Jesus Is Enough Part 2

This week I want to consider this question, “Is Jesus enough when suffering surrounds you?” In Job 1:1-3, 6-12 (HCSB) we read, “There was a man in the country of Uz named Job. He was a man of perfect integrity, who feared God and turned away from evil. He had seven sons and three daughters. His estate included 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and a very large number of servants. Job was the greatest man among all the people of the east. . . . One day the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them. The LORD asked Satan, “Where have you come from?” “From roaming through the earth,” Satan answered Him, “and walking around on it.” Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? No one else on earth is like him, a man of perfect integrity, who fears God and turns away from evil.” Satan answered the LORD, “Does Job fear God for nothing? Haven’t You placed a hedge around him, his household, and everything he owns? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out Your hand and strike everything he owns, and he will surely curse You to Your face.” “Very well,” the LORD told Satan, “everything he owns is in your power. However, you must not lay a hand on Job ⌊himself⌋.” So Satan left the LORD’s presence.”

When God allowed Satan to have his way Job found himself surrounded by suffering. When God took down the hedge of protection the devil went forth to steal, kill, and destroy. First he touched Job in the area of his possessions. Job lost his children. He had three daughters and seven sons who were killed. Then the devil stripped him of his finances. Job's vast financial empire came crashing down. Overnight it was gone. Job was a poor man. But the devil was not yet done. He not only touched Job in the area of his possessions but also in the area of his person. From the top of his head to the bottom of his feet Job was covered with painful putrefying boils that just covered him. Finally Satan touched Job in the area of his position. Job was known to be a godly man. Everybody knew Job was perfect and upright. He loved what was right and hated what was wrong. But when Job lost all of these things do you know what people began to say about Job? They began to say, "I wonder what sin ole' brother Job committed. What did he do that was so bad?" You see the belief in that day was that if you were healthy, wealthy, and really blessed it was a sign that you were right with God. But if you lost all those things it was a sign that you did not have enough faith. You were not right with God.

In Hebrews 11:32 the author talks about the heroes of the faith. As he comes to verse 32 he is running out of time and he says, “And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again:” How did they do all of that? By faith. But in the middle of verse 35 we read “and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection:” In the midst of verse 35 the writer makes a stunning transition. He moves from the victories of faith to the perplexities of faith. By faith some escaped the edge of the sword but by faith some endured the edge of the sword.

There is a teaching out there today and you will hear it preached on television and other places that if you have enough faith you can be delivered from any obstacle, whatever it is. You can be delivered from any trial that comes your way, any sickness or problem. But faith does not guarantee that you will be delivered out of every trial but it does guarantee victory through every trial. There is a difference. Jesus said, "In this world ye shall have tribulation but be of good cheer for I have overcome the world." Trials are not sin. And the presence of trials does not mean that you have sinned. To the contrary the Bible says that, "They that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" (2 Timothy 3:12) Trials are a part of life. Some preachers are going around telling people that if they have enough faith they can be healthy and wealthy. The only problem with that is it's not in the Bible.

With all my heart I believe that God heals people. God has healed, is healing, and will heal. Sometimes, though, God does not choose to heal. That is hard for some of us to accept. We think that because we are God's children we ought to somehow never be sick and never have a problem. But the question is not, “Do you have enough faith to be healed, but do you have enough faith to not be healed.” Is Jesus enough in the midst of suffering? Until next week remember that God loves you and so does First Baptist Church.