INTRODUCTION
Open with the “A Hero’s Faithful Final Hour.” (www.crosswalk.com)
Why did this have to happen to all these good people?
I could sit up here today and read you story after story about the good people who died in 911 2001.
Many people are asking “why”? If the people who died were people that were murders or rapists, most people would not question why this happened, but it happened to people that we deem as “good” people.
Why does a loving God allow bad things to happen to good people? This question is as old as the earth. When you look throughout man’s history, you see bad things happening to good people. Remember clear back to Adam and Eve when Cain killed his brother Able because of jealousy in Genesis 4? What did Able do to deserve something like that to happen to him?
Sooner or later every Christian faces the question: Why do bad things happen to good people? Skeptics will say that if God is good, He must not be all-powerful, other wise He would not allow evil. If He is all-powerful, He must not be good.
Today we are going to tackle this question as we look at the book of Job. The book of Job addresses the question at hand more than any other portion of Scripture.
The story of Job tells us of a wealthy man who was a good man who was about to lose everything he had except his life. Let’s see what we can learn from the book of Job about why bad things happen to good people.
SERMON
I. JOB’S CHARACTER 1:1-5
READ JOB 1:1-5
The Bible gives us some insight into the character of Job in the first five verses of the chapter. Job was a man of great wealth and was a man who was highly respected by all people. About Jobs character.
A. Blameless
This did not mean that Job was perfect because all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, but what it meant was that as Job lived under the watchful eyes of his peers, no one could justly charge Job with any moral failure. His reputation was impeccable. He was without moral blemish and everyone who knew him knew that.
B. Upright
This means that Job walked the “straight path”. Job did not deviate from God’s standards. Job walked the straight and narrow path that leads to life.
C. Feared God
Job was filled with respect for God. He was not scared of God, but he had a reverent, healthy respect for God. Job did not take God or His commands lightly. Job honored God for who He was and he obeyed God because of that.
It is like a young person who obeys their parents. The only reason they obey is because they love and respect who their parents are. When you take out the “fear” or respect, the young person will quit being obedient.
D. Turned from evil
Job rejected all that was contrary to God’s holy character. To put it in our language, Job knew how to “just say no” to sin. Job had the strength of conviction to resist and reject sin.
Job had health, wealth and a wonderful family. He was the greatest man of east according to verse 3.
Job was a wonderful father. Job so respected God and loved his children that in verse 5 he would make an extra sacrifice for his sons just incase they sinned against God in their hearts.
Job was not just an ordinary man. He was an extraordinary man. Job was a man who was wholly devoted to God. He is the last person one would expect bad things to happen to.
II. JOB’S CATASTROPHE 1:13-2:9
Explain what is happening between God and Satan in verses 6-12.
READ VERSE 8-12
We really do not know what prompted God to mention Job other than the fact that Job was such an upright man.
Satan implied that if Job lost all his stuff, that Job would course God. God was going to allow Satan to test Job.
The Catastrophes READ VERSES 13-22
Look at how Job responds to what happened to him in verses 20-22. Job was upset about what happened, that is why he tore his robe and shaved his head. Even though he lost all that he possessed, Job did not sin or blame God. Job’s grief did not mean that he lost faith in God, it showed that he was human and that he was hurting. There is nothing wrong with expressing grief and sorrow when things happen.
When bad things happen, one of the first things that many people do is to blame God. Job would have no part of this at this time.
Job did not spend time trying to assess blame to his situation; he was willing to put his trust in God. 1PE 5:7 casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.
If this was not bad enough, Satan comes back to God in chapter 2 and tries the same routine with God that he did in chapter one. This time Satan says God if you take his health away, Job will curse you. Let’s pick it up at verse 6-13. NLT
Now it has gotten worse, Job just lost his health, but look at verse 10. Job maintained his integrity.
Good health is very important, many times when our health fails; we want to blame God for it.
Job has had some terrible things happen to him. In chapters 3-31 we have job asking questions and his “good” friends firing accusations at job. Let’s look at jobs questions.
III. JOB’S QUESTIONS 3:1-31:40
I have read that JOB HAS OVER 330 QUESTIONS IN ITS 42 CHAPTERS. GENESIS ONLY HAS 160 AND MATTHEW HAS AROUND 180. EVEN THE BOOK OF PSALMS WITH ITS 150 CHAPTERS HAS ONLY 160. SO WHY DOES THE BOOK OF JOB HAVE SO MANY MORE QUESTIONS? THERE IS A VERY SIMPLE REASON. IT IS BECAUSE THE BOOK OF JOB DEALS WITH HORRIBLE TRAGEDY.
We are not going to look at all of Job’s questions, just at the main one, WHY ME!
Whenever bad things happen to good people, we want to know why. I remember doing a funeral for 5-month old girl. I stated in that funeral that having the answer to the question “Why” would not ease any of the pain, it would just open up more questions.
Many times we want to know the “why” when the “why” really will not solve our problem or help us much.
I am not going to read through all 28 chapters worth of questions. I do want to you remember Job’s friends in chapter 2:11-13.
These men came to comfort Job. They sat with Job for seven days without saying a word.
It was the tradition of the time that when you wen to console a person that no one spoke until the afflicted first spoke. After seven days of pain and suffering Job started to curse the day of his birth. He wonders why he did not die at birth.
How many people when faced with suffering feel the same way?
Job wants to know “why me?”
Job’s friends spent the better part of 28 chapters telling Job that the reason he is suffering is because of some sin he had not repented of. Does that sound like something we just heard from a couple of well respected television evangelists.
Even in Jesus day people thought that righteous people did not suffer bad things and it they did, it was because of some sin in their life that they had not repented of.
READ LUKE 13:1-5 NLT
Jesus did not say that some sin caused those people to die. As a matter of fact, Jesus said the real issue was THEIR state of salvation. He told them they needed to be right with God or they would perish.
Sometimes our own sin will cause us to suffer, not all the time. If I drink and drive and kill someone and go to jail over it, I will be suffering because of my own sin.
Job continually defends his integrity before his accusers. They kept telling Job that his suffering was his fault. Job did not by this since he was a righteous man.
Job spent a lot of time near the end of the book questioning and challenging God. He wanted to know why this was happening to him. I have skipped a lot in this book, but I am just giving you an overview of the book. I hope that you will take time to read it this week.
IV. GOD’S REPLY 38:1-42:17
In chapters 38-42 God replies to Job’s questions and challenges in the longest uninterrupted speech we have from God in the Bible.
In a nutshell God told Job that God was the one with all knowledge and power and asked Job if he understood how all the universe works. If Job cannot understand the universe, then who is he to try to tell God how to do things.
I want to let you in on a secret, I have read all 42 chapters of Job and guess what. God does not answer Job’s question. God basically says He can do whatever He wants to and that is all Job needs to know. READ 38:1-6, 40:1
Look at Jobs response to God. READ 42:1-5
When God was finished with Job, God told Job’s friends that they had been wrong about Job and that they needed to offer a sacrifice for themselves and ask Job to pray for them.
This story ends with God restoring Jobs fortune by giving him twice as much as he had before God allowed Satan to mess with him. He also gave him 7 more sons and three more daughters. Jobs status was restored also because of his faithfulness to God during these trials. Job lived another 140 years after all this happened to him.
CONCLUSION
This leaves us where we started. Why do bad things happen to good people?
There are many reasons. Sometimes we suffer because of what we do.
The main reason that bad things happen to good people is the fact that we live in a fallen world. Sin is the reason. We are living in a war zone and we get caught in the crossfire.
All the people who died at the hands of the terrorist died because these men were committing sin. They decided that they were going to act in an evil manner and those people got caught in the crossfire that resulted.
Do we deserve to have bad things happen? Does the wife deserve to have her husband beat her senseless? Does the child deserve to be abused? Does the wife deserve to lose her husband to a drunk driver? NO! These things happen because people decide that they are going to sin and we get caught in the middle.
I really believe that asking the “why” question is the wrong question. It will not change what happened and it will not take away the pain.
Blaming God is not the answer because it lets the real problem off the hook. The problem of evil and the influence of Satan on the world.
Jesus Himself suffered a great deal and He said we would suffer also.
In JOHN 16:33 Jesus said, "These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world."
Jesus said in the wold we would have tribulation, but in Him we would have peace.
The why and who in suffering is not the real issue, the real issue is the “what”.
What are you going to do when you are in the middle of bad things happening to you?
Job’s wife wanted him to curse God and die, which is what many people do.
Job remained steadfast with God even though he had some questions for God. God did not condemn him for asking.
You need to know that you never cry alone, God is with you all the time, you just need to reach out to Him. God never promised a life without pain and suffering, but He promised us that He would be there for us.
READ HEBREWS 4:15-16 NLT
Will you come and lay your burdens and pain at the feet of Jesus today?
