Songs of the Covenant, like that. Express the gospel, don't they,
Alan and Gail? Songs that are full of truth. We sing what we believe, what
we preach. And I thank God for that. Sing
it from the heart. Alright, Job chapter 6. Job chapter 6. This is the first
reply of Job to his friend named Eliphaz. Eliphaz had just finished
speaking to Job about his problem. As we've seen as we went through
chapters 4 and 5, we saw that Eliphaz was one who spoke a lot
of truth, a lot of truth. But he misapplied that truth,
and man can do that. I think about how many false
preachers today read their Bibles and quote scripture, but they
don't know the reality of God's grace in Christ, and they misapply
it, like so many that we hear. Eliphaz was one of them. And
so Job begins in chapter 6, and it continues through chapter
7 to answer his first answer. to this man. Now basically, Eliphaz
had told Job something to this effect. Job, you have a problem,
obviously. He says, you've sown evil in
your life, some unconfessed sin, and therefore that's the reason
you're suffering. And his whole demeanor, his whole
attitude towards Job as he's saying these things to Job is,
well, if I was doing the same thing, I'd be like you. But I'm
not. Therefore, I'm well off. And so Eliphaz has told Job,
Job, all you have to do now is confess that sin. Let's find
out what it is. And let's confess it. And then
you repent of it. And then God will bless you again.
He all will be fine. And you know what he's preaching
there. You know the kind of gospel. It's a false gospel that Eliphaz
is preaching. It's just like the modern day
health and wealth gospel. Now, we know the truth about
our sins. We who know the Lord. We are
all sinners, including Job. We all need salvation by God's
grace in Christ at all times. There's not one second of our
life that we could say, well, on this moment in time, I don't
need Him anymore. I can go out on my own. We all
need to continually repent. We need to be brought to repentance
initially in the new birth. Repentance of dead works and
idolatry that brings us to Christ. And we need to repent daily,
don't we? Just of the fact that we fall
short of God's standard of holiness and righteousness. And that continual
repentance is what continually keeps us looking to and resting
in Christ as our hope. We need Him just as much today
as we ever needed Him. In fact, and I believe this is
so, I used to, when you hear people preach this, you know,
and you enter into it, and it's true, that the more we grow in
grace and knowledge, the more we see our sinfulness, and the
more we see The perfection and the mercy and the grace of God
in Christ. And the more we value Him. That's
growth. That's what spiritual growth...
That's the foundation of spiritual growth. It's valuing Christ more. That's what makes us want to
obey Him more. That's what makes us want to
honor Him more. So Eliphaz is not wrong in saying,
Job, you're a sinner and you need to repent. That wasn't his
problem. But his counsel was dead wrong. It was legalism to the core.
God hates legalism. Legalism, that's deadly. That's what legalism is. Work
salvation, that's what it is. Now Job's tragic state here was
not the result of divine judgment for some hidden sin, or past
sin. We know that because we know
the rest of the story, as the man on radio used to say. Because
we started out, we saw the counsel in heaven. And we know that God has a purpose
in Job's ordeal. Even Job doesn't see it all.
He doesn't see it all yet. He's learning as he goes along.
He's just like the rest of it, sometimes in this thing of providence.
And when I say providence, you know, as I said, we mean God's
government of our lives and what happens day to day. We're not
talking about eternity now. We know the issues of eternity.
But what happens day to day, and the whys and the wherefores,
we know God's in control. We know all things will work
together for good because God is the God who works all things
after the counsel of his own will. But many times during our
lives, every day, we just don't flat understand why God would
allow this to happen or not do this for us, do we? And so we grope in the dark,
as it were. And that's what Job is doing.
Many of the statements that you're going to hear Job make, you might
ask the question, well, how can a man who knows Christ make a
statement like that? Well, if you've ever been in
trouble, if you've ever been in tragedy, if you've ever been
downcast, brought down, I believe you'll understand it. God has
a purpose. And Eliphaz is completely ignorant
of that purpose. And let me tell you something.
Here's Job sitting on the ash heap there. Somebody comes along
and gives him a self-righteous speech. That's the last thing
he needed. No self-righteous speech about
sowing and reaping can help Job who's groping for an answer.
And so he begins his response. Now, I've entitled this message,
What Is My Strength?, because Job poses that question later
on. But I want you to notice as we
go through these verses here in chapter 6, that many of the
questions that Job raises throughout the whole book, many of the issues
that he poses, really gives us some cause to stop and think
and consider ourselves. and consider and examine ourselves
and our relationship with Christ. Because that's much needed, isn't
it? The first thing Job talks about is, and you know Eliphaz,
he admonished Job for his rash words. In chapter 3, Job, his
rash words. Well, Job expresses in the first
few verses of chapter 6 that he's saying, well, I've got a
good reason for these rash words. Listen to what he says. Look
at verse 1 of chapter 6. He says, but Job answered and
said, oh, that my grief were thoroughly weighed. This is a
heavy burden, he says. And my calamity laid in the balances
together. He says, let's weigh this out
now. Let's look at what I'm going through. You'd have to admit
that Job is suffering like very few men do in many ways. He lost everything. He says in
verse 3, he says in chapter 6 in verse 3, he says, for now it
would be heavier than the sand of the sea. That's the way he
feels. He's expressing his feelings now. He's not exaggerating. Think about it. If you lost everything
you have, and your health too, he says, therefore my words are
swallowed up. Swallowed up how? In grief. That's
what he says. He's talking out of his grief.
He says in verse 4, for the arrows of the Almighty are within me.
He recognizes that this is from God. Now Satan was the instrument. I read some commentators on this
and they said, see Job, he's wrong. God wasn't doing this,
Satan did. Yes, Satan was the instrument, but he only did it
by permission of God. And I believe Job recognizes
that ultimately God's in control here. This is a chastisement. He says,
the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit. This is killing my
spirit, he says. You know, you go through tragedies
such as this, you just don't feel You just don't feel like
going on. I was telling Debbie, I said,
you know, sometimes you just get to the point you just want
to quit. You've been there, haven't you? I've been there. And that's why God's Word continually
tells us to faint not. Faint not. Don't quit. Well, we know if it weren't for
the grace of God, what would we do? We'd quit. We'd stop. We'd fall a thousand times a
day. But Job is saying, he says, killin' my spirit. He said, the
terrors of God do set themselves in array against me. He feels
like God is against him. I can understand how he feels
that way. He says in verse 5, doth the
wild ass brave when he hath grass? He says the old donkey, he doesn't
complain when he's eatin' good grass, when he's full. What Job,
his point is, is this, I'm not doing this just complaining.
I'm hurting, he's saying. He says, or loweth the ox over
his father. If the ox is fed and full, he's
content. He said, but I'm hurting. He
says in verse 6, can that which is unsavory be eaten without
salt? Talking about his tragedies.
It's like eating food that just doesn't taste good. You know,
Job, Really, we're going to see when he comes to the end of this
chapter. He's really saying, I'm no hypocrite here. And Job
is speaking the truth. Why would you eat unsavory food
and act like it tastes good when it don't? You know, God doesn't
command us to be false. He commands us to be true, but
hold on to that thought, we'll get back to it. He says, can
that which is unsavory be eaten without salt, or is there any
taste in the white of an egg? Now you think about that. I guess they didn't like the
whites of an egg. But you know there is no taste in the white
of an egg if you just ate the white, put a little salt or something
on it, you know you got to have something with it. But he says
tasteless. Look at verse 7. He says, The
things that my soul refused to touch are as my sorrowful meat. Sorrow. Sorrow. Now one thing that I can see
here is I look at Job often as a type of Christ. And I think
about that when I see a man sorrowing like this one of God's children
because I think of the sorrows of our Lord. Spoke of them this
morning. He bore our sorrows, He bore our grief because He
was going through such indescribable agony because of the sin of His
sheep imputed and charged to Him that He could not even look
up. And what He went through unto
death. And I do see Job as a type of Christ here suffering for
our sins. because whatever you say, however
God intends this, whatever purpose He has for Job, we do recognize
that the sufferings of this earth are ultimately the result of
sin. It's not some particular sin
which we can self-righteously look for here, but it's something
that Job is going through because he's a human being in this world. And this body is dead because
of sin, we know that. And then here, beginning at verse
8, here's the second thing in his response. Job, he expresses
again his desire to die. Now, he expressed that before.
Remember in chapter 3? He had three stages of it that
he went through. In chapter 3, he said, I wish
I'd never been born, but since I have been born, I wish I'd
died at birth, but since I didn't die at birth, I wish I could
die now. That was his progression. You
know, what a life, you know. Doesn't sound like the health
and wealth gospel that we hear today, does it? But look here, he says in verse
8, he said, Oh, that I might have my request. Well, what is
your request? Just to die and go on to be with
the Lord. Have you ever known a true child
of God who suffered so much in this life that he or she was
just ready to go on to be with the Lord. I've known that. I've
seen it. I can remember an old friend and brother of ours when
I was pastoring in Cottagefield, Brother Jack Smith. He had emphysema.
And I can remember being in his room. He was on his deathbed
and just watching him struggle for breath. And you know what
his request was? Just let me die and go on to
be with the Lord. I've never been that... I've
never suffered like that in myself. Suffered, but not like that.
And that's how Job is suffering here. Oh, that I might have my
request. Job had a confident hope in the
Lord. He saw death like Paul saw it.
To die is to be in the presence of our Savior. To die is to be
free of the pains and sorrows of this life. He says, oh, that
I might have my request and that God would grant me the thing
that I long for, I desire. Verse 9, he says, even that it
would please God to destroy me, that he would let loose his hand
and cut me off. That is from this life. That's
what Job is saying. A lot of times when you see the
term cut off in the scripture, it means alienated from God.
That's not what Job is talking about here. He said, cut me off
from this life, from this sorrow. From this grief, from this pain.
And he says in verse 10, look at it. He says, then should I
yet have comfort. You see, there's his hope. It's
in Christ. Christ is our comfort. He's our
salvation. He's our peace. He's our safety.
Oh, to be like him. That's what Job is saying. When
I think about again the suffering of our Savior and the glory which
he was brought to. It was that joy, Hebrews 12 says,
that was set before him, the joy of his own glory as the Lord
of lords and the king of kings. The joy of the glory of his father
based upon his suffering unto death as he paid for our sins
and established a righteousness that enables God to be just and
justifier. The joy of the salvation of his
people. All that joy. And all that's
expressed here in the comfort of Job. This is my comfort. Blessed,
blessed are they who die in the Lord. Precious in the sight of
the Lord is the death of his saints. He says, then should
I have yet comfort, yea, I would harden myself in sorrow. I believe
that Job as he longed for death because he didn't want to become
hardened under sorrow. I believe he realized his own
sinfulness, his own potential if God were to allow him to go
the way that the flesh would go. You can become hardened under
sorrow. Let him not spare. Don't spare
me. That's what he's saying. For
I have not concealed the words of the Holy One. Now that's an
interesting phrase. That Holy One. Who is that? That's
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's God in human flesh, whom
Job saw as the promised Messiah. And again, he's expressing his
good hope in the Holy One. I have not concealed the words
of the Holy One. I depend on the Word of God.
That's what Job is saying. I don't depend on your wordy
life as. You come along here preaching
your health and wealth gospel, Lifting yourself up In your in
your guile in your self-righteousness. I depend on the Word of God and
the Word of God is summarized and and Centralized and founded
upon the Holy One God's promise to send a Redeemer a Messiah
So that I might live forever washed in his blood and clothed
in his righteousness. That's what he's saying. I having
the testimony of a good conscience within him. You know what the
testimony of a good conscience is? It's guilt removed by the
blood of Christ. Did you know that? You see, most
people, when they think of the testimony of a good conscience,
they think about, well, I wish I can say at the end of the day
that I did everything I should have done. But that's really
not the testimony of a good conscience. The testimony of a good conscience
is condemnation and guilt removed looking to Christ, depending
upon Him, pleading His blood and righteousness alone. That's
how the guilty conscience is soothed and brought to peace.
And so Job, having the testimony of a good conscience in himself
by the grace of God, He acted sincerely and upright. He hadn't
concealed the words of God. He hadn't forgotten the word
of God. It's written on his heart. That's where the word of God
is written, by the Spirit, when he does his great work. And having
knowledge of a living Redeemer, the Holy One, and faith in Him,
and in His justifying righteousness, Job was not afraid to die. Now Eliphaz said, Job, you're
a hypocrite. Well, to prove him wrong, Job
lets him know he's not afraid to die, he desires it. He cared
not how soon he left this world. And to appear before God the
judge of all? How are we going to appear before
God the judge of all? There's only one way for a child
of God to appear before Him. And that is in Christ. Not having
our own righteousness, which is of the law, But that which
is through the faith of Christ. And also, by the grace of God,
Job himself had not cursed and totally departed from the living
God. Now, he had some questions. He
had some pain. He said some... Actually, he's
going to say some worse things than you see here. But he does not depart from the
living God. He said, I've not concealed the
words of the Holy One. And out of all his pain and all
his rashness, he did not deny or curse God. You know what that's
a testimony of? Grace, grace, and more grace. Where sin has abounded, grace
did much more abound. That's what Job... That's the
lesson of Job. And so look at verse 11. So he
says, What is my strength? That's what I entitled this message.
What is my strength? that I should hope. And what
is my end that I should prolong my life? Now there it tells you
what he's talking about, what Job has on his mind. You know,
sometimes I think we get in trouble, we preachers do, when we try
to climb into the minds of those in the scripture, the apostles,
and try to figure out and theologize what they're saying. Sometimes
we just better leave it alone. I often wonder about the disciples,
you know, But I realize that we're all human beings by nature,
sinners. Well, here we're given a view
into Job's mind. Now, he says, what is my strength
that I should hope? Well, Job, don't you have any
hope? Well, he just said, I've not concealed the words of the
Holy One. That's an expression of hope. That's an expression
of confidence, not in himself, but in the Holy One, in Christ.
That's why I love that hymn so much. My hope is built on nothing
less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. And I dare not trust the sweetest
friend. See, he's keeping his eyes glued on Christ. But when
he says, when he asks that question, what is my strength that I should
hope? Now here's Job sitting on the
ash heap, the dung heap of the town of Uz. Whatever that is. And he said, fellas, I'm spent. That's what he's saying. I'm
spent. I don't have any strength now. He knew his strength was
the Lord. And he says, what's he talking
about? Well, what is mine end that I should prolong my life?
Why should I live any longer in this life? I don't have any
strength. That's what he's saying. I have
nothing to live for in this life. He's speaking of this present
life and his present state. And I thought about this, what
a picture of man in his natural law state here. And it's almost like Job is saying,
now my hope is in the Lord, but I have no hope in this life,
in this world, in myself. I have no strength. I trust in
the Holy One, the Holy One of Israel. He's my strength. I want to go to Him. That's what
he's saying. What is my strength? What is
my strength in salvation? Christ is my strength. He's my
stronghold. He's my high tower. He's my rock
upon which I stand. I have no other strength. You
know that when it comes to salvation and blessing and a relationship
with God, we are totally, totally impotent. I mean totally, that's
what total depravity is, totally impotent. In our minds, in our
affections, in our wills, we're totally impotent. That's why
when God the Holy Spirit brings us, gives us life, and brings
us to salvation, what does He reveal to us? He reveals to us
through Christ, His glorious person as God-man, God in human
flesh, That's Christ's power and ability. His name shall be
called Jesus, for he shall save us from our sins, his people.
And his name shall be called Emmanuel, which being interpreted,
God with us. And the finished work of Christ
on the cross, Christ in him crucified, which the world sees as foolishness,
but which we, by the power of the Spirit, see how? As the wisdom
and the power of God. There's the power. It's the power
of Christ and Him crucified by which He was raised from the
dead and we live upon Him. He lives in us and we live upon
Him and by Him. But now in this life, think about
it. I want to put something else
to you on this. Think about this. We say we have no power in salvation
and we don't. Our salvation is totally, totally,
totally of the Lord. Isn't that right? Well, let me
give you some news. Give myself some news. We really
don't have any power in this life either, except it's given
by God. You who work hard, work hard
and do a good day's work, that's a gift from God. That's right. You who work with your minds,
think hard. That's a gift from God. You know
He can take it away. And as I've said often from this
pulpit, even the next breath you take, the power of that breath
is given you by God. What is my strength? My strength
is of God. He says, look at verse 12 now.
Now here He says, is my strength the strength of stones? Or is
my flesh a brass?" Now, what he's saying here to Eliphaz,
he said, what do you think I'm made of? You think I'm made of
stone? You think I'm made of brass?
You think these things can come on me and not affect me? Well,
that's impossible. When God brings tragedy and chastisement
in your life, what did we read over in Hebrews chapter 12 last
time? It's grievous. You're not made of stone. You're
not statues. We're people of flesh and blood
and we hurt and we sorrow. He says in verse 13, is not my
help in me and is wisdom driven quite from me? What he's saying
there, it's kind of confusing the way they translate it, but
literally it would go like this. I have no help in me. Is not
my help in me? Is there any help in me? The
answer is no. And is wisdom driven quite from me? Is there any wisdom?
You see, I have no help. I have no help in myself. I have
no wisdom in myself. I have no help within myself
to get me out of this. Oh, I'll try the avenues. When
I get sick, I'll go to the doctor and I'll take the prescribed.
But really, really, it's all up to the Lord. And I have no
wisdom to figure all this out. You can't figure it out. Now
that's just it. I can't figure it out. But I
know who knows the end from the beginning. I know who declares
the end from the beginning. I know who has purposed all things
after the counsel of his own will, and I'm content to leave
it to him. And maybe one day he'll let me
in on it. Maybe. You say, that's not good enough
for me. Well, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for you. I can remember
a time when it wasn't good enough for me. Look at verse 14. Here's the
third thing. Job expresses his need for understanding
and kindness from his friends now. He knows his relationship
with God. He said, my hope is in the Holy
One. Now he says, but now you, you
fellas, We're on the same boat. We're sinners in need of grace.
I need help. I need understanding from you.
I need kindness from you. Listen to what he says in verse
14. He says, "...to him that is afflicted,
pity should be shewed from his friend." I don't need your self-righteous
quippings accusing me of being a hypocrite. If I am a hypocrite,
listen, if I am a hypocrite, I can't fool God. He says, but he forsaketh the
fear of the Almighty. This Eliphaz. He wasn't expressing
fear of the Lord when he spoke it the way he did to Job. He
says in verse 15, my brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook
and as the stream of brooks they pass by. In other words, there's
no foundation. There's no stable, stable truth
there. It's like a brook that flows
by. It changes all the time. It changes with the wind. He
says in verse 16, which are blackish by reason of the ice, and wherein
the snow is hid. It's like a mirage in the desert. And I thought about this. You
know what he's saying here? It's a good description of false
religion. It's like a mirage in the desert. You think you're
going to be satisfied. You think your thirst is going
to be quenched, but when you get there, you drink nothing
but sand. And it's like this pond that he's talking about.
Blackish reason of that? It's like a pond covered with
ice. You think you can stand on it, but when you get out there,
you just break through the ice and sink down. He says in verse
17, what time they grow wax or grow warm, they vanish. When
the heat comes, when the tragedy comes, what happens? It breaks
through. You see, that's why we stand
upon the rock Christ Jesus. When the heat comes to Him, He
won't break through. That's why we drink from the
brook Christ Jesus, the water of life, the fountain of life.
He's not a mirage. You run to Him, He'll quench
your thirst. Blessed are they who hunger and
thirst after righteousness. They'll be filled. False religion
is a mirage. False religion is the ice that
breaks through. There's no foundation. He says,
what time they wax warm, they vanish. When it is hot, they
are consumed out of their place. Verse 18, the paths of their
way are turned aside and they go to nothing and perish. Salvation
by the works and the will of man. That's a good description
of it right there, isn't it? In other words, he's saying,
Eliphaz, what you're telling me has no foundation, no solid
rock to stand on, no satisfaction there. It's just self-righteous
religion that'll fall. You see, it doesn't cause a sinner
in pain to look to Christ, but to look to himself. He says in
verse 19, the troops of Tima, looked, and companies of Sheba
waited for them, like that army from Tima that rides through
the desert, and they're wanting to stop at that oasis and water
their horses. And the place of Sheba, the armies
of Sheba, that's what he's talking about, the caravans that come
from there, but they find no water. It's a mirage. He says they were confounded
because they had hoped, just like people in false religion.
without Christ, without truth, without grace. They have hope,
but it's sham religion. It's not a good foundation. He
says they came thither, they came there, and they were ashamed.
It's like those who say, I know when I die, I'm going to go to
heaven. And they stand there like those
false preachers in Matthew chapter 7, pleading their works as their
righteousness, only to hear him say, Depart from me ye that work
iniquity, I never knew you. And they're ashamed. They're
ashamed. In verse 21, he says, For now
you are nothing, you see my casting down, and are afraid. You're
just like them, Eliphaz. You're just like those troops.
They go to war. It's like these religions, they're
going to fight sin. And they don't even realize that
they're allies of sin. They're like those caravans that
promise goods and blessings. And they end up ashamed. They're
fruitless. And all they do is give a false
hope to a sinner. And he says here in verse 29,
you're nothing to me. Your words are nothing. You see
my casting down and you're afraid. And what he's talking about is
legal fear there. You better get right with God.
You better clean up and get right with God or he'll get you. That's
legal fear. We'll look at the last few verses
here. Job expresses his desire to be taught. Verse 22, he says,
Did I say bring unto me or give a reward for me of your substance?
Did I ask you for your help? That's what he's saying here.
Did I ask you to help me, to reward me, to give me of your
substance, verse 23, or deliver me from the enemy's hand or redeem
me from the hand of the mighty? Did I ask you to deliver or redeem
or save me? He says in verse 24, teach me
and I will hold my tongue. I'll shut up if you've got anything
worth saying. Words of grace. Words of salvation,
words of comfort, words of kindness, words of encouragement, the gospel
of salvation by God's grace. Job's saying, I'm not getting
anything from you coming in here whipping up on me with the black
whip of the law and setting yourself up as some kind of a self-righteous
hypocrite. He says, if you can teach me,
I'll shut up. I'll hold my tongue. I won't
be rash. And he said, "'And cause me to understand wherein I have
erred.'" You show me the sin that you're talking about that's
brought on this judgment. He says in verse 25, "'How forcible
are right words.'" Now, you know what he's saying there, actually,
is he said the truth sometimes hurts. Sometimes hurts even God's
children to hear the truth. But what does your arguing reprove? What does your words, your arguing,
your debating on this issue, what good does it do me? How
does it correct me? He says in verse 26, Do you imagine
to reprove words and the speeches of one that is desperate, which
are as wind? You're just speaking into the
wind. These words that you're speaking,
they're man's words. Man's words of wisdom, which
are no good, and he says in verse 27, yea, you overwhelm the fatherless,
and you dig a pit for your friend. You know what he's saying? He
says you'll beat a man when he's down. That's what he's saying.
You overwhelm the fatherless. Here's somebody who's weak and
helpless, can't help himself. What do you do? You come in there
and beat up on him. You dig a pit for your friend.
A pit of self-righteousness. If Job had listened to these
words, like many in false religion do today, and found some sin
that he had a problem with and repented of and said, now everything's
going to be right with God, what would have that resulted in?
A hypocrite. So he says in verse 28, now therefore
be content, look upon me, for it is evidence unto you if I
lie. What he's saying there is I can't
lie to you. I'm in such a state that it does no good to lie.
What good is lying? Look, Job was the richest, the
greatest man of the East, and now his home is a dung heap outside
the city of... Now what good does it do for
me to lie to you? How would that help? Look at
verse 29. Return, I pray you, let it not
be iniquity, Yea, return again. He's telling the life ass to
repent. And then he says, my righteousness is in it. He says,
is there iniquity in my tongue? Cannot my taste discern perverse
things? He says, my righteousness is
in it. Now let me say this. You remember what, look at what
he's talking about here. Some translations say, my integrity. When he says, my righteousness
is in it. My integrity. Well, what had Eliphaz accused
Job of? Of being a hypocrite. Job, you're
a hypocrite. You know what a hypocrite is.
One who has a false profession, who professes great things, but
like the Pharisees, inwardly full of sin. They don't believe
what they say they believe. They act in contradiction to
their belief. Job is talking about his integrity,
but what is his integrity? He says, my righteousness is
in him. What is Job's righteousness? We've already seen in the opening
of this book that Job was an upright man, that he was straight. That's what God said. He was
just, justified. He was a man who eschewed, avoided,
ran away from evil. He was a man who loved integrity
and honesty. He was a sinner saved by the
grace of God. That's what that is. And he was
a man of integrity, and his integrity is at stake here. He wants to
be vindicated in their eyes, but there's more to it than that.
You see, what is a sinner's honor and integrity? Now, we all should
desire for ourselves and for each other to be honest people,
to be people of integrity in our relationships with me. But
you know what he's talking about here? He's talking about how
God's treating him. You know, life has a saying, now, God's
doing this to you as a punishment for sin. And we also know, secondly,
that God's honor is at stake here. You see, Satan challenged
God. You say, Job is this and that
and the other. Well, let's put it to the test. Satan knows the sin of man. Satan challenged God by accusing
Job. So God's justice must be vindicated
here in Job's life. And if Job were left to himself
in this, he'd fail miserably and ultimately. So what is Job's
righteousness? It's his standing in Christ.
That's what's on the line here. It's not just his honesty. I
hope he was an honest man. The scripture indicates that
he was. But when it comes to a relationship with God and how
God deals with us in this life, and then especially how God saves
a sinner, whose integrity is at stake? God's is. God's honor. God's glory. What is Job's righteousness? He said it back here. He said,
I've not concealed the words of the Holy One. Well, what does
God say about man's righteousness? He has none in himself. There's
none righteous, no, not one. That's what God's Word says.
And if we're going to find righteousness, if we're going to be righteous,
if we're going to possess righteousness, where are we going to find it?
By the grace of God in Christ and nowhere else. You tell me
one place in this book where it tells you or me or anybody
to find it anywhere else. Doesn't say it. It's Christ and
Him crucified, by whom we stand before God whole and justified,
and by whose grace we're kept by the power of God into salvation. David, in many of the Psalms,
he spoke of his righteousness. He said, let me just read you
this, Psalm 7 and verse 8, he says, the Lord shall judge the
people, judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness. David said
that. He said, according to my righteousness,
according to mine integrity. He says that. That is in me. What is David's righteousness?
It's Christ. What is his integrity? It's the
grace of God in the heart that leads a sinner to Christ. He
said in Psalm 18 and verse 20, the Lord rewarded me according
to my righteousness. According to the cleanness of
my hands hath he recompensed me. Now that's David saying that. You ever read about David? What's he talking about? He's
talking about the grace of God to reward him according to the
righteousness of Christ imputed, charged, accounted to him. That
was his righteousness. What is my righteousness? What
is your righteousness? Is it the fact that I preached
in his name? Is it the fact that I prayed? Is it the fact that
I was baptized? No! It's the fact that Christ
died on Calvary's cross to put away my sins. That's my righteousness. Now let's turn to one verse and
I'll close. Turn to 1 John chapter 2 and verse 29. And this will
tell us what Job is talking about when he says, my righteousness
is in it. In other words, my righteousness is at stake here.
And it's got to be vindicated. Look at 1 John chapter 2 and
listen to this. Incidentally, in the book of
Isaiah chapter 54 and verse 17, the Lord says, their righteousness,
that is the righteousness of his people. He says, their righteousness
is of me. Christ's righteousness is my
righteousness. He gave it to me. I didn't work
for it, didn't work it out, didn't have anything to do with it.
He did it all on Calvary. Isn't that right? And it's mine. How is it mine? God imputed it
to me. He charged it to me. He encountered
it to me. But there's more than that. Now
look at verse 29 of 1 John 2. He says, If you know that he
is righteous, that's talking about Christ. Do you know that
Christ is righteous? Yes, I do. He is righteous. Then
you know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of him. What is it to do righteousness?
I'll tell you exactly what it is. It's to look to and rest
in Christ for all righteousness. It's not my working myself to
be righteous. It's not trying to establish
a righteousness of my own. It's my hope is in the Holy One. And he's talking about the new
birth there. Everyone that's born of God, they doeth righteousness. And you know, twice in the book
of Jeremiah, Christ is called Jehovah Sid Canu. You know what
that is? The Lord, our righteousness. You see, that's it. It is our
righteousness. Job was talking about his righteousness.
But what is that? It's not his works. It's not
his being honest in dealing with men. Should he be? Yes. Should
he work hard? Yes. Should he be a man of integrity,
one that you can trust and one that you can depend on? Yes.
But that's not his righteousness. Well, what is? Who is? Jehovah
Sid Canu, the Lord our righteousness. All right.