Mailbag - Was Job Sinless? Why Did God Choose Israel to be His People?

Hello, everyone. I am back again with a mailbag

podcast. If you're wondering, Pastor Logan, why

didn't we have a sermon podcast this past Sunday?

Well, one, I forgot the microphones, but I could

go out and get it off of Facebook Marketplace,

Facebook Marketplace, Facebook Live and put that

together. And I just haven't done that yet. So

that's the main reason I just need to get get

to doing that. It just is more steps than I am

used to and just honestly forgot. So this past

Sunday, because we had the wedding and a lot

of people out, we. covered, I took a break from

Mark for just a moment and I covered the do's

and don'ts of prayer and how to pray and what

Jesus teaches us about prayer. So with that being

said though, I got two really good questions

sent to me this week and I thought, you know

what? I haven't done a mailbag in a long time.

And mostly because I think a lot of people slack

on asking Pastor Logan questions. I'm kidding.

Two really good questions that I thought, you

know what? Let's do this for a mailbag since

I haven't done it in a while. So without further

ado. If you listen to this podcast and you go,

you hear these questions and you hear the answers,

I promise to answer them 100 percent correctly

or your money back. And if you feel like I did

not do that, well, then you can get your money

back. That's a joke. So anyway, here we go. So

first question. If Job was blameless, does that

mean he was sinless? So. No, first and foremost.

The simple short part of that is no blameless

doesn't mean sinless and not that this person

was saying that, but I think that's what a lot

of our minds wonder. And so the Bible is actually

really clear that everyone except Jesus is sinful,

right? So we are born into sin because of Adam

and Eve and their sin. But. Job. Was a good man

who loved the Lord and but Job wasn't an exception

to being sinless. OK, so why does God call him

blameless? Notice that he uses blameless, not

sinless. So the word blameless in Hebrew. And

basically like if you translated it into English

for the word that that's used and that's used

in Hebrew, it can have a whole it can mean whole

or complete or a person of integrity. And so

it's describing the overall direction of Job's

life, not claiming that he was morally perfect.

So. The best way for me to put it for you to

like, if you if you're not getting it, the best

way to to understand it would be like this. If

someone was to describe a faithful husband and

you said, yes, my husband is faithful, he is

loving. You wouldn't you wouldn't mean that he

has never made a mistake, right? You wouldn't

say. He was without sin, right? You would just

mean he's devoted to his wife. He's devoted to

you as his spouse. He is a man who is devoted

to his friends and to his church and is a man

of integrity, right? Like his life is characterized

by faithfulness. Does that make sense? I hope

it does. And so that's the idea of what we understand

with Job. And so Job wasn't hiding some sort

of this. That's what it wants us to understand.

Job wasn't hiding. some sort of secret sin or

rebellion against God. He wasn't living a double

life. He wasn't cherishing his own sin, for that

matter. He was a man whose heart was genuinely

for the Lord and wanted to serve him. But that

did not mean he was perfect. In fact, when you

look at the opening chapters of Job, it describes

him as honest, as generous, as just. It shows

that he is devoted to his family. and someone

who feared God and he turned away from evil.

It even says that he made offerings on behalf

of his children. So that's what blameless looks

like. It's being all of those things and being

the sum of the entirety of your life. It's when

God looked at the overall pattern of Job's life,

it was he saw Job's integrity. And so here's

why. that all matters. And so the entire book

of Job is about suffering. Right. So that's that's

the distinction we have to understand. But why

do we need to understand that? Because why does

Satan make the claim? Like, what does Satan come

to God for? Like, the whole thing opens up with

what Satan making an accusation to God. And he

says, basically, people only job only serves

you because you bless him. And he says, if you

allow me to take away his health, his wealth,

his family, he will curse you. It's only because

he's blessed. And so the question isn't whether

Job is perfect. The question is whether someone

can genuinely love God, even when there's nothing

to gain. And so God is willing to take that bet

and go, yeah, no, okay. I know who Job is. So

let's, let's see it. He says, but you know, you

can't kill him. Uh, and so that's why Job's integrity

is important. That's why God says he is blameless

above all others because he is a man of integrity.

So God's like, basically it would be to put it

in baseball terms. It would be like, if someone

said my best against your best and my guy is

going to win hands down. He's only good because

you faced bad pitching. And I'd be like, okay,

cool. I have the major league AL MVP on my team.

And I know without a shadow of a doubt, this

dude can absolutely slap. And so I put him out

there and I have all the confidence in the world

that he is going to come through. But God knew

that his, his bet was even, even better than

that. Like he knew who Job was. And so if Job

had been living in obvious rebellion, his suffering

would have an easy explanation. We go back to,

if we go to Job's friends and they're like, you

obviously have sinned, right? They keep going

back to that. That's why you're suffering. You've

obviously have sinned and Job is so, uh, confused

by because he's like, I can't think of anything.

I will repent of anything that I've done. But

instead, we're confronted with something that's

much harder. And that is this, what do we do

when someone sincerely loves God and yet they're

still suffering? That's the tension of the book

of Job. And so if we know Job wasn't sinless,

because by the end of the book, after God speaks,

Job ultimately humbles himself and does what?

Repents. And so he didn't repent because he suddenly

realized he'd committed a secret sin that caused

all of his suffering. He repented because standing

before the holiness of God exposed his own limitations

and his pride and his own lack of understanding.

And so essentially, here's the big takeaway.

You don't have to be perfect to be described

as blameless. God isn't looking for flawless

people. Thanks the Lord for that. He's looking

for people whose hearts are wholly His. People

who confess their sins. People who repent when

they're wrong. People whose lives are marked

by integrity rather than hypocrisy. And so that's

the kind of blamelessness that we see in Job.

And thankfully, because of Christ, that's the

kind of life God is producing in all of his people.

So I hope that helps. So now we got a second

question. This question is a little bit harder

to answer, but I hope that you stay with me,

okay? So the question is this, why did God choose

Israel to be his people out of all the nations?

Why Israel? This is a cosmic question. This is

one that has to do with where you have to understand

the unseen realm. And I don't mean the unseen

things in scripture. I mean literally the realm

that is unseen, the one that is complete with

demons and angels and all of that stuff. You

have to go back to and you've got to look at

a few things. One, you've got to look at the

fall. Two, you've got to look at the Tower of

Babel. And three, you have to look at what's

called the Deuteronomy 32 worldview. Maybe like

I've never heard of such Pastor Logan. Yes, it

is a very real thing and it is what theologians

would describe as why Israel was chosen to be

God's people. Uh, and, and just spoiler alert,

God didn't choose Israel because they were the

best. They weren't, they weren't the most obedient.

They weren't, uh, they weren't the biggest nation.

Uh, they weren't anything that was great. Okay.

And so Moses actually tells us in Deuteronomy,

it's actually the exact opposite of all those

things. And so Israel, like I said, wasn't the

largest. They weren't the strongest. Um, They

were definitely not righteous. And so if you've

read the Old Testament, you know, they certainly

weren't obedient. Right. So why did God choose

them? And the answer is very, very, very, very

simple. Because God loved them. Oh, well, yeah.

OK, Pastor Logan, sure. Fine. OK, but let me

let me get a little bit. Let's let's go a little

bit deeper. Essentially, When you look at Genesis

12, or I'm sorry, when you look at the Tower

of Babel, what is happening in the Tower of Babel?

Well, you have what's called the dividing up

of the nations. And that's essentially what is

being talked about in Deuteronomy 32 is the way

Israel saw other nations. and their gods, lesser

gods, right? So not gods like Yahweh. There is

only he is uncreated and there is only one like

him. Father, son, Holy Spirit, triune God, no

other like him. He is the only uncreated being.

Special Logan, then what are you talking about

other gods? I'm talking about what is called

the divine council, which is in Psalm 81. You

can go read about them there. I've done a little

bit. talking about them in another podcast. I'll

link it down in the description of this one.

But you can see them in Daniel when when you

see that says the god of or the the. How do they

explain it? OK, I can't remember how it said,

but essentially it talks about. The the controller

of Greece, right? So Gabriel is trying to come

down to answer. Daniel's message from God or

Daniel's prayer to God. And when Gabriel comes

down, he's like, hey, God immediately heard your

prayer. But the power of God of Greece stopped

me. So it took the archangel Michael coming and

rescue me and setting me free. So we have these

things. We have these lesser gods. OK, I won't

go into what they do, but essentially just know

at the Tower of Babel. These dudes, they rebelled.

They rebelled a couple of times. And when they

rebelled, God divided up the nations among these

lesser gods. Stay with me. What Teuteronomy 32

is saying is so each nation has their gods that

they serve, which is where we get things like

which would make sense on why certain areas of

the world worship. uh, Mohammed and, and Islam

and why you have some that are Hindu and why

you have Buddhism and all these other across

the world, why they do different worship, different

things. So, um, so God's like here, you take

the other nations of the world. You see those

two old people, that really old man and that

old woman. This is Genesis 12, right? I'm going

to make a nation out of them. What looks to be

impossible is about to become possible because

of me. And every other nation will see that I

am the most powerful, that I am a God who loves,

that I am the creator of this world through what

I do through them, through what I do through

the smallest, through what I do through the most

disobedient, how I love them through it, how

I come and die for all of them. So it's the calling

of Abraham. And so it's almost as if God is saying,

if the nations won't follow me, I'll create a

whole new family through whom I'll bring blessing

back to all the nations. And that's the point.

And so Israel wasn't chosen instead of the other

nations. Israel was chosen for the nations. I'll

say that one more time. Israel wasn't chosen

instead of other nations. Israel was chosen for

the other nations, meaning what I just said,

I'm going to show what I do through those two

old people. I'm going to do the impossible, and

I'm going to create a people for myself. And

through them, the other nations will be blessed.

And so God intended Israel. to be a light to

the Gentiles. Hello. Does that sound familiar?

So ultimately the whole world would come to know

him. Now Israel failed that mission, but where

Israel failed, Jesus did what? He succeeded.

So it's not like, oh, Israel failed. So now Jesus

has come. No, it was all a part of the plan.

All a part of the plan. Jesus is the true and

faithful Israel. Through him God's promise to

Abraham is fulfilled and now people from every

tribe tongue and nation Can become part of God's

family? One last thing being chosen wasn't just

a privilege. It was a responsibility We should

not forget that because that falls on us, too

Israel wasn't called to reflect God's character

They were to be holy because God is holy. Their

election wasn't a free pass to do whatever they

wanted. It was a calling to represent God before

the world. And that's true for us as believers

today. God has graciously called us to himself,

not because we deserved it, but because he loved

us. And now we have the privilege and the responsibility

of living lives that point others to Him. So

why did God choose Israel? Not because they were

great, but because He is. Because of His grace,

He created a people through whom He would eventually

bring salvation to the entire world. And that's

the story of the Bible. Isn't that incredible?

Well, I hope that was helpful. And if you've

got more questions, always feel free to message

me on Facebook or text it to me or email me at

the church, whatever you would like to do. If

you've got questions that are just kind of burning

in you, I would love to answer them. Also, I've

got a podcast I'm going to be starting for the

men in our church, and I'm calling it Gird Up

Your Loins, which is what God says to Job. but

it will be a podcast specifically focused for

men on how to grow and mature and be the men

God has called us to be, how to mature as a believer,

how to lead and be the men that our wives desire

and respect, who our children will ultimately

look and go, I'm blessed because of who my father

was and we are blessed because of who your grandfather

was. And so they will be podcast that I'll put

out weekly. Just helping break down the scriptures,

give some devotion and give some some challenge

each week. So be on the lookout for that. I will

be sending out an email if you are ever in the

O 'Neill, Nebraska area. We would love to see

you come hang out with us at Christ our cornerstone

church. Our services are at ten forty five. I

hope this was helpful. If it was, please share

it with somebody. And yeah. I will see you this

Sunday. See you later.