Well, I thought we'd have to
put out chairs this morning, but I was a little too optimistic. Let's take our Bibles. It's not in this book. We're
not interested in talking about it and preaching it and teaching
it. There's a character in the Old
Testament by the name of Job. If you would turn to Job chapter,
let's see, chapter 33. I want to work on a portion of
that chapter. Job was a wonderful man who lost
his children, his wealth, and finally his wife. She said,
curse God and die. And he did not. But Job is not
as innocent as we sometimes think. if we confine our reading to
just one part of the passage in the book of Job. So this morning
I want to, my title is An Old Fashioned Conversion. An Old Fashioned Conversion. Now God saves all of his children
with the same message, the same truths, and he never loses a
one. This election of grace took place
in eternity past. Now let's see how it plays out
in this passage that we're in this morning. I'd like to begin reading at
verse 14. in the 33rd chapter of Job. Job 33, 14. Now before we begin, let us beg
the Lord to help us, especially to help me. I'm dumber than dumb. Lord, thank you for letting us
gather in this house this morning. We bless you and thank you for
all your mercies to us, your untold kindness. Now this morning we come looking for a clear picture and illustration of how it is You save a sinner. And this sinner is a surprising
sinner. He seems already to be converted,
but indeed he is mistaken. Lord, if we are to understand
this man Job, what took place in his heart and in his mind
and with his family and with his friends, Perhaps we shall
understand what our lot in life will be if we follow the Lord
Jesus Christ faithfully and truly. If we've not been persecuted
and hated and cursed at and threatened, we ain't even found out half
of what's going on. If we're not saying anything
that offends, we'll have no such encounters But we know from being
in this very place for the last umpteen years that we have experienced
far more of this than we ever thought possible. But here we
are by the grace of God. Lord, open our minds. Speak to our hearts. that we
might know and understand what it means to be saved by grace
alone. Help us now as we read. May we
be able to contain what is read and put two and two together
and perhaps we'll have some understanding of what it means to be converted,
an old-fashioned conversion. Anything less than that is not
salvation. We beg now for your mercy, for
Christ's sake, amen. Alright, we begin in Job chapter
33 and we begin with verse 14. For God speaks once, yea twice,
but man receives it not. In a dream In a vision of the
night when deep sleep falls upon men, in slumberings upon the
bed, then he opens the ears of men and seals their instruction that he may withdraw man from
his purpose. Man's purpose compared to God's
purpose is that ours is not a thing in the world but religious sins.
We don't like what this book says about God and we most definitely
don't, we don't tolerate what he says about us. Well, let's see if we can find
out some more. I should have mentioned to you
now, this is not Job speaking at the moment. A fellow by the
name of Elihu who is much younger than his supposed three friends
or Job himself. I lost my place. Let's see here. Well, if it's two of you, I'll
agree with you then. 17, that he may withdraw man
from his purpose and hide pride from man. That's like cutting
off both arms and both feet. That's tough. To hide pride from
sons and daughters of Adam. Verse 18, he keeps back his soul
from the pit. God keeps our soul from the pit
of hell. We richly deserve to be there.
And his life from perishing by the sword. Generally, people
who have some years on them then can recall many a time when they
were awfully close to leaving this world. automobile accident, somebody
shooting somebody else and the bullet goes right by you. So
that his life abhors bread and his soul dainty meat. His flesh is consumed away that
it cannot be seen and his bones that were not seen 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 his uprightness." Now that's some statement. If this be the case, if verse
23 be the case with me, then God is gracious unto him and
says, deliver him from going down to the pit. Now how could
you just say that and it be so? I have found a ransom, a substitute,
somebody to take my place and that person is none other than
the precious Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Alright, verse
25. His flesh shall be fresher than
a child's. He shall return to the days of
his youth. He shall pray unto God, and God
will be favorable unto him. And he shall see his face with
joy, for he will render unto man God's righteousness. What about our own righteousness?
You tell me because I don't think there is any. There's only one righteousness
that'll stand the test of this book and the presence of God
Almighty and that's God's righteousness that he puts on us and in us. We can't do a single righteous
deed, not even say a single righteous deed teaching or preaching or
just plain talking. He renders unto man his righteousness. I think it is Romans 10 verse
4 that says Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believes. No exception. Anybody anywhere
who claims to have a righteousness of his own cannot be a believer. You know why? He steals the glory
of Christ. He looks upon men, verse 27,
and if any say, I have sinned and perverted that which was
right, and it profited me not, our blessed Redeemer will deliver
his soul from going down into the pit, and his life shall see
the light. Lo, all these things, works God
oftentimes with man to bring back his soul from the pit, to
be enlightened with the light of the living. 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've got to
come back to that, but I want to direct you before I allow
this to slip my mind, if I've got any mind at all left. Hold
your place. Hank, this is page one. This
is home base for the rest of the message, all right? Job 33.
I better be turning my own marker over here. Makes it a lot easier
to find more quickly. Job 42. Basically what Job was telling
his supposed friends that told him that it was his sin and his
this and his that and this the other is the reason God sent
these things on him. And this man comes along and
says, Job, you're not even a converted man. You're not a believer in the
Son of God. And by the time we reach verse
chapter 42 Here's what we find. We're just going to look at the
first six verses. Then Job answered the Lord and
said, I know that you can do everything and that no thought
can be withheld from you. This is Job now confessing to
God of whom he aspired in the previous chapters For God to
come and stand before him so he can put all these questions
he has upon him. But that ain't how it is. God
does as he pleases. Where? Among the armies of heaven
and among the inhabitants of this earth. He does as he pleases. Job said, verse 2, Chapter 42,
I know that you can do everything and that no thought can be withheld
from you. Who is he that hides counsel
without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that,
and I'm going to insert another that, it makes you see it more
clearly. Therefore have I uttered that
that I understood not. Things too wonderful for me,
which I knew not. And boy, you read the earlier
chapters until this character Elihu comes along. Job knows everything and nobody
else knows anything. And there's still right many
people that do that. Verse 4, Here I beseech you and
I'll speak I will demand of you and declare you unto me. I have heard of you by the hearing
of the ear, but now my eye sees you." And here is the wonderful
result. If this is not your motto, you
have missed Christ and so have I. Percentage wise there's more
lost preachers in America than there are church members I Mean it's That's where it starts
Right here, that's where it starts Our songbook has got at least
a dozen songs that we won't even sing because it's not true But
I want you to know it started in the pulpit not with the people
that print the hymns. I They wouldn't print a song
book that nobody's going to buy. Job uttered these words, Wherefore
I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes. My, my, my, what a statement
indeed. What a statement. Now let's take
a look at this matter of an old-fashioned conversion. Now Doug had us looking
for verses, and I got them before me, so we're going to get through
quicker, but I might want to extend a few things, but let's
see what we can do. Here's the first thing. All these
words begin with the letter M. The first and essence in Job
33. I ask you to hang on to that.
This messenger is an interpreter and a mediator. There's one mediator between
God and men. It is the God-man Christ Jesus. You can find that in 1 Timothy 2 and verse 5. In the
second part of this, all of this coming now out of Job 33, The
second M is the message. And I pastored, I don't know
how many churches, but two or three before I even knew that
there was such a thing as the true gospel. Finally met some people that
God had really, truly saved. Preachers I'm talking about. We need somebody to interpret
the word of God. If we don't have that, then we
can make it say whatever we want it to say. We say, well, I think
it ought to be this. What does that matter? What does
God say about it? What does this book say about
itself? There's one, according to this
guy Elihu, he said, I forget the verse this was in, it may
be in verse 23, but I'll have to look and see, just a minute. The verses in Job 33 are verses
23 and 24. If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand,
to show unto man God's uprightness. Then he is gracious unto him
and says, Deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found
a ransom. Alright, the second M is the
word message. There in that 23rd verse. to
show unto man God's uprightness. I don't have the ability to tell
you if we even saw God at a distance,
I mean, we'd probably melt in our shoes if we really know who
He is. Verse 23 said, to show unto man
God's uprightness. First thing I want to do on that
verse is to read a couple of statements
off my printed page. For there is one God and one
mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. 1 Timothy
2.5. The Lord is righteous in all
of His ways and holy in all of His works. Psalm 145, 17. Isaiah said, But
we're all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are
as filthy rags, and we all do fade as a leaf And our iniquities,
like the wind, have taken us away." Now that is an awful statement
to confront, but there it is. That came from Isaiah 64 and
verse 6. Coming back now to the message. Let me read you a couple of more
statements. The Lord is righteous in all
of His ways and holy in all of His works. Now once more, Isaiah
64, 6. But we're all as an unclean thing,
and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. We all do fade
as a leaf, and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away. Now, I'm going to leave my printed
scriptures. I want you to hold on to Job
chapter 33 and go with me now to the New Testament to the 18th
chapter of the gospel of Luke. Luke chapter 18. Now I know you must be familiar
with the fact that in the gospel accounts, Matthew, Mark, Luke,
and John, God is pleased to use various types of teaching in
order to communicate the truth of who Christ is and what He's
done for poor sinners. We call these parables. They
are stories that teach. Here's the first one. It is the
parable of the Pharisee and the publican. The publican is a Jewish
person who collects taxes for the Roman government that has
taken over their country, at least temporarily. And that is
in verses 9 through 14. All right, verse 9. Luke chapter 18, 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 and the other a publican. The Pharisee
stood up and prayed thus with himself, telling God how good
he is and what all he's done for people and society in general
and all this kind of stuff. The Pharisee stood and prayed
thus with himself, God I thank you that I'm not as other men
are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, and certainly not even this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give
tithes of all that I possess. And 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, the sinner
of all sinners. I tell you, this man, this second
man, this publican, went down to his house justified. Justified. just in the sight
of God, righteous in the sight of God. Rather than the other
for everyone that exalts himself shall be abased and he that humbles
himself shall be exalted. The next parable starts at verse
18. Now this may require just a little
bit more comment but I'll try not to get bogged down. It is
the rich young ruler who learns of Christ being close by wherever
he lived. And he comes, the other Gospels
tell us he was running and fell on his knees at the feet of Christ.
And a certain ruler asked him saying, good master, what shall
I do to inherit eternal life? What's it going to cost me to
pay you for eternal life? Ain't that smart? My soul, if he owned the whole
world, it wouldn't be enough. What shall I do to inherit eternal
life? Here's the first lesson. If you
don't get this one, you ain't got none of them. And Jesus said
unto him, why call you me good? Why do you call me good, good
master? None is good, save one. And that one is who? God. You tell people that Christ died
for sinners. I mean the worst kind. All kinds. Everywhere. And people say, well,
I'm left out because I'm good. There's none good. No, not one. Our Lord goes on now to apply
this to this man. Verse 20. You know the commandments. Do not commit adultery. Do not
kill. Do not steal. Do not bear false
witness. Honest. Honor your father and
your mother. And he said, Oh, all of these
I've done since I was just a kid. Right. He's lying. And he's about to find out. All these have I kept from my
youth up. Verse 22. Now when Jesus heard
these things, he said unto him, You lack one thing. Sell everything
you have, give it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in
heaven, and come follow me. When he heard this, he was very
sorrowful, for he was very rich." Now you can be rich in a whole
lot of things and money doesn't have to be one of them. Self-righteousness
certainly would take you a long way, wouldn't it? I hope not. And when Jesus saw that he was
very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches
enter into the kingdom of God. For it is easier for a camel
to go through a needle's eye than for a rich man to enter
into the kingdom of God. And they that heard it said,
who then can be saved? And he said, the things which
are impossible with men are possible with God. My, oh my, oh my. What wonderful statements indeed. Now we come to the third word
and it is meaning. The meaning of these words. What
do they mean? This is in verse 24 of our friend
over here in Old Testament part of our Bible
back to Job 33. The meaning. Verse 24, Job 33. Then he is gracious unto him What is this telling us? That
He's gracious. Then He's gracious unto him and
says, deliver him from going down to the pit. I have found a ransom. What is that ransom? It is the
precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is His crucifixion
on the cross. His flesh shall be fresher than
a child's. He shall return to the days of
his youth. Wonderful statements indeed. Now let's take these this time
from my printed, uh, oh that's hard to do. Talking about the meaning. of
these statements, particularly this one, that God is gracious
unto him. 2 Timothy 3.15 reads like this,
And that from a child, Paul speaking concerning Timothy, 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. It's not in Christ and in me,
it's all in Christ. Luke chapter 7, verses 29 and
30. And all the people that heard
Him and the publicans justified God being baptized with the baptism
of John. Now this is a wonderful statement,
but if we're not careful we miss one of the most important elements
of it. This is our Lord in the Gospel
of Luke putting all of this together. The Pharisees and lawyers rejected
the counsel of God against themselves being not baptized of John the
Baptist. Why would they not succumb to
John the Baptist's baptism? Because it was plainly preached
by John the Baptist, and you can find this in the gospel accounts,
that to submit to John's baptism is to confess oneself on his
way to hell without hope and help unless God saves him. And that's impossible words for
us to say apart from the grace of God. So the Pharisees and
lawyers rejected the counsel against themselves being not
baptized of John the Baptist. Another passage in the Gospel
of John, no man can come to me except the Father which has sent
me draw him and I'll raise him up at the last day. 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 to me." Comes to
me. This is wonderful, wonderful
indeed. The meaning, the meaning is everything. Oh, that we could grasp just half of what it's saying,
let alone all of it. Then we come in the fourth place
to the mandate. That mandate is spelled with
these words, deliver him from going down into the pit. Deliver him from going to hell,
if you want it in plainer terms. Let me give you another quote
out of Revelation. 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. Only the Lord Jesus
Christ has the keys to the kingdom. And if He opens that door for
you, You're a sinner whom God has saved. What can you say?
Wonderful, glorious, indeed. Number five. That's my last point,
except for the conclusion. Number five. We've had the message,
the messenger, the message, the meaning, the mandate. Now we
come to the method, the method. And that is in verse 24 of Job
33. I have found a ransom, a ransom. Oh, that is a glorious statement
indeed. Let me read it to you off my
printed page over here. If and I can find it. Here we go. This comes out of Psalm 49. 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. The price is paid. The question
is, for whom is it paid? That he should still live forever
and not see corruption. I don't know if you and I will
leave this world by dying and go to a grave, or if we live
at the time in which we do, that perhaps, perhaps, we just might be near the end.
I have no clue about it. Don't ask me about it. I don't
know anything about it. And neither does anybody else. You've heard of people on the
news. I know you've heard it. One character just not long ago,
he predicted it three times and was wrong every time and people
still following him. Now that's their fault when it
comes that many times. When the book itself says no
man knows the time, the date, or any of those things. I know
when it'll be. It'll be when God says it'll
be. And that's it. That's it. All right. Thank you for listening. Dr. Rogers, you're up next.