JOB 3 - 8th March 2026

All

right. Well, good morning. Please take

your Bibles and open them up to Job

Job 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2. Please take your Bibles and

open them up to Job chapter 2.

Job 2 · chapter mention

It's just before Psalms, the book of

Psalms, Job chapter 2.

Job 2 · chapter mention

Job is 42 chapters. We will not be going

through it one chapter at a time, but

for these first couple of weeks it will

be and then we'll be looking at bigger

chunks just to let you know. Um

let's pray and ask for the Lord's help

as we consider his word together.

Lord, we thank you, Lord Jesus, for the

song uh that we just sang that our sins

they are many, but your mercy is more.

What a wonderful truth to sing to you

and to sing to one another. What a

wonderful truth to remember that we

stand here because of your mercy. Thank

you, Lord Jesus, for the forgiveness of

sins. Thank you for new life in you.

Thank you that you have promised to

never leave us and never forsake us.

Thank you that you have promised to be

with us wherever we go. And thank you

that you have promised that you are

coming back again. And thank you that

you have promised that one day we will

be with you in eternity. And it is on

that day our faith will become sight.

And Lord Jesus, we cannot wait. But I

thank you Lord that we get to experience

your word even now in these moments on

earth. Teach us. We need to hear from

you. We ask that you Lord Jesus would

speak for your servants are listening.

Amen.

Going to start this morning um not with

an encouraging truth. I would love to

start with an encouraging truth, but I'm

going to start with what might seem as a

discouraging truth, but it is a truth

that we must remember.

And the truth is this.

Satan,

he is real.

And Satan,

he hates you.

Satan, he is real.

And Satan, he hates you.

And when when you open up the book of

Job, you realize this truth. Yes, the

Lord is present and he is sovereign over

it all.

But yes, Satan is real and Satan hates

God's people.

Now, there are two dangers when we're

talking about Satan that we can slip

into.

The one danger is this, that we

exaggerate all of Satan's works. That we

think Satan is behind everything. That

Satan is under every bush. That every

bad thing that ever happens, it's all

because of him and everything is Satan.

Well, the sin in your life mightn't all

be Satan. It's probably because of you.

So we can have the extreme and

exaggerate Satan's work, but we can also

slip into another extreme. We can ignore

that Satan exists and we can ignore his

work. And we can ignore the fact that we

are actually every single day as

Christians, we are in a spiritual

battle.

And there is nothing more dangerous for

you in your Christian faith

to ignore the fact that you are every

day in a battle. So that's the two

extremes. We can exaggerate Satan's work

and we can ignore Satan's work. But what

we need to do, I think, in accordance

with the scripture is recognize, simply

recognize Satan is at work. not go to

either of those two extremes, but

understand and know that he is real and

that he hates you.

And it's important for us to know these

things, especially in the context of

suffering. Peter, when he was writing to

the churches, he wrote to them in the

context of suffering. And he wrote to

them one of the most famous verses about

the works of Satan in the context of

their suffering. Notice what he says to

them. You don't need to turn there, but

listen. 1 Peter 5:8 says this, "Be

1 Peter 5:8

soberminded.

Be watchful.

Your adversary, the devil, prowls around

like a roaring lion."

So, in the context of their suffering,

what does Peter tell them to do? to be

soberminded,

to be watchful,

to not overexaggerate things, to not

ignore things, but be steady,

soberminded, and watchful for the fact

that the devil prowls around like a

roaring lion.

We need to understand

that Satan,

he also has purposes

in our suffering. Last week in chapter

1, we focused on the fact that the Lord

has purposes in our suffering. But we

also need to know that Satan has

purposes in our suffering, too. What

does he want for you? He wants you to

fail.

That's his purposes in your suffering.

And so, we see this as we open up to

chapter 2. We see Satan's purposes

in the suffering.

Job chapter 2 verse 1.

Job 2:1

Again, there was a day. I'm going to

pause there just for a second just to

remind us of where we were. Notice what

it begins with in verse one. Again,

there was a day and chapter 1. What we

heard about last week was that there

were two days that changed Job's life

forever. There was the conversation day

in heaven between the Lord and Satan

when Satan was asking the Lord for

permission to attack Job.

And that conversation day in heaven, the

Lord gave permission. And that

conversation day in heaven led to a

destruction day on earth

where Job's life was turned upside down

and he lost everything.

His animals were destroyed, his servants

were destroyed and his children were

destroyed.

And at the end of that destruction day,

Job said those famous words, "The Lord

gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed

be the name of the Lord.

And then it tells us at the end of that

chapter and Job did not sin. And as you

look at the story of Job, you wish it

would just end there.

He's gone through the worst destruction

day in his life. Surely the Lord would

allow it to end there.

But unfortunately for Job, in chapter 2,

we're going to see another conversation

day in heaven, which leads to another

destruction day on earth.

Chapter 2 verse 1.

Again, there was a day when the sons of

God came to present themselves before

the Lord, and Satan also came among them

to present himself before the Lord. And

the Lord said to Satan, "From where have

you come?" And Satan answered the Lord,

"From going to and fro on the earth, and

from walking up and down on it." And the

Lord said to Satan,

"Have you considered my servant Job,

that there is none like him on the

earth, a blameless and upright man who

who fears God and and turns away from

evil, he still holds fast to his

integrity. Although you incited me

against him to destroy him without

reason.

This is the beginning of the

conversation day in heaven. It is the

conversation between the Lord and Satan.

And as you see this conversation

happening between the Lord and Satan,

you see that the conversation is is

pretty much the same as what happened

before. The council of the sons of God,

the angelic beings come before the Lord.

Satan answers into the present into the

into his presence.

The Lord asks him the question from

where have you come? He says, I've been

going to and fro the earth. What was

Satan doing? I assume Satan was doing

what he always does. He prowls around

like a roaring lion seeking those whom

he may devour. And the Lord once again,

not just the first time, but for the

second time, the Lord brings up Job

and says, "Have you considered my

servant?" And he repeats again the

characteristics of Job. He's blameless.

He's upright. He is one who fears God.

And so for Job, he fears God in this

way. He sees evil. He might be tempted

by evil, but this godly man, every time

he sees evil, every time he he's tempted

by evil, he fears the Lord by turning

away from

evil.

And so you look at this whole

conversation, everything that happens,

and you ask yourself, well, what's the

difference between this conversation and

the one in chapter 1? And one of the

things that helps us as we're reading

the Bible, when it seems like there's

two things that are just very similar,

the question you need to ask yourself is

this. What's different here? It pretty

much repeats it word for word from

chapter 1. So what's different here?

Well, what's different here is what the

Lord says about Job at the end of verse

three. He still holds fast his

integrity.

It's almost like this. The Lord,

he's proud of his boy.

Have you seen my son, Job?

Have you seen my boy? You're you're

you're you're looking across all the

world. Have you seen Job?

He's blameless.

He's upright.

He fears me.

He turns away from evil. And my boy,

he's lost everything. You took his

animals. You took his servants. You took

his children. And look at him. He still

stands with integrity. He still stands

for me. That's my boy.

What a proud father.

As he looks at Job, standing for him.

though Job has lost everything.

And this is part of the Lord's purposes

in our suffering.

See, the Lord allowed

Satan to afflict Job.

And the Lord knew that Job would stand.

But the Lord also had great purposes in

the sufferings of Job. And the purposes

that we said last week were twofold.

to prove his genuiness and to show off

God's glory.

It says this in 1 Peter chapter 1 verse

1 Peter 1:6

6. Let me remind you of these verses. He

writes to the suffering church and Peter

says to them, "In this you rejoice,

though now for a little while, if

necessary, you have been grieved by

various trials,

so that the tested genuiness of your

faith, more precious than gold, that

perishes,

though it is tested by fire, may be

found to result in praise and glory and

honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Peter's writing to them and he's saying

to them this, "Your trials are there to

show you your genuiness

and your trials are there to result in

God's glory."

And so when you look at Job

and you look at all that has happened in

his life, he's lost all his animals, all

his servants, all his children. And yet

he stands and says, "The Lord gives and

the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name

of the Lord." As you look at Job, you

say that guy is genuine.

That guy, he is a real godly man.

and you look at all that goes on in his

life. And then when you see that in Job,

do you know what happens?

You say, "Praise the Lord because the

Lord has kept this man."

Genuiness and glory. That's the purposes

that the Lord uses. That's the Lord's

purpose in our suffering.

But then we also need to know while God

is is sovereign over everything and he

is the purpose of genuiness and glory

over over all our suffering underneath

that Satan also has purposes in our

suffering.

And you see that at the end of verse

three,

the Lord is speaking of his boy Job. And

he says, "He still holds fast to his

integrity, although you incited me

against him to destroy him." That's

Satan's purposes in our suffering. God's

purposes in our suffering are genuineess

and glory. Satan's purposes in our

suffering is destruction. And this is

why Satan says what he says in verse

four. Then Satan answered the Lord and

said, "Skin for skin,

all that a man has, he will give for his

life, but stretch out your hand and

touch his bone and his flesh, and he

will curse you to your face."

And the Lord said to Satan, "Behold,

he is in your hand. only spare his life.

The Lord, he stands in this conversation

in heaven and he says, "Have you seen

Job? He's lost everything and he still

loves me." And then Satan turns back and

he says, "Skin for skin." Yeah, he's

lost everything,

but let's do this.

Let's touch his body.

Let's afflict his body

and let's see if he's still standing

after that. Let's really test if his

faith is absolutely genuine. And if you

allow me, Satan's saying, if you allow

me

touch his body, his bone and his flesh,

he will curse you.

And the Lord in his sovereignty

says,

"Yes,

what is Satan hoping to do?

Satan is real

and Satan hates this man and Satan wants

to destroy him."

That's what's happening here.

We need to understand this in our lives.

Satan is real.

Satan hates you.

And Satan, he wants to destroy you.

We are in a battle.

And this is not this is not just like,

oh, Old Testament truths, oh that just

happened back in the day kind of stuff.

No.

When Lana read out to us Ephesians

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6, what did it tell us?

We are in a battle.

When Paul was writing to the church,

what did he say to them? Stand firm

because you are in a battle.

And in those verses, he tal he spoke

about the attack of Satan. He said this

to the church in Ephesians chapter 6 11.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

Put on the whole armor of God that you

may be able to stand against the schemes

of the devil.

Put on the full armor of God, church,

that you may be able to stand against

the schemes of the devil. And what does

it mean to put on the full full armor of

God? Well, he tells us in those verses

to put on truth, to put on the gospel,

to put on faith.

This is what it means to put on the full

armor of God.

Let me ask you the question.

Do you know and understand

that you are in this battle?

You should.

And how you fight this battle is this,

with the truth of the gospel. Putting on

every day the armor of God.

Reminding yourself every day of what God

in Christ has done for you. And

reminding your brothers and sisters

every day of what God in Christ has done

for you.

Satan,

he hates this church.

He hates the fact that you are here this

morning. In fact, he would love nothing

more for you not to be here.

And then now that you are here, do you

know what he wants? To distract you. And

when you leave, do you know what he

wants? To take that word away from you

as soon as you walk out the door. To

distract you with all the things of the

world. Go and love all your stuff. Go

and love all your material. Forget about

this Jesus.

That's what he wants for you.

He absolutely hates you.

He hates your marriage.

He hates he he he hates the fact that

you have children that you're trying to

raise in the Lord. He's he's seeking to

kill and destroy. That's what he does.

And so what do we do? Well, Paul says,

"You stand firm by the power of the

spirit against the schemes of the

devil."

He repeated it again in Ephesians

chapter 6:1 16. "In all circumstances,

take up the shield of faith

with which you can extinguish the

flaming darts of the evil one."

The evil one seeks to attack us

spiritually with flaming darts. And how

do you defend against his attack? Faith.

Faith in Christ Jesus and in what he has

done.

We are so tempted to just have

Christianity be like the cherry on top

of our week. You know, I've come, I've

attended, I've done my bit. And then we

walk out in life in ignorance of the

fact that we are in a battle.

And what I would encourage you as a

church is to continue to fight by the

power of the spirit against the schemes

of the evil one.

This is his purposes in your suffering.

And so that conversation day in heaven

leads to the destruction day on earth.

Verse 7. So Satan went out with the

permission of the Lord. Satan went out

from the presence of the Lord and struck

Job with a lo with loathsome swords

from the sole of his foot to the crown

of his head. And he took a piece of

broken pottery with which to scrape

himself while he sat in ashes.

Skin for skin.

Let me strike his body. And Satan in

verse 7, he strikes his body with soores

from head to toe.

And they're so bad that he he breaks

pottery and is literally scraping his

skin.

And he sits there on the ashes.

This man who is the greatest man in all

of the east.

He had the perfect family,

the perfect number of animals,

the perfect home. He had life all

together.

And there he sits in the ashes

close to death.

As one writer put it, ashes to ashes,

dust to dust.

He's sitting there

almost dead.

And as he's sitting there almost dead,

another conversation takes place in this

book of Job, the book of conversations.

And it is a conversation between a

husband and a wife which happens to be

the shortest conversation in the whole

book.

Read into that what you will.

Verse nine.

Then his wife said to him, "Do you still

hold fast to your integrity? Curse God

and die."

But he said to her, "You speak as one of

the foolish women would speak. Shall we

receive good from God and shall we not

receive evil?" In all this, Job did not

sin with his lips.

His wife comes to him

and as if she's saying, "We've lost

everything.

We've lost all our animals. We've lost

all our servants. We've lost all our

children.

And yet you still want to hold on to

your little precious integrity.

The very thing that the Lord commends

him for is the thing that she now

condemns him for.

Why are you holding on to this

integrity? Surely it's not worth all of

this.

And she actually believes in God. And

she believes in God's power because she

says, "Just curse God and get it over

with. If you curse him, you'll die and

it'll be done.

Why would you hold on to this?"

He rebukes her lightly and says, "You're

speaking like one of the foolish women.

You're not speaking the ways of wisdom.

you're speaking the ways of foolishness.

And then he almost repeats his words

when he says, "Shall we receive good

from the Lord and shall we not receive

evil?"

See, for Job, his life is this

on his tombstone.

The Lord gives,

the Lord takes away.

Blessed be the name of the Lord. He can

take my children. He can take my stuff.

I'm still going to praise him.

And there he stands or sits in the ash

heap. He is nothing. His body is broken.

And his wife, she's not helping.

And he says,

"Shall we only have good from the Lord

and not take the bad too?

This is what the Lord has for us."

And in that moment, Job sits in the

worst place that he has ever been in

life.

And the passage says

he does not sin with his lips.

He closes his mouth

and all around him

people are speaking, "Give up. Give up.

Give up."

He closes his mouth.

And what we learn, I think, from this in

terms of Satan's purposes

in our afflictions is this. Yes,

Satan does have purpose in our

suffering. Yes, Satan does even

sometimes have power in our suffering.

But we need to remember this. It is

always a permitted power. He is not

omnisient. He is not omnipresent.

And we need to remember this.

He always loses.

Yes, he is powerful, but he never wins.

And you look at the end of Job's life

here, and he's sitting there, and he

still does not sin. Can you imagine

Satan looking on at that?

I've tried everything,

skin for skin,

and he does nothing.

Satan

always loses.

And we see this in the sufferings of

Christ, don't we? Satan had purposes in

the sufferings of Christ. Satan wanted

to destroy Christ. Satan wanted Christ

to die.

We hear his purposes in John 13:27.

John 13:27

After Judas ate the piece of bread,

Satan entered into Judas and Jesus told

him, "What you are doing, go and do it

quickly."

Satan entered into Judas

and Jesus says, "What you're doing, go

and do it quickly." You see, Satan had a

plan and a purpose to destroy Jesus.

And all the while, Satan thought, "I'm

winning. I'm winning. I'm winning. He's

being beaten. He's being bruised. He's

being scattered. I'm winning. I'm

winning. I'm winning." And then over it

all, God has his purposes and plans

because it was on the cross that Christ

won. He defeated sin and death. And on

the third day, he rose again. And what

did it do?

It showed his genuiness

and appointed to God's glory.

Because on the cross, one of the

centurions said as he was dead, surely

this man is the son of God.

And when he rose up from the grave, what

did Thomas say to him?

My Lord and my God.

He was the real deal. And all of it

resulted in the glory of God.

Satan is real.

Satan is powerful.

But Satan never wins.

So we fight knowing that the battle has

already been won by our savior.

And so this is Job's life.

It is a conversation day in heaven

followed by a destruction day on earth.

Another conversation day in heaven

followed by another destruction day on

earth.

Satan has lost.

But we need to realize for Job

it still hurts.

It's still painful.

And that's what we see in this next day

in Job's life. These next days in Job's

life,

the conversation day in heaven followed

by the destruction day on earth

finishes with weeping days on the

ground. Verse 11.

Now when Job's three friends heard of

all this evil that had come upon him,

they came each from his own place.

Elephas

the Temonite, Bildad the Shuhite, and

Zofar the Neamothite.

They made an appointment together to

come to show him sympathy and comfort

him. And when they saw him, from a

distance, they did not recognize him.

And they they raised their voices and

wept. And they tore their robes and

sprinkled dust on their heads toward

heaven. And they sat with him on the

ground seven days and seven nights. And

no one spoke a word to him.

For they saw

that his suffering

was very great.

Yes.

Satan didn't win.

Job did not sin.

And yet Job sits there destroyed.

And what Job needs at this moment is

what all of us need in these kind of

moments,

friends.

And what I want to do very practically

is just look at what these friends do

when they see their friend in pain. Look

at their actions.

We'll get to their words. Their words

terrible. Their actions pretty good.

What do we see the friends doing? And I

think we can learn from all of this in

what we see the friends doing.

The first thing Job's friends do in

verse 11, when they see his pain and

when they see his suffering and when

they see his destruction, the first

things his friends do is this. They go,

they hear of the evil that had happened

and come upon their friend and they go

and they come, each one in verse 11,

each one comes from his own town. And

it's very hard to pinpoint where exactly

those towns are. But it seems to be

rough estimates that each one of these

guys are traveling over 200 kilometers

at least.

When they see their friend in pain and

suffering, what do they do? They drop

everything and they go no matter what

the distance.

The second thing the friends do is this.

They comfort.

The end of verse 11, they made an

appointment together to come and show

sympathy and comfort him.

They show comfort to their friend. They

sympathize with him. They try and get

into what he is feeling and experiencing

and they seek to bring him comfort.

That's what we need in our pain. Friends

who will seek to bring comfort. Now

later in the book,

Job is going to call them in chapter 16,

I think it is, miserable comforters,

but for now they're okay.

They come, they drop everything and they

seek to comfort.

I think we can learn from these two

things.

I think as sufferers, those who suffer

can learn this.

When you are suffering,

you should tell people that you are

suffering.

The friends only go because the friends

heard. That's the only reason the

friends go. They heard. So all of them

went.

Now they could hear about Job's

suffering. Job didn't have to tell them.

Why? Because Job was one of the most

famous people in all the east and his

suffering spread throughout all the

lands. It was a great suffering.

But the important thing to note is the

only reason the friends go is because

they've heard about the trouble.

And so I would encourage you if you're

ever suffering,

make sure people hear about it.

Tell people

whatever the suffering is,

whether it's big or small,

anxiety, grief, loneliness, depression,

loss, whatever it might be,

the friends may not be able to come

because they just don't know and they

haven't heard.

Tell them.

Can I be really honest with you? I

struggle with this.

I find it hard to just tell people

what's going on. I don't want to make a

fuss.

The encouragement here

is to tell people

they heard. So the sufferer should tell.

And those who hear of the suffering,

what should they do? You should go and

you should comfort.

We live in a very selfish world.

I know people want to point out all the

selflessness that's happening, but

actually we live in a very very selfish

world.

And what people need in their suffering

is not not just a quick text or a phone

call.

They need you to drop the phone

and get in the car and go.

And if needs be, they need you to drop

the phone and get in a plane and go

so you can be with them and comfort them

in their pain.

This is what these friends do. They go

and they comfort. And the third thing

the friends do is they weep. Verse 12.

And when they saw him from a distance,

they could not recognize him, and they

raised their voices and wept, and they

tore their robes and sprinkled dust on

their heads toward heaven.

Now, some people still read the actions

of the friends here negatively, like

that almost they say that the friends

are weeping at him rather than weeping

with him. I don't see that happening as

negatively. I see them partaking in very

traditional uh grieving rituals,

mourning rituals where you would raise

your voice, where you would weep with

the person, where you would tear your

clothes, and where you'd put dust on

your head. And why would you put dust on

your head? Well, from ashes to ashes,

dust to dust. You're experiencing right

now something that's like death.

What I'm going to do is I'm going to

tear all my clothes and I'm I'm going to

put dust on me and I'm going to help

stand with you and experience the death

that you are experiencing.

They go to their friend and they weep

with him.

And the fourth thing they do in verse

13, and they sat with him on the ground

seven days and seven nights.

They go and they don't just look at him

in his pain.

They go

and they get down on the ground

and they weep

and they stay with them for as long as

it takes.

Seven days,

seven nights.

The perfect amount of time

to weep with their friend.

That's what I would encourage you to do.

Go

be with people in their pain.

Go and sit with them. And guess what?

Going and sitting with someone, it's

never convenient.

Suffering never kind of fit. Have you

noticed that about suffering? It doesn't

fit our schedule. Usually suffering just

happens.

which means

we may have to put the schedule aside

and go and just sit with the person,

weep with those who weep and mourn with

those who mourn.

And the final thing that the friends do

is probably the best thing they did

is they did not speak a word.

It's probably the wisest thing these

friends did in the whole book.

They did not speak a word.

Sometimes

no words are the best words.

Sometimes people are in such pain

that they'll know God is in control. You

know, I actually believe he's in

control,

but telling them

that at that moment

mightn't be the very best thing at that

moment.

Might just be being with them.

Sometimes we say words to help us more

than to help them.

But the reality is of course that what

they are doing here is a traditional

mourning grieving experience for seven

days and for seven nights.

And obviously it's not going to be

helpful for the Christian if someone

doesn't speak to them for seven days.

But the principle is still there.

Sometimes

all a person needs in that moment is

just for you to keep the mouth quiet and

give them a hug.

And then when the time is right, what

should you do in their suffering?

I think you should tell them all about

the suffering servant.

What do they need at that moment? They

need Jesus. And in those moments, they

don't often think about Jesus.

So tell them about the suffering servant

who suffered for them. Tell them about

him in their suffering.

And so as I look at the life of Job, it

says this about him at the end of

chapter 2. His suffering was very great.

Job's life

always points to the suffering servant.

And what I want to do is just read to

you the suffering that our savior

experienced.

Isaiah 53:2.

Isaiah 53:2

We'll end with this.

He had no form or majesty that we should

look at him. He had no beauty that we

should desire him.

He was despised and rejected.

A man of sorrows and familiar with

grief.

And as one who men hid their faces from,

he was despised,

and we esteemed him not.

Surely he has borne our griefs, and he

has carried our sorrows.

Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by

God, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our

transgressions.

He was crushed for our iniquities.

Upon him was the chastisement that

brought us peace.

And by his wounds we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray. We

have turned everyone to his own way. And

the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of

us all. He was oppressed

and he was afflicted.

Yet he opened not his mouth.

He kept his lips shut. This is our

savior. Let's pray.

Lord Jesus,

we thank you that you are the one who

opened not your mouth,

but were bruised for our transgressions

and pierced for our iniquities.

And we thank you that in our suffering

and in our grief, we have a suffering

savior who we can turn to, who knows our

grief, who knows our sorrows, who knows

our pain,

and who can truly as a good friend

give us comfort.

We pray all this in your name, Jesus.

Amen.

Let's stand and sing