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Justification
Part 2 - Job 38-42 Our Problem with God
Icebreaker: What do you not like about creation that you would wish God would have done differently? No mosquitos? Make people fly? What?
This fall we’re talking about this thing, JUSTIFICATION = how you, a sinner, can stand before God and God say to you, “You are righteous. You are perfect. And you deserve to live in heaven forever with me.”
Westminster Shorter Catechism Question 33: What is justification?
“Justification is an act of God’s free grace, wherein he pardoneth all our sins, and accepteth us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone.”
Review: The devil goes after Job because the devil thinks Job and God are a bunch of phonies and if the devil can really make Job suffer and get Job to stop believing in God then the devil will prove that God’s grace and salvation are fake. So God let’s the devil make Job suffer to show that God’s salvation is real. But Job doesn’t know any of this.
Read the end of Job’s story, Job 38:1-11, 16-18; 39:19-25; 40:1-5
At first, when Job is suffering, he is patient and prays to God for mercy. Then Job starts asking the WHY question - why is he suffering like this. His friends give terrible answers, saying that Job is suffering because he’s obviously a terrible sinner. Job refuses to listen to them and keeps asking himself, and asking God - why.
The question then turns into a demand and Job gets angry with God and starts to demand over and over again that God show up and explain himself to Job. Job yells at God that he doesn’t deserve his suffering. Job says that he’s righteous and that God is being unfair. Job demands God show up and explain what’s going on and says God better have a pretty good answer. Job actually challenges God to defend his treatment of Job in the heavenly courtroom. What’s scary about this is that this is not the first time someone has challenged God in this story. Job is starting to sound like Satan.
Is Job wrong for getting mad at God for all his suffering? Is Job wrong for demanding God show up and explain himself? Does God show up to say sorry to Job?
Job is not wrong for asking God why he is suffering. Job is not even wrong for getting mad and confused and crying out to God.
But, Job is wrong when he starts to accuse God of being unjust. So God shows up in a terrible storm like it’s judgment day. And God doesn’t come to explain himself to Job or to tell Job why he‘s suffering. God shows up and demands Job explain himself and what Job believes about God. The truth is the bigness of God only magnifies the seriousness of our sin.
When God shows up Job doesn’t get to ask the questions. God asks the questions. And God asks Job if Job can overcome all the suffering and chaos and evil in the world.
And Job says no. And Job realizes that his suffering has actually been a means to get Job to run to God for help. That’s what all our suffering tells us - we need God’s help and salvation.
When God shows up in the storm of judgment - this is supposed to shock the reader, intentionally: Job, you should be crushed by God’s glory, power, goodness, awesomeness AND in that storm of judgment is the voice of love and grace for God’s servant Job, and the voice of God’s triumph over the Satan challenger. He has lost.
God has to come to save Job before Job abandons his faith and Satan wins.
[Second Round] But, God is not done. After Job’s initial submission, God picks Job up and says, let’s go another round. God then demands Job justify himself like he said he would. “Job, you think you’re above evil; you talk as if you could exalt yourself to king of creation, ok, show me your ability to deal with the world’s problems. Let’s see you subdue and overcome all the forces of evil. If you can overcome evil and sin then you can justify yourself in courtroom of heaven.”
Again, Job admits he’s wrong. Job says God is right and that Job isn’t perfect and that he can’t fix all the suffering and evil in the world. Job admits to God that Job can’t fix the sin that’s in him.
ANDTHAT’S A BIG PROBLEM. If Job can’t fix his own sin then who is he in big trouble with? Who will judge all sinners?
GOD!!!! The devil may hate Job and everyone else but God is the real enemy of all sinners including Job. For Job to beat the devil, Job has to beat his sin. But Job can’t beat his sin. And if Job can’t beat his sin, then it’s God who has to beat Job and judge him and condemn him. That’s what the devil wants God to do. So for Job to beat his sin and the devil and FOR JOB TO BEAT GOD - then God has to beat Job’s sin for him!!!! God has to save us from himself! God has to save us from his own wrath against our sin.
This is the most incredible three way fight ever! ordeal. To subdue Satan by the hand of Job, God first has to subdue Job. And if Job, as God’s champion, is going to overcome Satan then Job has to prevail with God. But Job can only prevail with God if he is brought to his knees in willful submission to God. That means Job can only subdue Satan by being subdued by God.
So how do both Job and God win and Satan lose?
Job defeats Satan as God brings suffering on him and Job still believes. The gospel does save. God’s promise to save sinners in the gospel of grace is fulfilled IN Job because it’s fulfilled BY another champion.
Ultimately to beat the devil, the Son of God must come as the human champion and God must make him suffer judgment in our place.
Do we know why Jesus had to die on the cross? What does Jesus save us from?
Jesus saves us from God, from God’s wrath. God sends Jesus, his own son, to come and suffer judgment for us and take the wrath of God on the cross for our sins. We can’t beat our sin or God’s wrath so Jesus beats it for us and because Jesus beats our sin we beat the devil. You just have to trust God and believe Jesus did it.