Lessons From The Book Of Job

Lessons from the book of Job

Recently, I saw a post on Facebook from a person who said it seemed like the devil is always bothering her. A person who had been reading the book of Job responded and said God allows Satan, the devil, to do things in our lives. And the person says that when God allows Satan to do things, look at it as an opportunity for growth.

Our lessons this morning will be from the book of Job. The first time I delivered a message from Job was in 2006. After I finished, the Lord told me that if I continue to study the book, He would continue to show me things. I am going to share some of those this morning.

Unfortunately, the Body of Christ has developed a doctrine about God and how He operates based on the book of Job. I’m going to share with you this morning some things you probably haven’t heard before. In this lesson, we’re going to see and understand that God doesn’t operate that way with His sons and with His daughters.

Let’s look at what people believe the book of Job teaches.

? Most believe it teaches that God allows or permits suffering.

? And the agent that God uses is Satan. In other words, Satan can only do to us what God allows or permits him to do.

? Most believe Job’s friends were “miserable comforters.” They were much more than that. When you read Job 3 through Job 38, a lot of what they say is what you hear in the Body of Christ today.

? The final thing that people say Job teaches us is that God disciplines us.

Now we need to understand that God does discipline us. But His discipline is through the Word. He corrects us through the Word. God does not discipline us by giving us cancer. God does not discipline you by making your water heater go out. God does not discipline you by having your children in a car accident so He can get your attention. That is not how God works. I don’t like it when people say things about My Father that are not true. My anger rises up when that happens.

We believe God does these things just like the minister whose wife and children died in a car accident. He said “God did that to try and get his attention.” In my mind I’m thinking if God wanted to get your attention, why would He kill your family? If God wanted to get his attention, He could have poured rain from heaven on the man and everything else would have been dry.

Let’s begin with Job 1, verse 1.

(1) There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.

Now, I don’t want you to rush through verse 1. Verse 1 is pivotal. It sets up the entire book.

The word “perfect” means “complete, lacking nothing.” And notice that it’s used with the word “upright.” Job was complete in the way he lived. He lived, to the best of his ability, the way God wanted him to live. Perfect – you can think about it as being “blameless” before God. He had a reverent fear toward God. That is missing in the Body of Christ today.

When I was a child, you couldn’t buy liquor on a Sunday. Do you know why? Christians were against it because they said “God wants us holy and holy people don’t do certain things.”

When I was growing up, my Mom and Dad didn’t even play cards on Sunday. Why? Sunday was God’s day. You can do anything you want on Sunday today. You can even go to a drive through and purchase liquor on Sunday. There is no fear of God in the Body of Christ.

The word “eschewed evil” means “to turn off, decline, depart from or rebel against.” The image it presents is a person sees evil walking through the door and runs in the opposite direction. In other words, he or she doesn’t want to be anywhere near it.

I’m going to make some people mad today, but’s that my job. I care more about where you’re going to spend eternity than how you feel about Barry. There are many in the Body of Christ who are not “eschewing evil.” Many are in bed with evil.

Any time a Christian says it’s okay for a man to marry a man, you are in bed with evil.

Any time a Christian says it’s okay for a woman to marry a woman, you are in bed with evil.

Any time a minister tells you that you the blood of Jesus covers everything and that you don’t have to repent anymore, that person is in bed with evil.