All right, let's look at Job
chapter 14. Job chapter 14. I've entitled the message this
evening, Death, Burial, and Resurrection. Death, Burial, and Resurrection. Now normally when you think of
death, burial, and resurrection, you think of the death, the burial,
the resurrection of Christ and of course that is the foundation
of everything that Job by inspiration of the Spirit or as recorded
by the Spirit is saying here in Job 14 as he finishes up his
answer to his three friends who had sought to bring him some
advice It was bad advice. It was truth mixed with legalism
and lies. That's what it was. And so when
we think of these things, the death, burial, and resurrection,
we think of Christ. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15, began
speaking of the resurrection of the people of God by pointing
us back to the gospel. He said that we believe the gospel,
the gospel message of God's grace in Christ which tells us how
that christ died for our sins according to the scripture and
how he was buried and raised again the third day according
to the scriptures you know many people will tell you that the
gospel is the death, burial and resurrection of christ and certainly
those historical facts those historical events are included
in the preaching of the gospel christ did die christ was buried
and christ was raised again the third day but those historical
facts alone are not the gospel you can uh... the devil knows
that jesus that he died and that he was buried and then he arose
again the third day but the devil doesn't know and believe the
gospel so what is the gospel well it's what he accomplished
it's what christ as god in human flesh because the gospel includes
his person what paul wrote in romans one it's what he accomplished
as god in human flesh the god man it's what he accomplished
in his death and in his burial and in his resurrection what
was that well it was the redemption of his people the full unconditional
redemption of his people it was the salvation that he accomplished
by putting away our sins that were laid upon him, charged to
him. He was made a curse for us. He was made sin for us. And in his death, he didn't just
die. You see, when we die, we just
die. But when he died, he died as
a substitute. When he died, he died as a surety. He died, His death, His blood
paid the debt that His sheep, His church, God's elect owed
to God's law and justice. And in that death, He put away
our sins. And in that death, He established
righteousness to be charged to our account whereby we stand
justified, not guilty, free from sin before a holy God. Now that's the foundation of
everything that Job is saying here as he closes out his first
long answer to his three friends in chapter 14. But what I'm going
to talk about too here, we're going to see that as we get down
into the passage, is the death, the burial, and the resurrection
of God's people, a believer. That's all based upon, founded
upon, and is the fruit of the death, burial, and resurrection
of Christ. Now let's talk about that. The
first thing Job states here in the first 12 verses of chapter
14 has to do with the futility of man on this earth. Futility. It's sort of when I read through
this, the first few verses of this chapter, I'll tell you exactly
what it reminded me of. It reminded me of Ecclesiastes. Vanity of vanities. All this
vanity. And we know the wise man in Ecclesiastes
is describing not the joy and the blessedness and the glory
of a sinner saved by the grace of God. Now that's in Ecclesiastes
and he brings that out. But when he talks about vanity
of vanities, all this vanity, what he's describing there is
the futility of man in sin man on this earth and the impossibility
of any hope for a sinful man in this world there's no hope
in this earth and job states that look at it he speaks of
man's hopelessness he speaks of man's helplessness in himself
look at it verse one man that is born of a woman is a few days
short of days your concordance may say short of days and it
is short no matter how you look at it i kind of wonder sometimes
if even omar foosler when he turned nine hundred and sixty
you know you live to be nine hundred sixty nine when he turned
nine hundred sixty he must've looked back said boy how short
my life has been And we think of it, man, that's a long, that's
almost a millennium, you know, for Methuselah. But I guarantee
you, it's this way for even Methuselah. Man that is born of woman is
a few days, and listen to this, and full of trouble. Full of
trouble. He says, verse 2, he cometh forth
like a flower. Think of the beauty of a flower.
Think of the beauty of youth. The beauty of a newborn babe
and the young child as he grows strong and grows up. But then it says, and is cut
down. Cut down. He fleeth also as a
shadow, the shadow that's gone, when the sun goes down and continueth
not. You say, man, this is a negative
one here. This is a downer. What's he doing here? He's describing
sinful man under the curse of sin. Sinful man over I'll just
read these passages, too If you want to mark them down if you
don't if you can't turn to them quick enough But you know over
in Genesis chapter 2 tells us where all this come from Genesis
chapter 2 and chapter 3 He's talking about the fall of man
the ruination of man by the sin of man remember God told Adam
in Genesis chapter 2 and verse 17, here's the language of the
covenant that God made with man before he fell. And I, you know,
there are theologians that argue about this, I don't know why,
it really doesn't matter, I call it a covenant of works because
it was conditional toward Adam in his state of righteousness
at that time. And God said, but of the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it,
for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. literally dying thou shalt die
Adam did not die immediately physically did he but the process
of physical death began there when Adam sinned in Genesis chapter
3 when Adam fell the process of physical death began that's
the process of aging that's when sin and death entered into the
world the wages of sin is death and you know God pronounced the
curses upon the serpent. He pronounced the curse upon
the woman. He pronounced the curse upon
man over in Genesis chapter 3. And verse 17, and on for the
fall of man, he says in verse 17 of Genesis 3, unto Adam he
said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and
hast eaten of the tree, broke the law, that's what that is,
sinned against God, rebelled against God, lifted yourself
up against God, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not
eat of it." Listen to what he says here. Cursed is the ground
for thy sake, and in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of
thy life. And he goes on, he talks about
trouble. You're in trouble, Adam. That's what Job's speaking of
here. This is it, you see, this is
man on his own. This is man in and of himself,
mankind fallen ruined mankind that's the issue man receiving
the wages of sin Romans 5 and verse 12 wherefore as by one
man sin entered into the world and death by sin and so death
passed upon all men for that all sin Adam was Job's representative
in the garden Adam was your representative in the garden when he fell We
fail. And look back over here, Job
chapter 13. Look up at verse 28, right before
he starts in chapter 14. Job 13, 28. Listen to how he
describes it here. This kind of goes with chapter
14. Kind of leads right into it. You know, it wasn't originally
written in chapters. It's just divided for our benefit.
And listen to what he says. He and he, that is man, as a
rotten thing, consumeth as a garment that is moth-eaten. Man is a
few days, and he's full of trouble. You know, in the book of Isaiah,
the prophet Isaiah in chapter 40, he makes this statement,
verse 6, listen to it. He says, all flesh is grass,
and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field.
you know what he means it comes and it goes look at this in the
verse seven the grass withereth the flower fadeth everything
that is naturally good about us not good in the moral sense
now there's none good no not one by nature there's none righteous
no not one but what he's talking about is you think about the
goodness of our health the goodness of our beauty the goodness of
our daily life. It all fades away. It may last a little longer for
some than others, but the grass withereth, the flower fadeth,
because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it. Surely the people
is grass. The grass withereth, the flower
fadeth. So what is there that's eternal?
He says the Word of our God shall stand forever. What we're doing
right here tonight And I tell you, I know it's hard sometimes
for us to think of it. You know, we come in, we may
be tired, we may be what, what we're doing right here tonight
is dealing with the only eternal things that we have in that sense. The only thing that really lasts,
you know, Peter, he, he quoted that, that prophet Isaiah in
first Peter chapter one. And he talked about the grass
withering. The only thing that stands forever is the Word of
God. Now, the question comes when you hear something like
this, you know, man's born of woman, few days full of trouble,
cometh forth like a flower, fades away, cut down, continues. Now, the question that we ask
naturally is, well, is there any way out of that mess? How
can we rise above that? Well, there's only one way. and i thought about this because
you know job starts at all fair verse one he says man that is
born of war and it's it's it's uh... it's amazing how we see
the wisdom of god how joe put that you know that scene is through
the representative man and yet we come forth from the womb of
the wall but we come through man and as in Adam all die the
scripture says and the reason I believe he puts it this way
because he's getting ready to set the stage here for the only
way that man born of woman can rise above this this fleeting
troublesome sinful death ridden life And you know what the only
way is? It's through a man born of woman.
Genesis chapter 315. The seed of woman. And you notice there, you might
just mark this, I've mentioned it before, but maybe you remember
it, maybe you don't. But you know there, he says in
Genesis 315, and this is the first recorded prophecy of the
Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man, who was the seed of woman. His humanity. God-man. And he says, I will put enmity
between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed.
It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. You
know that's a prophecy of Christ. God in human flesh. There's that issue of the gospel
that identifies his person and shows what he's going to do.
He's going to crush the head of the serpent. He's going to
remove the ground of condemnation that keeps sinners. separated
from God. He's going to bridge that gap
with his blood. That's what's going to happen.
But you notice over in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 20, it says
in verse 20, and Adam called his wife's name Eve. Now have you ever just stopped
to think that up until that point, up until Genesis chapter 3 after
the fall of man, her name was not Eve. You know what her name
was before then? Woman. That was her name. Woman. She was the only woman.
It means she came out of man. She used to be a help. But now
after the fall, she's called Eve. Well, what does Eve mean?
Well, look at Genesis 3 and verse 20. It means, because she was
the mother of all living. She's the mother of all living.
Well now, how is she going to be the mother of all living when
you consider that she fell in Adam, she fell under sin, and
when you consider things like what Job states over here in
Job 14.1, man that is born of woman is a few days, he is headed
for death, the wages of sin, and full of trouble in their
birth there's death there's trouble in between that's what joba sign
of course you know jobs coming from the point of view of the
ashley the donkey you know that and that he's not riding the
mountain high today he's down in the valley and the valleys
get more often you know that as you grow older but the thing
about it is how can't you say that he was the mother ball was
only one way And that is as Christ comes through the woman as the
seed of woman without the aid of man. Because if it weren't
for Christ, the God-man, if it weren't for the seed of woman,
Eve would not be the mother of all the living. She'd simply
be, what Job is saying right here, the mother of all the dead. That's right. There's only life
in Christ. Now Job's going to get to that.
Go back to Job 14. So how can man rise above it?
Well, there's got to be one distinguished from all men born of woman, all
mankind born of woman, that one man born of woman, the seed of
woman, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's our life. And that's how
her name can be called Eve to begin with, the mother of all
the living. Now look at verse 3, he says in Job 14, he says,
And dost thou open thine eye upon such an one, and bringest
me into judgment? It's kind of like what he's saying
here, the psalmist in Psalm 8 says, What is man that thou art mindful
of him? He's saying, God, why do you
even bother with such a creature? Why do you open your eye? Why
do you even take notice of something like us? Man born of woman, full
of trouble, sinful man. Why do you even take notice?
And especially, why would you bring us into judgment with yourself? It's almost like Job is saying,
God, why don't you just snuff us all out right now? We're not
worth it. He's showing the worthlessness of man there. Why does God even
bother with this? Well, I know the answer to that
because I've read ahead. I know, I've read the scriptures
tell us the reason God even takes notice of us and fools with us
at all is for His glory. Especially His glory in the salvation
of His people. In the person and work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's why. Because God is glorified.
You know that's an amazing thing. There's another miracle. That
God is glorified in the highest. In the salvation of a sinner.
Somebody like Job describes here. Do you know the salvation of
a sinner by the grace of God in Christ is the highest and
greatest manifestation of the glory of God that there ever
was, ever is, or ever will be? Think about it. Because in the
salvation of a sinner by the grace of God in Christ, we see
every attribute of God honored, magnified. revealed, working
consistently together just to save a sinful soul by grace and
mercy. For in Him, in Christ dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And you're complete in
Him. It's amazing, isn't it? Well,
look at verse 4. He says, Who can bring a clean
thing out of an unclean? Not one. We're born in sin, the
psalmist said. The psalmist said, Behold, I
was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
That's our heritage right there. Nothing to be proud of. You know,
people like to be proud of their heritage. Well, that's a heritage
we don't have any right to be proud of. And then he says, It's
impossible for man to do it. We're born dead in trespasses
and sins. Jeremiah wrote, That it's our
nature to sin. He said in Jeremiah 13, 23, can
the Ethiopian change his skin? No, he's born that way. Can the
leopard change his spots? No, he's born that way. Then
may you also do good that are accustomed to doing evil? No,
we're born that way. Isn't that right? and understand
now that's good according to God's standard cause I mean you
know people look around and they're like Eliphaz and and Bildad and
Zophar they say well I see guys doing good all the time I think
I do good now wait a minute now what standard are you going by
you know if you're going by God's standard it's a different it's
a different ballgame there isn't it it's a different matter all
together cause God's standard of good is in Christ That's why
he's going to judge the world in righteousness by Christ. So
think about that. And so who can do this? Well,
not one, he says. There's no power in man. There's
no hope in man. There's no possibility for man
to remedy this situation and be clean in God's sight. Can't
do it. Religion won't do it. Reformation
won't do it. Baptism won't do it. Turning
over a new leaf will not do it. It just will not do it. Look
over at Job 15. Look across the page. This is
Eliphaz talking here later on, but look what he says in verse
14 there. He says, What is man that he should be clean, and
he which is born of woman that he should be righteous? Man's
not naturally clean or righteous, and he can't make himself so
by deeds of the law. He says, verse 15, Behold, he
putteth no trust in his saints, that is God. He doesn't even
trust his holy ones. That's who that is. You see here,
Eliphaz is still speaking some truth. Now he's going to cloud
it all over with a lot of lies, but we'll get to that next time.
He says, yea, the heavens are not clean in God's sight. How
much more abominable and filthiest man which drinketh iniquity like
water. Same thing Jeremiah is saying.
Even Eliphaz recognizes that. It's amazing how a person can
read something like that or say something like that and quote
something like that and be like Eliphaz and think that they are
good in cleaning God's sight because he does. You'll see it
when we get to chapter 15. You see, man, he can clean the
outside of the cup. He can appear righteous unto
men, but he cannot clean the inside. He cannot clean the heart.
He cannot be clean before God. What's the only way that a sinner
can be clean? Well, David spoke of it in Isaiah,
or in the book of Psalm, Psalm 51. He says in verse 7, Psalm
51 he said purge me that means cleanse me with hyssop and I
shall be clean what's the significance of that hyssop well that was
a brush it was made from a plant hyssop and that's what the high
priest used to dip down in the blood of the sacrifice and sprinkle
the blood in the holy place over the mercy seat so what's David
saying here He's saying, purge me, cleanse me with the blood
of the sacrifice, the blood of the lamb, the blood of Christ.
The blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sin. Nothing else will do it. He says
in, he says, wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. Remember
we read about that last time. Come let us reason together,
though your sins be scarlet, they'll be white as snow. He
says in verse 8, make me to hear joy and gladness that the bones
which thou hast broken may rejoice. Job is sitting there with broken
bones, so to speak. And then he says, hide thy face
from my sins and blot out all my iniquities, creating me a
clean heart. A clean heart is a heart of faith
in Christ, cleansed by the blood of Christ. That's the creation
of God. There's the only hope for it.
Look back at Job 14. Look at verse 5. He says, seeing
his days, this is man now who can bring a clean thing out of
an unclean, not one. Seeing his days are determined.
The number of his months are with thee. Thou hast appointed
his bounds that he cannot pass. This is God's doing here. God's
appointed the boundaries of our life. When we were born, God
determined that. How long we live, God determined
that. When we die, God determined that. We can't pass it. We can't get
past that. That's what he's saying. And
he says in verse six, turn from him that he may rest till he
shall accomplish as an hireling in his day. What Job is saying
there is give me relief. It's like the old comedian, you
know, when they got up in the tree with a, with a wild cat
or something. And then the guy comes along
with a shotgun. He says, well, I can't see the
shoot. And he said, well, just shoot up here amongst us. One of us
needs relief. And that's the way it is. That's the way Job
feels at this time. He says, turn from him, turn
from me. Now he's not asking God to forget
him because we're going to see that in just a moment. He says,
remember me. But he's talking about his affliction. He's talking
about his pain. He's talking about his sorrow.
He's talking about these chastisements and he says, turn from me that
I may rest. that word rest means cease, it
means stop i want the pain to go away that's what job's saying
he's human folks he's not super man he's not even super christian
you know i think people get the idea you know that's a super
christian no he's just a sinner saved by grace he's a christian
i know that name hadn't come into existence yet as far as
the as man is concerned but he's following christ and he just
saying help He says, till he shall accomplish, as in Hylian,
his day. What he's saying, until I finish
out the day, just like a workman. Even a workman, he works a hard
day, and then he gets some rest at the end of it. Like a workman,
I want to get to the end of this day, and I want some rest. I
want some peace. I want some relief. And so he
knows that God's, it's in God's sovereign providence. God's governing
this whole thing. Look at verse 7. Now, he goes
to an illustration, and he talks about nature. And there's something
real significant here. Listen to this. He says, verse
7, For there is the hope of a tree, the hope of a tree, if it be
cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch
thereof will not cease. He says, Though the root thereof
wax or grow old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in
the ground, yet through the scent of water it will bud." Just smells
water, it'll bud forth. A little sprout come out on a
stump. I've seen that happen. Dead tree. But a little sprout comes out.
Just the smell of water, he said. And bring forth boughs like a
plant. Branches. He says, but man dieth
and wasteth away. Man dies, and in that sense,
he's cut off from this life. That's what he's talking about
now. He says, yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?
You can't find him. I know they got TV programs all
over the place about ghosts and ghost hunters and all that. That's
just a bunch of junk, is all it is. And that's all it is. He says in verse 11, he says,
as the waters fail from the sea and the flood decayeth and dryeth
up, here today gone to Mars, so man lieth down and riseth
not till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake nor be raised
out of their sleep. Talking about the sleep of death.
So here's what he's saying. He's saying death for a tree
is not the end of that tree's life here on earth. It can sprout
again. But death for a man is the end
of his life here on this earth. He won't sprout again. You won't
sprout again. So we desire not to spend it
suffering. That's what Job is saying. I
don't want, what little time I have here, I don't want to
spend it in just, you know, out here on this ash heap and this
dung heap. If suffering is the case, then it's better to die
and end this life altogether. And Job had expressed that before,
expressed it back in chapter three. You remember he said,
I wish I'd never been born, but since I have been born, I wish
I'd died at birth. And if I didn't die at birth,
I wish I'd just die right now. He's hurting. Well, there's two
things that take notice here. Number one is simply what he's
been saying all along. There is no hope for man in this
life. Now, there's just not. No hope
for man in this life. The environment can't give you
life. Work can't give you life. Relatives can't give you life.
It's all going to come to death. But here's the second thing.
There is a hope of resurrection for man. And you know what is
one of God's Reminders of that to us? One of God's testimonies?
Nature itself is a testimony that God is able to bring dead
things to life. Look at the tree. Look at the
leaves in the fall, the trees in the fall. They die, don't
they? But in the spring, they sprout back up. They come to
life. They actually die now. They don't just lay dormant.
It's a death. But God has put that process in nature itself
so that you and me can look at that and say, what happened? Who did that? No man did it. Man cannot bring life from death.
He tries. He thinks he can create life
in a test tube, but he really can't. Man cannot bring life
out of death, but God can. God can. The heavens declare
the glory of God. The firmament His handiwork.
God can and does bring life out of death. Christ used that symbol
for His own death. You remember He said in John
chapter 12 and verse 24, He said, Accept a seed of wheat, fall
into the ground, and do what? Die. It cannot bring forth fruit. It has to die to bring forth
fruit. But if it died, it will bring
forth much fruit, he says. Christ himself is portrayed in
prophecy as one who comes, who brings life out of death himself. In Isaiah chapter 11 and verse
1, listen to this, it says, There shall come forth a rod out of
the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
Now let me tell you about the stem of Jesse. It was full of
men and women who fell into death in Adam. And yet out of that
stem of Jesse, out of that mess, through the seed of woman will
come life, a branch, a healthy, strong, living branch. His name
is the Lord Jesus Christ. Out of him, we get life from
the dead. Think about it. And this is Christ
the branch, you see. Well, look where Job goes from
there. Look at verse 13. Now, here's the hope of man.
Up to this point, there's been no hope for man, but he's talking
about this life now. In other words, if you're looking
for salvation in this earth or in yourself or in this worldly
physical being, you are going to be an abject failure. It's
not going to happen. But so where are we going to
get it? Well, look at verse 13. Here's the hope of man in God
alone. Here it is. He says in verse
13, Oh, that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest
keep me secret until thy wrath be passed, that thou wouldest
appoint me a set time and remember me. Underscore that, remember
me. You know what he's talking about? He's talking about death, burial,
and resurrection. That's what he's talking about.
Isn't that amazing? Hide me in the grave. I read
one fellow who said Job's wanting to be buried alive there. Are
you crazy? No, he's talking about, I want
to die. I want to go to the grave and sleep the sleep of death.
Now don't get, don't draw some kind of theological inference
here of soul sleep or anything like that. The death of a believer
is often called sleep in the Scripture, because there is a
rest. I believe our spirits go to be with the Lord. But Job's
talking from a man's point of view here, and he's saying, let
me die and sleep the sleep of death until all this trouble
is passed, and thou wouldest appoint me a set time to be there. I'm not going to stay there.
And remember me. Job longs for the sleep of death
as it is appointed by God, a set time. He said back there in verse
5, our days are numbered, our boundaries are set. Why? Why do you want that, Job? Why
do you want to die? So I can find some relief from
all this suffering here on earth and the wrath of God against
this evil world, this trouble, trouble, man. A few days full
of trouble. I'm tired of the trouble. But
not as an end in itself, just for a set time. Who sets the
time? God does. And then he says, remember
me. What do you think of when you
hear that? I think of the dying thief. Lord, remember me when
you come into your kingdom. He speaks of His coming out of
the grave in resurrection, which is also fixed, even the last
day, the day that God has appointed to judge the world in righteousness
by Christ, in which time the dead will be raised. And you
say, well, how do you know He's talking about that? Well, read
the next verses. Read on. Look at verse 14. He
says, well, if a man dies, shall he live again? Now here's the
answer, Job is making a point in answer to his three friends
here now. He says, all the days of my appointed time will I wait. Now that word wait, hold your
finger there, turn back over to chapter 13 and look at verse
15 again. Look at this. chapter 13 verse 15 remember
he says there though he slay me yet will I trust in him that
word wait over here in Job 14 14 is the exact same word in the
original as trust in chapter 13 though he slay me yet will
I trust exact same word you see the waiting there is a hope it's
a trusting And he says back over here in Job 14, 14, if a man
dies, shall he live again all the days of my appointed time?
Will I trust? Will I hope? Till what? Till my change come. What change,
Job? The resurrection of this body.
unto eternal life and glory which brings a saved sinner into perfect
conformity to Christ and eternal communion with God. We read it
over in 1 Corinthians 15. We shall all be changed. This corruptible, and Job is
feeling that corruption, this corruptible must put on incorruption. You see, our death and burial
will end in glorious resurrection because of the death, burial,
and resurrection of Christ. The righteousness of Christ demands
our resurrection unto glory. For as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so must grace reign through righteousness unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord. You see, He was made sin. Christ
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. His righteousness charged to
us demands our resurrection unto life. Just as it did His as our
representative and substitute. Look at verse 15 of Job 14. Here's
another proof of it. Listen. He says, Thou shalt call. God's going to call. God's going
to summon. And I'll answer thee. You see,
this is a sure thing. Thou wilt have a desire to work
of thine hands. Thou wilt have a desire to the
work of thine hands. What that means is this. God's
going to call in this resurrection. His people will answer. This
is the final calling unto glory and resurrection. Just like when
Christ stood at the tomb of Lazarus and said, Lazarus, come forth. What happened? Lazarus came forth. And that's the way it's going
to be with us, who die in the Lord. You see, in the new birth
Christ called, and we came forth when the Holy Spirit gave us
life. We came forth under the preaching of the gospel. In the
resurrection of the dead, Christ will call, and we'll come forth
then, too, by His command. And God will have His desire.
That last line there in verse 15, Thou wilt have a desire to
the work of thine hands. God's going to have His desire,
the work of His hands. Who's He talking about? His people.
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
We're His work. You see? He that began a good
work in us, He'll complete it. He'll finish it to the end. You
see, the gospel is not that God wants to save you, but you won't
let Him. No, the gospel is He calls, you
come forth. Why? Because Christ put away
your sins. Look at verse 16. He says, For
now thou numberest my steps, dost thou not watch over my sin?
He says, My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and thou
sowest up mine iniquity. Here's the ground of every bit
of it now, right here. What is the ground of all this
blessing that saves us, that gives us life in the new birth,
that keeps us, preserves us, and will eventually bring us
to eternal glory? What's the ground of all of it?
Here's what Job's saying, God, you'll watch over every step
I take. He is my God. But you won't keep track. You
won't keep a record of my sin. My sins will be stuffed in a
sack and sewed up and thrown into the sea, sunk in a deep
ocean. You see, when Job says, remember
me, he's understanding that God will not remember his sins anymore. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth not iniquity. God made him sin who knew no
sin that we might be made the righteousness of God. You see,
Christ made an end of sin. He finished the transgression.
He brought in righteousness. We read that over in Isaiah chapter
38 in the opening of our service tonight where Isaiah said, For
thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back. God was in Christ,
reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses
unto them. He says in Jeremiah 31 and verse
34, For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember
their sin no more. Listen to this. This is Micah
chapter 7. Listen to this. Verse 18. Micah
7 and verse 18. Micah says, the prophet, who
is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth
by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth
not his anger forever because he delighteth in mercy. He will
turn again. He will have compassion on us.
He will subdue our iniquities and thou will cast all their
sins into the depths of the sea. Now how does God do that? Exactly
how he did it. He imputed them. He charged them
to Christ. And Christ died for those sins. That's exactly right. Let me
read you one more in Psalm 103. Listen to this. I love this one. I love them all. But this especially
for this message here. Psalm 103 verse 8. The psalmist
writes, Psalm of David, he says, the Lord is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide,
neither will he keep his anger forever. He hath not dealt with
us after our sins. Now notice it doesn't say there,
he hath not dealt with our sins. It says he hath not dealt with
us after ours. He dealt with our sins. He dealt
with them on Calvary's cross. He punished them to the fullest,
nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven
is high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that
fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath
He removed our transgressions from us." That's what Job is
saying here. You've sewn up my iniquity. You
put it in a bag and sew it up and it cannot be found. There's
no record of sin against me. I'm a sinner saved by grace.
I'm righteous in Christ. There's no record of sin against
me in God's law books. And that's it. Now in the rest
of this chapter, Job 14, let me just read through it. He puts
a contrast here. And here's the contrast. Here
is eternal life and glory. Here is our death, but our burial
and our resurrection in Christ. But in this earth there's no
hope. Here's the contrast. The futility of earthly life
contrasted with the glory of eternal life in Christ. And here's
what he says. Look at verse 18. Surely the
mountain falling cometh to naught or nothing, and the rock is removed
out of its place, the waters wear the stones. That's erosion.
And thou washest away the things which grow out of the dust of
the earth, and thou destroyest the hope of man." What is he
saying? There's no hope of salvation and glory in nature, in the environment. I'm all for taking care of our
land and our environment and all that, but don't think that's
going to last. It's not going to last forever.
No hope there. Look at verse 20, Thou prevailest
forever against him, and he passeth. Thou changest his countenance
and sendest him away. What is that? No hope of salvation
and glory in man's efforts to change it. God always wins out. We can try to change it, but
it won't last. Whatever we change for the better,
somebody else will come by and change for the worse. And it'll
keep getting worse and worse and worse. Verse 21, his sons
come to honor and he knoweth it not and they are brought low
but he perceiveth it not of them. What's he saying? No hope of
salvation and glory in our children, in our descendants. Now that's
very important for the Jewish mindset. The Jews thought that
eternal life was gained by the number of descendants you have.
Oh no. You can have a thousand descendants. But he says, they're going to
come to honor, you won't even know it, you'll be dead. That's
right. You won't get any benefit from
them. They're brought low and you perceive it not. They'll
either come... Listen, you may have a successful
son and daughter, you may have an abject failure, but if you're
dead, you won't even know it. There's no hope in them. That
won't do. Do you no good as far as eternal
life? And then verse 22, he says, but
his flesh upon him shall have pain and his soul within him
shall mourn. There's no hope of salvation
and glory in ourselves. These physical bodies. This body
is dead because of sin. The spirit is life because of
righteousness. Our only hope of salvation and
glory is in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. The
crucified and risen Lord of glory. All right.