Well, it's been a long time,
quite a bit of time, depending on where you're looking at it
from, since I've been able to come into this pulpit
to preach. And if the Lord doesn't come
and help me and you, we ain't going to have anything occur
this morning whatsoever. Simply how it is. God in Christ
to poor sinners is everything, absolutely everything. How about opening your Bible
this morning to the Old Testament, to the book of Job chapter 33. Job 33, and I propose to read to you
the whole chapter. Job 33.1, the book of Job is made up. of the
tragedy of the loss of all Job's children, of all of his riches,
of all of his cattle, his oxen, and everything else you can name. And three of his supposed friends
come to Job to tell him why this is happening to him. And they
laid it to just one charge, because you're a sinner. And Job responded on numerous
occasions through the first 32 chapters. But here's a new man
on board. It's in the heading of my chapter
33. His name is Elihu. He's a much
younger man than either Job or Job's other three friends, supposedly
with friends in quotation marks. He says, wherefore Job? I pray you hear my speeches and
hearken to all my words because now I have opened my mouth and
my tongue has spoken in my mouth. My words shall be of the uprightness
of my heart and my lips shall utter knowledge clearly. Now,
if that man is talking about himself, and in the way it's
written in our Bibles, it certainly appears to be the case. He's
missed something somewhere, but he's still better than the other
three put together. The Spirit of God, verse 4, has
made me, and the breath of the Almighty has given me life. If
you can answer me, set your words in order before me, stand up,
Behold, I am according to your wish in God's stead. I also am
formed out of the clay. He's a regular person, we would
say. Behold, my terror shall not make
you afraid, neither shall my hand be heavy upon you. Surely you have spoken in my
hearing and I have heard the voice of your words saying, I
am clean without transgression." These are supposedly the words
that he heard Job saying, and actually Job did say these things,
but he was dead wrong in doing so. I'm clean and without transgression,
verse 9. I am innocent, neither is there
iniquity in me, and any son or daughter of Adam that says that
about themselves is just an absolute lie. Preachers, politicians, church
members, whatever, whatever our occupations are, neither is there iniquity in
me. Behold, he finds occasion against
me. He counts me for his enemy. This,
I think, refers to God's treatment of Job and his description of
part of what he went through. He puts my feet in the stocks
and he marks all my paths. He knows where I am at all times. He knows what I'm thinking and
what I'm doing and everything else about us. Behold, in this,
You are not just, these are the words of Elihu. I will answer
you that God is greater than man, infinitely, infinitely greater. Why do you strive against him?
For he gives not account of any of his matters. For God speaks
once, yea, twice, yet men perceive it not. In a dream, in a vision
of the night, when deep sleep falls upon them in slumberings
upon the bed. Then he opens the ears of men
and seals their instructions. These are instructions regarding
our spiritual selves and our souls in regard to eternity. God has to open the ears of the
mind and the heart in order for us to be described in this statement. That he may withdraw man from
his purpose and hide pride from man. He keeps back his soul from
the pit and his life from perishing by the sword. He is chastened
also with pain upon his bed. and the multitude of his bones
with strong pain, so that his life abhors or hates bread, and
his soul abhors and hates dainty meat. His flesh is consumed away
that it cannot be seen, and his bones that were not seen Now
they stick out. Yea, his soul draws 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 God's uprightness, then God is gracious unto him and says,
deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom. His flesh shall be fresher than
a child's. He shall return to the days of
his youth. He shall pray unto God, and he
will be favorable unto him. And he shall see his face with
joy, for he will render unto man his righteousness. And if God doesn't give you His
righteousness, you ain't never gonna have any, and neither will
I. We'll perish in hell because
of it. There's only one hope for people
who know their sinners. Now, if you don't think you're
a sinner, I ain't even talking to you. You're too dumb for me to talk
to you. You claim not to be a sinner. Anybody that knows you, knows
you're a sinner. That goes for this pulpit as well as these
pews. I'm not discriminating between you and me. I'm in the
same boat. He looked upon men, verse 37,
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 pit, and his life shall see the light. Hallelujah. Though all things, works God
oftentimes with men. Let me make sure you understand
me now when I'm talking about God. The word try cannot be applicable
to anything that God says. Father, Son, or Holy Spirit,
God does not try. He speaks and it is. Lo, all these things works God
oftentimes with man to bring back his soul from the pit and
to be enlightened with the light of the living. Now, Job's friend,
his fourth friend, Elihu, begins to speak, if I can possibly decipher
this. Mark well, O Job, hearken unto
me, hold your peace, and I will speak. If you have anything to
say, answer me. Speak, for I desire to justify
you. If not, hearken unto me. Hold your peace, and I shall
teach you wisdom." Now, I'm just going to stop at
the end of chapter 33, and then I want you to turn in this chapter
once more to verses 23 and 24. There are five things in these
two verses that I'm interested in trying to describe for you
and appeal to you to embrace these things as being in the
Word of God. This Bible is God's Word from
start to finish. Genesis 1 to Revelation 22, I
think it is. If not, it's 21. I used to remember all stuff
like that, but it's deserted me. But anyway, verses 23 and
24 have our entire outline in mind, and I'll try to be as brief
as I can, though I don't promise anything. Let's read them again. Verse 23. If there be a messenger
with him, an interpreter, One among a thousand to show unto
man God's uprightness. Now who can do that? The Lord
Jesus Christ who wears our flesh. He knows everything about us.
He speaks with the authority of God because he is God. Christ is not a lesser God, he's
God. The Divine Trinity. They are
one. Then He is gracious unto him. Deliver him from going down to
the pit. And I think this statement in
24 is the statement of our Lord. I have found a ransom. Now don't
forget this. Wherever this ransom is paid,
it's paid in full. It's not a peace offering. It's
to clear a man's soul from all sin for all time and eternity. I have found a ransom. That ransom
is our Lord Jesus Christ. Now I'm going to go back through
these two verses. and I want to make five points.
The first one is this word messenger in verse 23. If there be a messenger
with him an interpreter one among a thousand to show unto man God's
uprightness. This messenger in verse 23 is
also called an interpreter and a mediator. And we must, in all
of our dealings with God, even our dealings with Christ, we
must see Him as the only mediator between God and men, the man,
the God, man, Christ, Jesus. Let me pick up my Bible so I
can see my printed scriptures. Now the second M, all of these
start with M by the way. The first one is what? Messenger. The second one is message. If
he's a messenger, he's got a message. It is to show unto man, you can
find these words in verse 23, to show unto man God's uprightness. That no matter when, where, or
what it is, God is right. If He kills me this day, He is
right in what He's doing. He calls us at His own choice
when He pleases, wherever He wishes to go. This whole world,
whether they know it or not, is ruled by this God of this
book. And he don't have to do anything.
He speaks, and it's done. Now, when you go home, won't
you look in your bathroom mirror and speak to it and see if you
can get that to happen? They'd send us to the funny farm. Not so with God. Heaven forbid,
not so with God. So the second iam in verse 23
is the message. If we have a messenger, we have
to have a message to be delivered. And that message must be interpreted. And we must have a mediator between
God, the father and God, the son. must be in between us and
God for us to ever find peace for our souls. To show unto man, this is in
verse 23 right on, to show unto man God's uprightness. God's uprightness. Let me read
you a couple of scriptures now. I've already quoted you one,
but I'll make sure I read it right this time. For there is
one God and one mediator between God and men. It is the man, the
God-man Christ Jesus. Then another, the Lord is righteous
in all of his ways and holy in all his works. Then we come to still yet another
verse in regard to this 23rd verse that we're working on. But we are all as an unclean
thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. If you gave
that a literal translation, it would be a menstrual cloth. Sometimes ladies get upset when
you say that in public. Well, let me go sit in your house
and not know it and see what comes out your mouth. I'm trying
to convince you of what this is about. We're all as an unclean thing
and all our righteousnesses, every last single thing that
we think makes us righteous, are as filthy rags, and they
all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have
taken us away." Now I need to, I want you to open, hold on to
Job, We're going to need that all the way through, so don't
lose it. Put your bulletin there or something. Turn to Luke chapter
18. Luke chapter 18. This is having to
do with the message. the message. And that statement out of verse
23 is to show unto man God's uprightness in everything that
he does. I want to read you a parable
of a man called the rich young ruler. and a reminder to me as well
as you that everything in this book is in here on purpose. It's not a guess, it's on purpose. Whomever God saves, he saves
through this book. That's why it's our only hope
and our only choice for preaching. A certain ruler asked him saying,
good master, good master. Now the Bible tells us plainly
in several places there ain't none good but God. Now they didn't
put the ain't in there, but I did for emphasis. None good but God. Good master, what shall I do
to inherit eternal life? That is to earn it, to merit
it. What can I do to inherit eternal
life? And Jesus said unto him, why
do you call me good? None is good save one, and that
is God. You know the, you know the commandments. Do
not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false
witness, honor your father and your mother. And he said, he's
lying here now, all these things have I kept from my youth up. Now you can claim that statement
in those words and you're welcome among Pharisees, but you ain't
welcome among God's people. And he said, all these have I
kept from my youth up. Now when the Lord Jesus heard
these things, he knew what the man was going to say before he
said it. He came to this exact place where
this man could find him. And even if he is never to be
a believer, Yet we have some valuable understandings of how
a sinner must come to Christ. All these things have I kept
from my youth up. Now when Jesus heard these things,
He said unto him, Yet lack you just one thing. That's all. One. Not ten. One. Sell all that you have and give
to the poor and you shall have treasure in heaven and come and
follow me. And when the man heard this,
he was very sorrowful for he was very rich. And when Jesus saw that he was
very sorrowful, he said, how hardly with what great difficulty
shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God. For
it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than
for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. And they
that heard it said, who then can be saved? Whomever God pleases,
that's who's gonna be saved. He chose a people before the
world was ever made, before a human being was ever put on this earth. And when he's got all of his
sheep in the fold of Christ, like in
John chapter 10, when all the sheep have come
in, Ain't no purpose for this world
anymore. The Bible describes how it will
be destroyed. One of you scholars could tell
us what book that is in because I don't remember. But now I want
you to hang on to Luke just a second and let's go to verses 9 through
14. Going backwards, here's the parable of the Pharisee
and the publican. Now, the word publican doesn't
mean the Republican Party. These are spiritual terms. And he spoke this parable unto
certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and
despised others. Two men went up into the temple
to pray, the one a Pharisee, the other a publican. Now this
publican is actually a tax collector for the Roman government. And
you know, if you know anything about this Bible, you know that
Jews are a proud race of people. And for people in their own country,
turn and go on Roman side and collect taxes. They send a certain
amount of money to them and then they keep the rest. The Pharisee stood and prayed
thus with himself. He's talking to God here now.
He thinks he is. God, I thank you that I'm not
as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as
this publican. I fast twice in the week. I give
tithes of all that I possess. Boy, I'm telling you, he's got
a I don't know how in the world
you could say that about yourself, but he did. And the publican, poor tax collector,
he won't poor physically, literally, he's poor in heart and spirit. The publican, standing afar off,
would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote
upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner."
Now, our Lord tells you what he means by this parable. I tell
you, this man went down to his house justified. He's fit for heaven. He's ready
for heaven. He's justified before God. rather than the other. For everyone
that exalts himself shall be abased, and he that humbles himself
shall be exalted." Now you can put these two parables side by
side, which they are in my Bible at least. It's just, it is really, really
interesting to see all these ways in which these truths in
God's Word are made to us. Alright, the third M, first one
is messenger, the second one is message, and the third is
meaning. What does it mean? So we come
back to Job. We come now to verse 24. What is the meaning of these
words? Verse 24 says, Then he that is
God, the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is gracious
unto Him. Gracious unto Him. God doesn't sell His blessings. he gives them to whom he pleases.
And he's pleased to give this poor publican, well he's not
poor literally now, this poor publican who refused to even
look toward heaven after that boastful tax collector, not tax
collector, that boastful Pharisee Couldn't get the word
to come out. So let's look at this meaning. What this means when this happens. And let us fully understand that
this is how it must be with you and me. We can't be part trusting ourselves
and the other part trusting God. We do the same thing as that
rich young ruler. We just, you know, we just think
we're just special. Special indeed. So did the Pharisee. Then, verse 24, he that is God
is gracious unto him, gracious unto him, And if I can read you
a statement or two out of, let me get rid of some stuff
here. And that from a child, you have
known the Holy scriptures. which are able to make you wise
unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. That's in 2 Timothy chapter 3. Here Luke comments again. I should have had you to hang
on to your place. In chapter 7. And all the people
that heard him. Speaking of our Lord Jesus. All
the people that heard him. And the publicans justified God
being baptized with the baptism of John the Baptist. All the
people that heard John preach, John the Baptist, now not the
Apostle John, not the writer of the book of John in the New
Testament. This is a character who was six months older than
our Lord when they were both Well, they were born six months
apart to different parents. But in regard now to the message
of John the Baptist. But the Pharisees and lawyers
rejected the counsel of God against themselves. How do we know? Being not baptized of John the
Baptist. This man is saying some things
we don't like. We ain't gonna have him baptize
us. We'll go do it ourselves. Moving on now. Let me find my place again. This comes out of 2 Timothy. These are Paul's words and that
from a child speaking to Timothy. Have you not? You have known the Holy Scriptures
which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith
which is in Christ Jesus. This comes out of Luke 7 and
all the people that heard him. And the publicans justified God
being baptized with the baptism of John. I got ahead of myself.
But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against
themselves being not baptized of John the Baptist. No man can
come to me except the Father which has sent me. Draw him and
I will raise him up at the last day. The Gospel of John chapter
6. It is written in the prophets,
and they shall be all taught of God. Every man, therefore,
that has heard and has learned of the Father comes unto me and
to the angel of the church in Philadelphia. Right. We come now to what we're calling
the mandate, the messenger, the message, the meaning, and the
mandate. And I'm going to read you a verse to correspond with this. And to the angel of the church
in Philadelphia write, These things saith he that is holy,
he that is true, he that has the key of David, he that opens
and no man shuts, and shuts and no man opens. All of this descriptive
of our Lord Jesus. He doesn't need our help, we
need His. Deliver Him from going down to
the pit. That's the mandate. That's God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit's mandate. All right, the fifth
word, which is the last one except for the conclusion, is the method. The method. The statement in verse 24 in
regard to this method, it says, I have found a ransom. That is
for our souls, I've found a ransom. Now let me read you one verse
of scripture. And then we'll go to our conclusion. None of them can by any means
redeem his brother nor give to God a ransom for him, for the
redemption of their soul is precious and it ceases forever. You can't be redeemed twice. Everything God does would be
riddled with flaws if that were the case. Heavens know this redemption, this salvation of their soul is precious and
it ceases forever. Forever. So the method is, I have found
a ransom. Now I'm going back to the book
of Job that I hope you left open. I might speak too fast and find
out I didn't. Job's writings are very difficult
to be, you know, completely accurate in regard to things. You're well familiar that Job
lost all of his children, all of their children, and ultimately
his wife and all of his belongings and his Vast wealth disappeared
at one time. Now let's see if it's rectified
in any way. Chapter 42. Job chapter 42. And I'm only
going to read you six verses. One through six. I sure wish y'all could get rid
of this pollen. Job 42, then Job answered the Lord and
said, this is between Job and God. I know, he told the Lord,
he said, I know that you can do anything. and that no thought
can be withheld from you. Do you believe that? God can
do anything, whatever he pleases, and it's always right. Governments
may condemn it, politicians, school teachers, regular run-of-the-mill
people. Who is he that hides counsel
without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that
that I understood not. Now, I know they want two I's
in there, but there needs to be. Therefore have I uttered that which I understood not. things too wonderful for me,
which I knew not. Here I beseech you and I will
speak. I will demand of you and declare
you unto me. I have heard of you by the hearing
of the ear, still Job talking, But now my eye sees you, wherefore
I hate myself and repent in dust and ashes. And this is a fairly long book
as far as chapters go. But I'll tell you, there's a
long ways between Job in Job 1 and Job in Job 42. What a difference. What a difference.