Old things New Podcast

Reformed devotions from all of scripture.

Regular, reformed Bible devotions from scripture to go deeper with Christ. "Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old” - Mt 15:32. rcbhpastor.substack.com

  1. 3d ago

    Lesson 10: Trust God in Your Suffering (Job 2:7-10).

    Prayer Reading: Job 2:1-10. Meditation Satan is indeed a lying, deceptive, conniving and hateful persecutor of the saints. However, if those aspects of our suffering are clear in this passage, just as clear is the fact of God’s sovereign control when it comes to our suffering. This is really a key truth in the book of Job: although we live in a world of suffering, and although suffering is a tragic and painful reality in our lives, we must never entertain the idea that God is somehow out of control. This is one of the most difficult questions when it comes to walking by faith: God is sovereign, God is good, and yet God allows us to suffer. This is the conundrum that Job wrestles with right through the book. Why does God allow him to suffer? And that is something that we too will wrestle with across this book. But right here at the start, before we even ask that question, we must settle at least two basic truths in our minds. So I’m going to lay these out as we find them in our text. First: God is sovereign. You must cement this in your mind so firmly that nothing ever shakes this conviction. God is the Almighty sovereign of the universe. In the exchange between God and Satan, there is no question about it: Satan himself admits God’s sovereignty in verse five. Satan doesn’t even bother to pretend that he can initiate harm. He can do nothing except what God permits. It is not even a question raised in the passage. God is unquestionably sovereign. And God himself closes the whole book of Job on this point. Job himself, in one of his better moments as recorded in our passage, recalls this. So forget about suffering for a minute. Forget about wrestling with any conundrums. Forget about Satan. Forget about yourself. And get this truth into your mind: God is sovereign. He controls everything. If you can unquestioningly accept this truth, much of the battle with suffering will already be won. Now, here is the second thing we need to see here. And again, I want to ask you to accept this truth before you question it. If you can accept it first, you will ask different questions. You will want to ask questions, but you must accept the truth first. So here it is. First, we saw that God is sovereign. Secondly, we must see: God ordains and permits our suffering. I say that you must accept this because our text makes it so categorically clear. In chapter one, God initiated the conversation about Job. He does the same thing in chapter two, and, more importantly, he gives Satan permission to inflict pain on Job. If God had said no, Job would have been spared. Satan did the evil, but God permitted it. Now, straight away, probably, you’re going to be tempted to think: doesn’t that mean that God is unjust? Or unfair? Doesn’t that mean that God did the wrong thing? As we’re going to see, this is the very question that Job himself begins to ask in this book. And before the end, he is outright challenging God, accusing God of being unjust and challenging God to give an account of himself. God has permitted the suffering, no doubt. Our temptation, then, will be to form accusations in our minds directed at God. Now, we’ll be able to explore the subtleties of those questions as the book continues. But I want to instruct you here at the very start: bed this down in your mind. Cling to this truth, even though you don’t understand it yet. God ordains and permits your suffering. If you can accept that, and also trust God, then you will be in the right place to respond wisely to your suffering. God ordained it. God has not done anything wrong, and he is still trustworthy. Those are hard things to accept, especially when we are suffering. But these are the very things that God calls us to embrace in the book of Job. Be ye doers of the word... Trust God in your suffering. In a sense, this is one of the key applications of this whole book. God allows your suffering, and he won’t give you a full explanation for why. And it will come down to this: Will you submit? Will you let God be God, as it were? Will you trust him? This is something that many of us already believe, but we do need constant reminders and encouragements to strengthen our faith. So let’s try and come to terms with this. Try and begin, at least, to accept that God permits our suffering, and yet he is still trustworthy and good. There is something higher going on in our suffering that you and I don’t yet understand, and likely will not understand in this life. But here’s what we can do: trust God. Job’s wife falls on this point, but at least in our chapter, Job maintains this trust. “Shall we receive good and not evil from the Lord?” The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away; blessed be the name of the Lord. Prayer of Confession & Consecration Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

  2. Oct 21

    Lesson 9: Satan Relentlessly Inflicts Suffering (Job 2:4-5).

    Prayer Reading: Job 2:4-5. Meditation Satan is relentless. In verses four and five Satan, having been categorically proven a failure and a liar, doesn’t throw in the towel. Without hesitation he is back in the fray, looking for another avenue of attack. We’ve seen in previous meditations just how relentless Satan is. He hit Job with wave upon wave of assaults and suffering. But there is no pity in him, no sympathy for Job. He is already looking for another way to attack, which he does. God gives the word, and immediately Satan strikes Job with a grievous bodily sickness. Now, the lesson here for us is simply this: every single day of your life, you are in a war. There is no break from the war. Until the day you die, your enemies—the world, the flesh, and the devil—will be pressing against you. This reinforces the need for prayer, daily prayer for protection: “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” Pray daily for divine spiritual protection and deliverance. But expect this too. Be ye doers of the word... In our comfortable modern lives, many of us are accustomed to comforts, ease, and pleasures. And I think, more often than we might like to think, our desires are governed by prioritising comfort. We want the stuff, we want the good times, we want the happy life, and we want zero conflicts in our families. We want the perfect church—with a nice building, great music, a cool pastor, and an authentic espresso machine. It’s okay to enjoy the good gifts of life with thanksgiving, as 1 Tim 4:4 says (although my congregation will unfortunately have to wait until next time for a cool pastor!). But the point I’m making is this: the baseline expectation in our minds should not be comfort, pleasure, and ease. It should be wartime. We’re living in wartime. Wake up expecting attacks—spiritual attacks. Arm your minds. And, of course, our prayers ought to be as relentless as Satan’s attacks. We need to pray without ceasing! SDG. Prayer of Confession & Consecration Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

  3. Oct 4

    Lesson 8: Satan Accuses Us (Job 2:1-6).

    Prayer Reading: Job 2:1-6. Meditation Lies are Satan’s main tool, but accusations are key in his strategy. Satan falsely accuses the saints. As well as trying to get Job to speak lies about God, Satan tries to feed lies about Job to God, and to other people (we’ll see more of this as we continue on in the book of Job). Satan has already falsely accused Job of loving wealth. He did that back in chapter one, and he accused Job of having no genuine love for God. Moving on into chapter two, those lies have been proven wrong. But instead of admitting to lying, Satan decides to invent another lie! “And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.” 4. Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. 5. But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” (Job 2:3-5). What Satan is saying here is that Job is basically treating God like a health-care policy. It’s another lie, as we’ll see. Satan says that Job will curse God to his face if he loses his health. Job does nothing of the sort. Be ye doers of the word… Now, there’s something important for us to see here. Satan is telling lies, fundamentally, about who Job is. He has accused Job of being a lover of money, a lover of good health, and, underneath it all, he’s accused Job basically of hating God. What does this teach us? It teaches us that one of the most significant things about the battle between lies and truth is the battle for self-identity. Through his three friends, Satan tries to convince Job of something that isn’t true. He tries to impute guilt to Job. He tries to warp Job’s perception of himself. Scripture tells us that God is our Father. Satan tries to tell us that God hates us, and that we should curse him. Most of the New Testament epistles spend multiple chapters—not telling us what to do, but reminding us of who we are in Christ. There’s a reason for that. Because we need to know, and be refreshed constantly in the knowledge of who we are in Christ. We are adopted sons and daughters of God. We are forgiven. We are cleansed. We are redeemed. Satan wants to disorient us with lies, have us believe things about God and ourselves that are not true. And so a significant aspect spiritual warfare is simply knowing and holding on to the truth of who we are in Christ, and what God has done to redeem us unto himself. SDG. Prayer of Confession & Consecration Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

  4. Sep 24

    Lesson 7: Lies are Satan’s main tool in your suffering (Job 2:1-6).

    Prayer Reading: Job 2:1-6. Meditation In Job 1 we began to see that Satan has the power to inflict suffering on God’s people. We saw another angle on this in Ephesians 6, which says that, as Christians, we are engaged in a conflict with the forces of darkness. The Christian life is, in one sense, a spiritual struggle against these demonic forces. And in Job 2, we begin to gain some deeper insights into how this struggle works, and the causes of the suffering that come out of it. Now, I made the point previously that Hollywood seems to have a tendency, in horror movies—which I recommend you avoid—of portraying demonic forces by using images of monsters and deformities and the like. In other words, horror movies tend to portray demonic activity using physical manifestations and creepy imagery. When measured up to reality, however, we see that the power of the enemy isn’t about creepy monsters turning up in dark places. No. Horror movies, in that sense, are very misleading. The main power of Satan and his demons has always been lies. True, as we’ve seen in chapter one, Satan is permitted, at times, to use physical second causes as a means of attack. But, as Scripture says, he is the “father of lies” (Jn 8:44). It was a lie that undid Adam and Eve, and it is by lies that he continues to exercise dominion and slavery over the fallen human race. So let’s get this straight: lies are Satan’s main tool. It will be helpful to keep this in mind. We see this abundantly displayed in our passage: “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. And the Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” (Job 2:1-2). Now pay attention to Satan’s response. It’s evasive and deceptive. He should have said, “I have been persecuting Job with malicious hatred, and my accusation against him—that he only loved you because he was blessed—was a lie.” That’s what he should have said. He says nothing of the sort. He’s attempting even to lie to God! So when you think of demonic activities, don’t think of creepy, mutated monsters in dark sewers. Think of lies. Life-destroying lies. When someone talks about the spiritual realm, what comes to mind? Well, one thing you should think about is this: Lies are a point where spiritual and physical reality intersects. It’s the same with truth, only truth is an intersection between God and the physical world. Lies are an intersection between Satan and the physical world. In other words, words themselves are actually incredibly potent. Words are spiritually powerful. As the book of Proverbs says, life and death—which are spiritual realities—are in the power of the tongue. So Satan uses lies to entice us to sin. Be ye doers of the word... Cling to the Truth. That’s our application for this passage. Now, to be clear: God is truth, which is why Satan’s lies have no effect on him whatsoever. Satan is evasive in verse two, as we’ve seen, and does not admit to his lies and failure. God, in verse 3, is not sucked in. He simply points out Satan’s lies and failure. “And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.” I love this! God simply calls out Satan on his lie. Of course, no lie of Satan could ever have any effect upon God! It’s simply not possible. For us, however, we must remember that we are vulnerable. You remember in Ephesians 6. What was the first thing in the armour of God that we need to put on? The belt of truth! In other words, the number one defence against Satan in spiritual warfare is truth. What is truth? As Jesus says, “Your word is truth.” To put on truth, therefore, means that we constantly gird our minds with the word of God. We live, not by bread, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. We must cling to God’s word. Feed on God’s word. Rest on God’s word. Hide in God’s word. The moment we stop meditating on the word of God, we are vulnerable to Satan’s lies. Are you reading your Bible? Are you meditating on it? Without it, you will be like a lamb fighting a wolf. Satan will tear you apart. Job was anchored in the truth, and that’s why Satan failed with him. My brothers and sisters in Christ, cling to the truth of the Word of God. Buy the truth, and sell it not. Be in the Word, and let Christ’s Word dwell richly in you. SDG. Prayer of Confession & Consecration Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

  5. Sep 17

    Lesson 6: Your Suffering is Bigger Than Your Story... (Job 1:13-22).

    Prayer Reading Job 1:13-22. Meditation Your suffering is bigger than your story. Satan’s aim in hurting Job was aimed at doing two things. First: he wanted to get him to deny God. Secondly: he wanted to get him to sin. If we respond to suffering by sinning, Satan gets a win. And if someone abandons their faith because of suffering, that’s Satan’s best game-plan come to life. But consider this: Whatever it is that you are suffering, there is something much bigger going on than just you. Responding wisely to suffering is not just about you getting healthy again. It’s not just about getting a happy marriage. It’s not just about getting enough money to live comfortably. There’s always so much more at stake. It’s about God displaying his sovereign love in your life. Job knew God’s mercy. And even in his suffering, God protected him. Satan couldn’t touch his life. Because Christ suffered all loss. Christ was utterly forsaken so that Job, and you, and me could be saved. Be ye doers of the word... A couple of applications in follow-up to this thought. First, we must learn increasingly to: Practice Gratitude and Worship through our suffering. Job responds to the greatest pain he’s ever known with worship: “Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped” (Job 1:20). When you’re suffering, that is the exact time when you need to come to worship. Don’t forsake public worship, or private worship. When you get a cancer diagnosis... bless the name of the Lord. When your child dies, cry out and pour out your anguish and pain, and... bless the name of the Lord. When your marriage is full of pain... bless the name of the Lord. When the world ridicules or persecutes you: bless the name of the Lord. When your business falls apart: bless the name of the Lord. Practice gratitude and worship. The second application here is: study the sovereignty of God. We must have a robust theology of God’s sovereignty, and a robust theology of suffering in times when we are suffering. Job is able to respond so powerfully to his suffering because he understands God’s sovereignty. The LORD gives, and the LORD takes away, Job knows who’s calling the shots. Any Christian who doesn’t understand God’s sovereignty is a baby in the faith, and they will be poorly prepared for the day of grief. Have you studied the sovereignty of God? Have you come to terms with his almighty majesty? Have you understood that he is the potentate of time? The Creator of the rolling spheres? Believer, you must study the sovereignty of God. You must understand his majesty. Because when you do, fires and lightning and tornadoes will not move your faith. You will grieve. You will weep. You will suffer. But your feet will be firm, because you know who God is. And you know that your Redeemer lives. Study the sovereignty of God. Go and get a copy of The Sovereignty of God by A.W. Pink, and read that book—and read it well. We see, then, an introduction to suffering in the Christian life. When you suffer as a Christian, it may be physically similar to the common sufferings of all people. But our suffering is powerfully determined by the spiritual realm—both in terms of the movements of our enemy, but also by the sovereign decree of God. None of your suffering is meaningless. It’s all part of a grand and cosmic scheme, and it is one that God is directing for your good. The hatred of Satan will not have the final say, the love of God will. The mercies of Christ. In these things, by God’s grace, we will be victors in our suffering. SDG. Prayer of Confession & Consecration Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

  6. Sep 3

    Lesson 5: Your Suffering is Guided by God’s Wisdom (Job 1:13-22).

    Prayer Reading Job 1:19-21. Meditation Our suffering is directed primarily by wisdom, not justice. That is ultimately true for believers, because there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:1). It is true, that there is a connection between suffering and discipline for us, and – for that reason – God’s justice is at work. But discipline is not the only reason we may be suffering. It may be that God brings suffering to us to teach us something, to cause us to grow, or to glorify himself in some other way. Jesus warned the lame man at the pool of Bethesda after he healed him, “Go and sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.” Wisdom is required to prayerfully and humbly respond to our suffering. When we suffer, we do need to consider whether there is some unrepented sin in our lives. However, it may also be that we suffer though innocent. That’s a key movement in Job. Chapter 1 takes great care to make sure that we see Job’s innocence. In fact, the key argument of Job’s three friends is that they think he’s guilty. They keep telling him that he’s suffering because he’s guilty of sin. It’s simply not true. Job is innocent. So... your suffering might be discipline—or it might not. Prayerfully consider either way, but remember above all that your suffering as a child of God is ultimately governed and directed by his wisdom. Chapter one makes it clear that God is not punishing Job. He is rather permitting suffering according to the wisdom of his own counsel. Be ye doers of the word... So then, when you suffer, remember this: It doesn’t matter what form the suffering takes, one thing is always true—the suffering is directly guided by God’s wisdom. Whatever the reason may be for your suffering – be it discipline, or growth, or something else – the one factor that is always present is the wisdom of God. Is that not an encouragement? Every single ounce of pain that you have ever experienced was divinely appointed, sovereignly chosen, and infallibly guided by the unfathomable and perfect wisdom of God. Your suffering is perfectly balanced in the great plan of God. Your suffering is perfectly directed by God, perfectly designed to effect his will. It is perfectly balanced to accomplish exactly what he wants. Your suffering is not meaningless. It is not pointless. And it is not ultimately a product of Satan’s hatred, but rather, ultimately directed, permitted, and designed by God’s love and care. SDG. Prayer of Confession & Consecration Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

  7. Aug 20

    Lesson 4: Accept Your Suffering, Lament in Sorrow (Job 1:13-22).

    Prayer Reading Job 1:13-22 Meditation Not a single hair can fall from your head without the knowledge and permission of your Heavenly Father. Though Satan is indeed a mighty adversary—powerful beyond human comprehension—he is not supreme. Behind him, like an eternal and unshakable mountain, stands the Lord God Almighty, who reigns sovereign over all. Can a pebble be greater than a mountain? Can a cup of water be greater than the vast ocean? Can Satan overpower God? There is no comparison. The Lord reigns. He is robed in majesty, mightier than the thunder of great waters. He is the Ancient of Days. Yes, you have a powerful enemy set against you, and yes, he may be allowed to cause you great harm. But never forget: it is God who remains the true and ultimate mover. It is God who ordained Job’s suffering, and what God ordains is always right. So it is, and so it will be, for you. Every iota of suffering you endure has been divinely orchestrated by God himself. How much might you suffer? You could lose everything in this life. God does not promise to shield you from loss. He may take your family, your wealth, your health—just as he allowed Job to be stripped of everything. That in itself teaches us a hard but necessary truth: nothing we possess is truly ours to keep. Everything is from God. Job understood this. When all was taken from him, what did he say? “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.” Job never saw the heavenly exchange between God and Satan. He wasn’t privy to the spiritual reasoning behind his pain. But he knew this one truth with certainty: it was the Lord who gave, and the Lord who took away. Everything you have is a gift from God—everything. You and I are not entitled to any of it. There is no room for saying, “This isn’t fair,” because in truth, fairness would bring divine judgment. If we were given what we truly deserve, we would stand condemned. So let us not grumble. Let us not speak as though God owes us something, as we are easily tempted to do at times. Instead, let’s give thanks. Every breath, every joy, every possession is an act of divine grace. Yes, we will suffer in this life—and perhaps suffer greatly. Nothing is guaranteed to be spared. Not your health, not your children, not your job, not your money. Nothing is off the table. God will give, and God will take away, as he pleases. And through it all, he remains good. He remains sovereign. He remains God. Be ye doers of the word... A couple of applications flowing out of this, first: Accept your suffering. We talked earlier about imitating Job. Here is another point of imitation: Job accepted his suffering. He did not sin, and he charged no wrong to God. On the worst day of his life, his integrity was intact. He accepted his suffering without hesitating. How are you responding to that thing that is hurting you so deeply at the moment? Do you respond with submission to God? Do you respond with trust? With worship? Second thing is: Pour out your grief to God. Job shaved his head and tore his robe. These were tokens of grief. In other words, he grieved—and he grieved deeply. It’s okay to grieve. It’s okay to respond to pain by crying. Fall down before God in your suffering. Tell him all about it. Pour out your soul to God, as Job did. Many of the 150 psalms in the Psalter are psalms of lament. If you are suffering, use those psalms to teach you how to grieve well. Prayer of Confession & Consecration Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

  8. Aug 13

    Lesson 3: Watch & Pray Against Satan’s Attacks (Job 1:13-22).

    Prayer Reading: Job 1:13-22. Meditation In the third scene, it all unfolds: raiders kill his workers and steal his livestock, his barns and sheep are struck by lightning and burned to the ground, all his camels are stolen by another raiding party, his wealth crashes down to nothing in the space of a moment, and then a tornado rips into his house and kills all his children at once – seven sons and three daughters, all dead. Can you imagine if this happened to you? Let’s try and paint the picture. You’re out for a walk one day. You get a notification on your phone: your bank has just gone into receivership, and you open up your banking app to find that all of your money has evaporated. Your balance is at zero. In panic, you console yourself with the knowledge that you have a lot of stock in the stock market, and you can replenish your funds if you sell some shares. As you log on to your stock exchange app, you find that all your companies have all gone bust, and your shares have plummeted to zero. You’re really panicking now, so you call your wife. She picks up the phone, and she’s hysterical. The house has burned down, and all of your children were caught in the fire. They are all dead. You now have no money, all your possessions have burned, and the only thing you own is the clothes on your back. What would you do in that scenario? It’s hard to even process what that would be like, isn’t it? But remember: we need to be aware of the physical causes of our suffering, and – in this case – we see Satan is the instigator. That will the focus in this meditation. We see a couple of things about Satan’s devices here. Firstly, we see that Satan takes no holidays. Notice how relentless Satan’s attack is. It’s one thing after another. His malice is so great, that he would destroy everything in a moment if he could. If he had the power, he would take your money, burn your stuff, kill your family, and then kill you in an instant. Without hesitation. Such is the malice of our enemy. Be aware of this in your sufferings. If you have a bad day, he won’t give you a few days to recover. He’ll be on your back the same night if God allows it. He will always seek to press the advantage. This is why it’s so important to watch and pray, because your adversary the devil will not relax his relentless attempts to destroy and kill. Secondly, we see that Satan uses second causes. I don’t watch horror movies from Hollywood, but from clips I’ve seen, they like to give pictures to the supernatural. Again, I haven’t watched it, but in a Stephen King movie, for example, the demonic entity might be portrayed as some shape-shifting monster or some such. But Satan is a spiritual being, and we learn here in Job that he uses much more mundane and secondary causes to accomplish his ends. Somehow he influenced those raiders to attack and steal from Job’s flocks. He has the power to influence people’s thoughts, that’s why Jesus said to Peter at one point: “Get behind me, Satan.” Peter was under Satan’s influence at that point. And Satan uses disasters: storms and lightning. Later on he will use sickness to afflict Job. So consider this: when people inflict suffering on you, or some disaster is unfolding, be aware that these things may well be, in that moment, satanic instruments. Real world events are not disconnected from the spiritual realm. People talk about conspiracy theories sometimes, and I can’t say much about them. But I can say this: there is a powerful, global, spiritual conspiracy unfolding right now. There are dark forces, an organised system of evil beings, manipulating pieces on a global scale. This conspiracy is directed by a supernatural and malevolent intelligence, and most people are ignorant of it and in bondage to this evil cabal of demons. It is a conspiracy of epic proportions beyond any conspiracy known to man, and it is fueled by hatred and malice, and it is constantly working to destructive ends. It is the kingdom of darkness. We need to start seeing this unseen reality. As these disasters unfold in Job’s life, they are demonically orchestrated attacks. Be ye doers of the word... If you are a believer, you need to come to terms with this. Satan, or at least his underlings, have designs of harm for you. Be watchful. Be vigilant. Your enemy the devil goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Watch and pray. This is why we’re instructed to pray for deliverance from the Evil One every single day in the Lord’s Prayer. Don’t presume things will tick along fine. At any time, seemingly random from our perspective, he might strike. Watch and pray every day. Look to the hills, from where your help comes, our help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. Are you praying for deliverance from evil, temptation, and Satan every day? SDG. Prayer of Confession & Consecration Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

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Regular, reformed Bible devotions from scripture to go deeper with Christ. "Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old” - Mt 15:32. rcbhpastor.substack.com