THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD IN SUFFERING

To meet on this day and to worship and to learn more about our father about his son Jesus Christ and about the Holy Spirit. But let us not forget the blessing that he's giving us and that is the love that we have for one another as his adopted sons and his adopted daughters.

As we fellowship together on this day visitors we welcome you to our church. It is wonderful that you are here and it's not an accident that the Lord has brought you here and I want you to know it's twelve five churches desire and prayer that you find the church that you're looking for a church that you can find that is one in the body of Christ who's growing in Jesus Christ and who has love for one another in Christ.

Now you may notice if you've been here before that our preaching elder Nathan is not here today. He's actually down in Florida at River Bend Community Church. River Bend Community Church holds a special place in our hearts.

When we set out and we started this church as a church plant River Bend was the one that sponsored us. They played a big part in helping us to get going. They provided oversight. We were actually under their authority for a period of time to make sure that we didn't go to the left or to the right that we stayed right in the middle with the Word of Christ.

They actually installed two of our elders Nathan and Jeremiah who will be preaching today. And also they provided financial support for us. So as a result like I said they hold a special place in our heart.

Normally each Sunday we will pray for a local church but because Nathan's down in River Bend and the reason he's there is they are installing a new preaching elders named Josh Brown. I thought it'd be fitting that we would pray for River Bend today as we pray for a church.

So if you'd bow your heads and pray with me I'd appreciate it. Father we are so thankful for the many blessings that you've given us how you supplied River Bend to help us to start as a church how they provided guidance how they've given us wisdom how they've given us oversight and even how they've helped us financially.

And today is a special day in that church where they're installing a new pastor elder preacher elder and Josh Brown and how they're setting off on a new direction with Josh the Lord. We just pray that your hand would be upon them.

That you give them wisdom Lord as they seek to follow your will and all that they do. Father we pray for travel mercies for Nathan. That you would speak through him and the others who are speaking at the sermon at the at the service today at River Bend.

Just pray that your hand would be upon them in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. So next we come to the call of worship. This is going to be out of Psalm 121. My help comes from the Lord. This is a response of reading which I'll read a line and then y 'all will follow.

So begins I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come from. He will not let your foot be moved. He who keeps you will not slumber. The Lord is your keeper. The Lord is your shade on your right hand.

The Lord will keep you from all evil. The Lord will keep your going out and you're coming in. Amen. Amen. So now that brings us to the prayer of adoration. And before I pray to our adoring Lord I want to ask you a few questions about what you've noticed lately.

Do you notice it when you walk in the night. When you go out in the night sky. Did you notice that this morning when you woke up and you went outside and even while you were driving to church did you notice it.

Did you notice the moon. Did you notice the stars the Sun. Did you notice the birds singing in the spring air. Did you notice the leaves and the shrubs and everything coming to life in the spring. All these things I've described to you is shouting is shouting out the glory of our Lord.

So did you notice that. This is a prayer of adoration. Oh Lord we proclaim you King forever. You are living Savior our Redeemer the Lord of heaven. For you alone are robed in majesty and crowned in glory as a part of your creation.

We adore you for all that you have done all that you are doing in our lives. And as you fulfill all of your promises we adore you for what you will accomplish in the future forever. The Lord is.

Exalted amen. Scripture reading is going to come from Philippians 1 verses 27.

Through 30. Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ so that whether I come and see you or an absent I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel and not frightened in anything by your opponents.

This is a clear sign to them of their destruction but of your salvation and that from God. For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake.

Engaged in the same conflict that you saw that I had and now here that I still have this leads us to the prayer of confession and assurance. Lord I ask that your spirit speak in us father that we may speak to you for we have no merit of our own.

So we ask that you let the merit of Jesus Christ stand for us. We are undeserving but we look to your tender mercy. We are full of infirmities and sins but you are full of grace. We confess our frequent sins and our willful sins.

We're utterly ashamed of what we are in ourselves for we have no fruit without you. But it is you that has given us our Lord your son Jesus Christ and our hearts are turned towards righteousness. Because of that help us to put down sin and to humble our pride.

Save us from the love of the world and the pride of life from everything that is natural to fallen man and let Christ nature be seen in us day by day. Pray these things in Christ Jesus.

I mean sing this together come down everything in my heart to sing my days strains of mercy never ceasing. Call for songs of loudest praise. To the sweet sound of melodious sonnet. Sung by plain Ebeneezer.

I'll be to you like a friend. I'm to thee Before you, Lord, I pray this morning as you prepare Pastor Nathan, or Pastor Jeremiah to come before us this morning and preach your word, Lord. I just pray that you would give him boldness.

Preach your word boldly, but give us open hearts, open ears, open minds to take your word. Father, Lord, I pray as we take up this offering this morning, in obedience to you, would you bless us in so many ways.

Lord, and I pray that you would just bless this offering as we give back what is rightfully yours in the first place. Father, we love you, we praise you. All these things in your Son, Jesus precious. Holy name this morning, in Jesus' name, and all of God's people said, amen.

If you have your copy of God's word, I just wanna invite you to turn with us this morning to 2 Corinthians chapter 12, starting in verse seven. Last week, if you were here, Pastor Nathan preached on when life gives you lemons, preach Christ.

I was like, I like what Pastor Nathan does with his word choices there, and his point was the world says when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Just pull yourself up by your bootstraps, just try your best to just get through the day, it'll get better.

And for the life of the Christian, that's not true. We understand that we exist in a world that is perishing, a world that is cursed by sin, and this is not our best life now. For the Christian, it gets so much better because one day in our future, Jesus Christ will return and he will restore all things, making all things new.

Heaven will be on earth for all eternity. We will be glorified with him. And so we long to look forward to those things. And the Apostle Paul tells us to live is Christ, oh, but to die is gain. And so when life gives you lemons, when you have hard circumstances, preach Christ.

We live as Christ. These days are evil, right? We understand this is a perishing evil age, but our Lord is redeeming the time. And so what do we do? We preach Christ. And so today, I wanted to kind of piggyback off that message of whatever life throws at you in all circumstances, we keep our gaze on the King.

And so I want us to talk about the sovereignty of God in suffering. And so one of the best verses before we go into our main passage, the Apostle Paul says in Philippians 1 .29, for it has been granted, I would argue, effectually for the sake of Christ that you not only believe, but also to suffer for the sake of Christ.

Now, what Paul is saying that should rejoice our hearts is the fact that you believe, oh, that's been granted to you by God. And we should rejoice in that, that God is sovereign in our salvation. But you know what else he's also sovereign in?

The suffering. Yes, he gave you a heart of faith to look to Jesus, but he also gives us times of suffering to go with that heart of faith. You know why? Because our suffering is going to mold our hearts to look to Jesus Christ.

It's going to mold our faith. And so Christians, when we're going through the heartaches, the hurts and the pains, we know that God is at work in our life. He is conforming us more and more into the image of Jesus.

And so look with me at our main passage in 2 Corinthians 12, where the Apostle Paul, he had a big time affliction going on in his life. I want us to consider the passage where Paul had a thorn in his side.

And so look with me starting in verse seven. Paul says, so to keep me from being conceited because of the surpassing greatness of revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from being conceited.

Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But the Lord said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, Paul, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, Paul says, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses so the power of Christ may rest upon me.

For the sake of Christ, then I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecution, and calamities. But when I am weak, then I am strong. Let's pray this morning. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this time that you've given us to worship, to gather together as saints, to revere your name, and to glorify you in your proper light.

God, I pray that as we open up your word, as we talk about thorny afflictions, not only in the life of the apostle Paul, but our thorny afflictions, God, that we would rest in knowing that that is a gracious gift from above.

Why? To mold us, to strengthen our faith, and cause us to look to you, Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our faith. Lord, we love you, and we thank you for all that you do for us. Praise things in your name, Jesus.

Amen. Look back with me at verse 10, if you will, because I want us to see this wide range of suffering and tribulation that the apostle is going through. Now, when I say the word tribulation, you might think, is he talking about the great tribulation in eschatology?

No, even though I love getting into the study of the end times. Tribulation just simply means wide range of affliction and hardship. And so the apostle Paul gives us a number of things that he has experienced in his life of ministry.

And he says, I am content. He's not just gritting his teeth, trying to just make it day by day. No, he has the highest degree of joy in his life. And notice, he says, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.

And so if you look back just at chapter 11, building up to this major passage, Paul gives us an even more in-depth analysis of the type of suffering that he has went through. If you look back at verse 24 in chapter 11, he says, five times I received at the hands of the Jews 40 lashes minus one.

Three times I was beaten with rods. I was once stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked, night and day adrift at sea, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, dangers of my own people, danger from the Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers.

I've been in toil and hardships with many sleepless nights and hunger and pain, often without food and in the cold and exposure. The apostle was not living his best life now because he was suffering greatly for the name of Christ.

Okay, he had his joy set on the life to come. Yes, he knows Christ here and now. This is eternal life that you know the one true God and his son, Jesus Christ whom he sent. But we look forward for what is to come because as we're gonna get into, Christians are victorious now through suffering.

And so I want us to ask this question to be thinking about throughout the rest of the sermon. How was Paul able to say, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses? How was Paul able to say, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities?

How was Paul able to say, for when I am weak, then I am strong? Look back with me at verse seven. Paul mentions two things here for the purpose of his suffering that he is very much aware of. He says, so to keep me from being conceited because of the surpassing greatness of revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me.

And then the second time, to keep me from being conceited. Okay, so he's aware that he's an apostle called out by Jesus Christ and he has these mountaintop experiences, right? He gets to receive revelations, these wonderful peak experiences.

And yet he says, I don't wanna be conceited. I don't want to be arrogant and puffed up with the type of experience that maybe not everybody else gets to have. And so he recognizes God, keep me humble.

The apostle Paul understands the temptation how he could possibly boast that he's an apostle. And that breaks his heart because he never wants to boast in himself. He wants to boast in the finished work of Jesus Christ.

And so he mentions here for the surpassing greatness of revelations. If you look back with me at verse two, I believe this is what he has in mind. So he's an apostle. He gets to hear the audible voice of the Lord oftentimes, right?

During this time of progressive revelation during the birth of the early church. So as he mentions that kinds of experiences he has, he wants to maybe distance himself a little bit and speak in the third person.

Just so you don't get the wrong idea that he is boasting in himself. Back in verse two, Paul says, he says, I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago was caught up into the third heaven, whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know, God knows.

And I know that this man was caught up into paradise, whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know, God knows. And he heard things that cannot be told, which man cannot utter, okay? So I believe in verse seven, these are the kinds of revelations, visions that he is referring to.

And he understands, yes, I have been granted so many wonderful experiences that cannot be repeated. It's too wonderful for us to understand. That's been granted to him. But you know what else has been granted to the apostle Paul?

Suffering greatly for the name of Christ. Paul says, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me. Now, we're not told exactly what this thorn in the flesh is, but I'm gonna give it my best shot.

You're gonna hear, oh, I think I know what Jeremiah thinks the thorn in the flesh is. And that's okay, I think it's just vague enough for Christians to identify with the apostle Paul. We're gonna have thorny afflictions.

We're all gonna experience spiritual warfare. And yet, this is a gracious gift from God to sanctify us for our good and for his glory. We're told this thorn in the flesh is a messenger of Satan, an angelos.

So this is a spiritual attack on the apostle Paul. And so this is a thorn in his side because he knows that Satan has been attacking the believers at Corinth. And he has been discipling them. He has been pouring his life as a sweet smelling aroma, outpouring his life for these believers.

And so when they are being attacked by Satan, well, that's attacking the apostle Paul. Paul numerous times has been telling the Christians at Corinth that they are in the crosshairs of Satan. And so earlier in Paul's letter in 2 Corinthians, he speaks of the urgency to carry out church discipline.

Okay, do we know what church discipline means? A lot of times we think of discipline as only negative. The positive side to discipline is discipleship. This is in the realm of pastors caring for the flock that's been entrusted to them.

And I don't know your background, your church experience, but if a church is not practicing and willing to practice church discipline, they're just not a church. They're not equipped to handle the spiritual attacks from the enemy.

Why do I say that? Earlier in Paul's letter, he says that there is so much unrepentant sin in your midst, you must practice church discipline. You must pray for reconciliation and you must exercise forgiveness.

Why? Because the enemy will wreak havoc on all the saints. He says to the believers at Corinth, we must do these things, practice church discipline so we would not be outwitted by Satan and his schemes.

And so if you have your copy of God's word, turn with me to chapter 10 here in 2 Corinthians, because Paul brings up the reality of spiritual warfare and how Satan is already at work in their midst. So in chapter 10, look with me at verse three.

Paul says, for though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God.

How do we do this? We take every thought captive to obey Christ. And so what he is telling the believers at Corinth is that you must prepare yourself for battle. The kingdom of darkness is already in your midst and the archenemy of God, Satan, the father of lies does not fight fair.

He will malign the truth. He will distort it ever so slightly. And then he will wreak havoc on the babes in Christ, the undiscerning that will be tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. And I believe this is a principle that we today can glean, that we must fight not with earthly made weapons, but weapons that have divine power.

That means we must put on the whole armor of God, that we must renew our hearts and our minds with God's truth, being equipped with the knowledge that he has revealed to us in his word. We do this by keeping our gaze on the author and the perfecter of our faith.

And so in chapter 11, the apostle talks to the believers at Corinthians and he says, listen, you don't understand the severity of what I'm telling you. The enemy is already in your midst and you don't seem to care.

He is already building strongholds in your midst and you don't seem to care. Chapter 11, look with me at verse three. Paul says, but I'm afraid that the serpent that deceived Eve by his cunning and his craftiness, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one that we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit than the one that you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.

You don't have your guard up. Your minds are not being equipped with sound doctrine and understanding theological truths about who God is. And in verse five, he says, indeed, I consider that I am not least inferior to these so-called super apostles.

Okay, the Corinthians are letting false teachers come into their midst. And as they do this, their mind is being led away ever slowly by these so-called super apostles. We're not told exactly what they were teaching, but we know enough that they were preaching a false Jesus that cannot forgive sin.

They were preaching a gospel that is being distorted from the gospel of grace. And maybe they were teaching about spirits, but it wasn't leading to the Holy Spirit. It was leading to demonic spirits. Paul is telling them that you are not taking every thought captive to obey Christ.

Rather, you are being slowly led astray by subtle arguments raised against the truth. And so a moment ago, when we looked at all these great kinds of tribulations that the apostle Paul was going through, there's one that really stood out to me.

We read that he was in danger and persecution from false brothers, okay? This is a kind of persecution. And so Jesus told us that as Christians, we will be persecuted in this world, right? Right, even in the Sermon on the Mount, he says there's going to be blessing in persecution.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And I just wanna say, this kind of persecution makes sense to me. If they hated Jesus, guess what? The world's gonna hate all the followers of Christ as well.

And we think totally different than the world does, right? Blessed are the poor in spirit. No, the world says blessed are the wealthy, those that have authority and have great influence and those who work, work, work really hard.

Now for the Christian, we rest in the finished work of Christ. We can even consider it blessing and joy when we receive persecution from the outside world. But there's a different kind of persecution that cuts even deeper than persecution from the outside world, persecution from professing brothers and sisters in Christ.

This is how Satan works. He's gonna throw fiery darts from outside the church and we're ready for that. Like we know that that's going to happen, but he's also trying to infiltrate the local body from within.

He's going to divide the local church, how? Through unrepentant sin, spreading lies, false doctrine, corrupting the gospel of grace. Jeremiah, you say that a whole lot. What do you mean by the gospel of grace?

The gospel of grace is that you put your faith alone in Christ alone. This gets distorted all the time. Yeah, but you have to be baptized. Yeah, Jeremiah, but you have to go to church. You have to do, do, do, and do all these works along with believing in Christ.

That's not the gospel. That is a distorted gospel, listen, that cannot save. All of your works are tainted with sin. Should we get baptized? Yes, for those that are already believing and are justified by Christ.

That is why we should get baptized. It beautifully pictures these realities. I have an apologetics ministry where I evangelize the church of Christ because they believe in a false gospel. Now, I have the heart of the apostle Paul.

I want to bring to them the actual truth that you cannot add your works to the already finished work of Christ. And I get thrown back at me, well, we're not adding our works. We're just being obedient.

I'm like, you're obedient works. You're adding it to the gospel. That's why Paul, all throughout the book of Romans, the book of Galatians, is he says, what justifies a person is faith apart from your works.

And so I don't want people to be led astray by a different gospel, a different Jesus that tried really hard. He did 99 of all, now the ball's in your court. No, as we're gonna talk about, Jesus is the sovereign king of the universe.

The gospel of grace says, no, you were saved by a savior that fulfilled the law perfectly. Every time that we were supposed to be obedient and we failed, he was perfect. He obeyed. So you have to look in your heart to Christ alone, apart from your own accomplishments.

This is the kind of thing that the apostle is pleading with the believers at Corinth because they are slowly being led astray by a different Jesus. And so we see that there is a kind of persecution that's happening from within the church walls, right?

Paul says that he has been persecuted by false brothers. Friend, I don't know if you've ever been a part of a church where there is gross slander, secret backbiting, blaming one another and then just sweeping it under the rug never to be resolved.

That will devastate a church body. I have experienced that and it breaks my heart. This is the kind of thing that Paul is saying that a type of thorn is in his flesh. These super apostles, they are casting doubt on the credentials of the apostle.

How are they doing this? Well, they're going to the Christians that he has been discipling year after year saying, this apostle Paul guy, he can't preach. Yeah, he writes some weighty things in his letters, but you really need us.

And what I'm talking about is if you look with me at 2 Corinthians 10, 10, this is that subtle way of how the enemy works from within a church. These super apostles, these really superficial apostles, they said, Paul's letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak and his speech is of no account.

Okay, so these false teachers, they cannot discount the weightiness of Paul's letters. We know the truth of that. Why? He's an inspired apostle. Those were not his words. These are the words of God. And so very subtly they have to acknowledge that fact, but then they say, but in person, he's a pushover.

He's not a real leader. And don't get us started about how terrible of a public speaker he is. Corinthians, you don't need the apostle Paul, you need us. That is the devil at work. That's why church discipline is so important to fight sin, to hold one another accountable, to be accountable to the oversight of the undershepherds because Satan will ever slightly distort the truth.

And the greatest lie contains the most amount of truth in it. He will also use flattering speech to deceive the hearts of the naive, causing divisions, creating obstacles contrary to sound doctrine. And no doubt the apostle Paul is receiving blistering darts at every angle in this spiritual warfare with the Corinthians.

So look back with me at verse seven. Paul says, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me. And so we don't know the exact thing that's going on, that we don't know exactly what this thorn in the flesh is, but we know it's something to do with spiritual warfare.

He goes on to further clarify and say, an angulos, a messenger of Satan. This is the same language used in chapter 11, verse 13 to refer to the superficial apostles. They are instruments in the hand of Satan, infiltrating the church and dividing from within.

2 Corinthians 11, 13 says, for such men are false apostles, false messengers, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as an apostle of Christ. And no wonder for even Satan himself disguises as an angulos, a messenger, an angel of light.

And Paul goes on to say, and so it's no surprise that his servants also disguised themselves as servants of righteousness. Yeah, but so-and-so is really, really nice, right? They make me feel real good.

But what are they saying about who Jesus is, right? Because absolutely, we love everyone, but we stand firm on truth because Satan is trying to infiltrate the church and build strongholds. And so in some way, these false teachers, no doubt, have been tormenting the apostle by slandering his character, discrediting his apostleship and attacking the bride of Christ.

And so they're slowly corrupting the minds of the believers into a Jesus that cannot save. And so I believe as we see Paul pleading with the Lord, he has the heart of a pastor, constantly praying and pleading with the Lord.

Look with me at verse eight. Three times, I pleaded with the Lord about this, that this thorn, this angulos of Satan should leave me. No doubt, Paul has the heart of a pastor, a man of God who continually goes to the throne of God in prayer.

And when he feels the attacks of the enemy, when he sees the attacks of the enemy on fellow saints, he goes in prayer to God. Paul elsewhere says, I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

And so something else I wanna take out of principle out of verse seven is that this thorn in the flesh was given to the apostle. Shouldn't that cause us to pause for a moment? In what way was this thorny affliction given to him?

Because this thorn in his flesh is a spiritual attack from the enemy, harassing, literally tormenting him, and yet it has been bestowed on him as a gift, sovereignly from God. Doesn't that blow your mind?

How does that work? I was reading a lot of commentaries and one commentator said this, paradoxically, the thorn was both a gift from God and a goad from Satan. So it's easy to understand how afflictions and persecutions are being used as flaming darts from the enemy.

But listen, Paul had the perspective that his entire life was in the hands of the sovereign triune God. And God has exhaustive purpose that takes place in his created world, right? All of history is his story, his story of redemption.

But how in the world did Paul have this perspective that tribulation, suffering, this thorn in his flesh was a gift from above? Well, he understood this reality that trials for the believer are ordained by God for our good and for his glory.

These trials are meant to sanctify and mold us more into the image of our Savior. And if you are resting in the absolute sovereignty of God, not making exceptions, God didn't really want that to take place, but if you say, no, no, no, all of it, God has purpose, then you can't read verses like Romans 8, 28 the same way again.

This verse says, and we know that those who love God. Jeremiah, I know a lot of people that tell me they love God, right? I know a bunch of Jews that say they love God, right? But they deny Jesus. Well, I can tell you right now, they don't love God.

They rejected the Son of God who stepped into his own creation and took on flesh to dwell among us. It's not just enough to say you love God. You have to love King Jesus and him alone as a Savior, not adding your works to the already finished work of Christ.

When he says, and we know that those who love God, he's talking about those that have their faith in Christ and they are justified, just as if I never sinned. And then and only then the apostle says that we can have shalom, true peace with God, right?

That's another beatitude. Blessed are the peacemakers for they are sons of God. We are not peacemakers like the world understands peace, just tolerating everything and holding up the white flag. We are peacemakers because we have the gospel of peace.

We actually love people enough to tell them the truth that they need Christ. Look to him in faith apart from your own works. And so for those that love God, that are trusting in Christ alone, all things work together for our good.

For those that are called according to his purpose. Do you see it? All things are working together for our sanctification. That includes your trials. That includes your suffering. Nothing random is happening in God's world.

There is nothing meaningless. Our divinely appointed trials are sovereignly bestowed gifts that will strengthen our faith. And as I was thinking more about this, one of the best ways to illustrate what I'm talking about are the sufferings of Job.

You know what I'm talking about? Story of Job. I cheat a lot of times and read the first seven chapters and then kind of skip to the last seven chapters, but it's a beautiful story. So I wanted to bring this up.

Job loved the Lord and the text says that he feared God. And so what did Satan do? Satan had a special target on Job. Y 'all remember this? The satanic wager. Satan goes before the throne of God and says, does Job fear God for no reason?

Well, you've blessed the work of his hands, his possessions, but if you stretch out of your hand and take everything that he has, well, then he'll curse you and you'll die. And so what does he always say to Satan?

Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only spare his life. That is remarkable. Because I want you to hang on to something. We're about to relate this back to the Apostle Paul. God and Satan were both at work in Job's life, but here's the key principle.

God and Satan were at work in different ways. That make sense? Both at work, but in totally different ways. Satan is at work by bringing accusations about Job to God. He's prowling around like a lion trying to sift Job like wheat.

He is tempting Job to curse God and die. And yet God is absolutely in control of whatever comes to pass. Satan can only accomplish what God permits and ordains. Nothing more, nothing less. A quote from church history, someone said that the devil is God's devil.

I want you to think about this. God does not learn anything. He has a purpose in all things. That means Satan is like he's on a leash. He can only do what God allows, permits, and ordains. Satan destroyed all of Job's property and livestock.

Satan was even able to kill Job's family minus his wife. And I want you to feel the weight of this because we can't just say that he was merely being harassed by Satan. That doesn't begin to describe the onslaughts of crushing assaults that Job received from the evil one.

All of this was taking place under God's sovereign control. Job could have easily blamed Satan for the attacks, been consumed with anger towards the arch enemy of God who is billions of times stronger than any one of us combined.

Job could have cursed God for allowing this to take place, but he didn't, did he? By the grace of God, Job worshiped. And we hear these famous words, the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Job had good doctrine, right? Because he maybe knew that all these things were effectually being done by Satan. And yet he appealed to God that is permitting this, that had purpose in this happening in his life.

And then you have Job's friends. You know who I'm talking about? You have those friends in your life that come on, come alongside of you and they start giving you their advice, right? And this is where they were saying, well, you're suffering because God is angry at you.

You must have sinned in some big way, right? We know that that wasn't the truth. Job cried out in response to their bad advice and said, for I know my redeemer lives. Though he slay me, I will trust in him.

I know that you, God, can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. So let's ask the why question. Why did God allow this to take place? Why did God design this in his master plan to take place the exact way that it did?