Dr. Tony Evans addresses the difficult question why we suffer and how God’s sovereignty has a part to play in our lives. Join Dr. Evans as he unpacks the layers of wisdom found within the Book of Job, revealing the profound truths that can reshape our perspectives on life’s challenges. SUBSCRIBE: https://www.youtube.com/user/drtonyev… If you would like to download two encouraging, FREE full-length MP3s of Tony’s popular sermons: “The Sovereignty of God” and “How to Handle a Crisis,” you can do so by clicking on this link: https://share.hsforms.com/1atT9MJvXQN… If you would like to sign up for our daily devotional bringing you hope and inspiration, please go to this link: https://share.hsforms.com/1CkOLA910Sm… ▶ Do you know Jesus as your Savior? https://tonyevans.org/know-jesus-christ/ ▶ Stream Sermons: https://tonyevans.org/podcast/ ▶▶ Free Sermon App: https://subsplash.com/tonyevans/app/ ▶▶ DONATE: https://give.tonyevans.org/the-altern… ▶ Facebook: 
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/ drtonyevans ▶ Are you a preacher? Free sermon outlines: https://go.tonyevans.org/dr-tony-evan… Dr. Tony Evans is the founder and senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, founder and president of The Urban Alternative and author of over 100 books, booklets and Bible studies. The first African American to earn a doctorate of theology from Dallas Theological Seminary, he has been named one of the 12 Most Effective Preachers in the English-Speaking World by Baylor University. Dr. Evans holds the honor of writing and publishing the first full-Bible commentary and study Bible by an African American. His radio broadcast, The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, can be heard on over 1,400 radio outlets daily and in more than 130 countries. Dr. Evans’ sermons are also streamed and downloaded over 20,000,000 times annually. #tonyevans #tonyevanssermon #GodsSovereignty
God will use trouble for you to get a
bigger view of him it’s a difference
hearing about God and seeing him it’s a
difference knowing the truth and seeing
the truth work even when you lose you
don’t lose cuz God will take eternity
match it with history so that he still
fulfills his word even in a unique
[Music]
way
one of the
most challenging questions that all of
us have
faced many of us have verbalized it most
of us have thought
it is to ask God
why throughout the scriptures there are
numbers of
people great people people that we
admire respect and hold in high biblical
esteem who who ask God
why but the biggest why as far as humans
are concerned probably the biggest
biggest why is Jesus on the cross my God
my God
why hast Thou forsaken me but in terms
of our own human
trouble the biggest why is
job job
is the idealic man he is you might call
him a man for all seasons
he’s everything in his life recorded in
the first five verses of Job 1 is what
we would love all of our Lives to
be we’re told in verse one he was a
man full of Faith he feared God and he
turned away from Evil he was not only a
man of strong faith he was a man with a
solid family amen we talked about verse
two his seven sons and his three
daughters and this is the one most of us
would like he was a man of great
Fortune but now in verse six there is a
turn as successful as he
was something begins to happen that
collapses his world
but now he’s going to become a man of
suffering so just because you have
faith just because you come from a solid
family and you got a little change in
your
pocket doesn’t mean that you have bought
yourself out of problems so to
understand what job is going through and
what you may very well might be or will
or have been going through
we have to go back to understand
something verse
six now there was a day when the sons of
God came to present themselves before
the Lord and Satan also came among
them and the Lord said to
Satan from where do you
come then Satan answered the
Lord and said from roaming about on the
earth walking around on
it you have God calling a meeting of the
Angelic host called the sons of God so
angels and demons have
gathered Satan is part of the
Gathering Daniel
7:1 puts it in these
words let me read verse N I kept looking
until the Thrones were set up and the
Ancient of Days took his seat God his
vesture was like white snow and the hair
of his head was like pure wool his
throne was Ablaze with flames its Wheels
were a burning fire a river of fire was
flowing and coming out from before him
thousands upon thousands were attending
him and myriads upon myriads were
standing before him the court
sat and the books were
open so the Gathering in
job is the court scene that is described
when the thousands and thousands of
angels who were called sons of God in
job are gathered because court is called
in session
we have explained to you and me that
your relationship with God on Earth is a
spiritual one but it is also a
legislative one it is a legal
Gathering if you do not grasp the
legality of your life on Earth by which
happening based on what’s happening in
heaven then you will not formally
realize what is is happening to
you Satan and the angels are called to
court amen amen because that’s the
reason for the Gathering there is a
grand jury in
session and God asked Satan where you
been boy what’s the case load
today now going back you remember
Revelation 12
7-1 he is an accuser of the brethren
the Greek word accus means to bring
legal
lawsuit so Satan wants to bring legal
lawsuit against you and he wants to do
it for one overriding purpose Daniel
7:10 says the books were
open Psalm 139 verse 16 says that When
God Made You he put you in a
book the book is the substance Psalm
139:16 says of your
life it’s your
story as God has desired it and designed
it to be so you have a
book Satan’s goal is for you to not
realize what’s written in your
book in other words he wants to deny you
your
destiny he wants to deny you God’s plan
goal for your life Satan’s goal is to
keep that book from being realized to
keep your destiny and he does that by
accusing you that is bringing up a case
against
you when what have you been doing
devil he says I’ve been walking to and
fro
I have been walking around the trading
floor of
Earth to and fro the Earth verse 7 of
Job 1 says walking around
it and then
God does something that we don’t
like he helps the devil
out verse eight have you considered my
servant
Joe why you walking around looking for
fol FK mess
with why don’t you check job
out May maybe you feel like he God told
the devil to check you out why don’t you
check job out please notice what he
calls Joe my servant yeah so
God tells
Satan to check out somebody Satan never
brought
up go God brought him up have you
checked out my servant Jo because he is
the goat there is no one like him verse
eight on Earth blameless upright fearing
God turning from
Evil the big question is
why why would God do
this why would he allow the de why would
he help the devil out if God if the
devil can’t find me you don’t help
him you don’t give him my house address
you don’t tell him where I
live you don’t you don’t let him email
me Satan said Joe
Joe I know about job because he’s the
greatest man on Earth so so I know about
him does job serve you for
nothing in order for Satan to accuse he
has to have a basis of
accusation he’s
blameless in all of his actions but God
I think I got
something sometimes job’s motives are
wrong you know that he does all the
right things but he doesn’t always do
all the right things for the right
reason does he serve you for
nothing or is he like a lot of folk you
know he just serves you for his
Blessing I’m coming to get my blessing I
want God to you know give me a new car
new house new clothes you know I I
challenge job based on
motivation I can’t blame him for his
actions because he either doesn’t do
wrong or he sacrifices when he does do
wrong so he’s back in fellowship with me
but I want to get into his
mind CU all of us knows what it is to do
the right things with the wrong
thoughts to do the right things with the
wrong
motivation to justify our
actions because of our
thinking he says I know what I can do I
can attack Joe
on the motivational level but I got a
problem God devil says I got I do have a
problem with with this because you
brought him up I didn’t bring him up but
since you brought him brought him up I
can deal with him on the motivational
level but I got a problem have you verse
10 not made a hedge around him his house
and all that he has on every side you
have blessed the work of his hand and
his possessions have increased
in the
land he says I got a problem and that is
you have put a restraining order on
me that’s what a hedge is it’s a
restraint the reason I haven’t been able
to get the job is you have blocked me
you have surrounded him with a
protective shield so that that’s the
only reason I can’t get to him and if
you if you ever take the leash off of me
yeah if you ever if you ever let me
loose and remove the restraining order
then I’m going show you that job’s
motivation is enough to accuse
him now there a whole lot of theology
there cuz one Satan knows about the
restraining
order two he can’t do anything until God
moves it yes
so to remind you from one of our other
messages that means that Satan has to
get God’s permission to be the
devil that he’s got to ask God is it
okay to mess with
you and so he says if you will remove
the
Hedge if you’ll remove this protective
shield then I can show you he ain’t all
l in a bag of
chips cuz I can get him on the
motivational level put forth your hand
verse 11 and stretch it out and he will
surely curse you and your
face cuz the only reason he’s serving
you is because of
stuff you’ve been giving him a good life
take away the good life he ain’t gonna
be all that
Christian he ain’t gonna be loving the
Lord
cuz he’s only doing this to get his
Blessing and unfortunately today we live
in a f day when folk want to use
God he’s good as long as he giving me my
stuff the Lord said to
Satan behold all that he has is in your
power
only do not put forth your hand on
him Satan God
releases the restraining order to a
point okay I’m G let you touch his stuff
I’ll say something about that in a
moment but I’m not gonna let you touch
him so not only does god
control whether the devil does something
he controls how much he allows the devil
to
do but notice how much the devil was
allowed to do was connected to his
relationship with
job job is a blameless man job’s a job’s
an honorable man he fears God so if you
don’t fear God if you don’t care about
the Lord what you have just done
is strengthen and and elongated the
leash of what Satan is allowed to
do he
says okay but don’t touch
him and then he comes into the worst 24
hours of his life beginning with verse
13 he loses his kids in a collapse he
loses his business 14 and
15 fire comes down and consumes
everything
16 band of Raiders come in and Destroy
Everything
17 everything collapses and it’s it’s
one thing to have one bad thing
today it’s another thing to have
everything happening on the same
day this is a massive collapse Allowed
by God
please understand me
here the most important doctrine that
you can learn as a
Christian is the gospel the good news of
Jesus Christ faith alone in Christ alone
for the Forgiveness of sins and the gift
of eternal life to accept Christ as your
personal substitute is the greatest
truth you can learn but the second
greatest truth you can learn is the
sovereignty of God
this is very
important because if you don’t believe
God is Sovereign you live your life by
luck chance happen St stands
fate when life crushes in on you if you
don’t have a handle on the sovereignty
of God you will collapse at the work of
the
devil when his whole World falls
apart verse 20 then joob Rose tore his
Rob shaved his head fell on the ground
and worshiped oh no he
didn’t wait a
minute but worshiping when your world
has fallen
apart worshiping when your world has
collapsed on you now don’t get me wrong
this is not this is not you know play
worship because he’s still grieving he’s
still shaving his head he’s still
tearing his robe he’s still falling to
the ground he’s still in emotional
despair while worshiping do you know you
can worship God in
pain what I’m trying to say is when God
allows the devil to do whatever he
allows to do in your life that is the
time to draw to him not run from
him he says he worship neaked I came
from my mother’s womb neaked I shall
return there the Lord gives the Lord
takes away blessed be the name of the
Lord through watch this through all this
job did not sin verse 22 nor did he
blame God Amen so when it falls apart
you worship when you falls apart you say
God I don’t
[Applause]
understand in chapter two job loses his
health boils break out on his skin his
wife tells him to curse God and die he
says in verse nine do you still hold on
to your integrity Curse God and
die I’ve been wanting to get rid of you
a long time anyway Curse God and
[Applause]
die says you speak as one verse 10 of
the foolish women shall I indeed accept
good from God and not accept
adversity his friends are trying to
figure it out he says verse three oh
that I knew where I might find him yes
God that I might come to his
seat he says I’m going through all is
pain and God is nowhere to be
found verse 10 but I know the way I
take when he has tried
me I shall come forth as
gold he
says I can’t find him but I know what
I’m going to
do I’mma keep going I’m not going to
throw in the tell I’m not going to quit
right and when he has tried me I will
come forth as purest go he says the
Reason God is silent is I’m on trial yes
cuz he said earlier I want to take my
seat yes that’s that’s that’s a
courtroom analogy he says when God is
silent I’m on trial okay watch this now
when you don’t hear from God
and you need heaven and heaven doesn’t
answer your request it is because you
are now in The
Crucible of
preparation for
Recovery you’re now when he goes silent
on you and you are suffering but you
know the way you take you’re going to
keep going You’re Gonna Keep the Faith
You’re Gonna Keep trusting even though
you don’t see him he is putting you on
trial so that he says when you come
forth you will come pure as gold and
after everybody else’s talk God
speaks God said let let me let me
explain something
Joe let me let you know who you dealing
with let me let you know here here is
the first thing you going to get in your
trouble
if you will hold on in your worship to
the sovereignty of God in spite of the
Pains of life you will get a bigger view
of God yes this little tiny God you’ve
been coming to church singing to is now
going to expand in your
understanding God will use trouble for
you to get a bigger view of him God will
use difficulty for you to stop being
person of how great and glorious you
know what heaven’s going to be Heaven if
I can Define heaven for you it will
simply be the uninterrupted knowledge of
God so he comes to the last
chapter chapter
42 job has been
listening and God has been blowing his
mind then job answered the Lord after
the Lord blows his mind with how awesome
he is but nowhere does he give him the
explanation I know that you can do all
things you to
goat and that no purpose of yours can be
thwarted I have discovered you are in
charge who is this that hides C counsel
without knowledge who does man think he
is that he can outsmart
God therefore I have declared that which
I did not understand o ooh ooh my view
of God has
changed and the thing that changed it
was my trouble brought on by the devil
that God
okayed now I have seen you with my own
eyes therefore I
retract 37 chapters I’ve been talking to
me and my my posy for 37 chapters and we
are we talking smack
we talking stuff we don’t even know what
we talking about we talking noise I
retract and I Repent in dust and
Ashes one of job’s problems was he
thought he knew more than he
knew and he had to have his knowledge
base of God expanded and God let the
devil set it up for it to
happen God has a purpose for your life
and in everybody’s purpose Destiny your
book while it’s distinct in how that
works out in your life everybody has one
thing in everybody’s book that is the
same the greater knowledge of
God then we come to the
conclusion he repents and by the
way um in
Scripture the um Isaiah 43: 25-
28 says State your case to
God uses legal terminology State your
case repent of your sins and remove the
devil’s legal right to attack
you then the Lord verse 10 restored the
fortunes of
job okay watch this now when
he prayed for his
friends job needed help for him his
world is falling apart his world had
collapsed but not until he prayed for
his
friends did the fortune
change so I want to say it and say it
again
Minister while you suffer very
interesting the Lord increased all that
job had
twofold everything
doubled so in closing look you got a
book I got a book we got a book that
book is your destiny Satan wants to
steal your
destiny by distracting you from God and
trading making money your God making
power your god making popularity your
god making notoriety your God he wants
to trade with you cuz he’s going to make
something in this world looks more
important and more potent and more
profitable and better than God and
following him he wants to do the
trade but the one-third of angels that
traded with him will be in Hell
forever when you trade with the devil
you pay interest payments for eternity
or maybe all of history but God has
allowed an appeal
process that if you go to God in
Repentance and appeal your case before
him he can reverse the decision and you
can pick up the next chapter in your
book get your book out ask God to show
you where you are in it and then fulfill
your destiny so that when you stand
before the Lord you hear well done my
good good and faithful
[Music]
servant