Episode Transcript
I've got 10 o'clock, so let's begin our Sunday school lesson.
I want you to bookmark Genesis chapter 6.
For now.
Just put a bookmark there, or if you use an electronic device, do whatever you have to do to where you can get to it fairly quickly.
Genesis chapter six.
And we're going to come to that later.
That's not where we are this morning, but I'll be using that passage.
And I want you to put your eyes on it when I do.
But our text this morning is in Job chapter one.
Job chapter one.
And we've been introduced to Job particularly to his character as God saw it.
And that's what matters anyway.
We've seen Job's prosperity when it came to his possessions, all of his livestock, he was quite the rancher.
We saw his prosperity by having a large family.
He had seven sons and three daughters.
And then in his business, his great store of servants, the Bible called it, which was actually called his household.
And he was the greatest of all the men of the East, and lived in the land of Uz.
And now we're going to pick back up with verse 6, which I read to you at the end of the lesson last week.
And when I read it to you, I warn you that this verse and some of the other verses in the Bible that pertain to it. have been interpreted differently by different theologians.
And if if you study your Bible, you're going to run across that from time to time.
You're going to say, well, this pastor over here I listened to believes this.
And this pastor over here believes differently.
Which one of them is right?
And the mistake that a lot of people make is allowing another pastor whom they admire to determine what they believe.
Now a good pastor will always lead you to the scripture.
That's a good pastor.
Leads you to the scripture, just like a good shepherd leads the sheep to the right food. not to something that's poisonous or bad for them.
And so if you study your Bibles according to the way, and I didn't come up with this, I came up with the five C's. just for my own benefit.
But if you study it in that order, content, that is, what does it say?
Context.
What do the verses before and after it say?
Companion verses.
What do other verses in the Bible say about that same thing?
Concordance.
What do the words mean?
And then last, what do other commentators or theologians say about it?
I put that last for a reason, because many people start off with that first, and that's the wrong way to go about it.
And for Bible teachers, that's the lazy way to go about it.
Well, I'll just take I'll just take Brother Rogers' outlines and I'll use those to preach by.
Those were his, not mine.
And so I'll tell you this, that all of those theologians, the ones who differ on these points and other points, are sharper than I am.
But I'm not in agreement with some of them when it comes to the phrase of the sons of God.
So let's look at that, and we're going to do a fairly in-depth study of it this morning.
Verse 6, Job chapter 1, verse 6, if you're just joining us on the internet.
Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord.
Now there's one word that must be understood in order to get the interpretation of this verse right.
And it's the word sons.
And so as we often do, we go back to the original Hebrew word That's translated as sons in our text.
So that's our starting place here.
And the Hebrew word Is translated as sons almost every time in the Old Testament, but it's also translated as the word children.
As the word first, young man, stranger, and people.
But the word children is the one I wanted you to see there in that list.
So the Hebrew word has a wide variety of uses.
First of all, it can include both the male and the female genders.
So when you hear you read the word children, then that can be the male or the female genders.
Genesis chapter 3, verse 16 is one place where that is used.
It's the same Hebrew word for sons, and I'll point it out to you in here.
I think you'll find it.
Genesis 3. 16, where God is speaking to Adam and Eve after the sin.
He said unto the woman, he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception.
In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children.
And thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
The children is the same Hebrew word as sons.
Exact same word.
You could put sons there.
Because it's not limited to the male children.
A lady who I went to church with years ago, she was a she taught little children in the Bible and she really knew her scriptures well.
But she came up to me one day just sometimes pastors and teachers get blindsided by questions that we haven't studied, but I was ready for this one.
And she said Uh how did Seth and Abel have kids?
Where were the women?
I said Well, it was their sisters.
I said, We don't do that anymore.
In fact, in the Bible it says you will not go in unto certain people, and those were immediate family members and all of that, but I said In those days, that's who there were, were the children of Adam and Eve.
And of course Cain had already been, or uh Abel had already been killed, so I if I said Abel, I didn't I meant Cain and Seth.
And so the population increased in in that way.
It was for that limited time.
Going to Genesis chapter 30, verse 1, we see another use of this word for sons.
And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die.
So the word, the Hebrew word can be translated as children or as sons, meaning just the male offspring, but it's not limited to just the male offspring.
Now in the New Testament, rather than Hebrew, you have the Greek language in which it was written.
And the Greek word.
It's Technon, and it's translated out of the 99 times it's used in the New Testament, it's translated 77 times as the word child.
And twenty-one times as the word son, and only one time as the word daughter, but it is translated as the word daughter one time.
So in both the Old Testament And in the New Testament, the idea behind the word used and translated as sons is that of an offspring.
Sometimes it is specific to males, the sons of Aaron.
Will be the high priests, not the daughters of Aaron, the sons of Aaron, but in other places, as in the word children, it can relate to both genders.
Now in creation, God made the man, the male gender, God made the man From the dust of the ground, breathed into his life, his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.
And then he put him back to sleep.
And from that man he took the rib and made the woman.
So in that respect, and this was a one-time deal, this is the only time that's ever been done.
In that respect, the woman was the offspring of the man by God's creation.
Now from that point onward, now you have a man and a woman, there's no reason to put another man to sleep to make another woman.
You've got a man and a woman And from that point onward, through the act of procreation, see, God created them, but afterward you had procreation.
Which is how the birth process, the conception and birth process has gone ever since then.
And women gave birth to offspring, to sons and daughters, or to children.
So let's look at a second use of this phrase, the sons of God, in the Old Testament.
God created angels.
And in that respect, the angels were the offspring of God The offspring of his creation.
He made them.
He spoke them into existence.
And in fact, they were also the sons of God.
Now I'm going to fast forward in the book of Job to Job chapter 38, and the setting for that chapter is that in his You'll see there are different times in the book of Job where one person is speaking for a long time, and then another person is speaking for a long time.
Well, this was one of those times when Job had spoken, and God was not pleased with what he said And so he rebukes Job in verses 4 through 7.
It's Job 38, 4 through 7.
And he says this: Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Declare if thou hast understanding.
Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest?
Or who hath stretched the line upon it?
Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened?
Or who laid the cornerstone thereof?
Now listen to this.
When the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy.
Now in that passage, God was speaking of a time when he created the earth.
Because he asked Job, he said, where were you when I did this?
In other words, you hadn't even existed yet.
Did you set the cornerstone?
Did you measure all of this?
No.
And that's the implication by asking those questions to him.
And he said, during that time.
The morning stars sang together and the sons of God shouted for joy.
So if God is speaking of a time when he created the earth, which he clearly was here.
And based on what we know in Genesis chapter 1, God created the heavens and the earth first before he created man And that's important.
So there weren't any human beings in existence when the sons of God shouted for joy and the morning stars sang their praises.
Or the stars sang their praises.
And therefore, at that time, in that passage in Job, the sons of God would have been these angelic beings who shouted for joy.
They would have sung with the morning stars. which very well may have represented heavenly beings to whom God gave great authority.
That's one of the uses of the word stars.
And he gave them authority to do what he bid them to do.
There were a lot of things happening before man was created, and things that we just get a glimpse into in the scriptures.
But Those sons of God at that time could not have been human beings.
Now God used angels and still does to perform his work.
And they are accountable to him for the work they perform.
And in some cases in the Bible, those angels are seen in the form of men, as in Sodom. when they visited Lot in his house, or as in Psalm chapter 104, verse 4, Psalm 104, verse 4, speaking of God, the psalmist wrote, Who maketh his angels spirits?
His ministers of flaming fire.
Now God's creation of angels and his use of angels.
Is the subject of angelology.
I didn't make that up.
That is an actual theological study.
Angelology.
It's a subject.
But it is what we would refer to and what the Bible would refer to as strong meat.
And unfortunately, a lot of people want to know about angelology before they want to know about the gospel.
And they get all mixed up about angels and what their role is and uh who they actually are They get tied up in it before they actually drink the milk of the basic doctrines of the Bible.
So hopefully you're not in that place.
You want to learn the first principles of the oracles of God.
In other words, the basic doctrines of the Bible.
And then when you got that down, you can go on to those stronger, medier doctrines, which is what we're doing here today.
Now, in the New Testament, the phrase sons of God is also used.
And in every case that I read, I don't think I missed any of them, but in every case in the New Testament, that phrase, sons of God, represents those who are saved.
It's the Christian.
And you take John chapter 1, verse 12.
Here's an example speaking of Jesus, but as many as received him To them gave he the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.
So the sons of God can be humans, and in that case they are, who are saved, and it's not limited to the male gender.
Because a female is saved the same way a male is, by believing in the name of the only begotten Son of God, believing the gospel of Jesus Christ.
So the sons of God can be humans who are saved, or they can be the angelic beings created by God.
They're often called angels in the Bible.
And they are distinct from humans.
Angels are distinct from humans.
And you see that in Psalm chapter 8, verses 4 through 5.
Psalm chapter 8, verses 4 through 5, where the psalmist wrote, What is man, speaking to God, what is man that thou art mindful of him?
And the Son of Man, there you go. that thou visitest him.
For thou hast made him, that means the Son of Man, thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor.
So what did that text tell us?
That the Son of Man and the angels are different Now, I I asked you to turn to Genesis chapter 6 or to bookmark it, and we're going to look at that verse, that passage.
And I believe it'll help us to properly interpret verse 6 in our text in Job.
So I'm going to read verses.
I'm going to start with Genesis chapter 6 verse 1.
And we'll eventually get through verse 7.
Genesis 6, verse 1.
So this is going way back before the time of Job.
And it came to pass when men began to multiply on the face of the earth.
And daughters were born unto them.
Now, before you go any further with this verse, look at the context, the setting of this passage The scripture is about men.
Where?
On earth.
And that speaks of both men and women.
That's mankind.
And yes, the Hebrew word here for men is Adam or Adam.
Adam, the name of the first man, the one God created.
But it's used here to represent mankind, humans.
Because where did the woman come from?
She came from the man, and that's mankind.
And we also know that it can't be limited to men because that passage that verse says, when men begin to multiply on the face of the earth.
After all, men can't multiply without women.
You don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure that out.
And who was born unto these humans who began to multiply on the face of the earth?
The scripture says daughters were born unto them So with that foundation laid, let's look at the next few verses.
Verse 2, Genesis 6, verse 2, that the sons of God Saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and took them wives of all which they chose Now, this is where the sticking point is for some people, for whatever reason, and theologians included in that.
That they've been taught, and maybe you've been taught this, not here you haven't, but maybe you've been taught this, that the sons of God were angels Who came down and chose human wives for themselves.
Now, if you look at the setting of this passage, I think we've already refuted that teaching.
But let's keep going.
In Luke chapter twenty The Sadducees, you remember the ones who say there's no resurrection and they didn't believe in spirits, angels, any of that.
The Sadducees tried to trick Jesus by asking him about the resurrection, which they didn't believe in, but they tried to trick him by asking him.
If a woman was widowed seven times, that's essentially what the passage before what I'm going to read says.
If a woman had a husband And then he died, and she had another husband, and he died, and another husband, and he died, all the way to the seventh husband.
Whose wife would she be in the resurrection?
That's what the Sadducees wanted to know from Jesus.
And here's Jesus' answer, which sheds great light on the answer to the question before us: who were these sons of God and were they angels?
Luke chapter 20 and write down verses 34 through 36. 34 through 36.
And Jesus answering said unto them, that's to the Sadducees, the children of this world, Mary and are given in marriage.
But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage.
Neither can they die any more, for they are equal unto the angels, and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.
So there are two things we learn about the holy angels here.
One, they do not marry.
Two, they do not die.
Not the holy angels.
Thinking back to what we read so far in Genesis chapter six.
The children produced by the sons of God and the daughters of men would die.
You know how we know that?
Because we read about the flood and all the things that happened during the flood and before the flood and after the flood.
And all but Noah.
And his wife and his three sons and his three daughters-in-law would die in the flood.
Now continuing with this Genesis chapter 6 passage, let's pick up with verse 3.
Look back down at it.
And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh.
Yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years.
So there, after that Passage about the sons of God coming into the daughters of men and all that.
God said that man is flesh And this is clearly speaking of human beings, all of whom are flesh.
Now look at verse 4, Genesis 6, verse 4.
There were giants in the earth in those days.
And also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old men of renown.
Now it never says anything about them becoming angels of renown, does it?
And although these were mighty men, they were still men.
And their offspring were children, not half angel, half man.
You don't see anywhere in the Bible where you have a half angel, half man uh as far as as I can tell.
I have not seen that.
You may see you'll see some imagery, some uh descriptions of characters in the revelation. about what the head looks like and you know it's a certain animal and then another part of the body is a certain animal.
But creatures who existed on the earth, when it comes to man, you don't see half angel, half man.
And it says in verse 5, Genesis 6, 5, and God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart.
And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth. both man and beast and the creeping thing and the fowls of the air, for it repenteth me that I have made them.
How many times does it have to say man and man on the earth, and on the earth?
The focus here is of man on earth.
God was tired of it Nowhere in this passage does it say that it repented God that he made angels.
Or it repented him so much that he would destroy the angels from heaven.
He said he would destroy man, that is mankind, whom he created from the face of the earth.
And another thing about angels, you have the holy angels, and then you have the angels who sinned and left their first estate.
Holy angels of God cannot sin.
There's no redemption for angels.
So wouldn't that be a mess if an angel for whom there is no redemption?
were to marry a woman and have children, well, if there's no redemption for that angel, how could there be redemption for their children?
It just doesn't spiritually make sense.
And boy, I tell you, if I'm off on the deep end on this, I'm all the way the bottom.
Because I just I I it just seems very clear to me, and I always reserve the right to be wrong.
But there's going to have to be quite a case made to uh overturn here what what I've studied.
And I'm not saying that pridefully, I just think the scriptures are are shouting at me right now, and I'm gonna go with it.
I'll I'll just uh stay with the scriptures.
How's that?
But he said he would destroy man from the face of the earth.
Now, in Jude verse 6, I said verse 6 because there's only one chapter in Jude, Jude verse 6, speaks of these other angels, the wicked ones.
It says, In the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
God would certainly not refer to those angels as the holy angels or as the sons of God.
They are reserved for the judgment.
They're clearly separated from the holy angels.
Matthew chapter 25, verse 41.
Underscores that as well.
It says, Then shall he say, Jesus, unto them on the left hand, depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and His angels.
Now the devil's angels are not the sons of God.
They sinned.
They left their first estate just like Lucifer did in heaven and were cast out.
So I told you that we would look in depth at this phrase, the sons of God, and we're still not done yet.
But hopefully we are a little further along in our understanding of the sons of God, and we understand that it can refer to created heavenly beings, angels, as in Psalm 8 and Job 38, or The sons of God can refer to those who are saved, whether they be in the Old Testament or the New Testament.
So the sons of God coming in unto the daughters of men.
In my viewpoint, it is easily understood one way as the godly line of man intermarrying with the ungodly line of man.
The saved being unequally yoked with the unsaved, or the spiritual line of Seth mixing with the spiritual line of Cain, however you want to look at that.
But let's look back in our text in Job 1 verse 6.
We're done with Genesis 6 for right now.
So you can turn back to Job 1 verse 6.
We're not told whom the sons of God are in this verse.
And the context here in our passage is not one of marriage.
Between these sons or the daughters of men.
It's not about that at all.
It's a scene where the sons of God are presenting themselves before the Lord.
And so it means that they're standing before the Lord.
That's what the Hebrew word means for presenting.
They're standing before the Lord.
In fact, that's how the word's usually translated, as the word stand.
And here is a verse where the word presented is used twice, and it gives us a good picture of what the word means and what these sons of God were doing.
It's found in Deuteronomy chapter 31 and verse 14.
Deuteronomy 31, verse 14.
And the Lord said unto Moses, Behold, thy days approach that thou must die Call Joshua and present yourselves in the tabernacle of the congregation, that I may give him a charge.
And Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves in the tabernacle of the congregation.
So from this verse, we should be able to imagine.
In our minds, Moses and Joshua standing at attention before the Lord in the tabernacle, waiting on a message from him.
So the question here before us in our text is whether these sons of God are humans or angels or some kind of spiritual being.
And we've seen the case where humans, Joshua and Moses, who are the sons of God, presented themselves before the Lord.
Now here's a verse where the heavenly spirits present themselves before the Lord Write down Zechariah 6 verse 5.
If you can't spell Zechariah, just put Z-E-C-H, period.
Nobody will ever know the difference.
Zechariah 6 verse 5.
And the angel answered and said unto me, these are the four spirits of the heavens which go forth from Standing before the Lord of all the earth.
That's the same as the word presenting or presented.
And what we've learned so far Or with what we've learned so far, let's try to answer the question that is still before us.
Let's see If we could make the case that the sons of God in our text are humans.
Now we've learned that the New Testament speaks of the sons of God as exclusively humans who are saved.
And we learned also in the Old Testament the sons of God could be men, those who are saved, or they could be angels, the holy angels.
So what if, and again we're asking this question because this is how we study sometimes, we ask the question and see if it's a logical question and and what the answer may be.
What if these sons of God in our text in Job were men?
Well, let's read the next few words in Job chapter 1, verse 6, it says, And Satan came also among them.
Now, this gives us something else to consider in trying to answer the question.
Could Satan be at the same place where the sons of God are in the presence of the Lord?
Well, what says the Scripture?
When Jesus was explaining the parable of the sower in Mark chapter 4, verses 13 through 15, Mark 4, verses 13 through 15, The passage said, And he said unto them, Know ye not this parable?
And how then will ye know all parables?
The sower soweth the word.
And these are they by the wayside where the word is sown.
But when they have heard, Satan cometh Immediately and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.
So Satan is present where the gospel is preached He is among those who hear it, particularly those who hear the gospel and reject it and go, oh, I don't need that.
All right, that sounds good, but that's for somebody else, whatever their response is.
Now in Mark chapter 8, Jesus was telling his disciples how he must suffer and die and be raised again, and Peter rebuked him.
So you had the Lord as the Son of Man.
And you had Simon Peter, who was a Christian.
And then you have this verse, Mark 8, 33.
And this is Jesus' reaction to Peter rebuking him.
But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter saying, Get thee behind me, Satan.
For thou savorest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.
So Peter was a Christian.
Satan was right there influencing Peter.
To think wrongly and to speak wrongly.
So Satan is present where believers are or where the sons of God are.
He tries to distract you from the truth or cause you to doubt the truth.
Now Satan was also present at the Last Supper in John chapter 13, verse 27.
John 13 is when the Last Supper, or where the Last Supper is recorded.
And in verse 27, it says this about Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed Jesus.
It says, and after the Sop, Satan entered into him, that is, into Judas.
Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest do quickly.
Revelation chapter 2, verses 12 through 13.
Revelation 2, 12 through 13.
And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write, These things, saith he, which hath the sharp sword with two edges, I know thy works and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is.
And thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days where Antipos was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you where Satan dwelleth.
So we have our answer to the question about whether Satan can be present when the sons of God, the Christians. present themselves before the Lord.
And so yes, he is there.
And what about the second question?
Does Satan present himself when the sons of God, meaning the angelic beings, the holy angels?
present themselves before God.
Because they have to present themselves before God too.
God sends them out to do his work, they come back, and we don't know what all takes place there, but we know they are accountable to God.
They are not freelancers.
They do God's will and only God's will.
Speaking of Jesus' temptation in the wilderness, Mark chapter 1, verses 12 through 13.
Mark chapter 1, verses 12 through 13.
Says, and immediately the Spirit driveth him, that's Jesus, into the wilderness.
And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan.
And was with the wild beasts, and the angels ministered unto him.
There you have it.
Satan, angels, the Spirit of God, and God the Son, mentioned together in the same place.
And then I'll give you one more scripture about that.
And this is based upon Zechariah's vision from God, going back to Zechariah chapter 3 and verse 1.
Zechariah 3, verse 1, where he wrote, And he, that's God, showed me Joshua, the high priest, standing before the angel of the Lord. and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.
So the high priest in this vision The angel of the Lord and Satan are all presenting themselves together before God.
So we've seen multiple passages that teach us that Satan can and has and will, but he has presented himself when the sons of God are present in heavenly realms.
As well as in earthly realms.
And now for our text, which one seems to fit the best?
Not according to the theologian's opinions here.
Somebody's got to be right, but according to the scriptures, and I'm going to give you my best shot here at it.
Let's look back at the context as we continue to read in Job chapter 1.
Look now in verse 7.
And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou?
Now, almost every translation I've consulted translates it this way.
Where have you come from?
That's what that means.
We don't say whence comest thou.
I ought to ask somebody that the next time I stop them.
Just see what happens.
Or from where have you come?
If you're particular about the placement of the preposition at the ending of a sentence, then we'll just Look at translations that say, from where have you come?
So whence means where.
And the construction of this question that God asks Satan implies that Satan Was once somewhere, and now he's somewhere else.
He's not omnipresent like God.
He's not everywhere at one time like God.
He's got his angels, his unholy angels and demons and all of that going on.
But the the construction of the question says Satan was somewhere else and now he is somewhere else.
And he answers this question to God by saying, from going to and fro in the earth and from walking up and down in it.
So that means he was in the earth or on the earth, but now he's somewhere else.
He's in the presence of God, but he's not in the earth or on the earth, so far as we can tell And if he's not on the earth, then he is not in the presence of the sons of God who are on the earth.
So he must be in the presence of the sons of God who are somewhere else, in a heavenly realm.
A spiritual realm outside of where man dwells, or at least outside of what man has access to with his senses.
Now, what is Satan doing?
Going to and fro and up and down in the earth, walking up and down in it.
Well, 1 Peter 5, verse 8 is the answer to that.
1 Peter 5, verse 8.
Where Peter tells the church, be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, same thing he was doing in Job, walketh about seeking whom he may devour.
Satan walks the earth not looking for someone to bless, but looking for someone to devour.
Now look at verse 8.
And the Lord said unto Satan, Has thou considered my servant Job?
It's like God knew Satan's purpose in walking to and fro and up and down the earth.
He knew Satan was looking to devour someone, so he offered for consideration his servant Job.
Now, this conversation gives us further evidence that the sons of God presented themselves before the Lord somewhere besides the earth. and that these were heavenly angelic beings.
This was a spiritual meeting outside of our realm.
Because if the sons of God were humans in this passage.
Then Job would have been there among them, wouldn't he?
He would have had access to this meeting.
He would have been a party to the conversation between God and Satan, but he was not.
And we will see that very clearly.
When Job doesn't know why these things are happening to him.
Had he been at that meeting, he could have said, oh, well, God just said he's going to test me.
He's going to let Satan do certain things to me, but he's going to put limitations on him.
Job wasn't there.
And Job was a son of God by his faith in the coming Savior.
Now we're about to learn a difficult truth about being God's servants.
God offered Satan the opportunity to consider Job.
And the Hebrew word for consider is almost always translated as the word heart, not the beating organ in the chest, but the inner man, which we talked about.
The Wednesday night before last, when I taught on Proverbs 14, 10.
And God asked Satan if he had considered Job, particularly the inner man of Job.
And listen to how God describes Satan or described Job to Satan.
Very generally, God said, there is none like him in the earth.
So God made it clear that Job was a unique person.
He was unmatched in some way.
And that Satan should pay attention to that distinction.
He should consider it.
And Satan had been walking up and down and to and fro in the earth, but he had apparently not considered Job like this.
Now he knew about Job.
As we'll see in a few moments, or probably next lesson, but he hadn't considered Job as God suggested he do.
And God further describes Job as a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and escheweth evil.
Now we discussed those character traits last week, so we won't spend much time on them today.
But a summary of those traits is that Job was a complete man who loved God, who loved his word, who had reverence for the Lord, and also a healthy terror of the Lord. and who removed himself from evil.
These are the things God pointed out to Satan.
God did not tell Satan that Job was the greatest because of the flocks.
Because of his large family, because of his great household of servants.
None of those material things mattered.
And Satan had seen and conquered many rich men in his time.
Many large families had fallen for his deception.
Many ranchers and owners of large businesses. had been lured into his traps.
And it's no challenge for Satan to take away the word that is sown in the heart of a rebel Because the rebel just goes down without a fight.
Satan says, you know, that's going to be uh quite a change in lifestyle for you to be a Christian.
That's going to be inconvenient.
You're not going to get to have fun, and the rebel goes, Oh, okay, well, I just won't do it then.
He just says yes to whatever the devil's deception and schemes are.
But it's quite another matter for Satan to deal with a Christian.
A Christian has a power in him that the devil does not.
A Christian has the Holy Spirit dwelling in him, and that's the power.
And he's commanded to resist the devil, and when he does, the devil has to flee from him.
He's able to be sober and vigilant by the power of the Holy Spirit.
So the devil has to continue to walk and roar around a person like that.
The Christian is a servant of righteousness so long as he yields to the Spirit and not to his flesh.
And that's the battle we all face as Christians right there.
And how Satan would love to destroy a Christian spirit, but he cannot.
He can enjoy himself as he destroys our flesh.
But he cannot have for himself that which has been born of the Spirit of God.
And for Satan to consider Job, he has to deal with the character that God instilled in Job.
Uprightness, perfection, meaning completion, fear of the Lord, and his pattern of removing himself from evil.
And with that, we'll close.
Father, thank you for the attention that each one showed.
Thank you for those who are not just interested, but who are hungry for your word.
And I thank you for the truth that you've given us today.
And may it add to our faith and make us better Christians in Jesus' name.
Amen.
