Featured Job

God is in agreement with Elihu! Both of them tell Job that his claims to righteousness are words spoken without knowledge. What is Job's reply?

"Then Job answered the Lord and said: 4 "Behold, I am vile; What shall I answer You? I lay my hand over my mouth.

What a difference we see in Job now. Before this Job claimed to be righteous before God. He claimed to be without sin. He claimed to be blameless.

But now we see a changed man. We see a humble Job who realizes that his righteousness was really self-righteousness and he realized that in comparison to God's righteousness he was actually "vile".

Not only did Job have a change of heart but he also repented of his self-righteousness:

Job 42:1 Then Job answered the Lord and said: .... 3 You asked, 'Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?' Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.... 6 Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes."

 

Job's wealth is restored:

Job 42:12 "The LORD blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the first."

Conclusion:

When God said that Job was blameless, He was presenting Job's view of himself.

Principle: “everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted”

 

God didn't use evil....He merely partially abandoned Job due to his self-righteous, self-justifying attitude. Yes, Job repented...but the same happened to the Jews of old and they didn't repent.

God doesn't force men to do His will. That's what's wrong with Calvinism. He makes God look like a tyrant with the attributes of Satan, but this cannot be true because God is love and in Him there is no darkness. He allows men the choice...He allows free-will.

 

The thing is this: who is responsible for sin? One of the clear teachings of the Bible is the sovereignty of God. That means that nothing happens in the universe without the permission of God. That’s what it means. God is sovereign. Did God know that Lucifer would sin? Yes. Then why did He create him? That’s one of the big questions.

If God is sovereign, then He has allowed Satan to come in. He has allowed Satan to tempt Adam and Eve. This has created a problem and this was not solved on the cross. Let me give you an illustration. When Adam sinned and God came to visit him, what did he say to God when God asked why did you sin? He said, “This woman, whom You gave....” So upon whom was he putting the blame? On God. Today you will hear it all the time: “If God is love why is He allowing all the sicknesses and problems? If God is love, why is He allowing a drought in America?” These are the kind of questions that have to be solved if the controversy between Christ and Satan is to come to an end.

So what does God do? God actually assumes the blame! He assumes the blame until the Day of Atonement. There is a text which I want you to look for, it’s in the Old Testament, where God is speaking. He says, “I have created evil.” You will find many texts in the Bible where God assumes the blame for many things. For instance God said, “I have hardened Pharaoh’s heart.” These texts cause a lot of problems to many Christians. You wonder why those texts are there. Well, it’s because God assumes the blame until the Day of Atonement. Because He’s sovereign and He allows things to happen, He has to assume the blame....

 

Job's 3 friends stated that his suffering was from God (BTW, they sound Calvinistic) because Job had sin in his life. Job tries to prove them wrong. See especially the whole of Job chapter 31. After you read that look at the beginning of Job 32:

1 So these three men ceased answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. 2 Then the wrath of Elihu (the 4th man), the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, was aroused against Job; his wrath was aroused because he justified himself rather than God. 3 Also against his three friends his wrath was aroused, because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job.

 

You are partially right, but you (like Job) missed the point. Job persistently listed all his good deeds before his 4 friends and even God Himself. Job justified his righteousness before God. Isn't it suppose to be the other way around? God justifies us in His Son....We cannot justify ourselves through our good works. That's called legalism and self-righteousness. Job was guilty of self-righteousness....

Sure, Job did good deeds, but like the Pharisees of old everything Job did was to be seen of men. Doing the right thing outwardly for the wrong motive is called self-righteousness. Motive is everything. Without God's agape all we can do is good things for selfish motives. Read 1 Cor 13:3-5

 

No Sir, you are...You want to make Calvinism work....You are trying to put a square peg in a round hole.

 

All we can do, of ourselves, is good works for a selfish purpose. But selfishness poisons everything. Everything we do without Christ is polluted with self. Thus what we are producing might look like good works outwardly, but inwardly it's self-righteous works that originate from the flesh. Self-righteousness works are highly deceptive. This was Job's problem.

1 Cor 13:5 "If I give all I possess to the poor .... but do not have love (agape), I gain nothing." 4 Love is ...5 not self-seeking"

 

Well, you got it wrong all these years....

 

Oh, I see, If I don't see it your way you are hoping God causes me to suffer. How Calvinistic of you

 

Both the just and the unjust suffer in this world...who are you kidding?

 

I am not totally against what I read....