THOUGH HE SLAY ME YET I WILL TRUST HIM Job 13:15

CHRIST THE ROCK CONGREGATION

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 12^TH 2021

Sermon by Pastor Marc E Simeon

THOUGH HE SLAY ME YET WILL I TRUST HIM

Job 13:15 Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. Even so, I will defend my own ways before Him.

Job 13 :15 Bondye te mèt touye m’. Sèl chans mwen se pou m’ esplike avè l’.

Job 13:15 Voici, il me tuera; je n’ai rien à espérer; Mais devant lui je défendrai ma conduite.

INTRODUCTION

• Every true servant of God will has to endure the test of authenticity.
• Many seem to excel in their walks with God when taking their great accomplishments in the kingdom of God in consideration.
• From the outward appearances, we may be lead to think that all who achieve great works for God are mature Christians worthy to be viewed as models.
• We ordain them as pastors; we vote them as presidents of our Christian organizations, overseers, bishops and the list goes on.
• We call them visionaries.
• We call the great achievers in the furtherance of the Gospel.
• We see them as the pillars of the Christian faith.
•  We often see them as God’s gifts to the church and to the present generation.
• We are prompt to follow their leaderships because of their great charisma.
• More often than Christians tend to crown these people as messiah until we discover some flaws in them and realize that there is only one Messiah, and His name is the Lord Jesus Christ.

THE TEST OF AUTHENTICITY

• Every true Christian will be tested for authenticity.
• Just like true gold can be tested with fire and acid, every Christian will go through various tests to determine the genuineness of their faith in Christ.
• When we examine the parable of the Sower, we find two groups of people who show initial progress at their first reception of the Gospel and regress to a disappointed end.
• We see that the authenticity of one’s faith is not determined by how one begins the Christian race but how he perseveres and how he finishes the race.

Mt 13:20 Celui qui a reçu la semence dans les endroits pierreux, c’est celui qui entend la parole et la reçoit aussitôt avec joie;

 21 mais il n’a pas de racines en lui-même, il manque de persistance, et, dès que survient une tribulation ou une persécution à cause de la parole, il y trouve une occasion de chute.

 22 Celui qui a reçu la semence parmi les épines, c’est celui qui entend la parole, mais en qui les soucis du siècle et la séduction des richesses étouffent cette parole, et la rendent infructueuse.

• La parabole du semeur nous montre que le semeur s’attend que toutes les semences portent de fruits.
• Il n’existe pas de chrétiens inutiles dans le Royaume de Dieu.
• Si vous ne faites rien pour la gloire de Dieu, il faut vite questionner votre foi.
• Nous sommes sauvés pour effectuer de bonnes œuvres que Dieu à préparer d’avance pour que nous les pratiquions.
• Jésus mentionne quatre grands tests d’authenticité que chaque croyant aura à expérimenter.
  • La tribulation
  • La persécution à cause de la parole de Dieu
  • Les soucis de ce siècle
  • La séduction des richesses
• These are not selective courses that you may choose not to take.
• These are the core courses in the Christian pilgrimage.
• No true Christian is spared these four courses, wait for them if you’ve not yet gotten them.
• Expect: tribulations, misfortunes, trials, sufferings, ordeals, pains, distresses, difficulties and stresses.
• Expect: persecution because of your faith in God; expect ridicules,    misunderstandings, attacks, pressure to compromise, pressure to comply.
• Expect hardships; expect unhappy circumstances, unpleasant happenings in your life; expect to pay a bold price for your commitment to God.
• By the grace of God, many have passed the first three obstacles with flying colors.
• There is yet one more test that brings down most of the Christians of our days.
• The test of prosperity is by far the most potent test of Christian authenticity.
• Ok, the devil could not get you to deny Christ.
• Ok, you grew bolder in your faith in the midst of the adversities.
• Ok, you developed a higher intimacy with God when all hell broke loose on you.
• Assuming that you now have a break from all these things that used to plague your life,
• You now begin to emancipate and prosper in this world;
• You are now in a place of influence.
• Many ignore that prosperity is also a test.
• Many see prosperity only as reward.
• Some think that prosperity means that God is pleased with them.
• Many divorces happen after the wife begins to work and no longer dependent upon the husband.
• There are some hidden characters that will only surface in the midst of opulence.
• Many would trade their present walks with God for their former walks with God when they were living bare with little or no material possession.

CROSSING GETHSEMANE

• I invite everyone to wait for a person to cross Gethsemane before leaning on them spiritually.
• Gethsemane is the battleground that all Christians will have to face at some point in their walks with God.
• Gethsemane is where the human will clash with the will of God.
• Gethsemane is the place where God stays silent while you lament.
• Gethsemane is where the human mind questions the wisdom of God.
• Gethsemane is where God seems, insensitive, and powerless.
• Gethsemane is the place of total surrender to the will of God.
• Gethsemane is the place of confrontation with darkness.
• Gethsemane is the place of betray.
• Gethsemane is where all your human supports will fail you.
• Gethsemane is the place of solitude although surrounded by people.
• Gethsemane is the landmark for one’s destiny.
• Gethsemane is the place where God gives the green light to your enemies to put their hands on you.
• Gethsemane is the place where the hidden plans of the devil against your life to seem to be fulfilled.
• Every Christian who live long enough with go to his own Gethsemane
• Be it through sickness
• Be it through the loss of health
• Be it through a divorce or other adverse family issues.
• Be it through a failure in business.
• When it’s your time to go through your Gethsemane
  • You won’t like it.
  • You will ask God to take it away.
  • You will rely on others to keep watch with you for spiritual and emotional support.
  • You will be shocked to see your betrayer.
  • You will question the wisdom of God in the situation, and you will ask God for an alternate plan.

THOUGH HE SLAY ME YET WILL I TRUST HIM

• These famous words that came out of Job’s mouth are very significant.
• Job is attributing God as the source of his calamities
• Job sensed that God was trying to destroy him while he ignored for what purpose God was doing it.
• Job had a few choices
• His wife advised him to curse God and die.
• Job could just let go of his faith in God.
• Job could question the justice and the goodness of God.
• Job decided to keep his faith in God regardless of all the confusions that surrounded him.
• Job decided to keep on trusting God no matter what.
• I can see a lot of Christians being tempted to rewrite their theology in the aftermath of the last storms they just endured in their lives.
• Many Christians are living situations they never thought God would ever allow them to experience.
• I’ve gone through my share of those disappointments with God and I am a witness that they can put a toll on your faith if you are not careful.
• I see Job making some silly statements about God, and yet I see Job giving some surprising counter punches to the enemy by some other statements he made, when it seemed that he was losing his faith.

Job 19 : 23-28

Job 19:23 ¶ Oh! je voudrais que mes paroles fussent écrites, Qu’elles fussent écrites dans un livre;

 24 Je voudrais qu’avec un burin de fer et avec du plomb Elles fussent pour toujours gravées dans le roc…

 25 Mais je sais que mon rédempteur est vivant, Et qu’il se lèvera le dernier sur la terre.

 26 Quand ma peau sera détruite, il se lèvera; Quand je n’aurai plus de chair, je verrai Dieu.

 27 Je le verrai, et il me sera favorable; Mes yeux le verront, et non ceux d’un autre; Mon âme languit d’attente au dedans de moi.

 28 Vous direz alors: Pourquoi le poursuivions-nous? Car la justice de ma cause sera reconnue.

Job 19:23 ¶ “Oh, that my words were written! Oh, that they were inscribed in a book!

 24 That they were engraved on a rock With an iron pen and lead, forever!

 25 For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth;

 26 And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God,

 27 Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!

 28 If you should say, ‘How shall we persecute him?’ -Since the root of the matter is found in me,

CONCLUSION

• I have taken you to the realities of the Christian faith for many have distorted the message of the Cross to turn it to a gospel of prosperity.
• All true Christians will arrive in heaven with scars that the world had emprinted on them.
• Wealth accumulation is not a sign of being in a healthy relationship with God.
• Don’t rely on the many things that you have to think that you are in good stand with God.
• Show me the record of your Gethsemane experience.
• Give me your in-peril testimony.

2Co 11:24 cinq fois j’ai reçu des Juifs quarante coups moins un,

 25 trois fois j’ai été battu de verges, une fois j’ai été lapidé, trois fois j’ai fait naufrage, j’ai passé un jour et une nuit dans l’abîme.

 26 Fréquemment en voyage, j’ai été en péril sur les fleuves, en péril de la part des brigands, en péril de la part de ceux de ma nation, en péril de la part des païens, en péril dans les villes, en péril dans les déserts, en péril sur la mer, en péril parmi les faux frères.

 27 J’ai été dans le travail et dans la peine, exposé à de nombreuses veilles, à la faim et à la soif, à des jeûnes multipliés, au froid et à la nudité.

2Co 11:26 in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;

• Show me how you have kept the faith in the duress moments in your life.
• Show me the loss you incurred in order to remain true to God.

Job 13:15 Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. Even so, I will defend my own ways before Him.

Job 13 :15 Bondye te mèt touye m’. Sèl chans mwen se pou m’ esplike avè l’.

Job 13:15 Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. Even so, I will defend my own ways before Him.

• As the church is heading back to persecution before the rapture of the saints, may this message serve you as an antidote to the false Gospel of prosperity and easy living that is already plaguing the church.
• May God add His blessings upon His Word and upon His servant!

AMEN!