Till we're kept from every sin,
Till we're kept from every sin. May thy quickening now be quickened,
Till in the land we can see, May thy heavens light up bright, You may be seated. That's a good hymn, isn't it? I don't recall singing that before.
Maybe we have. Job chapter 33 now. If you want some good and profitable
reading. You need somewhere to turn. I can highly recommend. Genesis through Revelation, no. The book of Job. And begin. Chapter 32. Not that you shouldn't begin
at the beginning of that book. You can, you should, could. But chapters 3 through 31 in
the book of Job are Job and three of his friends talking, expressing
their opinions. Now, there's much wonderful gospel
throughout that, nevertheless. Nevertheless, much of it, the
Lord said later, that they didn't tell right concerning me. But
a good place you could go and start is chapter 32, is this
young man named Elihu. God's true preacher. This man
sent by God. He's sitting, apparently, sitting
over at the side and listening to Job and his three friends
talk this whole time. How many days was it? Three days?
Three days, wasn't it? Yeah, he doesn't say anything. He's just listening. But, buddy,
when he opens his mouth, God opens his mouth. And that's when
he told Job, look at chapter 32, verse 11, he told Job, he
said, I've waited for your word. I gave ear to your reasons. I
listen and listen to your opinions while you searched out what to
say. So I was listening. Scripture says a wise man studyeth
to answer. Scripture says be more ready
to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools. Fools known by a multitude
of words. Be more ready to hear and learn
more. And you probably say less when
it comes your time to speak. Oh, man, we need that rebuke. Now, verses 20 through 22 in
chapter 32, Elihu says, I will speak, now it's my turn. I've got to speak, he said. I'm
going to open my lips. Let me not, verse 21, I pray
you, accept any man's person, neither let me give flattering
titles unto man. I know not to give flattering
titles. If I did that, my Maker would soon take me away. See,
this is God's man speaking here now, and he says, You men, I
esteem you highly and all that, but nothing you said impressed
me. And if I yet seek to please men,
he said, I'm not the servant of God. What I'm going to say
is what God says, not what I think. That's what he's doing. All right,
chapter 33 now. Let's look at it, verses 1 through
3. Job, I pray thee now, hear my speeches, hearken to all my
words. He that hath ears to hear this
morning, let him hear what Elihu said, and what God said to the
church. Behold, I have opened my mouth,
my tongue has spoken in my mouth, my words shall be of the uprightness
of my heart, my lips shall utter knowledge clearly." Not only
is this, this is a man, yeah, this is a man, a true man sent
by God, and as Paul said, my preaching was not of deceit or
uncleanness or guile and all of this. And neither is Elihu. He said, I'm telling you the
truth. But more specifically, this is
God's Word who cannot lie. Uprightness of His heart. Are
you with me? Uprightness of His heart. And
His lips have opened. God has spoken. This is it. And it's knowledge. Oh, knowledge. Saving knowledge. Able to make
thee wise unto salvation. God will give you ears to hear
this morning. Somebody doesn't have this knowledge. If you ask
for it right now, ask and you'll receive. Alright, he says in verse 4 through
7, The Spirit of God hath made me, the Spirit of the Almighty
hath given me life. If you can answer me and do so,
set your words in order before me. Stand up, I'll hear you.
But behold, verse 6, I am according to thy wish, And God said, God,
speak to me. Joe kept saying this throughout
his arguments, throughout his dialogue with these other three
men. I wish the Lord would speak to me. I'm I'm ordering my case
before and I wish you'd speak to me. He is right now. Oh, no, no, this is a lie here.
No, it's not. It's God. God's first first speaks
from man. And Job was much older than Elihu.
That's what Elihu said. He said, Age should speak. Multitude
of years should teach wisdom. He said, Not always wise. An
old man's not always wise. And God hath given young men
spirit to teach. And let no man despise thy youth,
he said to Titus. Reprove, rebuke, all longsuffering,
and so forth. You want God to speak? He does. Through a man, through his word,
through the preaching, it pleased God by the foolishness of the
person. God speak to me. He does. Now, don't let anybody say God's
trying to do anything. You'll never hear me say that.
It's not in this book. Never hear it say God's trying
to talk to so-and-so. God's trying to tell so-and-so.
God doesn't try anything. God wasn't trying to get payroll
to But he was speaking to him, wasn't
he? And God hardened his heart, and God will speak to him. Pharaoh
hardened his own heart. God hardened his heart. How do
you explain that? That's just the way it is. Pharaoh's
responsible for listening. But he's not going to hear unless
God gives him clarity. That's the way it is. All that
God said, Pharaoh was responsible for believing, receiving, and
not rejecting it. And since he didn't, he gets
the blame for it. Since I called and you refused,
you're going to call on me and I'm not going to hear you. So
man has heard God spoken once or twice, but men perceiveth
it not. That is, they reject it. Someone said to me yesterday,
so-and-so doesn't understand election. That's not the problem.
That is not the problem. It's clear in this book. written
over and over in this book, 27 times in the New Testament alone.
The problem is not the understanding. It's the will. It's, I don't
like that. And that's man's problem. All
right, and God said, according to thy wish. But he says, no,
I'm a vessel of clay. God has given us this treasure
in earthen vessels. Why does he use men? Because
if he does speak to you through a man, you're going to know it
was God speaking. You're going to know that man's not capable
of that. That fisherman Peter can't bring 3,000 feet, 3,000
people to repentance. He's just a fisherman. How does
he get this knowledge, this wisdom? How does he get this power? It's
not him. I'm a vessel of clay too. Read
verse 7. Not my terror that will make
thee afraid, neither shall my hand be heavy upon thee. No need to fear a man, he says,
but need to fear what the man is saying from God. Verse 8, he said, Now you've
spoken, you've spoken in my hearing. I've heard what you've said,
heard everything you've said. Now listen, as I said, don't
listen to this, don't listen to this for anybody else. Do
not listen to this and think, oh, so-and-so sure needs it. I hope he or she is listening
to this. Don't do that. This is for me. This is for you. And this is God's Word, who hears
all, who sees all. His eyes behold, His eyelids
try. Our Lord, when He was here, He
could read the thoughts of man. And it's the same yesterday,
today, and forever. I know. I hear it. Not a word
in your mouth. He doesn't know it all together.
And he said, I've heard your voice. I've heard what you've
been saying. And here's what you've said. Nine through twelve, I'm clean
without transgression, I'm innocent, neither is there iniquity in
me. Behold, he finds occasion against me, counts me for his
enemy, put my feet in stocks, he marks my path. In other words,
what Job is saying, Job's going through a lot of troubles. Job's
going through, oh, you know something of Job's troubles. And let me
remind us all, unless we think we're really going through troubles.
Job had ten children, seven sons and three daughters. Job had
a vast plantation, thousands of camels and sheep and so forth,
servants. And a whirlwind came from the
Lord, lightning, fire fell, whirlwind, and thieves and marauders came
through in the space of just a few hours. and stole all his sheep, all
his camels, everything he owned. Everything he owned was taken
from him. Everything he owned was taken
from him. And all ten of his children were
killed. All ten of them. And then, that's not enough,
God struck him with boils all over his body until finally he
was sitting literally in an ash heap with an old broken piece
of pottery, because he's itching so bad, it's just miserable,
scraping his skin. Everything gone. Everybody dead. Now, what did Job say? Right there in the beginning,
Job said, Now the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord. And it says in all of this, Job
sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. He didn't charge God with foolishness.
He said the Lord gave it all. The Lord had taken it away. Blessed
be the name of the Lord. His wife came to him. His wife
was the only one that was left. His wife came to him and said,
You're still religious. What good is it doing you? Look
at you. You've lost everything. Curse God. Why don't you cuss
God and die? And he said, you're a fool, woman.
Have we not received good from the hands of the Lord, and shall
we not receive evil also? In other words, what Job was
saying was, I didn't deserve any of the good. And what I'm
getting now? I deserve this. And it says in all of this, Job
charged not God with foolishness. He sinned not with his lips. But then, these three friends
came. And they were religious. And they were his friends. And they were so stricken with
his troubles. To make a long story short, this
went on for a long time. And they said, Joe, you've done
something. You've done something to bring
all this on. God, this wouldn't have happened
to you. And then Job starts saying, No, I haven't. I haven't done
anything. Well, yeah, you have. You're
bound. No, I haven't. And all the way through, from
chapter 3 to 31, Job's saying, I'm about as good a man as there
is. Now, the Lord did say that about Job. But when Job started
saying it about himself, Job started justifying himself. Job
said, I don't deserve any of this. And that's what Elihu heard
sitting there. Elihu was sitting there hearing
him say, why is this happening to me? You see, in the beginning,
when he had his mind in the right place, he said, I didn't deserve
anything from God. I'm naked, I came into the world.
And naked shall I live. Yet the Lord blessed me with
all, and then the Lord took it all away. Bless the name of the
Lord. Now, he's fine right there. He
doesn't have anything, but he's fine right there. He's got a
little bit of peace. But then when he starts saying,
why is this happening to me? I don't deserve this. And Elihu has to speak up. They
all say everything they're going to say. A lot of you say, now,
I've heard you. I've heard you talking. It's
so-and-so's fault. It's this and that and the other. It's
this and this. And I heard you. And look at verse 12. He said,
Behold, in this thou art not just. You're not right here. This is not true. Everything
you said is wrong. Except for a couple of times,
John, when he said, Now I know my Redeemer lives. But when he started trying to
justify himself, defend himself, what did I do to deserve that?
You're not getting what you really deserve, Joe. Well, look at verse 12. Elihu
goes on. Here, I'm going to answer you.
God's greater than man. Verse 13. Why do you strive against
him? Why are you arguing against God?
Why are you ordering your case against God? How dare you? Like
Paul said, who art thou, O man, that replies against God? How
could you dare say before God Almighty, what have I done? How could you dare that? Read
on. And God giveth not account of any of his matters. He says God is greater than man.
God is infinitely higher than man. That's what the Lord said.
My ways are as high above you as the heavens are the earth.
Now, this not only speaks of God's character, His holiness. Brother Greg Elmquist brought
this to our attention in Ashland. The word holy means separate. It means separate. Over in Isaiah 40, God says,
To whom will you liken me? Who are you going to compare
me to? God said. In Psalm 50, God said, I'm not
a man. You think I'm like a man. I'm
not at all like a man. Brother Elmquist, the word separate
means apart from, other than. God says, I'm other than. I'm
completely other than you are. What do you mean? Even opening
your vile mouth was like that. I'm other than. How dare you charge me with anything
wrong? You're nothing but wrong. You're
nothing but sin. I can't even look on sin without
sin. Other than, higher than, infinitely
higher than. He's king, mortal man. I've said this before, mortal
man thinks God exists to serve him. Listen to me, young people.
Listen to me, everyone. When religion is telling people
this, that God's a big sugar daddy and loves everybody so
much that He just wants to do things for them, they won't let
Him, and He's just waiting, just waiting, waiting, waiting, hoping,
hoping, hoping, wishing that man will let Him do something
for them. That's not the God of this book. The God of the Bible, the God
of the universe, doesn't exist to serve man. God created men
to serve him, his purpose. And if they don't serve that
purpose, he squashes them. They're of no value to him unless
they serve his purpose, which is his glory, his honor, his
will. A king and a king, he's king.
King means that he reigns and rules. And this world doesn't
have a clue what a king is anymore. Doesn't have a clue. They say
things like, Jesus is Lord. They don't have an idea what
a Lord is. Don't have a clue. If you'd ask people 2,000 years
ago what a king is, they'd tell you that means he absolutely
reigns. But you better not open your
mouth. But you better bow the whole
time and submit or you're a dead man. He's king. Yeah, but cut his
head off. That's not fair. Cut his head
off. He can't do it. Boom. He just did. He's king. The king of kings. Even Kings does what this King
said, Lord of Lords. This King, King doesn't give
an account of his matters. Hell with God, why? Suppose I
walk through my yard one day and there's a pile of ants. And I destroy their little playhouse
or something. They don't like it. What do you
mean? How could you do this to us? Who is this? This is what God
said to Job in chapter 42. What? Who is this talking here? Now, Job was the finest man on
the planet. God said that, didn't he, Stan?
But Job got to talking. And God finally said, Who is
this? Who's talking here? Who's darkening counsel with
words without knowledge? Who is this that thinks he knows
something, doesn't know anything, evidently? God's greater than man. If puny
mortal man were ever real enough to get a hold of that, God is
greater than man. He doesn't give an account of his What you
need to do, what we need to do is give an account of ourselves
to Him. That's what this whole story
is about. That's what this whole story
is about. The title of this message is
God's Dealing with Sinners. God's Dealing with Sinners. This
is how God begins to deal with sinners. Everyone, everyone whom
God Almighty is going to save, everyone whom God Almighty speaks
to, He first shows them I don't answer to you. Now, God, just totally prostrate yourself
at my feet. Give an account of yourself,
and I might give an account of mine. Isn't that right? That's the
way it is. Why do you strive against him? Verse fourteen,
God speaketh once. twice, that man perceiveth it
not. Over in Psalm 19, God spoke once,
yea, twice. God speaks through his creation. The things of God are clearly
seen by the things that are made. There is eternal power in Godhead,
so that all flesh is without excuse. And God has spoken through this
book clearly, clearly, that men don't perceive it. Project it. He hath revealed his mind, his
will, and his purpose. Hasn't he, John? He has revealed
it. Oh, he's abounded, Paul said in Ephesians, well, he's abounded
toward us in wisdom and prudence and made known unto us the mystery
of his will. He has. Look at verse 15 through 17.
It says, God spoke in a dream, in a vision of the night, when
deep sleep falleth upon men, not women, men, and slumbers
upon the bed. Then he opens the ears of men
and seetheth their instruction. He's talking here about God has
spoken in different times and times passed unto the fathers
by the prophets through dreams. God spoke to men. Not women,
but men through these dreams. The prophets received their words
from God. He sealed their instruction in
dreams. He doesn't speak that way anymore. He wrote it all down. They wrote
it all down. He doesn't speak that way anymore. God has spoken
in these last days unto us by his Son. The Word made flesh. God spoke. Now, this is if God's dealing
with somebody. He speaks through His Word, and
He opens the ears of men and seals their instruction, verse
17, that He may withdraw man from his purpose and hide pride
from man. What's this book all about? What's
this book all about? Well, the first thing that this
book is designed to do, the first thing that the word from the
King does, the first thing, what God Almighty first does to all
human beings whom he is dealing with in salvation, the first
thing he does is bring them down off their high horse. See, this is the root of all
sin, pride, which is unbelief. Not acknowledging
that everything we have, we receive. Pride. What do you have that
you have not received? If you received it, why do you
go as if you had not received it? Pride. Man is proud. He thinks he has procured everything
himself. He thinks he can get to heaven
by himself. Man is proud. Not believing God's Word. And
this book, God's Word, is designed to bring man, proud man, down
in the dust. Let me read to you from Isaiah
25. You can turn if you would. You ought to. Isaiah 20, 23.
Isaiah 23. I'll never forget the first time
I read this verse. The first time I ever read this
verse, I'll never forget it. I committed it to memory and
I haven't forgot it ever since. You want to turn? Isaiah 23,
9. This is it. This is the heart of God's purpose,
like you said. You got it? Verse 9. The Lord
of hosts hath purposed it. Here's his purpose. To stain
the pride of all glory. Anybody glorying in anything,
taking credit for anything, boasting of anything. No room for boasting.
To bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth. That
which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination of God.
People, things, religion, whatever it is, is an abomination to God. Why? Because man is nothing. Everything he is and has comes
from God's hand. And so, therefore, all glory,
power, wisdom, strength, honor, might, salvation, everything
belongeth to the Lord. If man shares any of that, if
man thinks he has any of that in himself, God said, I'm going
to bring you down. In salvation, that is. If God
is speaking to somebody in salvation, are you with me? Whoever he speaks
to, he does this to every single person he deals with. This gospel
message doesn't start with, God love you. This gospel message
starts with, He's the King on the throne. Get in the dust.
Hide you in the dust. I'm going to hide you in the
rock while my wrath comes through on this planet. Now, look what I've done for
you. Look at what I've done for you. Not you and me. Not what
you let me do. I just purposed it to do this
for you. You're nothing. Worm, Jacob, a worm. But, Jacob, have I loved. He saw if I hated. That's not.
I hate him. I ought to hate you. But I don't. I've chosen you. You're a worm. You're like him.
You came out of the same womb. You're just like him. You're
no different than him. If I left you to yourself, you'd
be a God-hating rebel just like him. Selling your soul for a
bowl of oatmeal. If I left you alone. But God
is rich in mercy. Jacob, I've loved you. Therefore,
with lovingkindness, I've drawn you. I've chose you. I have mercy
on you. Fear not thou worm, Jacob. I am the God of Jacob. I am thy salvation. That brought him down in the
dust. Who am I? What is my house? You've done
this to me. This is what God does to every
single sinner that he deals with. The first thing they realize,
he's God. I'm nothing. Woe is me. Woe is me. Isaiah. The first five chapters of Isaiah,
Isaiah is rightfully saying, woe is unto you, woe is unto
you. Rightfully, yes, woe is unto everybody because of their
sin against God. Woe, woe, woe, woe. But then
when Isaiah saw the Lord, it says in Isaiah 6, when Isaiah
saw the Lord high and lifted up his train, filling the temple,
and his cherubim was crying, holy, holy, holy, he said, I
fell before the Lord and said, woe is me. I am a man of unclean
lips. I'm the sinner against God, not
just Him. Me! I'm getting what I deserve. Everything God gave me, I didn't
deserve any of it. It's grace, it's mercy, but now
I'm getting what I deserve. And if He sent me to hell, that's
what I deserve. Woe is me! And then God in mercy and kindness.
See, that's mercy. That's the mercy of God to bring
this message of conviction and repentance toward God. Isn't
it Ed? That's the message today. It always has been. Repent! If you repent, you'll likewise perish. If God doesn't save you from
this world, you're going to die with it. I'm not trying to scare
anybody today. I'm trying to tell you the Scriptures
that will make you wise unto salvation. And the fear of the
Lord is the beginning of wisdom. That's the beginning of wisdom.
Not the love of the Lord. The fear of the Lord. The fear
of the Lord is clean. The fear of the Lord restrains. The fear of the Lord constrains.
And on and on we go. The fear of the Lord. The fear
of the Lord. Some missing notes down. repentance toward God. But when
God does this, when God does this, it brings a man down, a
woman down. Look at verse 18. Oh, I love
this. It says when God does this, He's
keeping his soul from the pit. Verse 18. He's keeping back his
soul from the pit. This is the goodness of God,
isn't it? This is the goodness of God for God to show you you're
in the pit. As you keep them back from the
pit, pull them out of the pit, John. We're in a pit, a pit of
woe, a pit called this world, a pit of sin and corruption,
the slough of this bond. And if he doesn't do something,
he's going to swallow us up. I need to get on here where God
says, deliver him. But no, this is the first thing
that happens. This is what happens. Bring it
down. Bring it down. What he's doing here is keeping
his soul from the pit. The lower you can go, then there's
only one place to look, isn't there? Did you hear me? The lower you get, there's only
one place to look from there. Old Donny Bell used to say, lower
than a snake's belly. Delivering him from the pit,
his life from perishing by the sword. Sword of what? Sword of
what? Men? No. God's justice. God said, if I quit my glittering
sword. That's what His Word says. You who know His Word. That's
what God said. Don't fear man. Fear my sword. If I quit my glittering
sword. Ah, and the Scriptures talk about
him coming through with his garments dyed with blood. This is no plaything. This is
no fable. This is no fantasy. This is no
tale that's told. This is true. This is God speaking.
All right? What happens? He chastens man. He's teaching him a lesson, like
Brother Marvin told us. This chastening is a lesson to
be learned. Verses 19-21, he gets down. Verse 22, his soul is drawn near
the grave. Her soul. So they reach the point
where they hate themselves and there is nothing that will satisfy
them. Nothing in this life anyway. And they say, I just deserve
it. Just get me out of my misery. I'm just ready to be out of my
misery and everybody else's. I'm no good to anybody. I'm sure
no good to myself. But if there's a messenger. Now, this man is in bad shape,
this woman, down as low as you can, lower than a snake's belly. But if there's a messenger, is
there a messenger that will come with him? Is there
a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand? Hard to find, but is there one? Who is this messenger? What's
he talking about here? Our Lord said in his book in
Malachi, he said, Behold, in the last days, I'm going to send
my messenger. The Lord, whom you seek, shall
suddenly come to his temple, the messenger of the covenant,
sent from God. I think of that woman caught
in the act of adultery. thrown at Christ's feet. Lowering a snake's belly. Guilty. She knew it. Everybody else knew
it. What's she going to do? God sent her a messenger. A messenger
of mercy. The Lord Jesus Christ. Who alone? Interpreter. Sent by God. One among a thousand. Yea, the
fairest of ten thousand. The brightest morning star. The
show unto man. What? His uprightness. You're low, aren't you? I'm high.
You're from below, I'm from above. You're unrighteous, aren't you?
I'm righteous. You're helpless, aren't you?
I'm all-powerful. You're ignorant, aren't you?
I'm wisdom. You're weak, aren't you? I'm
altogether Strong. Lord of all. Look at this now. And he's gracious unto him. Oh,
the grace, the gospel of God's grace of the messenger, of the
interpreter. This is what it says. Delivering
from going down to the pit. I've found the ransom. I've got
the ransom. I've got the ransom. Let me try
to illustrate this the best way I know how. The gospel is all
about substitution. That's what the gospel is. Substitution. That is the gospel. And the best
story of substitution I've learned and I know of in the scriptures
is the story of Barabbas. Barabbas. Along comes the Son
of God into this world, the altogether lovely, holy. Take with me now. I'm going to try to describe
the indescribable. Altogether lovely, in Him is
no sin, gloriously high, beautifully. marvelous, and kind, and loving,
and compassionate, and merciful, and tender, and long-suffering,
and peaceable, and gentle, and easy to be entreated, and perfect
faith in God, and doing nothing but good, and with clean hands,
a pure heart, never sworn deceitfully, or lift up his soul under vanity.
Went about doing good, nothing but good, never thought of himself,
serving only others. Righteous man. He lived his whole
life with thoughts of God's glory, God's law, perfectly fulfilling
God's law, loving God with all his mind, heart, soul, and strength,
and his neighbor as himself. Never thinking evil of anybody,
only good. And on and on. And all together,
the loveliest, spotless, holiest Son of the Most High God and
God Almighty, this one man's only one ever lived like this.
A holy man, a righteous man. And God Almighty from heaven
said, Oh, I'm well pleased, well pleased for his righteousness. Ah, there's a man. I love this
man. Oh, come right into heaven. Open
the gates of heaven. Why, this man has earned it.
Let him in. Right over here, Barabbas. A despicable, vile, violent,
God-hating, man-hating, how can I describe this man?
Stealing, and killing, and raping, and robbing, and just a villain. He's not worth living. You take
the worst criminal on earth, that was Barabbas. They reserved
crucifixion for the worst criminals on earth. Crucifixion was for
the scum of the earth. For people that all the people
want to sit and watch them suffer bad for what they deserve. Suffer
man. Make him suffer for all the suffering
he's caused. Barabbas. Here he is down in
a pit, a dungeon. He's getting what he deserves.
The life he lived, the wages of his sins, he's going to get
it back. And he deserves it, everybody
knows. But then the Son of God comes. He says, I'm determined to sustain
that. What for? What for? Because I did. To show my mercy. I get great glory in showing
my mercy is undeserved. Grace is undeserved. And I'm
going to show it to the worst of the worst, the chief of sinners.
This is how you're going to know God is really merciful. We'll
take the lowest of the low, the worst of the worst. It doesn't
deserve to live. I'm not going to set him free. The law's got
him. He's got to die. And I say deliver
him. Can't do that. He's got to die. I know. I'm going to trade places
with him. I'm going to trade places with
him. And so God Almighty took his son and beat him and made him suffer
and hung him naked in front of, like, that's what Barabbas deserved.
A villain, a vile, wicked, filthy man deserves to be humiliated
before all mankind for what he did to other people. But God
took his altogether lovely son and hit him between the eyes
and butchered him. His visage was marred more than
any other man. That's a picture of what God thinks about sin
and, yes, sinners. And bruised him and pummeled
him and finally killed him. He died. And Barabbas walks out
of that jail. That's substitution. Substitution. Now, I know that Barabbas was
saved. I'm quite certain, because everyone whom Jesus Christ died
for and took the place of is redeemed. That was the ransom,
you see. The law said, he's got to die.
You've got to pay the price. It's the penalty that he's earned.
It's death. You've got to pay the price.
A ransom is a price paid. Somebody's in captivity. Somebody's
being held by the law or whomever is being held by them. They cannot
go free unless you pay the price. What is it? Infinite justice. Hell. Who can pay it? Who's got the price? Let's come
up with the money. We can't do it. Sins against
an infinite God requires an infinite price. That's hell, where the
worm dieth not. Son of God's got the price. Precious blood, sinless blood,
worth. Invaluable. Rare. Precious. Nothing like it. Great
price. I'll pay it. I'll pay it. I'll pay the greatest price of
all. Lay down his life. And God accepted it. And old Barabbas, I can just
see him, old Barabbas, sitting up on the hill watching this
go on. But first he asked somebody, who is this? I'm going free. Yes, you are. Why? Because somebody's taking your
place. You don't deserve to go free, but you're going free because
somebody's going to die in your place, brother. You're free to
go. You're still a criminal. The law ought to get you, but
somebody, you're going out of here because somebody took your
place. You're coming out of a pit because there's a ransom. Now
get on. And he's wondering, you know
he is. Who is this man? It's Jesus. Why did He do this
for me? He's sitting there watching him
go through all that. And his old hard heart is just
melting. And his past life is just fading away. And the Spirit
of God is descending on him, a new creature, broken. What did it? Substitution. Delivering from going down the
pit, I found a ransom. Does that make old brother Ed
Hale's song any sweeter to him? A ransom was found. Love paid
the price on Calvary's mound. Judgment was met. The law satisfied. Mercy was born. A ransom. We can sing that next time, can't
we, John? Well, what will happen when a
man hears that message? Verse 25, he's brand new. His
flesh will be fresher than a child's. I'm a new man. Fresh lease on
life. No, check that. I finally got
life. I was a dead man. I was a doomed
man. But God in Christ paid the rent. Fresher than a... And he revealed
unto man his uprightness. shed his blood, and he'll return
to the days of his youth, seemingly innocent, sensitive. He'll pray unto God.
He never did before. He will now. Pray unto God, and
God will hear him. Why? A ransom's been found. There's a mediator. There's an
intercessor. There's an interpreter. He's got an interpreter now.
He's got someone interceding for him. He'll pray, and God
will—he'll see his face. He'll see God's face and God
will see his. It'll be joy on both parts. Before,
God didn't want to see his face. Our sins have separated us from
his face. Now, God says, come on in here, son. And before,
he didn't want to see God's face, like the prodigal son. But now,
come on in, son. I'd just love to. You mean you'd
let me? Well, sure, come with boldness. And it's joy on both
parts. And joy in heaven. And look at
this. Oh, come on, stay with me now.
And he'll render unto man his righteousness. Oh, no, you can't. I'm a sinner. I don't deserve
to be in here. No, you're not a sinner. You're
not a sinner. You're wholly unblameable, unapprovable in my sight. Come on in. But,
but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but,
but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but,
but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but,
but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but,
but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, Ah, and he looks upon men. Look
at this. Anybody a sinner, he looks upon
men. God looks upon men. And if any
say, I have sinned, I'm guilty. Everything I've done, no matter
what it was, it didn't profit me. Anybody. Anybody. Whosoever. Whosoever. No matter how bad. Rabbis? Thief
on the cross? Any. If any such. Verse 28, he
will deliver his soul from the pit. Wow. He's got a ransom. And he'll see his life, he'll
see the light. His life will see the light. He was in darkness
before, in the pit. He's out of the pit. Sees the
light. Lo, I love this. Oh, I love this. Favorite verse in the Bible,
right now. Verse 29, Lo, all these things
works God oftentimes with man. And who's he do this with? Preachers. But you don't know much. I just
described Barabbas. Yeah, but what? Unfaithful, sane,
worthy of all acceptation. Jesus Christ came into the world
to save sinners. You reckon he'd do it for me?
He does it a lot! Oftentimes. Ask Jacob. Ask Lot. Ask Mary Magdalene. Ask them all. Thousands, millions,
billions, zillions. Ask them all. Yeah, he does it
a lot. He has a lot of mercy. You mean he might show it to
me? If any man say, Not, I don't deserve it. No. Any man says, I'm wrong. I'm
all wrong. This is the road to recovery,
not only in this life, but in spiritual things. This is it.
This is where it all starts. I'm wrong. I'm sin. I'm guilty. Is this all my fault? God says, deliver him. I've got
a ransom for him. Show him the light. Make him
new. Do all this for him. He does it a lot. You know, that
may sound easy, doesn't it? Just say, I'm wrong. It's not.
It's not. The hardest thing, it's impossible
for a man to say. But, and only the goodness of
God will lead somebody to repentance. Now mark well, old Job. You mark
it well. You hearken to me. Ain't Job's
out there listening? You listen to me now? Hold your peace. Don't say anything. If you have anything to say,
say it. Nobody? Okay. Hearken unto me. Hold your peace. I'm going to
teach you wisdom. who's made unto you wisdom. Salvation
is in a person. Oh, my. That's the best, as old
Scott would say, that's the best I can do. People there's not. I was talking
to Brother Marvin on the phone the day before yesterday. I don't know when I worked on
this message. But he said, what are you going to preach on? I'm
going to preach from a chapter in the Bible that I believe is
the most comprehensive in all of God's Word that tells how
God deals with sinners. And I believe that. I mean that.
And, well, who's sufficient for this time? But you go back and
you read it again for yourself. Start, as I said, in chapter
thirty-two and begin reading and hearken He does this all the time. He
does it a lot. All right. I desire you to be
justified, like Job said, or like you said of Job. I desire,
that's what I want for you, for you to be justified. But you're
guilty, and what you need, Joe, is a ransom. All right, let's
stand and sing number 459. Sheriff, you'll come. In the
green hymnal number 459, he lifted me. In loving kindness the Lord
Jesus came, my soul in mercy to reclaim. And from the depths
of sin and shame, that's the pit, through grace he lifted
me. In lovingkindness Jesus came,
my soul in mercy to reclaim. And from the death of sin and
shame, through grace He lifted me. From sinking sand He lifted me,
With tender hand He lifted me From shades of night to plains
of light O praise His name He lifted The second as the last. He called me Lord He called my
name He called my name