Solid Rock Church Sermons

In the sermon this past Sunday, we looked at how, in the midst of his suffering, Job holds on to the hope that God would redeem his story. Half way through the story, we find Job longing for God to step in and write a better story with his life. At the end of the story, God reveals Himself to Job instead of offering explanations or giving Job immediate relief form his suffering. After Job begins to see God for who He is, Job repents and turns to God to worship Him for His infinite power and wisdom. We see that turning to God in repentance leads us to find the consolation of His mercy and the comfort of His acceptance. When we turn to God and ask for mercy, He gives it generously. Job longed to see God more than He longed to find relief or an explanation for why he was suffering. Job discovered that seeing God’s glory is better than hearing God’s explanation. Job found something better than redemption; he found the Redeemer. Whether or not God does anything in our lives, He is worthy to be worshipped!

In the sermon this past Sunday, we looked at the first half of God’s response to Job. In chapters 38-40, God calls Job to collect all of his good deeds and ready himself for questioning. God begins by revealing his power over all of creation, the sin of the wicked, and the darkness of death. He also reveals how all of creation exists in submission to God’s sovereign power. Then God asks Job to compare himself to God: Who is more Holy? Who has more power? Who has more glory? Who has the ability to judge sin? In the end, God reveals that Job doesn’t compare to the majesty and power of God and he is hopeless to save himself.

All of this points us to Jesus. Through Jesus’ perfect life, He displayed the holiness and righteousness of God. Through His miracles, He displayed his power over creation. Through his death, He displayed God’s righteous anger poured out on all sinners and, through his resurrection, He displayed His power over sin and death. Through everything, Jesus displayed His radiant glory and preeminence over all things. Everything about how God revealed himself to Job points us to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. God was revealing to Job that He, and He alone, was worthy of praise and that He, and He alone, could save Job and redeem His life from the misery of his suffering.

In the sermon on Sunday, we looked at the connection between worshipping God and finding true wisdom. In Job 26, Job gives a summary of what man can do with his wisdom: Man can cut channels deep into the earth, and put an end to darkness, in order to bring precious metals and gems to the light. However, despite man’s best efforts, Job confessed that true wisdom cannot be found in the things of earth or within man’s own strength. God holds the knowledge of what man cannot understand. Only God cuts channels deep inside the heart of man, putting an end to the darkness inside hearts and bringing to light things that are precious. When we worship God in awe and reverence, we are declaring that God is superior to us in all things. Therefore, when He speaks, we are inclined to listen and to release our grip on the pride of our own wisdom. Our minds and hearts are then postured to receive wisdom from God. This section of the book of Job ends with a call to worship God for His incomprehensible and unsearchable nature.

Last Sunday, we began the year with a new sermon series - Worthy of Worship: The Book of Job. Job was a wealthy and successful man with a large family. Job’s fear of the Lord empowered him to turn away from evil and worship God. His worship was rooted in seeing who he was in comparison to God. Satan accused Job of only worshipping God because of his many blessings and proposed that if God removed his blessings, Job would cease to worship. With God’s permission, Satan stripped away all that Job had to be thankful for. Job responded in grief and worship. Job’s grief revealed how much he cared about the things God had blessed him with and He was completely broken for what was lost. However, Job acknowledged that he didn’t bring anything into the world, he was not entitled to anything and everything he had was a gift from God. Today, we often worship God only when we are happy with what He is doing for us. We sit and wait to be moved and our worship is dependent on whether or not God does something we like. However, God is worthy to be worshipped simply because of who He is. Job reveals the heart of true worship: whether or not God does anything in our lives, He is worthy to be worshipped!

In the sermon this past Sunday, we looked at Paul’s exhortation to the Philippian believers, and to us, to look forward to the prize that lies ahead for the believer in Christ—that prize is heavenly communion with our Savior. In the meantime, our lives on earth are the “race” God has given to us to run on our way to receiving that prize.

In the sermon this past Sunday, we looked at how Abraham and Isaac’s story ends with a promise. The promise God makes to Abraham is fulfilled in Christmas. Like Abraham and Isaac’s journey, Jesus’ birth at the manger is the beginning of His difficult journey of trust, obedience and sacrifice. As Jesus lived out His life on earth, every day was one more step in His journey up the mountain toward the altar of the cross, where He laid down His life as the perfect substitute sacrifice for us. The Bible promises that all who trust in Jesus will be saved. This is God’s promise to Abraham and this is God’s promise to you. The real meaning of Christmas is this: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

In the sermon this past Sunday, we looked at how Abraham and Isaac’s story continues to point us toward Jesus. As he constantly walked in obedience and trust, Abraham obeyed God all the way to the point of offering his son Isaac as a burnt offering. From the beginning of man’s relationship with God in the Garden, God’s law has prescribed death as the requirement for sin. So, for hundreds of years, the nation of Israel offered sacrificed animals as an atonement for their sins. Later on in the Old Testament, the prophet Isaiah opens his prophesy by expressing how God is no longer satisfied with the sacrifices of animals. He goes on to prophesy about how God would send a new king, in the lineage of David, to deal with sin in an unexpected way. This new king would become a servant who would be rejected, pierced, crushed, wounded, and killed as a sacrifice and ransom for many. This Messiah King would be like a lamb being led to the slaughter. In the book of Romans, Paul reminds us that Jesus was put forward as a sacrifice to satisfy God’s requirements for our sin. This is why John the Baptist, upon seeing Jesus walking toward him, declared, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

In the sermon this past Sunday, we looked at the heart of what it means to truly trust God. In Genesis 22, we see how Abraham’s trust in God compelled him to continue his journey to sacrifice Isaac, even in the midst of uncertainty. At this point in the journey, Abraham had no indication that God was going to provide a substitute sacrifice. Abraham trusted God because he believed that God was in control and able, even if it meant resurrecting Isaac back to life. Abraham obeyed God because he believed that God was trustworthy to fulfill everything He promised and do what was right and good.

In Genesis 22, we see foreshadowing of what Jesus would do several thousand years later. Christmas is about celebrating the obedience of Jesus, as He stepped away from His throne and entrusted Himself to His Father, to be born as a baby in a manger. Jesus wasn’t entrusting Himself to Mary and Joseph; He was entrusting Himself to His Father. We have been called to follow Jesus’ example of entrusting ourselves to the Father. Even when God calls us to do things that are scary and don’t make sense, and even when it may cost us everything, God is trustworthy.

In the sermon this past Sunday, we looked at a portrait of true obedience through the story of Abraham and Isaac in Genesis 22. God approached Abraham to test, refine and solidify his faith by asking him to give up his one and only son, whom he loved dearly. When God calls for Abraham’s attention, His authority is rooted in who He is, not what He is asking for. Similarly, Abraham’s obedience is rooted in his understanding of who God is BEFORE God asks for anything. Abraham’s response of “Here I am” conveyed his readiness to hear from and obey God. Likewise, when God calls us, it is less about where we are going and more about Who is calling us there.

Additionally, we see a foreshadowing of the cross in Abraham and Isaac’s story. This wouldn’t be the last time God would ask someone to give up a beloved one and only son; the next time He would ask it of Himself. Through feeling the weight of what God asked of Abraham, we can better understand the weight of the sacrifice of Jesus and the love of God toward us. Despite how difficult it would be to give up a beloved son, God did just that... and He did it for you.

In the sermon this past Sunday, we recognized how easy it is to affirm the goodness of God in general terms. It’s easy to proclaim God’s goodness when things are going well but it becomes much more difficult when our plans and our lives seem to be going backward on a daily basis. The Psalmist David reminds us that, no matter our life circumstances, fear of the Lord leads us to a heart of worship. We are called to praise God, not just with our mouths but with every fiber of our being. The fear of the Lord produces continual praise, commitment, personal obedience, and knowing and trusting in the goodness of God and all He is.