# God, Satan, and Life

Sermon transcript from Cross Church Surprise.
Series: Job
Date: September 13, 2026
Watch: https://crosschurchcares.com/surprise/episodes/god-satan-and-life

## Summary

What if the storms of life are part of a greater battle we can't see? How do we respond when everything we hold dear is stripped away? Join us as we explore the profound lessons from Job about faith, suffering, and the God who is always present. Let's dive in together!

## Transcript

0:00 · But here's the difference between life and football.

0:03 · Is in football, when things go sideways,

0:06 · what happens on a Monday morning or the day after the game

0:10 · is the coaches get the film

0:12 · and they begin watching through it.

0:15 · And as they watch film, they're like,

0:16 · oh, he missed a block there.

0:17 · He blew a coverage there.

0:19 · He ran the wrong route.

0:20 · They see where it went wrong.

0:22 · But life doesn't give you film.

0:30 · Hey, if you have a Bible, go ahead and grab it

0:32 · because we're also with this week one.

0:34 · We're starting a brand new series through the book of Job.

0:36 · And if you go to the book of Job,

0:39 · if you go to the middle of your Bible

0:40 · and you'll find Psalms,

0:42 · just go to the left and right before that,

0:44 · the book tucked in there, 42 chapters, is Job.

0:49 · And as we dive into this book,

0:51 · as we start week one of this series,

0:53 · week one of our fall ministries,

0:55 · week one is just great

0:57 · because it's filled with hope.

1:00 · I firmly believe that week one of the football season

1:02 · is the best week that we have.

1:06 · You're like, you would think that

1:07 · as a Cardinals fan, right?

1:09 · But week one is great

1:10 · because everyone's filled with hope.

1:12 · Everyone says this year is our year.

1:15 · I usually say that, but I know it is not our year.

1:18 · So, but everyone's filled with hope.

1:20 · We're like, man, maybe my team can win more games.

1:23 · Man, maybe my team can do this.

1:24 · And I am filled with hope for the next about five hours,

1:29 · probably about three,

1:30 · because halfway through the game,

1:31 · I'll probably have no more hope in this season.

1:33 · But you're excited before reality hits.

1:38 · But here's the difference between life and football

1:41 · is in football, when things go sideways,

1:45 · what happens on a Monday morning

1:47 · or the day after the game is the coaches get the film

1:51 · and they begin watching through it.

1:53 · And as they watch film, they're like,

1:55 · oh, he missed a block there.

1:56 · Oh, oh, he blew a coverage there.

1:59 · He ran the wrong route.

2:00 · They see where it went wrong.

2:02 · But life doesn't give you film.

2:07 · Wouldn't that be amazing if it did?

2:09 · You have that.

2:12 · I didn't say you'd have to watch the film

2:14 · with your wife.

2:17 · I'm just saying it'd be there.

2:19 · Like maybe a mentor or God himself could pull you aside

2:22 · and be like, hey, you see this conversation

2:23 · with your wife here?

2:24 · You see when you said, you're just like your mother?

2:28 · You see how her nostrils flared,

2:30 · how her eyes got big?

2:32 · You see how she reached for the kitchen knife?

2:36 · That's where in her head she was thinking,

2:38 · do I wanna star in a true crime documentary?

2:44 · But you see, life doesn't give us that film.

2:47 · And today, as we dive into the book of Job,

2:50 · the book of Job is a book for people who get no film.

2:54 · And here's the deal, that is all of us

2:57 · in some place in our life.

2:59 · Maybe right now you walked in

3:01 · and you are in the middle of a storm

3:03 · and you're wondering why.

3:05 · And you're like, man, what are the answers?

3:07 · Where did I screw up?

3:08 · Where did someone else screw up?

3:09 · Why is this happening?

3:11 · And you're in the middle of it,

3:12 · but you don't know why

3:13 · and you don't have the answer to it.

3:16 · Maybe the storm is approaching

3:17 · and it's not here yet, but it's going to be

3:21 · and those questions are going to form in your head

3:23 · or maybe you just walked out of one

3:25 · and you still don't know why you were in it

3:27 · to begin with.

3:29 · Well, the book of Job is the perfect book

3:31 · that shows us the storms of life

3:35 · and how we don't always get the picture perfect answers

3:38 · to the questions that we want.

3:41 · And as we dive into this book today,

3:44 · here's what we're gonna see

3:45 · is we're gonna see this thing

3:46 · called life is filled with a lot of stuff.

3:50 · And today, as we dive into chapter one,

3:51 · we're gonna see God, we're gonna see Satan

3:54 · and we're gonna see the messiness of life.

3:57 · And as we go through this,

3:59 · there are gonna be three things

4:00 · that just jump off the page

4:02 · of this thing called life,

4:04 · of the answers it gives us.

4:06 · And the first thing we see inside this life

4:09 · is there is this ideal world that we all strive for,

4:13 · this ideal world that we all strive for.

4:15 · Let's start in Job chapter one,

4:17 · starting in verse one, it says this,

4:19 · that there was a man in the country of us named Job.

4:23 · He was a man of complete integrity

4:26 · who feared God and who turned away from evil.

4:30 · He had seven sons and three daughters.

4:32 · His estate included 7,000 sheep and goats,

4:35 · 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen,

4:38 · 500 female donkeys and a very large number of servants.

4:42 · Job was the greatest man among all the people of the East.

4:47 · His sons used to take turns

4:49 · having banquets at their homes.

4:50 · They would send an invitation to their three sisters

4:52 · to eat and drink with them.

4:54 · Whenever a round of banqueting was over,

4:57 · Job would send for his children

5:00 · and he would purify them,

5:02 · rising early in the morning

5:03 · to offer burnt offerings for all of them.

5:06 · For Job thought, perhaps my children have sinned

5:10 · having cursed God in their hearts.

5:13 · This was Job's regular practice.

5:17 · You see, as we open this book,

5:19 · it opens almost like a movie.

5:21 · It is a narrative and the book of Job is a complex book

5:24 · because it's both narrative and wisdom and poetry

5:27 · and I would argue it's actually the first book

5:29 · written in the entire Bible

5:31 · before Moses wrote the first five.

5:34 · But this book that is filled with so much complexity,

5:37 · it opens like this movie

5:39 · that scans across this land called us.

5:45 · This is a real place, east of the Jordan,

5:47 · right outside the borders of Israel

5:49 · and as it's panning across,

5:52 · it settles on this one man named Job

5:56 · and the narrator quickly hands us his resume,

5:58 · gives us four lines about him.

6:00 · First, he was a man of complete integrity.

6:02 · He feared God number two,

6:04 · he turned away from evil number three

6:06 · and then in verse eight, God himself will say

6:08 · that no one on earth was like him.

6:13 · Now hear me, the word integrity here

6:16 · doesn't mean he was sinless or perfect

6:19 · but it means he was whole.

6:20 · Like you could knock on him and be like,

6:22 · oh, there's a stud there, right?

6:23 · You like that, you don't even have to use a stud finder.

6:25 · But he's whole, he's something that is same

6:29 · on a Tuesday as he is on a Sunday.

6:32 · One of the things I strive for in my preaching

6:34 · is I like to tell you my mistakes

6:36 · because I want you to know I'm a mistake-filled person

6:39 · up here so you're not surprised

6:41 · when you meet me out there, all right?

6:44 · That's why my sarcasm comes out,

6:45 · sometimes a little bit too much.

6:47 · Sometimes I step in a comment that I should not say

6:50 · but in here, I want my goal to be am I the same person

6:54 · on a Tuesday afternoon as they am

6:56 · on a Sunday morning on stage

6:58 · and you see Job was exactly like this.

7:01 · His life matched his character

7:05 · and then it tells us about his life.

7:06 · He had seven sons, he had three daughters,

7:08 · 7,000 sheep, 500 yoke of oxen, and camels.

7:11 · Oh guys, camels.

7:14 · Camels were the luxury vehicle of the ancient world.

7:19 · It's true.

7:21 · And how many camels did it say you have?

7:24 · 3,000.

7:25 · Anyone wanna know how much,

7:27 · if you do some conversion ratios using chat GPT

7:30 · or Claude, right?

7:31 · How much would 3,000 camels be in today's worth?

7:35 · Anyone wanna venture a guess?

7:38 · About 30 to 40 million dollars worth.

7:45 · Job, as it says, was the greatest man of the East,

7:49 · the largest stockholder on the Wall Street

7:51 · of the ancient world.

7:52 · But look at what the narrator lingers on,

7:54 · not the portfolio that he had that was impressive,

7:57 · it was the family altar.

8:00 · You see, every time his kids finished

8:02 · one of their banquets, Job was up at dawn,

8:04 · he was offering sacrifices for each child by name

8:07 · just in case, as verse five says,

8:09 · just in case they sinned

8:12 · because it was his regular practice.

8:14 · He had a full house, a full bank account,

8:18 · a full heart devoted towards God.

8:22 · This past January through Easter,

8:25 · our family, we got in like a rhythm,

8:27 · and we have four kids ranging from two to 10,

8:30 · so our schedule can be a little chaotic at times,

8:32 · got a kid in dance, a kid in soccer,

8:34 · kids have to go to school, that's still required,

8:37 · and where we're doing all that,

8:38 · unless they're homeschooled then, doesn't really matter,

8:40 · just kidding, we love all the homeschool families,

8:42 · but our schedule was just like all over the map,

8:46 · but somehow, like me and my wife and all the kids,

8:48 · we were just like in sync,

8:50 · and everything was falling into place,

8:52 · and it's like we were busy, but we were grooving,

8:54 · and we had this, and I felt like, man,

8:56 · it felt like the ideal suburban life,

9:00 · especially January through Easter in Phoenix

9:03 · in Surprise, Arizona feels great, right?

9:07 · And can I be honest with you?

9:09 · It was like, this is what I want, this is perfect,

9:13 · and if we're honest, this is the world

9:15 · that most of us are chasing, the healthy kids,

9:19 · the paid off house, the life where the worst thing

9:22 · that happens is the monsoon blows over your neighbors

9:25 · and the trampoline into your backyard,

9:29 · and here's the deal, there is nothing wrong with that world,

9:33 · there's nothing wrong with even chasing that world,

9:35 · it is a gift, but church, in verse five,

9:40 · this is the last verse of the crucial,

9:42 · of the ideal world, because in verse six,

9:45 · the camera cuts away from ooze,

9:47 · and all of a sudden, it shows us what's next,

9:49 · the thing that Job never got to see

9:51 · is this thing called life was also filled

9:54 · with this invisible war going behind the scenes,

9:57 · this invisible war behind the scenes,

9:59 · keep going, in verse six of our passage in chapter one,

10:02 · it says, then one day, the sons of God came

10:06 · to present themselves before the Lord,

10:09 · and Satan also came with them.

10:11 · The Lord asked Satan, where have you come from?

10:14 · From roaming through the earth,

10:15 · Satan answered him, and walking around on it,

10:18 · then the Lord said to Satan,

10:19 · have you considered my servant Job?

10:23 · No one else on earth is like him,

10:25 · a man of perfect integrity who fears God

10:28 · and turns away from evil,

10:29 · Satan answered the Lord,

10:30 · does Job fear God for nothing?

10:34 · Haven't you placed a hedge around him,

10:36 · his household, and everything is owned,

10:38 · you have blessed the work of his hands,

10:40 · and the possessions have increased in his land,

10:44 · but stretch out your hand and strike everything he owns,

10:48 · and he will surely curse you to your face.

10:52 · Verse 12, very well, the Lord told Satan,

10:56 · everything he owns is in your power,

10:58 · however, do not lay a hand on Job himself,

11:02 · so Satan left the Lord's presence.

11:06 · Suddenly, the story, as it progresses,

11:09 · we're not in the Land of Uzz anymore,

11:12 · instead, we're standing in the throne room of heaven,

11:17 · and it tells us a little about it,

11:18 · first, the sons of God are there,

11:20 · in the Hebrew, that's the word for the angelic beings,

11:23 · God's heavenly counsel,

11:24 · they're coming to present themselves before the Lord,

11:27 · and scripture shows us this scene more than once,

11:30 · Micaiah saw it, Isaiah saw it, Daniel saw it,

11:33 · but in the middle of this throne room scene,

11:37 · Satan walks in.

11:39 · In the Hebrew, the word is actually the Satan,

11:43 · it is a title, not just a name,

11:46 · it means the accuser, the prosecutor,

11:49 · and when God asks where he's been,

11:52 · he says he's been roaming the earth.

11:55 · Peter in the New Testament will tell us the same thing,

11:57 · that the devil prowls around like a lion

12:00 · looking for someone to devour,

12:02 · but now watch the twist,

12:04 · because it's not what you'd expect,

12:05 · as Satan doesn't bring up Job,

12:09 · instead, God does.

12:11 · In verse eight, he's like, have you considered Job?

12:14 · Job's a baller, Job's the man,

12:16 · Job is faithful, Job is in church every Sunday,

12:20 · have you considered Job?

12:23 · And God starts bragging on Job

12:25 · in front of the whole council,

12:28 · and the accuser does what accusers do,

12:30 · is he can't attack Job's conduct,

12:32 · so he starts attacking his motives.

12:36 · And in verse nine, this is such an important question,

12:38 · he says, does Job fear God for nothing?

12:42 · Understand what Satan is actually putting on trial here,

12:46 · Job is not being put on trial,

12:48 · instead, it's the question that's underneath

12:50 · every one of our faiths in this room,

12:53 · is do people love God,

12:56 · or do people love what God gives them?

12:59 · Is your faith worship,

13:02 · or is it just a business arrangement?

13:04 · Do you come to church, be like,

13:05 · God, I'll come to church,

13:07 · but make sure my family's healthy,

13:08 · make sure my mortgage is paid,

13:10 · make sure my job gets better,

13:11 · make sure my boss isn't too much of a jerk,

13:14 · like, God, I'll come to church,

13:16 · but you gotta do some stuff on the back end for me.

13:19 · And Satan is asking this question and prying on this.

13:23 · Now, let's make this uncomfortably practical,

13:26 · if God took those things away,

13:29 · if he took away your paycheck,

13:31 · would you still be praising him?

13:33 · If a diagnosis came back more negative than you expected,

13:37 · would you still be coming and worshiping him?

13:41 · You see, what Satan accuses,

13:44 · his accusation he makes here is that nobody would,

13:47 · that every believer is merely a customer,

13:49 · but here's why this book is so important,

13:52 · is the book of Job exists to prove that Satan is a liar.

13:58 · And God, knowing Job,

14:01 · knowing the outcome, gives permission.

14:03 · He says everything Job owns is placed in Satan's power,

14:07 · but mark this, permission came with a prohibition.

14:09 · He said, don't lay a hand on the man himself.

14:12 · In Satan, what we're gonna see in a second,

14:14 · he takes everything Job owns.

14:17 · But when Job stand firm,

14:20 · the accuser comes back for round two in chapter two.

14:23 · Let's read that, starting in verse one,

14:24 · it says, on the day the sons of God

14:25 · came again to present themselves before the Lord,

14:29 · and Satan also came with them

14:30 · to present himself before the Lord.

14:32 · The Lord asked Satan, where have you come from?

14:34 · He's been roaming around and walking around.

14:36 · In verse three, then the Lord said to Satan,

14:37 · have you considered my servant Job?

14:40 · Same question.

14:41 · No one on earth is like him,

14:43 · a man of perfect integrity who fears God

14:45 · and turns away from evil.

14:46 · See how God ups it in the second round.

14:50 · He still retains his integrity,

14:53 · even though you incited me against him,

14:56 · to destroy him for no good reason.

14:58 · And then Satan knows he's been losing.

15:01 · He knows he took everything from Job,

15:02 · and Job stand firm.

15:04 · In verse four, he says, skin for skin.

15:06 · Satan answered the Lord,

15:08 · a man will give up everything he owns

15:10 · in exchange for his life,

15:12 · but stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones,

15:15 · and he will surely curse you to your face.

15:19 · Very well, the Lord told Satan,

15:21 · he is in your power, only spare his life.

15:28 · As Satan fails the first time around,

15:30 · he ups the ante, and he says, skin for skin,

15:33 · let me start attacking him,

15:34 · and God permits the enemy to touch his body,

15:37 · but not to kill him.

15:40 · Now church, don't miss what this scene teaches us

15:42 · about the enemy, about Satan himself,

15:46 · is he is very real.

15:48 · He is not a cartoon with a pitchfork.

15:52 · He is not a metaphor.

15:53 · He is not simply a shadow.

15:55 · He is not like my ASU stunt devils

15:58 · who only show up for three quarters

15:59 · and don't check in for the fourth.

16:02 · Not bitter about that at all,

16:05 · but instead, the Satan, the devil,

16:09 · described in scripture, alive in our world,

16:12 · is he is personal, he is patient,

16:15 · and he has a strategy on how he wants

16:17 · to destroy your life.

16:20 · But hear this also, he is on a leash.

16:25 · He cannot touch one camel, one servant,

16:28 · one child of Job's without permission from the throne,

16:32 · Martin Luther said it this way,

16:33 · that even the devil is God's devil.

16:39 · Today I'm gonna go home and I'm gonna sit on my couch

16:42 · and I'm gonna watch the Cardinals game

16:44 · and I'm gonna text the coaches

16:46 · on how they need to do a better job running plays.

16:50 · But here's the thing, if you sit in a stadium

16:51 · or you sit on your couch,

16:53 · you get to see 22 players play on the field at a time.

16:57 · And as you're seeing that, that is the game,

17:00 · but there is a game going beyond that game,

17:03 · because what you don't see, unless the camera pans there,

17:06 · is all the coaches in the boxes,

17:08 · who are looking down with their binoculars,

17:10 · who have screens up, who are seeing the patterns,

17:12 · who are calling the plays from the sidelines,

17:14 · or calling coverages that are missed,

17:16 · is there is so much going on

17:18 · beyond what you see on that field.

17:21 · And here's the deal, in the game of life,

17:24 · there's a lot more that's happening

17:26 · than just what we see on the field.

17:29 · There is a booth above your life

17:30 · and there is more going on it

17:32 · than what you can see from your seat.

17:34 · In the most important sentence,

17:36 · I'll be saying all morning,

17:38 · so lean into this as we introduce to this book of Job,

17:41 · as we see what Job is about to go through.

17:44 · You and I just read chapter one,

17:46 · in part of chapter two,

17:47 · and we see this invisible war,

17:49 · these throne room scenes,

17:52 · but Job never got to.

17:54 · Job is wondering what in the world is happening to his life.

18:02 · Job never sees the council.

18:04 · Job never hears God brag on him.

18:07 · Can you imagine hearing God brag on you to Satan?

18:12 · Job never learns that his suffering

18:14 · is actually a compliment to his life.

18:18 · The whole thing started because God pointed at him

18:21 · and said, that one is mine.

18:24 · Imagine hearing that from God.

18:26 · Brandon, God is saying, that one is mine.

18:28 · Cheryl, that one is mine.

18:30 · Matt, that one is mine.

18:32 · Josh, that one is mine.

18:34 · Roger, that one is mine.

18:36 · God is looking down.

18:38 · He said, you are mine.

18:41 · I know you'll stick it out

18:42 · from whatever's gonna happen after here,

18:45 · but then what's gonna happen

18:48 · is he's gonna spend the next 35 chapters

18:52 · asking why in the world this is happening,

18:57 · because the answer was behind a curtain

18:59 · that he couldn't pull back,

19:01 · which means every dark night Job spends wondering

19:03 · if God has become the enemy,

19:05 · it's happening while God is holding

19:07 · the leash of the true enemy.

19:09 · The reader knows what the sufferer never learns.

19:12 · That's not a flaw in the story.

19:14 · That is the beauty of this story,

19:17 · because here's the deal, is your life is the same way,

19:20 · is you will go through suffering

19:22 · and you will not get the answer to why,

19:24 · but there is a God in heaven who knows why

19:27 · and who loves you.

19:29 · In this invisible war that's raging around us,

19:33 · this storm that you don't understand,

19:35 · heaven is not gonna send you a transcript after

19:37 · and say this is why it happened.

19:41 · So the question becomes, what do you do

19:43 · when the war is invisible and the loss is not?

19:47 · And that leads us to verse 13 of chapter one,

19:50 · that we see this ideal world that gets torn apart

19:53 · by this invisible war that they cannot see,

19:57 · but it leads to this impossible worship.

20:01 · Check out chapter one, verse 13.

20:04 · We get to see the suffering that Job gets at his hand

20:07 · and says this one day, when Job's sons and daughters

20:11 · were eating and drinking wine

20:12 · in their oldest brother's house,

20:14 · a messenger came to Job and reported,

20:16 · while the oxen were plowing

20:17 · and the donkeys grazing nearby,

20:19 · the Sabians swooped down and took them away.

20:21 · They struck down the servants with a sword

20:23 · and I alone have escaped to tell you,

20:25 · he was still speaking when another messenger came

20:28 · and reported, God's fire fell from heaven,

20:31 · it burned the sheep and the servants and bowed them

20:33 · and I alone have escaped to tell you,

20:35 · this is a servant's interpretation,

20:36 · God did not send that fire, it's an important note.

20:38 · Verse 17, that messenger was still speaking

20:42 · when yet another messenger came and reported,

20:45 · the Chaldeans formed three bands,

20:47 · made a raid on the camels and took them away,

20:50 · 30 to 40 million dollars worth of camels.

20:55 · They struck down the servants with a sword

20:57 · and I alone have escaped to tell you,

20:59 · he was still speaking when another messenger came

21:03 · and reported, your sons and daughters were eating

21:06 · and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house.

21:10 · Suddenly a powerful wind swept in from the desert

21:13 · and struck the four corners of the house,

21:16 · it collapsed on the young people so that they died

21:21 · and I alone have escaped to tell you.

21:27 · One day, one ordinary feeling day,

21:34 · the kids are at their brother's house

21:37 · just like they were always from time to time

21:40 · and four messengers hit Jobe's dorbs like waves.

21:45 · First, Savian raiders take the oxen and donkeys

21:48 · and while that guy was still speaking,

21:50 · giving the report, fire fell and takes the sheep,

21:53 · while he was still speaking, Chaldeans,

21:55 · take the camels, while he was still speaking,

21:59 · a wind comes off the desert,

22:01 · hits the house where all 10 of his children

22:02 · are gathered and there are no more children.

22:06 · Four reports and one day, back to back to back

22:13 · and the richest man in the East went to bed bankrupt

22:17 · with 10 graves to dig.

22:22 · Just sit in that for a second.

22:26 · These were his kids, the ones they tell us

22:31 · in verse five that he got up to pray for,

22:36 · by name, to offer sacrifices for because he loved them.

22:43 · I think of my kids, I can't imagine being in Jobe's shoes.

22:53 · So what does he do?

22:55 · Verse 20 might be one of the most stunning verses

22:58 · in the entire Old Testament because if I was Jobe,

23:03 · I think I'd have a very different reaction.

23:07 · But as then Jobe stood up, he tore his rope,

23:12 · he shaved his head, he fell to the ground

23:16 · and he worshiped, not cursed, not screamed,

23:24 · but he worshiped saying,

23:27 · naked I came from my mother's womb

23:28 · and naked I will leave this life.

23:31 · The Lord gives and the Lord takes away,

23:36 · but blessed be the name of the Lord.

23:42 · As Jobe tears his robe and shaves his head,

23:46 · this is not a man pretending he's fine,

23:48 · it's a man in full public gut level grief.

23:55 · But in the middle of that grief,

23:57 · he gets to his knees and he worships.

24:03 · Now here's what's important about this,

24:04 · is grief in worship can be in the same body

24:08 · at the same time.

24:10 · Don't ever let anybody tell you

24:12 · that those two things cannot coincide

24:15 · and could inhabit the same room together.

24:18 · And notice what Jobe's theology holds onto

24:21 · when everything else is gone,

24:23 · he says the Lord gives,

24:25 · he says everything I had was a gift from God,

24:28 · he said I showed up to the world with nothing,

24:30 · everything I have is I'm just stewarding

24:32 · the blessings that God has poured out,

24:34 · but he also says the Lord takes away,

24:37 · that God owns it all, he owes me nothing

24:40 · and he lands at this blessed be the name of the Lord.

24:46 · Jobe knew the difference between the gift and the giver,

24:49 · and when he lost every gift, he still had the giver.

24:55 · And you see when the family realizes

24:57 · or when the enemy realizes saying himself

25:00 · that he didn't win by taking away his finances

25:03 · and his family, then in chapter two,

25:06 · he ups the ante, check out verse seven,

25:08 · it says so Satan left the Lord's presence

25:10 · and inflicted Jobe with terrible boils

25:12 · from the soles of his feet to the top of his head

25:15 · then Jobe took a piece of broken pottery

25:18 · to scrape himself while he sat among the ashes.

25:24 · And in verse nine, his wife said to him,

25:26 · are you still holding on to your integrity?

25:30 · Curse God and die.

25:35 · As Jobe is sitting in ashes,

25:38 · not only in emotional pain from his family

25:40 · being taken away, but now in physical pain of his body

25:43 · being in so much pain that he can't even imagine

25:46 · he's scraping himself with shattered pottery.

25:51 · His wife, the closest person in his life looks at him

25:55 · and be like, just curse God and die.

25:59 · And don't be too hard on Mrs. Jobe here.

26:03 · They were her children too, but in her pain,

26:08 · she hands her husband the exact line

26:10 · that the accuser wrote back in chapter one.

26:13 · Here's a detail that's buried in the Hebrew

26:15 · that we'll preach to our hearts and our lives today.

26:18 · In these two chapters, every time you read the word

26:22 · curse, the Hebrew word on the page is actually bless.

26:26 · The same word, it is baruch.

26:28 · And the ancient writers,

26:29 · they would not even write curse God.

26:31 · They would write bless God and let you feel the sarcasm.

26:35 · It's like in the South when there's the old,

26:38 · you know, the old grandma says like,

26:39 · bless their heart.

26:40 · Like she's saying like, they're an idiot, right?

26:43 · Like they're not too smart, bless their heart.

26:46 · But they're like, I can't, they're like,

26:48 · the Hebrew writers are like,

26:49 · we can't even write curse God down.

26:51 · So we'll write bless God, knowing the context,

26:53 · they'll understand that that person

26:55 · is actually cursing him.

26:57 · So what is happening here is Satan will say

27:00 · that he will curse you.

27:02 · So listen to what's reading said.

27:03 · Satan tells God in chapter one

27:04 · is he will bless you to your face,

27:06 · but not really saying bless, he's saying curse.

27:08 · And Jobe's wife says, bless God and die,

27:11 · but she's meaning curse.

27:13 · And then Jobe opens his mouth on the ash heap

27:16 · and he says, blessed be the name of the Lord.

27:18 · Same word, but he actually meant blessed and not curse.

27:22 · The enemy picked the word for the test

27:25 · and Jobe actually used his word,

27:27 · but used it in the way that Satan did not want it

27:30 · and he lost his own bet with his own word.

27:35 · And look at how Jobe answers his wife in verse 10.

27:38 · He says, you speak as a foolish woman,

27:41 · speaks, don't quote that after church, all right?

27:46 · He said, should we only accept good from God

27:49 · and not adversity?

27:50 · Notice he doesn't call her foolish.

27:53 · He's saying you were speaking as a foolish person says.

27:57 · Also don't use that in argument,

27:58 · that will get you in trouble, all right?

28:00 · But what he's saying is he's being gentle

28:02 · with her grief and firm with his theology

28:05 · at the same point is the question

28:08 · that's written on the wall of his heart

28:11 · and her heart and our heart is should we only accept

28:15 · good from God and not adversity when it comes?

28:20 · Because if we're honest,

28:21 · most of us have a very one way faith.

28:23 · We have categories for when God gives,

28:26 · but we don't have categories for when God takes.

28:30 · You see, Jobe refused to worship a vending machine.

28:33 · Jobe was worshiping a king.

28:36 · To this day when Orthodox Jewish people

28:40 · hear that someone has died,

28:41 · there is a set response that they are supposed to give.

28:44 · It is not I'm sorry, it is not why did they die

28:46 · or how did they die.

28:47 · It's three Hebrew words, barak, dayan, hamet,

28:50 · which is blessed is the true judge.

28:55 · You see at the grave side, they pray the Kadesh,

28:57 · a prayer that never once mentions death.

28:59 · Every line of it magnifies the name of God.

29:02 · You see for 3,000 years through the story of Jobe

29:05 · and through this book, God has called his people

29:07 · to do exactly the same thing that Jobe did

29:09 · on the ash heap is blessed is the Lord God

29:13 · even when our trials don't feel like it.

29:17 · You see this is the impossible worship

29:19 · because you cannot manufacture it in the moment.

29:22 · Worship like this isn't produced by the storm.

29:25 · Worship like this is revealed by the storm.

29:30 · Now look at how the narrator closes

29:31 · each round of his test.

29:33 · Two bookends he gives in verse 22,

29:35 · he says throughout all this,

29:37 · Jobe did not sin or blame God for anything.

29:40 · And then the second half of verse 10 of chapter two,

29:42 · he says throughout all this,

29:45 · Jobe did not sin in what he said.

29:49 · You see Jobe never got the why.

29:53 · You can do some homework, there's only 42 chapters.

29:55 · You can read the whole book of Jobe this week.

29:58 · We're gonna spend the next 12 weeks going through it.

30:01 · All 42 chapters and God never once explains

30:06 · chapter one and two to him.

30:07 · The transcript stays sealed and honestly

30:10 · in chapter one and two, we still don't fully get the why

30:13 · of why all this had to play out this way.

30:16 · But Jobe had something better than the why.

30:20 · And that's the banner over this entire series.

30:24 · This enduring truth that we get today

30:27 · is life's big question.

30:29 · It's not why things happen, but who is always there.

30:36 · Hear this church, the big questions of life are not why,

30:39 · why, why, but it is who.

30:42 · Now let me protect that statement for a second

30:44 · because you might hear that and be like,

30:46 · well, is my why not important?

30:48 · No, your why is important.

30:50 · You ask why to a lot of things

30:52 · and your questions of why are not sin.

30:56 · Your questions of why are not foolish.

30:58 · Your questions of why are valid.

31:00 · I still have four kids, two to 10.

31:02 · I get asked why a lot

31:04 · and I don't know the answers to their whys.

31:08 · And next week, Jobe is going to ask the question why

31:11 · and he will do it when he opens his mouth

31:14 · and starting in chapter three, Jobe is gonna say

31:17 · some of the rawest, darkest things in your Bible.

31:22 · And at the end of the book,

31:24 · God says Jobe spoke rightly

31:27 · because he spoke from his heart

31:29 · and God is not afraid of your why questions.

31:32 · The why is not wrong, but the why is above your pay grade.

31:38 · But you know what isn't?

31:40 · Is the who is not above your pay grade.

31:45 · The why lies behind the curtain,

31:47 · but the who is standing with you in the ashes.

31:49 · And here's where this series is headed.

31:51 · So mark it now for the next 12 weeks

31:53 · as we go through this, we're gonna watch this man wrestle.

31:57 · He's gonna wrestle with his friends,

31:58 · with his pain and with God himself.

32:01 · And when God finally speaks at the end of the book,

32:04 · he answers exactly zero of Jobe's why questions.

32:08 · Instead, he gives Jobe something better.

32:11 · He gives Jobe himself.

32:14 · And spoiler alert in Jobe 42 verse five,

32:17 · I love this verse as it goes through all these trials

32:20 · and all these hardships and all this pain.

32:24 · Jobe sees God and he says this,

32:27 · that I had heard reports about you,

32:31 · but now my eyes have seen you.

32:37 · Church, that's the journey from why to who,

32:45 · from hearing about God to coming to worship on a Sunday,

32:50 · where everyone else is singing things out

32:52 · and you're still getting a no.

32:53 · Is this Jesus?

32:54 · Is this God thing real?

32:56 · You've heard about him,

32:57 · but it's so much different when you see him.

33:01 · In church, how do I know the who is always there?

33:06 · How do I know in the middle of my storm,

33:09 · in the middle of my brokenness,

33:10 · in the middle of my mess,

33:12 · that this who that's sitting in a throne room

33:15 · actually cares?

33:19 · Because here's the beauty.

33:22 · The who has been in this passage

33:25 · the whole time we've read it.

33:28 · The who was here all along

33:32 · when Jobe in the ideal world

33:35 · got up at dawn to offer sacrifices for sins

33:39 · his children might have committed.

33:43 · Guys, Jesus was already on his way

33:45 · to be the once and for all sacrifice

33:47 · for sins that you absolutely did commit.

33:52 · When Jobe's life was on trial

33:54 · in the throne room of heaven

33:56 · and no one stood up to speak for him,

34:00 · Jesus stands in that same throne room today

34:03 · and he speaks for you.

34:06 · He is not silent about your name.

34:09 · Jobe would beg later in chapter nine

34:11 · if only there were a mediator between us.

34:14 · In chapter 16, he gets to the mediator.

34:16 · He says, my witness is in heaven.

34:18 · Jobe cried out for you.

34:19 · Jesus is the answer to that cry.

34:22 · And today Jesus in heaven,

34:24 · he is the mediator for us

34:26 · by his death and sacrifice.

34:28 · He is saying your name.

34:30 · He is saying, Carol, he is mine.

34:33 · He is saying, Fred, he is mine.

34:36 · He has said Mike, he is mine.

34:39 · He is looking down.

34:41 · He's saying, Jonathan, you are mine.

34:44 · And he is the mediator.

34:45 · He is the mediator between the brokenness of our sin and us.

34:49 · And hear this, when Jobe suffered as an innocent man,

34:53 · but not a perfect man, not God himself,

34:57 · it was only a shadow, guys,

35:00 · a shadow of the one who would suffer for you,

35:05 · who would die on a cross for you,

35:07 · who would carry your sins from you

35:09 · that you could not carry,

35:11 · who would be raised from the grave to save you

35:14 · so that when the why goes unanswered,

35:17 · you would never have to answer who.

35:21 · You see, Jobe never got the film.

35:26 · Jobe never got the answer

35:27 · to why all this was happening.

35:30 · And hear this, in your trial,

35:33 · in your storm, in your hardship,

35:36 · you're not gonna get the answer either,

35:38 · but you will get something so much greater.

35:43 · You get the perfect sacrifice.

35:46 · You get the constant mediator.

35:48 · You get the suffering servant.

35:51 · You get the savior of the universe.

35:54 · Church, wake up and say amen,

35:56 · or get excited after this.

35:59 · You get Jesus.

36:07 · Yeah.

36:10 · The book of Jobe is about a man who lost everything,

36:18 · but who still had all that he needed

36:21 · in our God, in our savior, Jesus Christ.

36:27 · And as we embark on this journey,

36:31 · church, we need to recognize the storms we are in,

36:35 · but who is present with us today.

36:37 · We need to recognize the storms

36:38 · throughout it.

36:40 · So here's what I'm gonna ask you to do right now.

36:41 · Grab your sheet of notes or grab your phone

36:44 · and open your notes tab.

36:46 · And just take a minute right now,

36:48 · between you and God,

36:51 · and I want you to name the storm that you're in.

36:55 · Maybe the storm you just got out of,

36:57 · and it still confuses you

36:59 · why in the world you even went through it.

37:02 · Maybe it's the storm you're in right now,

37:04 · the stress at work, the frustrations in your parenting,

37:09 · the hardship of hurt, the diagnosis

37:13 · that just won't get better.

37:16 · Name the storm you have.

37:19 · And underneath it, I want you to write who.

37:24 · Who is Lord of that storm?

37:27 · Who is bigger than that storm?

37:30 · Who died on the cross and rose again

37:33 · so that that storm doesn't define your life?

37:38 · But the declaration of saying Jesus is Lord,

37:42 · it changes everything now.

37:45 · But even more than that,

37:46 · it changes everything for eternity.

37:49 · That one day we will be in that throne room.

37:53 · One day we will look at the perfect King

37:57 · reigning over the universe

38:00 · because he has called us his,

38:03 · and he has welcomed us into his family.

38:08 · My challenge for you

38:10 · is over these next 12 weeks, you get to know the who.

38:14 · You know the who in two ways.

38:16 · First, that you actually come here

38:18 · and you be a part of what God is doing here

38:21 · at Cross Church.

38:23 · And you come here every Sunday

38:24 · and we get to pray through,

38:25 · to pray through, to preach through

38:27 · so that we can practice God's word.

38:31 · And you get to know the who

38:34 · this Bible talks about in Jesus Christ

38:37 · in a deeper way.

38:40 · And here's the deal is we get to know this who

38:42 · in community with one another.

38:45 · And as we said, we're starting in week one.

38:48 · You don't know anyone?

38:50 · You feel awkward?

38:51 · Guess what, it's week one.

38:52 · You've got no losses yet, just like my Cardinals.

38:56 · Go to the table outside, sign up online,

39:01 · gather with God's community

39:04 · and let's get to know the who together.

39:08 · Who we can bring our questions of why to,

39:12 · but that he stands above them,

39:15 · that he delivers us from them,

39:19 · that no matter what happens,

39:21 · he is sitting beside us in the storm

39:25 · because he loves you,

39:28 · because he saved you

39:30 · and he wants to be with you for all of eternity.