Sermon Central
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Studies In Job
Contributed by Glenn Pease on Apr 1, 2021 (message contributor)
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1. The Courtroom Of Heaven
Contributed on Apr 1, 2021
Satan is no amateur accuser. He knows that if you can bring the best man to a fall, you don't have to worry about lesser men. Satan goes right to the top. God is so proud of Job that he flaunts him before Satan.
The FBI has some amazing ways of bringing criminals to justice. One of these ways is by means of the Petrographic Unit of their famed laboratory in Washington, D. C. This unit is devoted to the analysis and identification of different kinds of soil. They know what soil is from a South Dakota ...read more
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2. Job's Wife
Contributed on Apr 1, 2021
No woman in history has been so severely condemned for so few words. She only steps on the stage for a moment, and she utters about ten words. On the basis of those few words she has been psychoanalyzed by preachers and scholars, and they have concluded, she was to Job what Judas was to Jesus.
Because of his great novel, War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy became one of the most famous Russians that ever lived. His fame and fortune did not bring him happiness, however, because of his wife. They were about as compatible as a porcupine and a bubble. She loved luxury, and he hated it. She loved ...read more
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3. The Saint In Depression
Contributed on Apr 1, 2021
It should be no surprise that God's people get depressed. It is normal for Christians to get athletes foot, tooth aches, and gray hair. It is also normal for them to get depressed.
I read a humorous story that fits the experience of Job. A man was on his roof trying to fix the TV antenna. Suddenly it began to rain, and while struggling with the guy wires he slipped. As he tumbled down the roof, he made a last ditch effort to grab the drain trough. There he was, hanging from ...read more
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4. Down In The Dumps
Contributed on Apr 1, 2021
The best of men and women, and the wisest, and most gifted, and most used of God, find themselves going to the dumps.
A midwestern pastor was cleaning out his garage. He was planning to haul the rubbish to the dump. His two sons were excited about this, because they considered the dump the happy hunting ground. Only those who have ever found an exciting piece of junk there can fully appreciate their feelings. ...read more
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5. Sinful Sympathy
Contributed on Apr 1, 2021
Chapter 4 shows us three approaches that Eliphaz took to Job, which he apparently thought would be helpful, but which are contrary to the true spirit of sympathy, and thus, must be classified as sinful sympathy, for they do more harm than good.
Tragedy so often leads to bitterness against God. Mark Twain had a daughter who died at the age of 21 because of diphtheria. His wife also died young. He became so angry and bitter that he lashed out at God with the very gift that made him famous, his pen. He wrote and imaginative tale about ...read more
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6. Sanctified Sympathy
Contributed on Apr 1, 2021
It is easier for those who have suffered deeply to be more sympathetic. Those who are more likely to be like Job's friends are those who have not suffered, and do not bother to develop the power of sympathy.
Sometimes you have to hurt others to help them. Iona Henry's case is a prime example. She had been in the hospital for 83 days on Demerol. She became dependent upon this drug for sleep, and escape, for she could not stand to think of her future without her husband and two children, all of ...read more
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7. Jumping To Conclusions
Contributed on Apr 1, 2021
The friends of Job explained life's sufferings, and specifically Job's sufferings, as very simple and obvious. They said there is no mystery here at all. It is clear as a bell that suffering is God's judgment on the sinner. Job is suffering, therefore, Job is a sinner.
There is a poem that I have enjoyed for many years, but I could never see how it could be used in a sermon, until I began to study the friends of Job. I want to share it with you, for it both describes them, and gives us insight into why they could be so wrong when they were so often right. It is ...read more
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8. Discouraging Comfort
Contributed on Apr 1, 2021
The book of Job makes clear that one of life's greatest tragedies is that believers do not comfort and encourage one another, but rather are often discouraging. That is what we see Job's friends being to him.
Emilie Lorning in her novel, Swift Waters, tells the story of a young single pastor who fell in love with a beautiful young woman in his congregation. She learned to play the chimes in the tower of the church, and when she learned the pastor's favorite hymn, she would play it frequently. ...read more
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9. Justifiable Complaint
Contributed on Apr 1, 2021
There was no escapism with Job. He got no comfort by trying to deny the reality of evil. Many believers often try to pretend that there is no evil. This is not healthy at all. Job is healthy, for he condemns evil for what it is.
Disraeli, as the Prime Minister of England, was once walking with a friend. As they went along the street in London, they met a distinguished looking gentleman. Disraeli greeted him, and asked, "How is your old complaint?" The man responded that it was getting worse, and he was sure it ...read more
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10. Self Defense
Contributed on Apr 1, 2021
Job's friends were not just indifferent. They felt compelled to argue, scold, and reject him for his negative expressions of grief. Having no one else to defend him, Job comes to his own defense, and as his own lawyer, argues his case.
Some of you may have visited the famous Carlsbad Caverns of New Mexico. I have not, but I have read about how the ranger guides the group to a place where they are seated on stone benches. Then all of the lights go out. Suddenly it is as black as black can be. You can hear water dripping you ...read more
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11. Why?
Contributed on Apr 1, 2021
Job does not offend God with his whys. Instead, he makes God proud of him, because of his patience and persistence in spite of having no answer to his whys.
Paul Aurandt shares this true story of James Macie. He was an illegitimate child, which is really a foolish idea, for it is the parents that are illegitimate, and not the child, but as is so often the case, the stigma of this followed him for life. The laws of England, in the 18th century, denied ...read more
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12. Job And Self-Esteem
Contributed on Apr 1, 2021
Job's attitude toward himself forces us to wrestle with one of life's major issues, the issue of self-esteem. This is a complex issue because the whole world is in on it.
Cornelius Vanderbilt, the New York millionaire, back in 1853, entered the Moon Lake Lodge as the talk of the town. The chef was an Indian Chief named George Crum. He was one of the greatest chefs, but even he could not know everything. So when Vanderbilt ordered, what was then the newest craze ...read more
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13. The Treasures Of The Snow
Contributed on Apr 1, 2021
That part of nature we want to focus on is--snow. There are 25 references to snow in the Bible, and we are to live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, and so snow is to be a part of creation that teaches us something about God.
It was one of the strangest funerals on record. Nobody was being buried, but things were being buried in a lot of little graves, and in one, the Bible was being buried. Shackleton and his men were exploring the Antarctic when they were over whelmed by the forces of nature. Their ship, Endurance, ...read more
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14. A Happy Ending
Contributed on Apr 1, 2021
Job is saying, now he really knows God, and has a great concept of God. He, like so many, had dragged God down into the realm of mere words. God was a subject in theology to be explained, instead of a person to be encountered.
Job is one of the masterpieces of world literature. It is studied today even in secular colleges, and students are required to write papers comparing Job's sufferings with those of the Greek god Prometheus. I know this, because I just recently loaned a commentary on Job to my neighbor who had ...read more