Jesus loves you and so do we
Pastor's Sunday Sermon
September 29, 2024
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Is God a just God? The book of Job
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We have all gone through grief and loss. Job got to the point where he cursed the day he was born (Job 3:2-3, Job 3:11) The best things his friends did for Job was to just be there for them. (Job 2:13)
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And then they started talking, sometimes not saying the best things in that moment (Job 5:17).
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They started guessing as to why Job was suffering as he was. We try to rationalize to ourselves how and why God deems things to happen. We try to think the good get rewarded and the bad get punished. But we can see in the world today that is not the case.
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God speaks to Job telling him that Job does not have authority to question Him and His ways. (Job 38:1-6, 33-41).
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God asks if Job thinks he could do it better. (Job 40) How we know God is just. (Romans 9:14-21 Isaiah 55:8-9)
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Why do we question God? Is it right to question Him?
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God can use both negative and positive experiences for training, preparation, and testing. Yes sometimes we are being corrected for our decisions, but not always.
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At the end of the day this world is a fallen world. We just have to trust, as Christians, that our God is just. We can rest assured that His plan is for our betterment (Romans 8:28-39).
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Job 3:2-3
He said:
3 May the day I was born perish,
and the night that said,
“A boy is conceived.”
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Job 3:11
Why was I not stillborn;
why didn’t I die as I came from the womb?
Job 2:13
Then they sat on the ground with him seven days and nights, but no one spoke a word to him because they saw that his suffering was very intense.​
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Job 5:17
See how happy is the person whom God corrects;
so do not reject the discipline of the Almighty.
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Job 38:1-6 and 33-41
Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind. He said:
2 Who is this who obscures my counsel
with ignorant words?
3 Get ready to answer me like a man;
when I question you, you will inform me.
4 Where were you when I established the earth?
Tell me, if you have[a] understanding.
5 Who fixed its dimensions? Certainly you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
6 What supports its foundations?
Or who laid its cornerstone
Do you know the laws of heaven?
Can you impose its[a] authority on earth?
34 Can you command[b] the clouds
so that a flood of water covers you?
35 Can you send out lightning bolts, and they go?
Do they report to you, “Here we are”?
36 Who put wisdom in the heart[c]
or gave the mind understanding?
37 Who has the wisdom to number the clouds?
Or who can tilt the water jars of heaven
38 when the dust hardens like cast metal
and the clods of dirt stick together?
39 Can you hunt prey for a lioness
or satisfy the appetite of young lions
40 when they crouch in their dens
and lie in wait within their lairs?
41 Who provides the raven’s food
when its young cry out to God
and wander about for lack of food?
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Job 40
The Lord answered Job:
2 Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him?
Let him who argues with God give an answer.[a]
3 Then Job answered the Lord:
4 I am so insignificant. How can I answer you?
I place my hand over my mouth.
5 I have spoken once, and I will not reply;
twice, but now I can add nothing.
6 Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind:
7 Get ready to answer me like a man;
when I question you, you will inform me.
8 Would you really challenge my justice?
Would you declare me guilty to justify yourself?
9 Do you have an arm like God’s?
Can you thunder with a voice like his?
10 Adorn yourself with majesty and splendor,
and clothe yourself with honor and glory.
11 Pour out your raging anger;
look on every proud person and humiliate him.
12 Look on every proud person and humble him;
trample the wicked where they stand.[b]
13 Hide them together in the dust;
imprison them in the grave.[c]
14 Then I will confess to you
that your own right hand can deliver you.
15 Look at Behemoth,
which I made along with you.
He eats grass like cattle.
16 Look at the strength of his back[d]
and the power in the muscles of his belly.
17 He stiffens his tail like a cedar tree;
the tendons of his thighs are woven firmly together.
18 His bones are bronze tubes;
his limbs are like iron rods.
19 He is the foremost of God’s works;
only his Maker can draw the sword against him.
20 The hills yield food for him,
while all sorts of wild animals play there.
21 He lies under the lotus plants,
hiding in the protection[e] of marshy reeds.
22 Lotus plants cover him with their shade;
the willows by the brook surround him.
23 Though the river rages, Behemoth is unafraid;
he remains confident, even if the Jordan surges up to his mouth.
24 Can anyone capture him while he looks on,[f]
or pierce his nose with snares?
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Romans 9:14-21
What should we say then? Is there injustice with God? Absolutely not! 15 For he tells Moses, I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.[a] 16 So then, it does not depend on human will or effort but on God who shows mercy. 17 For the Scripture tells Pharaoh, I raised you up for this reason so that I may display my power in you and that my name may be proclaimed in the whole earth.[b] 18 So then, he has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
19 You will say to me, therefore, “Why then does he still find fault? For who resists his will?” 20 On the contrary, who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? Will what is formed say to the one who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?” 21 Or has the potter no right over the clay, to make from the same lump one piece of pottery for honor and another for dishonor?
Isaiah 55:8-9​
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
and your ways are not my ways.”
This is the Lord’s declaration.
9 “For as heaven is higher than earth,
so my ways are higher than your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
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Romans 8:28-39
We know that all things work together[a] for the good[b] of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.
The Believer’s Triumph
31 What, then, are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He did not even spare his own Son but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him grant us everything? 33 Who can bring an accusation against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies. 34 Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is the one who died, but even more, has been raised; he also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us. 35 Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:
Because of you
we are being put to death all day long;
we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered.[c]
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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