Biblical Truths from West Palm Beach church of Christ

Romans 7 has proclaimed an important truth which is summarized in Romans 8:2. You have been set free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. The glorious words of hope are proclaimed in Romans 8:1. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” But the message of “no condemnation” and being set free from the law of sin and death does not stop there. We have not been set free to return to the works of the flesh. We have not received the decree of “no condemnation” so that we would go on doing things that God condemns. Paul is going to direct us to the hope of the changed life. Paul is going to direct us to the new life, the good life, that is in Christ Jesus. Please open your copies of God’s word to Romans 8:4. We concluded our last lesson at this verse. But this is a transition verse, concluding the prior paragraph and opening a new paragraph that Romans 8 explores. Paul proclaims in Romans 8:4 that God sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us. Paul is introducing an important direction for us. The righteous requirement of the law can be fulfilled in us. We have been set free to obey the Lord who has freed us and proclaimed no condemnation over our lives. But how can we do what the Lord has asked us to do? Romans 8 shows us what the good life is Christ looks like and how we can do it…

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Job 42 might be the most confusing part of the book. You will notice that Job 42:10 reveals that the Lord restored the fortunes of Job and the Lord gave him twice as much as he had before. What are we supposed to make of this ending? Is the message that, after your trials, everything you lost will be restored to you? Is the message that once Job repented, then he was restored again? What is this ending communicating and how does it fit with the message of book about suffering and how God runs the world?

The Lord will now bring the trial to a close. The Lord tells Eliphaz that his anger burns against him and against his two friends. Please note that Elihu is excluded from this condemnation. But notice what the condemnation is. These three friends have not spoken what is right about the Lord. So what were the three friends saying about God? It seemed like everything they were saying was about Job. But what they were saying wrong about God was that God inflicted suffering on Job to punish him for his sins. The book has been very clear that this is not what God is doing nor how he runs the world…

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The book of Job has now come to its conclusion where the Lord is now giving the final word about how he runs the world and the reason for Job’s suffering. The Lord has appeared in a whirlwind and is speaking to Job from that whirlwind. In Job 38-39 the Lord has challenged Job to answer the questions he has for him. Job has challenged God. But rather than providing answers to Job, God is telling Job to answer him. The nature of God’s questions to Job intend to make Job make sense of the creation. God runs the world in a way to save every person. God also runs the world in a way so that no person will boast in themselves but in him alone. At the beginning of Job 40 you will see that God’s questions have brought Job to confession. Job confesses that he is of small account and that he spoke too much (cf. Job 40:3-5). God’s questions have moved Job to humility…

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The book of Job reveals everyone’s opinions about the reason for suffering and how God runs the world. Job has challenged that God has not treated him fairly. He does not think that God has not been right toward him because Job has been blameless and upright. Job’s friends have an opinion that Job must have sinned for all of this calamity to fall on him. Elihu has offered his speeches in which he disagrees with Job and with the three friends (cf. Job 32:1-5). Elihu defends God and challenges what Job has said about God. Elihu does not say that Job sinned and that is why he is suffering. Elihu says that Job’s words have been wrong about God. But there is one person we have not heard from in all of these discourses. We have not heard from God. We have not heard God speak since the first two chapters of the book when God and Satan were talking about the righteousness of Job. As Job and the three friends argued about how God runs the world, we did not know that Elihu was there, listening and then responding on God’s behalf. But even as all this was going on, they did not know that God was there, listening and about to respond on his own behalf. In Job 38 God himself will take the opportunity to speak. What I want us to think about for these final four chapters of the book is God’s message. What do you think God is going to say about suffering? What do you think God is going to say about how he runs the world? How do you think God is going to defend himself? How will God explain himself regarding what he has allowed Satan to do in this trial?

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We have taken a break in our study of the gospel through the lens of the book of Romans. But we are returning to this wonderful book and we are going to see in Romans 7-8 the good life that God has promised to those who belong to Christ Jesus. Romans 7 is considered a complicated chapter. Paul has a few complicated chapters in the book of Romans. I want to make sure that we understand the big message in Romans 7. The way I believe I need to do this is by studying the whole of the chapter. This means that I cannot unearth every detail in this chapter. Rather, I want to communicate how Paul shows us the freedom that is found in the gospel. Please open your copies of God’s word to Romans 7 and we will see the function of the Law of Moses and what that means for all people…

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Job has said many words that need to be addressed. Elihu is in the process of challenging Job on the words Job has said against God. Elihu has been defending God from what Job has said during the time of this trial. Elihu is speaking on God’s behalf (Job 36:2). Further, Elihu declares that he is speaking God’s knowledge and wisdom to Job (Job 36:3-4). In Elihu’s final words, he is going to address one of the biggest issues people have with God and with suffering. The issue is how there can be suffering if God is good and is full of power and strength. If there is a God, then how can there be suffering? How can the righteous suffer if there is a God and this God has power over the world? When we are suffering we can wonder why God does not do something. Why doesn’t God help? Why doesn’t God act? Is God unable to deal with evil in the world? Is God unable to stop the suffering that takes place? Elihu is going to end his speech to Job, the three friends, and anyone else who is listening to him that God is not powerless when suffering…

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Does God care when we are suffering? Does it matter to God when are going through severe trials? When we are going through trials we can be tempted to wonder if God cares about what we are experiencing. We can look around and think that God simply has no concern about what is happening to us. In our lesson today we are going to look at if God cares and how we should consider our cries to God when we are suffering and going through trials. We are in the middle of Elihu’s speeches to Job and the three friends. What Elihu is doing is giving explanations about how God runs the world. Not only this, and perhaps more importantly, Elihu is challenging Job for the words he has said about God and about how God runs the world. Open your copies of God’s word to Job 35 and we are going to continue our look at Elihu’s instruction to Job…

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