Angelic Conflict part 242: The fight of the believer – Job 1-2; 1Pe 3:8-4:1-6; Mat 16:22-23; 4:1-11.

Title: Angelic Conflict part 241: The fight of the believer - Job 1-2; 1PE 3:8-4:1-6; MAT 16:22-23; 4:1-11.

 

 

JOB 2:1 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord.

 

JOB 2:2 And the Lord said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Then Satan answered the Lord and said, "From roaming about on the earth, and walking around on it."

 

JOB 2:3 And the Lord said to Satan, "Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man fearing God and turning away from evil. And he still holds fast his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to ruin him without cause."

 

JOB 2:4 And Satan answered the Lord and said, "Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life.

 

JOB 2:5 "However, put forth Thy hand, now, and touch his bone and his flesh; he will curse Thee to Thy face."

 

satan's next attack is that every man has a price, the highest of which is his life. The Victor, Jesus Christ, proved this wrong.

 

This is not to say that all who are brought to this place of testing will have their lives put on the line. Yet if virtue is to be tested, and it will be, then the value of one's own life on earth compared to God's glory will be a crossroad for each mature believer, in whatever way God allows, and again, this does not have to actually be the physical danger of losing it.

 

JOB 2:6 So the Lord said to Satan, "Behold, he is in your power, only spare his life."

 

JOB 2:7 Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.

 

JOB 2:8 And he took a potsherd to scrape himself while he was sitting among the ashes.

 

So abhorrent was Job that he fled his household and went at some distance and sat on an ash heap, or the place where the garbage is thrown out. The poorest and the rejected live around it as there is a chance to beg and eat out of peoples trash.

 

Job's suffering will not last forever, but it will last for several months. God will restore double what Job lost.

 

ECC 11:1

Cast your bread on the surface of the waters, for you will find it after many days.

 

MAT 19:29

And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name's sake, shall receive many times as much, and shall inherit eternal life.

 

JOB 2:9 Then his wife said to him, "Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!"

 

No house fell on Mrs. Job, the wicked witch of the east.

 

"Curse God and die!" was exactly what Satan wanted Job to do, and Job's wife put the temptation before her husband.

 

Satan can work through people who are near to us and even dear to us. Be alert!

MAT 16:22-23

And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, "God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You." But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's."

 

GEN 3:6

When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.

 

GEN 16:2

So Sarai said to Abram, "Now behold, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Please go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children through her." And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

 

We seem to forget that Job's wife lost the wealth and the children as he did, but her reaction to that loss is completely different. We would conclude that she had as much access to the truth known about God at the time as Job did. Maybe she played the part and feigned as spiritual as Job, which was easy for her when things were going so well for her, but when the extreme pressure came it revealed her true motivations and priorities.

 

Even with the added pressure of a terrible disease, Job's faith remained, while we would venture to guess that his wife had none or a very little.

 

Yet people in her position of weakness always seem to want others to join them. What does she care that Job maintains his integrity and continues not to blame or curse God? It is a common reaction of the weak; they want others to join them in cursing and opposing God. Young people especially need to know this. This is why certain kids want you to run with them. They want company, they want to deaden their conscience with numbers - the more the merrier, or really, the more the more miserable and disciplined.

 

Weak people want others to join them in weakness to deaden their conscience.

 

1PE 4:1 Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves [military metaphor] also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,

 

This verse has been taken out of context to mean asceticism.

 

Christ will never again be judged for sin and through Him we will never be judged for sin. Judicial freedom should become experienced freedom.

 

Not sinlessness but freedom from the mastery of sin. Experienced freedom will result in persecution from those who remain in slavery to the world, the flesh, and sin.

 

For understanding, let's note the context.

 

In 3:18-22 Peter spoke of the sufferings of the Lord Jesus and of His example of patience and submissiveness under unjust treatment.

 

1PE 3:18 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;

 

1PE 3:19 in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison,

 

1PE 3:20 who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water.

 

1PE 3:21 And corresponding to that [antitupon - antitype], baptism now saves you —  not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience —  through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

 

Just as the ark delivered Noah so the baptism of the Spirit delivers us from death. He was safe in the ark and we are safe in Christ.

 

The moment we believe in Christ as our Savior we are baptized by the Spirit, entering us into union with Christ, identifying us with His death, burial, and resurrection, and imputing to us His very righteousness so that we are justified forever. Therefore we are safe and completely accepted by God.  

 

The baptism of the Spirit saves us and gives us the pledge of a good conscience - a priority system based on truth of victory in Christ, not based on who we are, but on who He is.

 

He is resurrected. He is victorious and seated at the right hand of God. Through Him we are completely accepted by God, righteous, and justified.

 

1PE 3:22 who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him.

 

1PE 4:1 Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves [military metaphor] also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,

 

Now, he exhorts the saints to arm themselves with the same mind that Christ had regarding unjust punishment.

 

Our Lord's attitude toward unjust suffering is found in the words of 3:17.

 

1PE 3:17 For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong.

 

1PE 4:2 so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men [inordinate desire of the world], but for the will of God.

 

1PE 4:3 For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousals, drinking parties and abominable idolatries.

 

1PE 4:4 And in all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excess of dissipation, and they malign you;

 

1PE 4:5 but they shall give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead [no need to defend yourself].

 

1PE 4:6 For the gospel has for this purpose been preached even to those who are dead, that though they are judged in the flesh as men, they may live in the spirit according to the will of God.

 

 

The Greek word translated "arm yourselves" (4:1) was used of a Greek soldier putting on his armor and taking his weapons. The noun of the same root was used of a heavy-armed foot-soldier who carried a pike and a large shield. The Christian needs the heaviest armor he can get, to withstand the attacks of the enemy of his soul. To have the same attitude toward unjust suffering that the Lord Jesus had, will cause us to react toward this suffering as He did.

 

The believer is going to suffer in one of two ways - for doing what is right or for doing what is wrong. The mature attitude is to know the former is better.

 

The words "suffered in the flesh" are in the same construction as the similar phrase 'being put to death in the flesh" (3:18). In the latter expression we found that Peter was speaking of the fact that our Lord was put to death with respect to the flesh, thus suffering with respect to the flesh. This suffering was the result of unjust treatment.

 

As with the Lord, the same holds true in 4:1 where the Christian who has suffered in the flesh is the Christian who has suffered ill-treatment from the persecuting world of sinners.

 

HEB 12:3

For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart.

 

Yet, do the world of sinners persecute the believer who is sinning like them or the one who has ceased - not permanently or perfectly - from sinning like them? For this reason the worldly people persecuted Christ.

 

JOH 7:7

The world cannot hate you; but it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil.

 

JOH 15:19

"If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

 

Even though it is obvious that these 11 disciples are thoroughly confused as to exactly what is going on this night and they are confused, anxious, and afraid, Christ knows that they are not going to conform to the world system and therefore they will be hated. It's not about times of sin but those who live lifestyles of sin. And what is sin? Every thought, word, and deed that opposes God's perfect will. We are all sinners, but our good conscience results from a priority of God first, doctrine first, Christ first, the Spirit first, the plan first. With this conscience filled with these priorities we will not be friends with the world, we will not run with the world, and will be separate from its influences, and thus will even expose its flaws, failures, failed promises and lies. This will prompt its members to hate us.

 

This is far from any claim that legalism might place on this verse. Legalists claim they are not of the world's sinners so they can stand aloof and claim superiority, all the while ignoring that they are of the moral degenerates of the world. The Christian is to be sanctified unto Christ, who is not of this world, and therefore the believer will not be of this world, but of divine integrity and divine virtue from the power of the Spirit and doctrine. He doesn't run with them because he is running with Christ. He is not attempting to be some kind of moral bigot.

 

"the one who has suffered as Christ suffered has ceased from cosmic involvement, for the cosmos does not persecute their own."

 

The believer whose lifestyle is just like an unbeliever will not be persecuted by the world, whether he is a moral or immoral degenerate.

 

Therefore, the verse has nothing whatsoever to do with asceticism, but has to do with undeserved suffering with the attitude of Christ because of the experience of sanctification.

 

The verb is passive. Literally, the Christian "has got release" from sin. God broke the power of sin in his life when He saved him. Thus our reaction to unjust suffering should be that of a saint [set apart one], not a sinner, since we have in salvation been released from sin's compelling power.

 

1PE 4:1 Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves [military metaphor] also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin

 

1PE 4:2 so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men [inordinate desire of the world], but for the will of God.

 

1PE 4:3 For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousals, drinking parties and abominable idolatries.

 

1PE 4:4 And in all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excess of dissipation, and they malign you;

 

1PE 4:5 but they shall give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead [no need to defend yourself].

 

1PE 4:6 For the gospel has for this purpose been preached even to those who are dead, that though they are judged in the flesh as men, they may live in the spirit according to the will of God.

 

Everyone has the choice of accepting Christ's judgment of their sin or meeting that judgment themselves.

 

Those who decide to meet judgment themselves will oppose those who have trusted in Christ.

 

JOB 2:9 Then his wife said to him, "Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!"

 

The two things Job would not give up were his faith in God and his integrity, and that's what his wife wanted him to do.

 

Even if others think you should quit or agree that it is ok, or understandable to quit, we must press on, for the results have eternal impact for God's glory. The standards of the mature believer are not the same as most everyone else. Therefore there is no need to look for agreement or assent from others.

 

I'm sure that those close to you who noticed your PV and thought you were crazy also thought that you would soon grow out of what they think to be foolish.

 

A professor of history said, "If Columbus had turned back, nobody would have blamed him — but nobody would have remembered him either."

 

JOB 2:10 But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

 

He didn't call her foolish.

 

Foolish person: one who thinks God should be cursed in adversity rather than praised.