One of the most serious, urgent,
critical, crucial, significant, I'm gonna use several adjectives
here, searching, weighty, pressing, and necessary questions that's
ever been asked to man about man is right here in our text
this morning. Verse one of Job chapter nine,
then Job answered and said, I know it is so of a truth, but how
should man be just with God? Now in Job chapter eight, if
you went back and read that, and you may want to do that in
your leisure, Job's supposed friend, he had three of them
who were supposedly his friend, And this particular one was named
Bildad, and Bildad tells him that all the things that had
happened to Job, and you know what happened to Job, if you're
familiar at all with the book of Job. He lost everything that
he had, lost all 10 of his children, lost all his wealth, and even
lost his health. But Bildad tells him that all
this happened as punishment due to the justice of God because
of his sin. And he asked Job if God perverts
judgment. Bildad tells Job that the taking
away of Job's children by their death was because of their transgressions. And then he suggests to Job that
he himself had been spared of death because his sin wasn't
quite as bad as his children's. Bildad insinuates that Job lost
everything, including his health, and that it would have been much,
much worse. It could have been much, much
worse. And that Job should immediately ask God for forgiveness. Bildad
claims to Job that God did not afflict good men in a severe
manner as he had Job. God doesn't do that to good people.
You've often heard the question, why do bad things happen to good
people? Well, first and foremost, there's nothing bad because everything's
ordained to God. And secondly, there are no good
people. God filled good men with joy and gladness, Bildad said. And what Job was experiencing,
all his afflictions was because of some personal wickedness of
his own. Chapters 9 and 10. are Job's response to Bildad. And without even taking notice
of Bildad's hard expressions and unfriendliness to him, Job
enters directly into his defense. And in Job's reply, he asserts
very strongly the strict justice of God. Bildad says, does God
pervert judgment and justice? And Job says, no, I know it's
true that God doesn't do that. He said that God's justice which
is such that no man can be just in God's sight and the reason
being man's sin and God's perfect holiness. Job says without hesitation,
I know it is so of a truth that God is just. He's a just God. and He does not pervert justice
and judgment. Job declares that God's wisdom
and power are such that the most daring and bold and unafraid
men cannot expect to succeed in opposition to this sovereign
Creator. In this chapter, Job gives instance
after instance of God's power in the works of nature and in
the works of providence. And he declares God's sovereignty
in all His ways, which are just and right. He speaks of God's
fierce anger and wrath against sin, which is such that it obliges
the proudest of men to stoop under His rule. Job doesn't contend
with his friends in a judicial way, but he insists that God
afflicts both the righteous and the wicked. He declares that
God gives gifts of grace to the righteous while in the end condemning
the wicked. And he concludes that it would
be vain for him to expect his calls to be heard before God
because there was no day's man, which simply means an umpire. We know what an umpire is, a
referee. And a mediator, that comes closer
to being probably the best interpretation of the word daysman, a mediator.
There was no mediator between him and God. The Lord Jesus had
yet come. And Job seeks mercy and he wishes
that the dread of the divine majesty's judgment upon sin be
taken from him so that he might, without fear, Speak with God. You see, no man can see God and
live. We can't stand before God in
our own right and contend with Him. And this brings us to this
all-important question that Job immediately expresses. How should
man be just with God? How can any man, how can any
woman be just with God for or since all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God? How can any man or woman be just
with God when there are none righteous, not a single one?
How can any man or woman be just before God when all of them are
at their best state, altogether vanity, and none of them see
God? How should an unjust man be just
with God? Not just any God either. Not
the God of man's imagination, but the true, living, and holy
God of the Bible. That's the one that we're going
to stand before. That's the one with whom we have
to do. And that word, just, there in verse 2, simply means right. Right in a moral forensic way. Just means right in a forensic
way. Teresa and I like that show Forensic
Files. We like how they solve mysteries
and murders in a forensic way by scientific methods that give
great attention to detail and are very precise. Methods that
prove innocence or guilt. above and beyond any doubt, cleansed,
cleared, justified, turned to righteousness, not guilty, without
sin and perfect beyond doubt. That's what being just is. The
enormity of this question is found in being just with a holy
God. All my life I heard about the
love of God. Nobody told me much about His
holiness. Nobody told me much about His
wrath and judgment against sin. It's just God loves everybody
and everybody just keeps along happily on their way to heaven.
Well, then I picked up this book and started reading and I started
attending a place where a man told me the truth, right here. Brother Montgomery told me the
truth about this book and about my God and about me. And I begin
to see that I've been lied to all those years. It's a whole
other thing to be perfectly holy and just in the eyes of the one
who is himself glorious and holiness. Who is like unto thee, O Lord,
among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in
holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? Who is like unto
our God? Thou and thy mercy hast led forth
the people which thou hast redeemed. Thou hast guided them in the
strength unto thy holy habitation, Exodus chapter 15. Man has to
be as holy as God in order to be redeemed. Now that's a tall
order. How can man be just with God? How could a sinful, unholy, unjust
man like me be just with God? This is Job's all-compassing
question. And it's still the determining
question of eternal consequence today. Can justification be obtained
by something that man himself must do, or is justification
accomplished in and by some other means? And it's, I know, real
easy to say, well, I know it's not anything I can do, but it's
by another means. Well, what is that means? Is
justification by a work of righteousness that man himself does? Well,
it can't be that. We've already given some scriptures
as to why. There's none that doeth good.
There's none that's sick of death of God. There's none that's righteous.
We're in our best state altogether vain, proud. None can provide
the perfection that a holy God requires. Job asked, And one
of his friends, I'm not sure, but in chapter four, verse 17,
said, shall mortal man be more just than God? No, can't be. He's sinned, he's fallen short
of the glory of God. Shall a man be more pure than
his maker? Job 14.4, who can bring a clean
thing out of an uncleaning? Not one. Job 25.4, how then can
man be justified with God, or how can he be clean that's born
of a woman? That's not about us. Psalm 133,
if thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall
stand? Not any of us, because we're
full of iniquity. Sin is what we are. And the one
we must appease in order to be just is God Himself. He's a perfect
God. He's a holy God. He's a just
and righteous God. And Job said, I know it's so
of a truth. God is just and He cannot and
He does not pervert justice and judgment. The Lord is righteous
in all His ways, David said, and holy in all His works. Holiness
without which no man shall see the Lord. How can man, who in
his best state is altogether vain, be just, righteous, and
holy? I want to know. It's not talking about comparing
ourselves to one another. It's talking about being holy
in comparison to God Himself. Men and women cannot in a judiciary
way be forensically judged and proven not guilty or innocent
on the foot of righteousness done by themselves, the sinner. Can't. Can't. You're gonna come
up short every time. Been weighed in the balance and
found what? Wanting. You're gonna come up
short. Man's work, all of them, our
best work, are defective. You know, we get something from
Amazon or something that's defective, we just turn around and send
it back. Not so in this. Our works are defective. Does
any man or woman dare? dare to stand before the bar
of God's holy justice and declare themselves to be holy and perfect
by a work of their own righteousness in doing? One who does, and some do, have
yet to see who and what they are and yet to see who and what
God is. So here Job tells Bealdad and
us, something of himself in his God. I was amazed in reading
this chapter, just what a declaration it is of God's sovereignty and
omnipotence and who he is and what he's done. Verse three,
if he, God, will contend with him, speaking of man, he cannot
answer him one of a thousand. If God will contend with man,
enter into controversy with man, litigate the law with man, whether
he be just or not, man cannot answer the allegations of God. The scripture says, shall the
potsherd, a clay, the piece of clay, a broken piece of clay,
strive with its maker. Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, Why hast thou made me this?" That's what
Paul was referring to when he wrote that. Had not the potter
power over the clay of the same lump make one vessel unto honor
and another unto dishonor? You better believe God has that
right. He's God. He's the sovereign
potter. Is the piece of clay able to
argue with the potter, its maker, as to how the sovereign potter
made it? Well, I don't like the way you
made me. Men can't argue with God. Men can't answer God. Men cannot answer for one of
His thousands of sins. Our sins are too numerous. Our
debt is too great. We cannot answer for them. We
cannot excuse them. We cannot deny them. We cannot
make satisfaction for them. What are we going to do? They're
committed against God, against Him and Him only. Have we sinned
and done this evil in His sight? They're violations of His law. They're injurious to divine justice. Man cannot, according to their
obedience, be just with God. We've all come short. What have
we come short of? The glory of God. We can never
be just on the footing of our obedience. If we're ever to be
justified, it'd have to be on the obedience of another. That's what Paul meant when he
wrote, therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith
without the deeds of the law. Faith in Christ, the faith of
Christ. trusting in His finished work,
trusting in His perfect obedience. That's the only righteousness
that you and I will ever have. Not by works of righteousness
which we've done. Can it be any clearer than that?
But according to His mercy He saved us. For Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it.
Not to the whole world. For God so loved the world that
whosoever believes in him. This isn't just a universal thing. God makes salvation possible
for everyone, but it's up to them whether or not they choose
to be saved or not. Hogwash. It's not true. It's a lie. I've got loved ones
in hell for believing that lie. You seem awful passionate about
it, you better believe I am. For God hath made Christ to be
sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Look at verse four. He, God,
is wise in heart, and mighty in strength, who hath hardened
himself against him, and hath prospered." Friends, the God
with whom we have to do, He's all-wise, He's all-mighty. None have prospered who've hardened
themselves against Him. Not a one. It's a futile thing
to oppose the true and living God. And it's a fearful thing
to fall into His hands, the hands of the living God, without a
substitute, without a mediator. None have prospered, none. Men and women by their bold and
daring acts of sin do nothing but make a covenant with hell. in agreement with death when
they combat God Almighty. Why dost thou strive against
Him, for He giveth not account of any of His matters? Job 33, 13. Why would anyone
strive with such a God as this? He that believeth not hath made
him a liar, because he believes not the record that God gave
of His Son. If I say that I can justify myself,
I'm making God a liar. I'm not believing God's record
of His Son. Now look at verse 5. We're talking
about God now. Which removeth the mountains,
and they know not, which overturneth them in His anger. Which shaketh
the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble.
Which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not, and sealeth up
the stars. which alone spreadeth out the
heavens, and treadeth upon the ways of the sea." Again, who
is this holy, just, and sovereign God? Well, He's nothing like
the God I hear preached today. Now, you're not going to get
down on religion again, are you? I don't get down on it enough. He's nothing like the God I hear
preached today. He's not wanting. He's not trying. He does whatsoever He pleases.
You believe that? He removes mountains. He shakes
the earth. He causes the pillars of the
earth to tremble. He commands the sun to rise or
not to rise. He caused the sun to stand still
for Joshua. He turned the sun 10 degrees
in the days of Hezekiah. Well, He made the sun go dark
for three days in the land of Egypt. And the sun didn't shine
for three hours at the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus. He hides the
stars by the light of the sun. He hides them by the clouds of
the sky. He spreads out the heavens like a curtain. God does that. He treads upon the waves of the
sea. Our Lord Jesus walked on the water. He makes them high and strong
in stormy winds. He stills them and makes them
smooth and quiet. Peace, be still. None but the God of the Bible,
the sovereign God, the Creator, can do these things. How can
a man be just with God, this God, this holy, just, and righteous
God? That's not all, verse nine, which
make Arcturus and Orion and Pleiades and the chambers of the south.
You see, only God can make a single star or constellations of stars
to hang in the sky. You go out at night and look
at all those stars in the sky. It's the Lord that caused them
to be there and hung them there. And only God can keep them from
falling. And only God can direct their
course and preserve their existence. Only the God of heaven and earth
can, in verse 10, do great things past finding out and wonders
without number. It takes a great God to do great
things. Why, the Scripture says if they've
recorded everything, every good thing that the Lord Jesus did,
the world couldn't contain the books that they'd be written
in. A great Savior does great things. A great God does great
things. And the great things God does
are past finding out. Is this the sovereign who does
wonders without number? You better believe it. Romans
11, 33, oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and
knowledge of God, how unsearchable are His judgments and His ways
past finding out, for who had known the mind of the Lord, or
who'd been His counselor? Or who had first given to Him? That's a good question. Well,
I give Jesus my heart. Who first given to Him? and it shall be recompensed unto
him again." Can we help God out? Well, one who thinks so thinks
too little of God and too much of themselves. Verse 11, lo,
he goeth by me, and I see him not. He passeth on also, but
I perceive him not. What magnificence our great God
possesses as the invisible God who goes by us, unnoticed, unseen,
imperceivable. He's omnipresent. Now, there's
something to think about. God moves from place to place,
and yet he's everywhere at the same time. Can you figure that
out? That's past finding out. So quit
trying to figure it out. Just believe it. That's what
God says of Himself. We don't need a God that we can
understand. We just need God. And we need
this God. The God that Job is declaring
here. That's the God with whom we need. That's the God we need. He fills
heaven and earth with His presence, yet He works around us in providence,
and we don't see it. And often we never see it until
He's worked all these things together for our good. And then
we see it. And then we go, oh, that's what
God was doing. I didn't know what God was doing.
Now I know, because it worked out for good. It didn't seem
like it was good at the time. It was painful. It was hurtful.
It was hard, but it was for my good. He always works things
out together for my good. We feel his grace and we feel
his afflicting hand. We cannot see his essence for
his glory. We cannot see and live. And that's what he told Moses.
And only in Christ do we see God. If we see Christ, we've
seen the Father. That's what he himself said.
If you've seen me, you've seen the Father. Me and my Father
are what? Verse 12, behold, he taketh away. Who could hinder him? Who will
say unto him, what doest thou? It's the Lord that takes away.
Job said that earlier in the book. It's the Lord that giveth
and the Lord taketh away. And then what'd he say? Blessed
be the name of the Lord. If he gives it, blessed be his
name. That's easy for us, isn't it? But when he takes it away,
blessed be the name of the Lord. He's doing it for my good. He's
doing it for his glory. It's the Lord that takes away.
Job knew something about it. He says, who can hinder him?
Who can stop God? Who can stay his hand? Who can
put God in handcuffs? His will is irresistible. His
power is uncontrollable. There's no turning of his mind.
No staying of his hand. None can question him. God, what
are you doing? Whatever he wants. In the armies
of heaven, among the inhabitants of the earth. He gives no account
of his matters. Our God, the God of the Bible,
the God with whom we have to do, is sovereign. Not at all like the puny, pathetic
God that's preached by the majority today. In verse 13, if God will
not withdraw His anger, now we're getting down to the nitty gritty
here on the justice of God. If God will not withdraw His
anger, the proud helpers do stoop under Him. The opposition and
resistance of man doesn't do anything to God, doesn't change
God at all. Man seems to think that God is
bound to their will. They must let God save them.
They must let Him have His way. They must give Him their heart.
We've all heard it. Does God need your help to save
you? Well, if He does, I won't be saved. God who is angry with
the wicked every day must voluntarily withdraw that anger or it'll
never be withdrawn. He's too just. Man's unbelief
doesn't change God. Man's unbelief doesn't render
God helpless. That's what folks seem to think.
Well, you gotta let go and let God. You have to join your will
with His. Romans 3.3, for what if some
did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the
faith of God without effect? Not faith in God, but the faith
of God. God's faithfulness to save sinners
without their help. God calls these proud helpers,
and that's what they are. They're proud, but they ain't
much help. Only a proud man thinks that he helps God, but they can
one day stoop under him. Verse 14, how much less shall
I answer him and choose out my words to reason with him? God's
too wise to err. He's mighty in strength, one
who does what he pleases. Who can dispute with God? Who
can call God into account? Who can answer his accusations
against us? Who can object to his charges?
Who can alter his purpose? Who can reason and convince him
to change his mind? Who can influence God? We're not the proud helpers of
works religion. Verse 15, Though I were righteous,
yet would I not answer, but I would make supplication to my judge."
Job says here, even if I was righteous, which I'm not, even
if I was perfectly holy, even if I was innocent, if I was without
sin, I still wouldn't answer. I would still not plead or reason
with God on the basis of my goodness or the basis of my righteousness,
but I would do this. Are you listening? I would make
supplication to Him as my judge. To make supplication. That word
means to stoop in kindness. It's to bow to one as being inferior. It's to beseech Him to be merciful. That's what supplication is.
It's to beg Him to show mercy. It's to plead with Him to have
pity and show grace. God is the judge of the whole
world. He's a just God, He's a righteous
judge, and He's a loving Savior. One of the privileges in being
His people, being His child, is that we can come to Him and
we can lay our case before Him. And by supplication and in prayer,
with petitions of grace and mercy, we can ask for just that, grace
and mercy. And it doesn't have anything
to do with a work of righteousness nor an account of worthiness
on our part. A child of God is made to see
their sin And here Job says if they did call and God answered,
they would not believe that He would, could, or should answer
them. Job wouldn't. He said, listen to me on this. Every believer
knows this is so. No one is more shocked at God's
mercy, grace, and forgiveness in Christ than the believer who's
petitioning for it. Verse 17, for he breaketh me
with a tempest and multiplieth my wounds without cause. Brothers and sisters, it's the
Lord that killeth and maketh alive. It's the Lord that bringeth
down to the grave and bringeth up. It's the Lord who maketh
poor and maketh rich, bringeth low and lifteth up. So it's the
Lord that breaks men and women. It's the Lord who multiplies
our wounds And it's the Lord who bounds and mollifies them. Whatever it is, it's of the Lord.
He's the first cause of everything. You know, we say that, I hope
that we're beginning to understand more what that means. He's behind
it all, everything. What did He say? He said, I,
the Lord, do all these things. Is there evil in a city and the
Lord hath not done it? Verse 18, he will not suffer
me to take my breath, but filleth me with bitterness. Our next
breath comes from him, he fills me with bitterness, and he does
so by just simply leaving me to myself. God is behind it all. If God saves me, it's by His
grace. If God damns me, it's my fault. Men, with their own wicked hands,
according to their own wicked will, crucified the Lord of glory,
but behind it all was the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God. Those who crucified the Lord
were guilty. Their sin cannot be charged to
the Lord. But he was behind it all. That's past finding now. Past
finding now. Verse 19, if I speak of strength,
lo, he is strong. And if I speak of judgment, who
shall set me a time to plead? When the believer speaks of strength,
we've got to confess that that strength's all his. He is strong. The weakness of God is stronger
than me. And I speak of judgment, if I speak of judgment, there's
none among mankind that can arbitrate or mediate, only the sovereign
judge can rightly judge. And the question is, how should
a man or a woman be just before this God? On the basis of their
own marriage, their own world? Glory be to God, He's provided
His people with a mediator. There's only one. He's the man
Christ Jesus. So, with all that said, are we
any closer to answering that question in verse 2? Bildad was
right about one thing. God doesn't pervert judgment
or justice. He by no means will clear the
guilty. And on the same grounds, God
will by no means condemn the innocent. And that's your hope. And that's my hope. Christ, the
innocent one, stands in my place. So, how should man be just with
God, seeing who God is and what we are? The answer ought to be
clear, yet many still don't know it. How are you and I justified
in the sight of God? Not by our will, not by our work,
but by the will and work of another. So I want to just quickly, in
closing, consider two texts, since many seem to think that
there's two ways to be justified before God. But there's not,
there's just one way. One is true and the other is
false. The first is mentioned by Job and it's the way of self-justification,
which is self-condemning. The second one is mentioned by
Paul and it's ordained by God. And the chosen sinner shall never
be condemned. Now which one do you want? Our
first text found right here in verse 20. Look closely at what
Job said. Job said, if I justify myself, If I say, I am perfect, it shall
also prove me perverse. Now let me say that if there
was ever a man in all the world, other than Christ himself, that
might have been justified before God by his own works, it was
Job. The Lord himself on two occasions
said to Satan concerning Job, there's none like him in the
earth. A perfect and upright man. One that fears God and escheweth
evil, which means has departed from evil. That's what the word
escheweth means. That's a pretty high compliment
coming from God. But what did Job say of himself? He never imagined that he'd obtained
a sinless condition before God. He said, if I say I am perfect,
it shall prove me perverse, crooked. It'll prove me crooked, froward,
sinful. Just as those who in the day
of judgment are gonna say to the Lord, haven't we done many
wonderful works? And what did the Lord say to
them? Depart from me, ye that work iniquity. What we take glory
in, the things that we do, He calls iniquity. It's a work of
iniquity. And that's what Job is saying.
If I say I'm perfect, I'm anything and everything but. Job says
if I were to justify myself, my own mouth would condemn me.
What he means is it wouldn't be true. Job could not dare say
that he was just before God. Job says, if I were to say that,
my own mouth would contradict me while I was trying to say
it. If you and I talk about righteousness of our own and attempt to justify
ourselves before God, our own words would be sufficient enough
to condemn us forever. That's what Job's saying. And I was thinking, You go to
the doctor and they say, stick out your tongue. You know, doctors
judge the health of their patients by looking at their tongues.
Well, we might ought to take a page from that and judge our
so-called good works by that little thing right there. If a man says, I've kept God's
law perfectly, I can enter heaven by my own good works. It would
fall under the category of what John said, if we say that we
have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Self-justification, it does nothing
but reveal the pride of our heart and it straightway condemns us.
Men who believe to be saved by their own works will every time
prove to have a low opinion of Christ and His substitutionary
work and a very high opinion of themselves. The key word to
salvation is always that four-letter word, need. Those who are well,
righteous in their own eyes, have no need of a physician. I had a man tell me that He was
saved because he'd done his best. And he added, I cannot do more
than that. What he was saying was that God
asked of us more than He ought to ask. And that He is really
unjust in His dealings with us. You know, men say a lot of things
without saying it. This is charging God with injustice. And such language betrays the
enmity of men's hearts against the Most High." How many folks
have you heard say, I'm not perfect, but I'm better than most. And
to say such nonsense is to condemn yourself. Why? How? Because God requires perfection
from you. He never said He would accept
less than that. And if He justifies you, He Himself,
in the person of Christ, provides the perfection that He Himself
requires. That's why it's called substitution,
and that's why it's called the gospel. Now, the second text
is found in Romans chapter 8. Turn there with me, and I'll
finish. Romans chapter 8, verse 33. You
know the passage well. Romans chapter 8, verse 33. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Friends, only God can justify
the ungodly. It's God that justifies. Anything about that you don't
understand? It's God that justifies. God takes the sin and the guilt
from the guilty one and He casts it into the depths of the sea
because Jesus Christ paid the debt, the wages of sin, with
His own blood. Only God can cover a sinner with
a spotless robe of righteousness so that in His eyes they are
fair, lovely, and whiter than snow. It's God that justifies. It can be all summed up with
a single word, substitution. As the first Adam stood before
us before God as the representative and federal head of the whole
human race. It was by His sin that the whole race fell. But
then came another to stand in our stead and represent us as
the first Adam did. So that in the first Adam we
fell, but we might be raised up by a second Adam. And that
second Adam is the Lord Jesus Christ. He came into the world
Why did He come into the world? To save sinners. He kept the
law of God every jot and tittle. He's woven a righteousness which
covers the sinner from head to toe. And when that chosen sinner
is enabled to put that robe on, and they can only be enabled
by God to do so, the law of God examines them and it doesn't
find a faulty thread. Christ suffered the terrible
consequences of our sin and freely gave himself to die a felon's
death. While they let Barabbas go before
the Lord Jesus and he was a notorious criminal, a murderer. You don't
think he died the death of a felon? He died the death you should
have died and I should have died. And in doing so, the justice
of God is vindicated. Isn't that good news? And God
is just and yet justifier of them that believe in Christ.
He's a just God and a Savior. And we're justified in Him and
we're saved. He never talked me out of it.
God would have to withdraw His hand from me. How does His righteousness become
ours? By us hiding ourselves in Christ. When God looks at me, He didn't
see any sin. Why? Because He sees His perfect
Son. I'm hidden in Him. I'm in that
city of refuge. I'm in that ark. All that God sees is His perfect
Son. If I justify myself, my own mouth
condemns me. But if God justifies me, no one
can condemn me. If I'm found in my sin, I'll
be forever lost. If I'm found in Christ, I'm forever
saved. Now which justification do you
want? The one of self or the one of God? I think I've made
a pretty good case as to who we should trust in, not in ourselves. How can a man be just with God?
I pray this morning that you see how. It's not in self. It's
in Christ alone.