Preached by Larry Brincefield on June 27, 2004
Title: Heaven’s Wager
Text: Job 1:6-22
Introduction
1. I don’t have much time for “pleasure” reading.
• I do so much reading of Bibles, commentaries, and other materials in sermon preparation,
• I just don’t have the time to read much beyond scanning the newspaper or a magazine.
• But, when I go on vacation, I try to catch up!
• During my most recent vacation, I read 3 books by Ted Dekker (www.teddekker.com)
• He writes Christian fiction that is very entertaining and exciting…
• Yet it also speaks to me on a deeply spiritual level.
• The Lord really blesses me through his writings.
• One of those books was entitled, “Heaven’s Wager”…
• And it is what inspired me to write this sermon,
• Which I’ve entitled “Heaven’s Wager” after the book.
2. I won’t go into great detail about the book…
• It is basically the story of a man who seems to have it all…
• But then, through a bizarre set of seemingly unrelated circumstances…
• This man’s entire world crashed down around him.
• This man wasn’t a Christian…
• But his wife, son, and mother-in-law were…
• And they met every week to pray for this man.
• But then the crash occurs…
• And he seems to slip even farther from the Lord…
• But ultimately, he finds redemption…
• After the death of 2 loved ones…
• After his job falls apart because of 2 conspiring co-workers…
• After he commits a crime…
• And is sentenced to prison…
• He finally comes to his senses and finds the Lord.
• The gist of the story is that unbeknownst to the man…
• Everything that is happening to him is the result of spiritual warfare between God and Satan.
• This short summary hasn’t really done the story justice…
• Get the book and read it for yourself (or you can borrow mine if you don’t forget to return it!)
Read Text: Job 1:6-22
Body
1. The Story
A. Job seemed to have a perfect life…
• A wonderful family…wife, 10 kids
• A good job with a solid income…
• Material possessions…
• He was very wealthy.
B. But then, he loses it all…
• As far as he is concerned…
• These events just happened to him…
• He doesn’t know the cause…
• But his world just fell apart.
C. Behind the scenes, there is God and satan…
• They have made a deal whereby satan can test Job…
• And as a result of satan’s efforts, Job is severely tested…
• To the breaking point.
• And you know the story…Job remains faithful…
• And in the end, the Lord richly blesses him…
• Ted Dekker’s book is an contemporary parallel to the story of Job.
2. But, there’s more to it…
A. The book of Job isn’t just a story about something that happened thousands of years ago…
• And “Heaven’s Wager” by Ted Dekker isn’t just fictional entertainment…
• The story of Job is going on in the world today…
• From OUR perspective, the world is what we see…
• The circumstances that happen to us are just that…
• Circumstances…
• Random events…
• On the surface, we see no reason to think otherwise…
B. But there is more to this world than meets the eye…
• There is more going on than what we can see…
• There is another side…
• A deeper side…
• Beneath the surface…
• A place where, truth be told, there’s much more going on than there is here…
• In our visible world…
• Christians often talk about spiritual battle…
• But I wonder if we really have any idea of the extent…
C. satan’s work hasn’t ended…
• We read about his end in the book of Revelation…
• And those events haven’t happened yet…
• satan is STILL “roaming the earth”…
• Scripture says, “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” 1 Peter 5:8 (NIV)
• I don’t know if you have ever watched one of those nature shows…
• Where the lions are hunting the wildebeest…
• But if you have, then you have gotten a picture of 1 Peter 5:8…
• satan is like that lion…hungry…looking to devour us…
• We are like the wildebeest…poor…defenseless…
• Do you know how the lion picks out which wildebeest to go after?
• He looks for the ones that are
o sick…
o diseased…
o struggling…
• And just like that lion, satan will look for Christians who are hurt, struggling, and weak.
• I don’t know about the lion, I’m not a zoologist…
• But satan doesn’t stop there…
• He will go after the strong ones…
• He will go after the devout Christian…
• The one that is faithful…
• The one that is praying…
• The one that is in church every week…
• Like Job.
D. In this world there is a struggle going on…
• And it is much more than the struggle to make ends meet…
• It is much more than the struggle of dealing with illness…
• Or death…
• Or pain…
• Or family difficulties…
• There is a spiritual struggle…
• Scripture says, For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Eph 6:12 (KJV)
• I’ve never been one to spiritualize every tiny detail of my life…
• Sometimes you just stub your toe…
• It’s not because satan was trying to trip you up…
• But, in my desire not to over-spiritualize things…
• Perhaps I swung too far the other way…
• And I under-spiritualized things…
3. The story of Job continues…
A. I am convinced that the story of Job is continuing today…
• I am convinced that satan is alive and well…
• And he is still roaming this earth…
• Looking to bring us down…
B. On the other side of the aisle, is God…
• God loves us…
• God deeply and wildly loves us…
• For God, it would be so easy just to shower us with blessing upon blessing…
• To put a hedge around us…
• So that satan couldn’t get his hooks into us…
• But, like it or not, satan makes a good point…
• “Does Job serve God for nothing? You have blessed him in every way”
• If the secret to financial wealth…and health…and booming prosperity were simply a matter of becoming a Christian…
• I’m sure that everyone would do it…
• And God would have to wonder if we were a Christian because we really loved Him and wanted to serve Him…
• Or were we only a Christian for the blessings that God can give us?
C. So heaven’s wager continues…
• God allows satan to test us…
• To afflict us…
• To tempt us…
• In the process, satan is successful in tearing some people away from God…
• Because it is hard…it is difficult…
• following Christ has been called a narrow road…
• because few people can withstand the temptations and trials that satan lays on us.
• But, the benefits from God’s perspective are great…
• Because then He knows…
• He knows that we really love Him for Him…
• And not for what He can give us.
Conclusion
1. Have you ever felt your world crashing down around you?
• Have you ever identified with Job?
• I know I have.
• Maybe you feel that way today…
• Maybe you are here today…
• Wondering if you have the strength to go on…
• Maybe you feel like that wildebeest on the edge of the pack…
• With the lion nipping at your heels…
2. My message for you today isn’t to discourage you with the reality of the spiritual battle that’s going on…
• My hope is to encourage you…
• My desire is to peel away the skin of this world a little bit…
• And give you a glimpse of the spiritual world beneath…
• And by viewing that glimpse…
• It will give you the courage to stand firm…
• To not give in to satan’s schemes…
• To remain faithful to God…
• “At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said:
"Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised." In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.” Job 1:20-22 (NIV)
3. If your world is crashing down around you…
• It is time for you to worship the Lord…
• It is NOT time for you to blame God…
• If you must blame someone…
• Blame satan, because he is trying to pull out all the stops…
• And do everything that is demonly possible to pull you away from Christ…
• Maybe you are here today and you would say, “but Pastor, for me it is too late. I HAVE blamed God…I have sinned”
• My answer to you is… “It is NOT too late…the day will come when it will be too late…but at least for the moment…that time is not now”…
• God has given you the opportunity this morning to return to Him…
• God loves you so very much…
• He loves you too much to never allow anything bad to happen to you…
• Because then satan would be right…we wouldn’t be serving God for nothing…
• We would be serving Him because of His blessings…
• Which would be a pretty selfish reason for serving God, wouldn’t it?
• And that isn’t the proper reason for serving God…
• It all boils down to love…
• God loves us …
• And He just wants us to love Him for Him.
4. I’d like to close by singing “I love Him”
• If you are going through trials, temptation, pain, misery…
• Now is the time to worship Him…
• Now is the time to let Him know that you love Him for Him…
• But if you have sinned…
• If, during satan’s onslaught against you, you have failed…
• You can find forgiveness and love at the feet of Jesus…
• The altar’s open.
I love Him, I love Him,
Because He first loved me,
And purchased my salvation
On Calvary’s tree.
© Public Domain / 1909 Charles M Alexander/ Tabernacle Publishing Co
CCLI License No. 946077
