Misrepresenting God? Series

We are now at the last chapter of the Book of Job. Open your Bibles to Job 42…

Let us remind ourselves of the story of Job. Job was a godly man, wealthy, and had a nice family. The devil Satan challenged God that if Job lost just about everything including his family and health, that Job would curse God!

God allowed Satan to hurt Job but not take his life. And in spite of all the sufferings, Job did not curse God BUT, Job went into self-pity with his friends. For a long time, Job’s friends accused him of sinning against God and told Job to confess. Job tried his best to explain that he was really hurting but he had no idea why and did not know of any sin.

God eventually spoke out and rebuked Job and his friends about their folly.

Read along with me now Job 42:1-9….

The key verse for us in this message is v6…. Job repented! Now, it is easy to just say to God “I repent” but we can note what it meant to Job in this passage?

We need to note what was included in Job’s repentance because it was accepted by God:

v1: spoke directly to God!

v2: affirmed and rested on the omnipotence and providence of God (God controls all and knows all; but loves people!)

v3: confessed of ignorance of God’s marvel

v4-5: truly listened to, heard, and understood what God said

v6a: despised himself (i.e. rejected everything said earlier)

v6b: repented in dust and ashes (complete humility before God!)

After confronting Job and Job repenting, God then turned to Job’s friends.

v7: God was “angry” with Job’s friends for not speaking the right things of God!

I think we need to note that God got “angry” here; what does this mean? Other English translations of this verse state God’s wrath. And so we note that there is godly anger (a righteous anger)! What caused this righteous anger?

God is love; and so, we must be careful in understanding what God means with righteous anger. God does not get angry for no reasons. Let us make sure we understand why God was angry here; God stated that he was angry with Job’s friends because they did not speak of what is right about God! i.e. God was angry at Job’s friends because of their sin of misrepresenting God!

God was angry, but how do we know God is love? God’s wrath was upon Job’s friends but because God is love God provided a way out of judgment.

V8-9: God asked for a burnt offering and a prayer!

Job’s friends obeyed and God accepted Job’s prayer and God forgave them all of their sins!

And so, let us summarize the biblical principles for us to apply today.

1. God is a loving God but He is also a righteous God who has to judge wrongs.

The wrong which Job’s friends did was misrepresenting God. They spoke of the wrong things of God and God had anger!

Do people misrepresent God today? How many religions are there in the world today proclaiming they know God? There are 4300 religions in the world today proclaiming God! About 16% of the world consider themselves atheists or non-religious! And so, about 7 billion people in the world believe in some sort of god! Now, of the 7 billion religious people in the world, how many are actually representing God properly?

Let us note that even though the number religion in the world is still Christianity (with Islam getting closer to it), there are many sub-religions in Christianity (just as there are many sub-religions in Islam). Sadly, many sub-religious faiths in Christianity do not believe in “Faith alone for salvation” and “Scriptures alone for truth”!

It is estimated that there are about 13% of people in the world are evangelical Christians (those who believe in faith alone and Scriptures alone). And so, we can estimate that about 6 billion religious people in the world are misrepresenting God!

The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ will come back to earth soon to judge the living and the dead! Many people will be judged to be eternally separated from God because they either misrepresented God or never believed in God! God is a righteous God with a righteous anger! Judgment will happen to many people soon! Where are you and me in representing God?

Now, let us never forget, God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow! The same mercy and love of God given to Job and his friends is available today in spite of sinning against God!

2. Although every person has sinned and fall short of the glory of God, because He is love, God provides a way out from eternal judgment through the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Now, because Jesus Christ died for all the sins of the world, does it mean everyone will go to heaven? Just like Job and his friends who really didn’t have to accept God’s provision of forgiveness, Every person in the world has to make a decision to accept the provision of God to be saved from judgment through belief in Jesus Christ!