? Would you say: It's hard? Would you say: You might be worried that you might not survive? Yes or no? Do you know how Job responded?
So Job got up, tore his robe, shaved his head, and fell to the ground. It was a picture of mourning. When people mourn, when they grieve, that's what they do in the Middle East. They shave their heads, they tear their robes. But the most amazing thing is What happens is the Bible tells us: fall on the ground and worship. How many of us fall on the ground and worship if you come across trials. For a lot of people, they turn away from God. They stop coming to Bible study. They stop worshiping. You know what they say? Don't continue, forget it! But someone like Job was different. I was surprised that Job actually worshiped. Is this possible?
You know, I've seen this with my own eyes, and one of the greatest evidences of Christianity is how God's people respond to pain and suffering, and it's real here. The truth is this: bad people have problems, and good people have problems, right? The only thing is: when the bad guys have problems we think they deserve it, but when the good guys have problems you're shocked, oh! How could this happen? That's why a lot of people start to lose faith because they don't see fairness and they don't see righteousness and they question how can this be fair? But are not aware of the issues of justice and fairness.
Prove that God exists. If God does not exist, why should you care about fairness and justice? If we are products of evolution and there is no God then why talk about justice? ah! How Christians Respond to Problems Demonstrate to me the reality of God, let me give you an example. You try to talk to this woman in CCF church. She has stage four cancer, Paige. She has complete peace, joy. Gina has cancer and you talk to her and she comforts you and you go and talk to Kat and you go and talk to her now and she shared this morning and I saw her mask and I saw everything and was at peace. When I went to visit my sister-in-law, I went there to comfort her before she passed away.
I went there to comfort my brother. I left the hospital emergency room feeling comforted because of the way they handle pain and suffering. You know what my sister-in-law told me. Brother what? A few days before her death, she said: When I die, I want you to shout Hallelujah in the streets ! Shout: Hallelujah! Because I am with the Lord now! How amazing! You know why? Our perspectives are different. In the case of Job, he worshiped. Look at his theology.
Look at his understanding of God. Everyone read: He said: Naked I came from my mother's womb, naked I will return to the Lord, it is also the LORD who has collected it. Blessed be the name of the LORD! Do you know what he's talking about? Everything I have comes from God. I was born naked. By the way, how many of you were born clothed? I was born naked and died taking nothing with me. To Job, my family, my blessings, everything comes from God. In fact, God has blessed me with many children of my own and my possessions over the years. Praise God!
Perspective/Perspective, my friend, Job's perspective is different and that's why today's message is so important Sooner or later, you will encounter pain and suffering without exception. The only difference is how you handle it and how you help others... When people come to you: Pastor! Or they call you: I have a real problem. My husband left me. My baby is dead. What will you do? The Bible tells us: In the Book of Job you will learn how to endure!
What is the topic of today's sermon? Learning from Job: Patience What is Patience? Hupomeno. Tell the person next to you: hupomeno. What do you do? You know after all of this, the Bible tells us that Job did not sin and did not blame God. It is amazing that Job did not lose his temper. He continued to follow the Lord. Now turn one, chapter 1, Satan said: Job will curse you Job. Cursed God? No. Who won the first round of this battle? God, Job. Second round, the same thought. Another day, the sons of God came to stand before the Lord. Satan came again. The same thing happened again, no, it was another thing but the idea was the same you know, this time the LORD said: Satan look at Job, you did him harm but he still follows me and he still trusts me!
Satan now replied: Uh-uh Satan answered the Lord and said: A man trades skin for skin, and is willing to give up everything he has to save his life. If you reach out your hand and bruise his bones and his flesh, he will reject you to your face. Do you understand Satan's theory? God, you give me permission to touch his body and I promise you: He will curse you. You see, Satan's theory is simple. No one will truly worship God, unless they can get something. Ladies, I want you to imagine a Boy is pursuing you parents, I want you to imagine now that someone is pursuing your daughter because your daughter is rich so someone is pursuing her and then he comes and when he pursues your daughter he finds out that when they get married, you Will not give them money.
Secondly, the girl will not have sex with this guy. In other words, he will not get any material or sex only pure love. Then the boyfriend said: Don't continue. This boyfriend suddenly disappeared now. How does it feel to be a father? Ladies, how do you feel? If a man finds that he can't get anything from you, he disappears. I remember someone told my wife, many years ago, could I have your name, address, and phone number?
My wife said: Yes! Then the girl suddenly opened her mouth you know I need to know your phone number so that one day when I get in trouble I will call you and my wife is thinking I thought you wanted my number because you wanted to Keep in touch because you want to be friends, duh! I want your number so I can call you when I need you. How would you feel? You see, these people are not really friends. They are looking for networking. It's called network marketing. Well, she wants relationships. Many politicians have this experience when they are in power and have many friends the moment they are no longer in power. People disappeared. Satan says that we are like those friends who follow the wind.
We come to God because He can do something for us. But when we have a problem, God does not follow our will or do what we want Him to do. What would we do? We disappeared God said: Well... The Lord said to Satan: Behold! He is in your hands, as long as he lives, what can you learn? Although Satan is very powerful, his power is limited. Why? Nothing happens without God's permission, are we clear? Satan cannot touch you without God's permission. But God gives you a warning. Don't enter Satan's territory. If you are sinful, if you are bitter, you open yourself up to the devil's attacks.
Do you know what Satan has done? He immediately took action. Then Satan withdrew from the presence of the LORD and smote Job with sores all over his body from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. So Job sat in the ashes and scraped his body with tiles. Ladies and gentlemen, sir. Guys, if you were Job, what would you do? Will you feel pain? Oh my God! That's unimaginable to me. You know what the Bible tells us? Satan, although he couldn't make Job curse God, he succeeded in talking to Job's wife. Do you know what Job's wife did? This is what Mrs. Job did: His wife said to him: Do you still maintain your integrity? Forsake God and die!
You know, in Tagalog: Just kill yourself! Why do you still believe in God? I realize this is a scheme of Satan and he will use your family and use people to be his spokesmen. Did you know that Satan has power but his power is limited but he attacks your view of God please see the next section I Surprised, Job told his wife: You are talking like a foolish woman ! Don't we receive blessings from God but also suffer disasters? In all these things, Job did not sin with his mouth. This is amazing. My question to you is: What allowed Job to persevere? Do you know what Job said? Even though He wants to kill me, I'll still have hope in Him. But I still have to justify what I've done.
For Job, his biggest problem wasn't denying God. His biggest problem was: I don't know why. Why am I doing this? suffer? The Bible tells us. Look at Job's faith. Do you know what kept him going? To make him patient? Even though He wants to kill me, what will happen to me? With hope in my heart I will persevere and I will continue to wait on Him But He said I have to justify my ways I am distressed I want to talk to God I am distressed Job's faith is amazing Job was able to endure because he saw something A big picture.
Look at what Job said. I know that my Redeemer lives. He already knew in the book of Job that my Redeemer will stand on the earth at the end of his life. After this flesh is destroyed, I will be seen outside the body. God Job believed in the resurrection of the body He said one day I will see God face to face Even if my skin is destroyed, one day I will see Him in my flesh Job's faith enabled him to walk He didn't understand my consciousness That you can trust God even when you don't know why you are in pain. You can trust God because your faith is not in the circumstances but in trusting who God is. The truth is that we have pain.
This is what happened to me and my wife. It got very real in life when my daughter was raped by seven men. It was the hardest experience my wife and I had. I cried more than I had ever cried in my life. I didn't just cry for a day. I didn't just cry for a week, mourned for a month. In fact, even today I have tears when I think about it because I cannot understand how a loving God could allow such a terrible thing to happen to my daughter. She is only 15 years old and has never kissed a man. She is very pure. Still a virgin I was teaching the Bible and I was not in sin so the temptation was very real and the temptation was this: Why do you continue to serve God? Why should we continue to trust God?
You see, our problem, for many believers in the fog of pain and suffering, is no longer questioning the existence of God. We are questioning the character of God. What kind of God do I believe in? That was my temptation but I praised God for His grace and that same voice talking about God "Forget Him"! came to my wife as well and we were shocked and we compared the records and it was the exact same thought: Forget Him God! But I can tell you this: The Holy Spirit is more powerful, and the Holy Spirit says to us: Keep trusting because of this amazing promise: Guess what promise? We know that God causes all things to work together for good, those who love God are those who are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28-29
So the only reason we persevere is because we declare the promises of God. Do you believe it? It happened at midnight on Friday, and on Sunday, my wife and I went to CCF and we were singing, we were worshiping God, and I preached. Why? This is possible by the grace of God: You can bow down and worship us as a family in the midst of pain. We worship the Lord not because we are good or because we are powerful but because God is faithful. You know the promises of God: The temptations you encounter nothing but what a man can endure. God is faithful and will not let you be tempted beyond what you are able to endure.
The same word: Patience, why? He will provide you with a way out so that you can endure it. God will not let you be tempted or tempted beyond what you can bear. Why? So that you can endure Ladies and gentlemen, what is the theme of today's sermon? Learn from Job in the midst of pain and suffering What must you do? Patience. You can only endure when you learn to trust Him. You know, Job's three friends. I call them the Three Stooges, okay? What were the names of Job's three friends who heard that all this calamity was befalling him ? Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar. I'm glad none of you are called Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar.
Now, don't get me wrong. These guys were good friends. They loved Job. In fact, They went to see Job and they sat with him for seven days and didn't say anything my friend, that was real comfort and I realized that when you comfort someone you don't have to say any words just hug them or just be close to them and let them know It's amazingly comforting that you care. In fact, when they open their mouths, something starts to go wrong. You know sometimes it's better not to open your mouth. Stop telling people why they are suffering. You know sometimes we think we are smarter than God. We start telling people, we start quoting scripture.
Do you know why you are suffering? Do you know what their conclusion was? When they opened their mouths to comfort Job it became the mouth of Satan. These Stooges' advice made Job even more distressed. I call them sincere Stooges. You know these three guys from chapter 3 to chapter 37 we have this. Three good friends, let me tell you now: They are good friends, they are sincere Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. What was their main advice to Job? Job, sin brings suffering, you are suffering because of sin Bildad said: You must be sinning, the wicked always suffer Zophar: You are sinning, the wicked are short-lived.
The fourth friend is the youngest God does not blame Elihu because he said something more correct God cleanses and teaches us through suffering but these three people had one conclusion: sin causes suffering, now please listen to me, you guys based on the same idea the disciples also proposed this to Jesus Let us read the question together: His disciples asked Jesus: Rabbi, Rabbi, who sinned that this man was born blind? Is it this person? Are they his parents? Jesus answered and said, It was not this man who sinned, nor his parents, but that the works of God might be revealed in him. What can you learn? Not all suffering is caused by sin. Are we clear?
Many times sin brings pain, but not all pain is caused by sin. So be careful not to oversimplify when responding to people's pain and suffering. To be patient, you have to be willing. There are mysteries in life. I don't understand why we suffer? There are many reasons. According to Jesus, one of the reasons is to show the works of God. There are many other reasons. Let me give you an example. We don't have time to go into detail. But let me give you an example. Why is there pain and suffering?
The Bible makes it very clear in Genesis 3:17-19 that the primary reason was sin. What is sin? When you disobey God, the Bible tells us: When sin enters the world, boom! We have pain and suffering. The ground is cursed for your sake. You will labor all the days of your life to get food from the ground. The ground will bring up thorns and thistles for you. You see that when God created the world, it was perfect. No pain, no suffering, no death but when man chooses to disobey God when we choose to sin bam! God is not polite. Now sin causes hardship, pain, suffering, death. Are we clear?
Sin is something you and I don't really appreciate or see, and when I say appreciate we don't see the horror of sin. That's why God now allows us to go through natural disasters, go through sickness, go through cancer, go through decay is to give you a glimpse of what sin does to the soul. Impact This is bad news so there are many reasons why we suffer, are we aware of it? Sin is for testing, for the glory of God, and to test our faith. It is God's discipline.
The Bible says: Those whom the Lord loves, He will discipline. I have seen Christians who disobeyed the Lord. Suddenly they changed. Do you know why they changed? All of a sudden, they have a problem, they have cancer. The hardest hearts I have ever seen change and become softer. Protect us from sin. You know, God allows problems to happen to protect us from sin. In this case, God said: To prevent you from becoming proud. For example, why do we have pain and suffering? Christ-like character is meant to build our character. Why do we have pain and suffering? It's for our reward. God promises that some bad things will turn out to be good. For intimacy with God.
One of the greatest blessings is intimacy with God, through pain and suffering. But many times people don't realize that's for us. Salvation God uses pain and suffering to bring people into His Kingdom What was Job's problem? If you continue reading from chapter 3, what is Job's greatest struggle ? Why? Lord, why is this? He kept asking: Why? His greatest temptation was: What kind of God am I serving? He had never doubted the existence of God, but he began to question: What kind of God is this? I am not in sin, I have not sinned. The Bible tells us: God finally appeared. Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind. My God, who has darkened my will with ignorant words?
God begins to speak to Job, "Who is this man who keeps asking me questions? You must gird yourself up like a warrior. I ask you, can you show me? Do you understand?" God has turned the tables now. Job, you have been asking me questions. Now, stand up and I'm going to ask you questions. Question number one: Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? tell me! Do you understand? God began to ask Job simple questions about creation. Job, since you are questioning me, let me ask you: How was the world created? Where are you? How big is our planet? Job, explain to me: Why does the sun rise in the morning? Explain to me about the stars Explain to me about the stars Job, explain to me!
Do you know what Job did? Look at me. Job couldn't answer God's question. God wanted Job to know: Job, you can't even understand my creation. How can you understand the moral order in the universe? You don't even know simple things like where does snow come from? The Bible tells us that the Lord answered Job. Again, he repeated the question. Girdle your loins like a mighty man; I ask you, can you show me? Now, please notice, will you set aside my judgment? Can you, Job, condemn me so that you can prove yourself righteous? So God asked Job: I'm going to ask you now that you're trying to condemn me and doubt my works, right?
Explain to me Leviathan the crocodile Explain to me Potamus the hippopotamus Explain to me how strong they are Explain to me how ostriches lay eggs Explain to me how horses can run so fast What did Job say? Look at me. So, finally, here comes the highlight, Job answered the Lord and said: I know that you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. Did you notice? God never explained to Job why? God answered Job not by explaining things about the devil and so on. He just answered Job's questions by His presence, by showing Job who He was. Job discovered: God, you are sovereign. You can do anything you want.
You see, the answer to Job's question is God Himself. Job discovered who God is: You can do anything. You are the King of kings, you are the boss. Second, what I say It's the things I don't understand that are so amazing, it's the God I don't know, you are wiser than I am. O Lord, you are the Almighty. You are the King of kings. O God, you know everything. You know everything. I know so much. The third thing young Job discovered about God was: I had heard about you, and now I see you with my own eyes. The greatest blessing for Job was that he became closer to God. I had heard about you, and now I see you with my own eyes.
In short, Job said: Now, I really know. Do you understand the difference? Intimacy with God. What does intimacy with God bring? comfort. I asked Andrea about her testimony and I said: Andrea, when you were blind, when you were in pain, when you were having all these problems, how were you spiritually? You know what she told me? It was during her blindness that it was during this time that she became closest to the Lord. She gained a greater knowledge of God. In the midst of suffering, intimacy came. I'm sure some of you know what I'm talking about. In my own life I experienced an intimacy with God in pain that the world will never understand. Job understood. Job said: I repent, I repent.
What did he repent of? Do you see the brokenness? Job did not repent for adultery, not for lying, no, no, what was his sin? Job said: Lord, forgive me if I doubt your goodness. Forgive me if I doubt your goodness. Job Said: Forgive Me How did God defend Job? Can I tell you? God rebuked those three stooges. God told them: You people, you are speaking wrong about me. Now go to Job and he will pray for you. God told these people: My servants will pray for you because you are talking about me. Can you imagine what my servant Job said ? God defended Job in His time. The Bible tells us: After Job prayed for his friends, the Lord restored Job's possessions. How much more did the Lord give him than he had before? 200%.
Now let me explain it to you. First of all, when did the Lord restore Job's property ? When did God restore Job's health and property? Before or after prayer? You see, when Job was in pain and suffering, he obeyed the Lord. God said you pray for these people and he obeyed. Patience means trusting and worshiping God. Even in pain, Job prayed for others. That was true repentance. No bitterness, no anger. I will do what you want me to do. The Bible tells us that God restored His possessions came after he prayed, not before, after he prayed. The Bible tells us that God blessed Job in this way. The Lord later blessed Job more than before.
You see, you can never understand suffering or suffering. Because you are shortsighted but God sees everything God's plan was always to bless Job please note: six thousand camels a thousand pairs of oxen and a thousand she donkeys he had seven sons and three daughters please: in chapter 1 and 2 In chapter 1, how many children did Job have? how many? Why do you say seven? Ten! Ten! Seven sons and three daughters, ten! How many sons and daughters did Job have now? Ten. Why isn't it doubled? ah! Only humans have eternal souls. So Job's ten dead children are now in heaven. One day when Job and his children go to heaven, how many children will Job have? Twenty! Doubled! Praise God!
Because monkeys and donkeys have no souls and if you are thinking, when you die you want your horse to go to heaven with you that is between you and God but there is no such promise but all I know is that man is Eternal So God doubled everything Job had Isn't it amazing that God? Now, he names his daughters. Wonderful names: Jemima, Kizeiah, Chilion-happo. Unheard of, unheard of. You don't name your daughters in the Old Testament. Why? Let's read together: There was no woman so beautiful in all the earth as the daughters of Job, whose father gave them an inheritance among their brothers.
This wonderful book tells us that Job was great. In that culture, daughters would not get an inheritance. Job gave them an inheritance. Job was really a righteous man blessed by God. Do you know how long Job lived? Job lived another hundred and forty years. Wow! To see his children and grandchildren to the fourth generation. Job was old and died at the end of his days. God is good, isn't he? You know, to be able to endure, to be able to endure, they say, you must learn hupomeno, you cling to God, cling to his goodness, cling to his omniscience, God knows everything, God knows what is best for you.
Well no matter what happens to you that you may not understand, in the midst of pain and suffering you must say: God, I hold on to you and I trust you because I know that you are good and I know that you love me and I will Trust you and hold on to Him. Don't give up. Don't surrender. Why? Because that's the topic of today's sermon. Those who endured before, we call them blessed. You are blessed on one condition: He who endures, don't give up. My concern, my friend, is that some of you will give up on you. Faith loses your temper with God, don't do this.
Have you heard about Job's patience and seen the ending the Lord gave him? Have you seen the ending? God is good, right? Yes, I'm going to give you a reward. You know the word: hupomeno. I did a search and research. The word "patience" in Hebrew is translated as "wait". For example: wait, in Hebrew. It is called "qavah" and translated into Greek it is called hupomeno. You want hupomeno. Wait on the Lord. Take courage and strengthen your heart! I say again, wait on the Lord! Waiting, hupomeno is not passive but active, merely holding on to the Lord. The object of waiting is God, His goodness, never passive.
Look at another example of the word wait: But that wait (qavah), in Greek In the language hupomeno But those who wait for the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar with wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary, and they will walk and not faint. This is the wonderful thing about enduring, holding on, and waiting on the Lord. How many of you were here two Saturdays ago? Did you hear Dr. Philip Lim's testimony? Raise your hands. Many of you didn't. I learned this from the example he gave. You see, when eagles are courting they lock their talons when they What happens to Eagle when locked together? They'll spiral down until they're almost hitting the ground and all of a sudden they'll let go.
Why do they have this courtship pattern? Very simple The female eagle is testing the male eagle Will he hold on to me until death do us part? Remember eagles are monogamous and they have to commit their whole life so before they commit, they will test you and you will see the eagles bonding together. My friend saw this in Bukidnon, the Philippine Monkey Eagles. How come they are together and then they begin to spiral downward. Before they hit the ground, they separate. Then the eagle will know: Until death we part I will give my life to you.
Friends, this is a picture of the meaning of hupomeno. Picture you have to hold on tight to the Lord, hold on tight you know why? He is faithful and will be there. My friend to learn from Job, hupomeno, what must you do when you are in pain? Hold on tight to the Lord let's bow our heads and pray if God has been speaking to you today you finally realize you have been a business shadow of a Christian you want God for what He can do for you but today you want Grow up and you want to say: I really want to know Jesus. I will commit my life. I will hold on to the Lord. Please raise your hands and I will pray for you.
You finally understand that in the pain, God is speaking to you. But you must hold on to Him and lift Him high! Lift it higher! In fact you know what I could pray for you? Those of you who want me to pray for you just stand up and when you stand up you want to hold on to the Lord, remember to be very specific, you want to hold on to the Lord you haven't figured out yet as a human being committed to the Lord The meaning of your relationship with God has always been business, transactional but now you're saying I want business I want to stick close to the Lord no matter what happens because of Him it's not because of what you can get ladies and gentlemen As you bow your heads, I want to tell you that Job never knew what God could do in his life through his life.
Did you realize that Job's blessings were so amazing that millions of people are going through Job's experience today? Learn a lesson about pain and suffering. God used Job to bless others. Job didn't know that God would bless him twice as much. Job didn't know that the greatest blessing was intimacy with God. Job became a better person than he had been in his life. Chapters 1 and 2 are better, you know why? In Chapters 1 and 2, Job hears about God. But at the end, Job actually knows God. How are you today? If this is your desire, please stand up You really want to know God, I know you want to know God But you need to make a commitment, you need to hold on Is there anyone else? Praise God wherever you are!
Father God in heaven, I thank you for this group of men and women who have stood up. Thank you for showing us that you desire us to love you for who you are. Thank you for reminding us that two thousand years ago you Show us the perfect Job who suffered for each of us. You suffered for each of us not because of what you could gain from us but simply because you loved us. Lord, help us to know: You do love us, love us for who we are. Thank you for the lesson of Job. Help us to show you in pain and suffering that we love you for who you are. Bring intimacy, bring deeper relationships so that we would be able to experience a greater awareness, a greater intimacy of who you are, of who you are. Thank you Jesus, thank you for loving us and dying on the cross for us. I pray now for all the people here who have not yet surrendered their lives to The one who gave you will meet you today.
Wherever you are, pray this prayer to yourself. Wherever you are, just pray:
Lord Jesus, I cling to you and leave you. Lord, there is really no meaning, no purpose in the suffering and pain. Lord, I don't understand why. I don't understand all my problems, but I stick to you today. Lord, I wait for you, I wait for you, I don't have to understand why I just trust you one day, Lord willing, you will let me know if you don't let me know I will still love you, I will still trust you we pray all in Jesus name, Amen! Amen!