We turn to God's Word in the
chapter that we read, Job chapter 33, and I want us to consider for
our text the words of verse 24. In Job chapter 33, verse 24,
Then He is gracious unto him and saith deliver him from going
down to the pit I have found a ransom and particularly the
last clause and you will observe in the margin there is an alternative
reading I have found an atonement a ransom an atonement it is Eli
who is speaking as we saw He begins to speak there at the
beginning of the 32nd chapter, and his speech is a long one,
it stretches through to the end of chapter 37. And the very name
is interesting, as we said last time, Eliyahu literally means
my God himself, and he would speak as it were on God's behalf. Look at what he says in verse
6, I am according to thy wish in God's stead. I also am formed
out of the flag. Previously these other friends
had been speaking, Eliphaz and Bildad and Zophar were introduced
to them. in the second chapter, that's
where we have the first mention of them. There at verse 11 in chapter
2, Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that was
come upon him, they came every one from his own place, Eliphaz
the Timonite, and Bildad the Shuite, and Zophar the Naamathite,
They had made an appointment together to come to mourn with
him and to comfort him. And when they lifted up their
eyes afar off and knew him not, they lifted up their voice and
wept. And they lent everyone his mantle
and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven. So they
sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights and
none spake a word unto him. for they saw that his grief was
very great but they were poor comforters in all that they said
they couldn't really understand the man at all we have these
cycles of speeches in the following chapters from chapter 4 to chapter
31 they speak by turn and each time we find Job answering them
But as I said, they are no comfort at all to him. And so Elihu is the one who stands
for. As we saw there in the opening
verses of chapter 32. So these three men ceased to
answer Job because he was righteous in his own eyes. Then was kindled
the wrath of Elihu, the son of Barakal, the buzzite of the kindred
of Ram, against Joab was his wrath kindled because he justified
himself rather than God. Also, against his three friends
was his wrath kindled because they had found no answer. And
yet, Ads condemned Job. They couldn't be of any real
help to Job so again in chapter 32 and verse
15 they were amazed they answered no more they left off speaking
when I had waited for they spake not but stood still and answered
no more I said I will answer also my part I also will show
mine opinion and so we have Elijah and we're told he was a Buzzite
and if you go back to Genesis chapter 22 and there in verses
20 and particularly 21 we see that Buzz was the nephew of Abraham
Buzz was the nephew of Abraham and this is the particular family
that this man Elihu belongs to, he's a Buzzite He is not directly
of the line of Abraham, but there is a relationship to Abraham,
the friend of God, and he is speaking, as we say, in God's
stead. And he says many wise things
in the course of these many chapters, but we want tonight to consider
particularly the words that he speaks here at verse 24. he is describing something of
God and he says then he is gracious unto him and said deliver him
from going down to the pit I have found a ransom and the first
thing I want us to consider is the ransom the ransom that is
paid God says I have found a ransom the ransom is of course the grounds
of forgiveness. Why is God the one who forgives
the sins of his people? Because a ransom has been found
and a ransom has been paid. The sinner is a debtor. He is a debtor to do the whole
law. There is one who has come and
paid that debt, paid the ransom price in the room and stage of
the sinner. Now we see here how that confession
does indeed issue in the forgiveness of sins. Where there is confession
of sin, the consequence will be the forgiveness of sins. But confession is not to be confused
with the ground. The ground of forgiveness is
the ransom, not the confession. But confession is important,
because what we are told in verse 27, He looketh upon men, and
if any say, I have sinned and perverted that which was right,
and he profited me not, he will deliver his soul from going down
into the pits, going into the pits, and his life shall see
the light. So if a man comes and makes his
confession, acknowledges his sin before God, there is here
deliverance. And that confession therefore
is important, but I say again, it is not to be confused with
the ground of the forgiveness. We have the ground here in the
words of our text. I have found a ransom by a sound
and atonement. Now to whom is that ransom to
be paid? Well it is paid to God. To God who is the giver of the
law. The law is the law of God. And the law revealed here in
the scriptures tells us quite plainly that the wages of sin
is death and sin of course is the transgression of that law. Again the law says the soul that
sinneth it shall die. Where there is disobedience to
God's commandment the consequence is death. That was made plain
to Adam in the garden when God gave the commandment concerning
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil which was forbidden
him he must not eat of it and God told him plainly in the day
when they eat us thereof they shall surely die. Where there is that knowledge
of sin then which is what Adam comes by as he transgresses The
consequence is death. Dying thou shalt die. And so that Lord of God must
be satisfied, there must be death. How can God forgive sin? Well,
without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. makes that statement quoting
from the Old Testament in Hebrews chapter 9 but the particular
verse that he is referring to is found in Leviticus chapter
17 and verse 11 and there we see in some detail the necessity
of a ransom price if there's going to be the forgiveness of
sins. Leviticus 17 11 the life of the
flesh is in the blood and I have given it to you upon the altar
to make an atonement for your souls. For it is the blood that
maketh an atonement for the soul. The importance then of the shedding
of blood. How are sinners redeemed? How
is that price that the law demands to be paid? Who is the one who
can give? an adequate price, a ransom price,
none other than the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Peter says it
does he not for as much as he knows that you were not redeemed
with corruptible things such as silver and gold from your
vain conversation received by tradition from your father's
bath, he says, with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb
without blemish and without spot. No man is able to pay that ransom
price himself. No man can redeem his own soul. You just turn to what we are
told there in the 49th Psalm and verses 6 and 7. They that trust in their wealth
and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches, none of them
can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for
him. Verse 15 But God will redeem
my soul from the power of the grave, for he shall receive mine. God is the one, the only one
who can satisfy his own law. And this is what God has done
of course in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due
time. Here then we see the grounds
of forgiveness. In the words of our text tonight
God says deliver him from going down to the pit. I have found
a ransom, I have found an atonement. The grounds, the grounds of our
forgiveness is Christ and that ransom price that he has paid
by the shedding of his precious blood. But here we also see the
wonderful grace of forgiveness. The opening words of the text,
Then he is gracious unto him. Then he is gracious unto him. And saith, Deliver him from going
down to the pit. I have found a ransom all that
grace of God you serve in the salvation that he has
provided for sinners in the person of his only begotten son all
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ who though he was rich became
poor that sinners through his poverty might be made rich the
grace of forgiveness we're told how God looks upon men, in verse
27, He looketh upon men and if any say I have sinned and perverted
that which was right and it profited me not, He will deliver his soul
from going into the pits and his light shall see the light. God looks upon men and God is
looking for something that is very rare Sin isn't rare. Sin is common. Sin is everywhere. All of sin. And come short of the glory of
God. This world lies in the wicked one. It's a fallen world. It's a world that's full of sinners,
and we're sinners. And yet God looks, and He looks
for something that is so rare. And now God looks. It's no superficial
look. The Lord Jesus Christ is spoken
of in the opening chapter of the Revelation in that vision
that John sees of the glorified Saviour and his eyes are as a
flame of fire. How searching they are. Neither
is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight. For all things are naked and
open to the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Remember Isaiah in Hebrews chapter
4 we said many times before that strictly speaking in that portion
the Apostle is not speaking of God's Word as being quick and
powerful and sharper than the two edged sword but he is speaking
of the Lord Jesus the Word incarnate The Word of God, he says, is
quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing
even to the dividing the sun of soul and spirit, and of the
joints and marrow, and is the discerner of the thoughts and
intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature
that is not manifest in his sight. The Word that is spoken of in
verse 12 is here referred to again in the masculine pronoun. He doesn't say neither is there
any creature that is not manifest in its sight, a neuter, but he
says quite clearly his sight, the masculine. All things are
naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
Seeing them we have a great high priest that is passed into the
heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us all trust our profession.
He's speaking of Christ. Christ is that Word of God that's
powerful, that living Word, that is sharper than the two-edged
sword. His eyes, I say, are piercing. This is how God looks. He looks
upon man. And he looks for something that
is very, very rare. Now how is it that God looks and looks for this rare thing
that He has spoken of in these verses? If any say, I have sinned
and perverted that which was right and He profited me not,
He will deliver his soul from going down into the pit. How
does God look upon us? Well, we have to recognise that
He looks upon us in the law God comes in the law. God examines us in the light
of that law. Here in verse 16 we are told
how we open up the ears of men and see that their instruction
that he may withdraw man from his purpose and hide pride from
man. Man is such a proud creature
and we see that as we said before in the fall of our first parents. Their sin there in the garden
is the sin of unbelief. Unbelief is at the root of every
sin. Unbelief is a sin which does
so easily beset us, as Paul says there in Hebrews chapter 12. Remember, he's been speaking
of faith in the previous chapter, then he speaks of the sin that
besets us, so easily besets us, it's unbelief. because we're
the children of Adam and Eve, and they were unbelievers. They
rejected God's truth and they embraced Satan's lie in the garden.
But bound up with that unbelief is pride, because the serpent
says to the woman, you shall be as gods, knowing good and
evil. And here we see that God will
hide pride from man. he hides pride from him that
he may withdraw man from his purpose and hide pride from man
it says in verse 17 and doesn't God do this in his works? doesn't
God do this by that law that is revealed to us here in his
works? Paul to the Romans says we know
that what things whoever the law saith it saith to them who
are under the law that every mouth may be stopped all God will hide pride from
man every mouth may be stopped and all the world become guilty
before God therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh
be justified in his sight for by the law is the knowledge of
sin. God looks upon us in his law
and the law is meant to find the sinner out, to condemn the
sinner. Again in Romans chapter 4 and verse 15 Paul says the
law worketh wrath. Oh it's not able to work salvation in the
soul. It doesn't have anything to do
with salvation. The law workers are off. As we are told in 2
Corinthians chapter 3, it's the ministration of condemnation. It's the ministration of death.
In that chapter we see how Paul contrasts these two. The ministration
that's written in tables of stone, the law. He contrasts that with
the gospel, which is the ministration of the Spirit, which is the ministration
of life. But God comes and God looks upon
us in the law and what does the law do? It finds us out. If a
man should keep the whole law of God and yet offend in just
one point, James tells us, he is guilty of all what the law
requires is a full, perfect, complete obedience to every single
commandment of God, not only in deed, but also in word, and
also in spirit. The Lord is spiritual. Paul said,
but I am carnal, sold on the sea. O God comes, He looketh upon
men, and He looks upon men here through the holy, righteous and
just law. But then God also looks upon
men and deals with men, does he not, in the way of chastenings. And that is spoken of here by
Elihu, speaking of man in verse 19, he is chastened also, with
pain upon his back, and the multitude of his bones with strong pain,
so that his life abhoreth bread, and his soul gains he meet, his
flesh is consumed away, that it cannot be seen, and his bones
that were not seen stick out, yea, his soul draweth near unto
the grave, and his life to the destroyers. if there be a messenger
with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to show unto
man his uprightness. God is in these things, you see.
The Lord's voice crieth unto the city, says the prophet, and
the man of wisdom shall see thy name, hear ye the rod, and do
hath appointed it. God deals with his people. He
doesn't only come and deal with us By word, he doesn't just come
in his holy law, he does come in his law. And he'll stop the
mouths of men, he'll bring man in guilty, he'll hide pride from
man, he'll show man what a sinner he is. But God also deals with
his people in deed. He deals with them in his providence,
he deals with them in the way of chastening. Do you remember
how the 107th Psalm is? A remarkable psalm in describing
to us the providences of God. And what do we read there in
that psalm? Verse 17. Fools, fools, because of their
transgression and because of their iniquities, are afflicted.
Their soul abhors all manner of means. And they draw near
unto the gates of death. How similar the language is to
that that Elijah is speaking here at verse 9 following. Their
soul abhorreth all manner of meat, and they draw near unto
the gates of death. Then they cry unto the Lord in
their trouble, and He saveth them out of their distresses.
He sent His Word and healed them, and delivered them from their
destructions, O that men would praise the Lord. for His goodness
and for His wonderful works to the children of men. How God
deals with us by the way in which He deals with us. By those reverses
and disappointments that come into our lives and these chastenings.
Oh, David knew it. It is good for me that I have
been afflicted, says David, that I might learn my statutes. Oh,
God has to deal with us in that way then, chastening. Afflictions
make us see what else would escape our sight, how very foul and
dim are we in God, how pure and bright. He looks upon men, and
He looks upon men sometimes in that way. He chastens them. That's
how God deals with His children. And in all of this, He's looking
for something, you see. He's looking for something. He
looketh upon men and if any say, I have sinned and perverted that
which was not right, or that which was right, And he profited
me not, he will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and
his life shall see the light. But ultimately, doesn't God in
this day of grace look to us in the Gospel? The opening words of our text,
verse 24, Then he is gracious unto him. He looketh upon men. He looks in the gospel. Oh, what
a look it is! The God who commanded the light
to shine out of the darkness has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. Oh, when God looks upon the sinner
in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. What a blessing, friends.
Remember the experience of Peter when he denied his Lord. He was told quite plainly by
Christ that he would be put into the very sieve of Satan, and
he needed to be put into that sieve. He was full of self, full of self-assurance, And Christ
told him that Satan had desired to have him. Satan had desired
to have all of them. Satan had desired to have you,
that he might shift you as wheat, he said to Peter, but I have
prayed for thee. And it's a singular pronoun as
he talks with Peter. He tells him it's himself who's
in the gravest danger. I have prayed for thee, Peter,
that thy faith fail not. And when thou art converted,
strengthen thy brethren. and he denied Christ but there
in verse 61 of Luke chapter 22 the Lord turned and looked upon
Peter and Peter remembered the word of the Lord as we had said
unto him before the cock crow thou shalt deny me thrice and
Peter went out and wept bitterly. This is the gospel look, you
see. The Lord turned and the Lord looked upon Peter and it
was a most gracious look. He looketh upon me. Or when the
Lord looks upon us in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, there
will be many who will say, who will show us any good Lord? Lift
thou up the light of thy countenance upon us. He said our prayer as
we come into the services. We want God to lift up the light
of his countenance, or we want to see God in the face of Jesus
Christ. We want to know that gracious
in shining of the gospel, or that mighty, that powerful work
of the grace of God, the same God who commanded the light to
shine out of darkness, shining in our hearts, exposing us, Oh,
He comes in the law, He looks in the law, He looks in His dealings,
in His chastenings. But oh, when God looks in His
grace, when God comes in the gospel. And what is the outcome when
He thus comes? Well, there's a genuine repentance. Now remember
what it says back in our text at verse 24, He is gracious.
Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going
down to the pit, I have found a ransom, or I have found an
atonement. And it reminds us, does it not,
of those words of Paul in Romans 5.11 speaking of the Lord Jesus by
whom we have now received the atonement. God has found an atonement. That's what Elihu says, he has
found an atonement. But here is that atonement being
received. O friends, are we those who have
received the atonement? Can you say that with Paul in
Romans chapter 5? but you've received it, you've
received the atonement. You know the comforts of the
atonement. Our ordinance hymn tonight, 227,
that great hymn of Augustus Toplady speaks of the atonement and the
comforts of it. But how do we come to receive the atonement? Well, to receive the atonement
we have to experience repentance. We receive the atonement by faith
and repentance. That's how we come into an experience
of it. It's not enough to see it on
the page of scripture, we need to receive it and to know it
for ourselves good. Now, there is that that is said
in this book of Job with regards to repentance. Eliphaz. Eliphaz speaks of repentance. and the importance of repentance
in what he says to Job there in chapter 11 verse 13 and particularly
verse 14 if thou prepare thine heart and stretch out thine hands
toward him if iniquity be in thine heart put it far away and
let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles that's repentance
if iniquity be in thine hand Put it far away. Let not wickedness dwell in thy
tabernacles. There is to be a turning away
from sin. And not only in chapter 11 but
again we find the same man in life as speaking of repentance
chapter 22 and at verse 23. He says, if they return to the
Almighty, they shall be built up. They shall put away iniquity
far from thy tabernacle. That's repentance. Turning from
iniquity. Departing from iniquity. Eliphaz speaks of repentance. We know that the Lord Jesus Christ
preached repentance. That's how we are introduced
to his ministry in the very first chapter of Mark's Gospel. After that John was put into
prison, Jesus came into the region of Galilee preaching the Gospel
of the Kingdom of God and saying, repent and believe the Gospel. The Kingdom of God is at hand. This was the message of Christ,
repentance. and faith, and as it was the
ministry and the preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ, we're
not to be surprised if it's also the ministry of his apostles,
because they speak the same things. When Paul speaks to the elders
at Ephesus in Acts chapter 20, what does he say concerning his
own ministry? It was one of repentance toward
God, and fight toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance and
fight. If we are those friends who would
receive the atonement, we must know these two things. And what
God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. They are together, but we know
that fight must have the priority because whatsoever is not at
fight is sin. But where there is that true
fire, there will also be a repentance. And what is that repentance?
Well, if we were in the New Testament, we might examine the word itself,
the word that's used repeatedly in the New Testament, the Greek
word. It's one of those words that's a combination, it's two
words joined together. And the basic meaning of the
word is to do with the mind. It's the
word mind but also the idea of a change of mind. That's what
repentance is. A change of mind. It's a turning
from sin. Turning from a sinful course
of life. But it's such a fundamental change that things are turned
about. A man is going in one direction
and now he's going in the opposite direction. His life is turned
about, his life is turned upside down and inside out. It's such
a fundamental change, repentance. But do we not see something of
what this real repentance flows from? It flows from a right view
of sin. There must be a right view of
sin. And that's what's dealt with
here at verse 27. He looketh upon men and if any
say I have sinned and perverted that which was right and it profited
me not. Here is a right view of sin. How is it seen? Well it's seen
here first of all in terms of the holiness of God's law. God's law is a holy law. God looks upon men, if any say,
I have sinned. Sin is the transgression of the
law. I have sinned. What is man? Man
is a rebel. That's how he is as he comes
into the world. That's our condition by nature.
It doesn't matter what our parents are. They might be in a state
of grace, and yet their offspring are not born believers in the
natural sense. But we're all born dead in trespasses
and in sin. We're all in that state of rebellion
by nature. We're transgressors against God.
And yet the very God that we're rebelling against is the one
that we're so dependent upon. He's the one that has given us
our life. and he is the one in whom we live and move and have
our being and apart from him we would not move, we would sink
into oblivion and yet we're in this state of alienation we're
like proud pharaoh, what does he say to Moses? Who is the Lord
that I should obey him? That's what man says. Who is
the Lord that I should obey him? Or when A man is brought to this,
you see, I have sinned. What is the language of the man
after God's own heart? What's the language of David?
He's a sinful man. And he's a great sinner, is David.
He's a murderer, he's an adulterer. And yet, he finds grace. All where sin abounds, grace
does so much more abound. But what do we see in David against
the world? The only have I sinned, and done
this evil in thy sight. This is the language of a penitent,
you see. He sees sin for what it is. It's
sin against a God who is so holy. He's a holy God. His law is a
holy law. I have sinned, says this man
in a state of penitence. But then he says something more.
He's not only conscious of the holiness of God's law, he knows
the rightness of that law. I have perverted that which was
right. Sin is perversion. Because God's law is not only
a holy law, that God's law is a righteous law. Doesn't God
in that law reveal something of himself? Does he not there
tell us something of his character? He's a righteous God. And that's
what the law was about when the law is recanted there on the
borders of the promised land In Deuteronomy chapter 5, 40
years after the law was first given, Moses reminds the children of
Israel what they said, having repeated the commandments in
the earlier part of Deuteronomy chapter 5, verse 24. He tells
them, he said, Behold, the Lord our God has showed us his glory
and his greatness. How did God show them his glory
and his greatness in the law? And we have heard his voice out
of the midst of the fire. We have seen this day that God
doth talk with man and he liveth. All that law, it's a holy law,
it's a righteous law. The law is holy and the commandment
is holy and just and good. And what is sin? Sin is perversion. That's the very idea, of course,
in the word that we have in the Old Testament scriptures, the
word iniquity. It means to be twisted, instead
of being striped. That's what sin is. But here
is the manuscript. God looks upon men, if any say,
I have sinned. and perverted that which was
right and it profited me not. Here's the third aspect. It profited
me not. The law is fitted to make the
observer of it a happy man. That's what the law does. Those
who live in accordance with that law, are they not the happy man,
the blessed man? The preacher in Ecclesiastes
repeatedly speaks of the vanity that he witnesses all about him
in this sinful world, this world that's fallen, this world that
lies in wickedness. Vanity of vanity. all his vanity,
whatever he examines. Or what shall he profit a man
if he gained the whole world, says Christ, and lose his own
soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange
for his soul? There's no profit, you see. In
sinful course, there's no profit in this wicked world. And this
is what God looks For God looks for something that is so very
rare. He looks for true penitence,
the proper recognition of what sin is, and not so much seeing
sin in terms of its dreadful consequences, the punishment
of our sins, but seeing sin as God sees it. and hating sin because
God himself hates sin. Ultimately God's goodness is
revealed, is it not, in the gospel? Not so much in the law, it's
in the gospel. And that we see the awful horror
of sin. Law and terrors do but harden
all the while they work alone. But a sense of blood-bought pardon
soon dissolves the heart of stone. or we see sin in what Christ
suffered there upon the cross. We touched upon it very faintly
this morning, something of those sufferings that he endured and
how he was determined to be so conscious throughout and to feel
the real bitterness of that punishment that was being meted upon him
as he died in the room instead of his people. It's there that
we see the horror of what sin is, in the sufferings of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And he is that one, of course,
who having accomplished all that great work that the Father has
given him to do, is now ascended on high. And he's exalted a Prince and
a Saviour. And what does he do? He gives
repentance. Lord, you want to know this repentance
that God is looking for. Ask the Lord Jesus Christ for
it. He gives repentance to Israel and the forgiveness of sins. It's a true repentance. And it
comes from that godly sorrow. That godly sorrow that worketh
repentance to salvation not to be repented of, says Paul. Whereas
the sorrow of the world only works death. If we want it, you
see, we have to come to the Lord Jesus Christ. We have to come
to consider all that Christ is. Here is the ground of everything.
Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going
down to the pits. I have found the ransom. Here is deliverance from the
pits. Here is the great, the glorious, objective truth of
it, the grounds of it. It's in the atoning sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ. But how do we come to experience
it? By repentance. He looketh upon
men, and if any say, I have sinned and perverted that which was
right, and he profiteth me not, he will deliver his soul from
going into the pit. There must be the experience
of such. the experience of repentance and it brings us to be those
who know what it is to receive the atonement. Or are we those
friends who have received it? We feel we need an interest in
that precious blood that was shed because we have been made
to see something of the horror of what sin is in the light of
God's dealings with us. when he looks upon us, he looketh
upon me. O, but God grant that he might
also be the one who brings to us that great salvation that
he himself has found, that he himself is the author of. Then
he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going
down to the pit. I have found a ransom, I have
found and atonement. The Lord bless his word for his
now son.