Now let's return to that passage
in Ecclesiastes chapter 7, that Brother Stan read. And I'll direct your attention
to verse 28, from which I've taken the title of tonight's
message, which is this. One man among a thousand. One man among a thousand. the construction of this verse
and the context and the meaning of it which shows clearly if
we read the whole book of Ecclesiastes and as well as this chapter that
here is a man who is seeking out earnestly from his heart
as he is guided by the Lord to find the meaning of life to find
fulfillment in life, to find salvation, to find out the proper
judgment of things, how to properly assess things, how to properly
see value in that which is truly valuable, and worthlessness in
that which is truly worthless. That's the whole issue here,
and ultimately leading to salvation. And so when you read that phrase
in verse 28, one man among a thousand, of course, I believe that that
is a direct reference to the Lord Jesus Christ. And the construction
of it indicates not a literal thousand there, because, you
know, when you think about Christ, you think not just of one man
among a thousand, but one man among a billion. One man among
all men, unique man. And that's the way the construction
really reads. It's almost like he would be
saying this, one man among a thousand, thousand, thousands, an infinite
number, showing that whoever he's talking about, he's talking
about someone who is one of a kind. And we're going to look at that.
Now, of course, commentators argue over this, whether or not
Solomon had this in mind. I believe he did by inspiration
of the Holy Spirit, and I'll show you why I believe he did.
I'll give you the reasons why. But let's go back to verse 15
and pick up there and show the context. How to properly and
realistically evaluate life. What is important? What is valuable? What is eternal? What is not?
He had already shown in the first part of this chapter that prosperity
is not always good. For the most part, prosperity
here on earth to the natural man is a curse because it gives
him a false sense of security, gives him a false sense of blessing.
It's a diversion that keeps him in elevating and seeking comfort
for the flesh from seeking the Lord and seeking that which is
truly eternal, seeking the Lord Jesus Christ. And so prosperity
is not always good, but then in the same way, adversity, trial
and trouble is not always bad because many times God does use
that. Not always now, but many times
God does use that to drive a sinner away from himself and to seek
the Lord and find the Lord and find salvation in Christ. So
to be healthy and wealthy in this life is not the answer to
the hunger of the human heart, even the sinful human heart,
ultimately, even though a man or a woman may think it is for
a time. And so here's how he starts out in verse 15, showing
the reality of this. He says, "...all things have
I seen in the days of my vanity." It's almost like he's saying,
in the days of my life here on this earth, I've seen it all. That's really what he's saying
there. And so he goes on, he says, "...there is a just man,"
that's a righteous man, "...that perisheth in his righteousness. And there is a wicked man that
prolongeth his days," or his life, "...in his wickedness."
What he's saying here is that length of life is no evidence
of a righteous person. And a short life is no evidence
of a wicked person. You can go back through the Old
Testament itself and think about God's choice servants who were
cut down in the prime of life, the very first murder, Abel. Abel was a righteous man. When
he talks about a just man here or a righteous man, he's talking
about a sinner saved by the grace of God, made so by God's grace
in Christ. That's the only righteous men
and women who are on the earth. The Bible teaches that. We read
it this morning in Romans chapter 3 and verse 10 where the statement
was made clearly that says there is none righteous, no not one,
to be found among men. So if there are any righteous
in this earth, they are those who are made so by the grace
of God washed in the blood of Christ and clothed in his righteousness.
And yet, that's no guarantee of a long life, and a long life
is no indication that a person is righteous. You can think about
Enoch, who was translated from this earth, not because he was
cursed of God, but because he pleased the Lord. Scripture tells
us in Hebrews chapter 11 that without faith it's impossible
to please the Lord without looking to Christ and resting in Him. We can think about the evangelist
Stephen who stood and preached that great message in Jerusalem
and immediately was stoned to death by the enemies of Christ
in his church and he was taken home to be with the Lord. So
here's the issue that Solomon proposes at the beginning of
this. How can we tell the righteous from the wicked? How can we do
that? Well, we certainly can't do it
by outward appearance. Christ said of the Pharisees,
He said, they do indeed appear righteous unto men. But He exposed
them for the hypocrites that they really were in their religion. How can we tell they're righteous?
Well, the Bible gives us the answer. It's only those who trust
in the Lord Jesus Christ. and rest in him for all salvation,
for all righteousness, for all glory and eternal life." I think
about this passage in Isaiah chapter 54. Let me just read
it to you. Isaiah 54 and verse 17. He's
speaking here, first of all, in the temporal application of
Israel or Judah who was being attacked. And he said this about
them. He said, "...no weapon that is
formed against thee shall prosper." And every tongue shall rise up
against thee in judgment, thou shalt condemn." But then he says
this, this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and
their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord, Jesus Christ,
the Lord of glory. We're told in chapter 4 and verse
5 to offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and what? Put
your trust in the Lord. That's who the righteous are.
They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot
be removed, but abideth forever." Psalm 34, 17, "...the righteous
cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their
troubles." And then one more, let me show you this one. Psalm
64, verse 10, it says, "...the righteous shall be glad in the
Lord, and shall trust in him, and all the upright in heart
shall glory." So that's the issue. It's not length of days, shortness
of days. It has nothing to do with anything
like that. It has nothing to do with outward
appearance. It has to do with this. Are you
looking to Christ for all of salvation? Are you resting in
Him and trusting in Him? Are you, like the Apostle Paul,
you know whom you believe and are persuaded that he's able
to keep that which you committed unto him against that day? Now,
that's a righteous person. But now look at verse 16. Here
in these next few verses, here's what he says. When you read this
on the surface, it sounds kind of strange. He says in verse
16, "...be not righteous over much, neither make thyself overwise. Why shouldst thou destroy thyself,
or make yourself desolate?" What he's saying there is, why should
you prove out to be hypocritical? When he says, why should you
destroy yourself? Be not righteous over much. Neither
make thyself overwise." Why should you be exposed and be proved
out to be a hypocrite? And so he says in verse 17, "...be
not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish. Why shouldst
thou die before thy time?" And then verse 18, look at that,
"...it is good that thou shouldst take hold of this." It's good
that you should listen to this. Heed this. Take this to heart
and mind. Yea, also from this withdraw
not thine hand, put your hand to understanding these things.
For he that feareth God, trusteth in the Lord, worship God, serve
God in grace and love and gratitude, shall come forth of them all,
and wisdom strengtheneth the wise more than ten mighty men
which are in the city." This kind of wisdom that he's talking
about here will protect you more than ten strong men in a walled
city. This is a greater refuge, this
kind of wisdom. What's he talking about? Don't
be righteous over much. Is he telling us not to be too
righteous, not to be too good? What he's talking about is self-righteousness. He's literally saying, do not
be wise in your own eyes. Do not be righteous in your own
eyes in regard to yourself. It's a warning against self-righteousness.
Look over at Luke 18. It's much the same as the Lord
spoke here in the parable of the Pharisee and the publican
in Luke 18. Look at that with me. Remember
who he was talking to there in the parable? And he tells us
plainly in Luke 18. And look at verse 9. It says in verse 9, He spake
this parable unto certain people which trusted in themselves that
they were righteous, or as being righteous, and despised others.
Two applications of that. In other words, they trusted
in themselves. It was a testimony that they
made of themselves that they were righteous, that they were
accepted before God, that they were not guilty. You could say
it this way, that they were saved. They trusted in themselves. In
other words, this is a judgment they had made of themselves,
within themselves. That's first of all. That's the
way, you know, a lot of people tell you today, well I know I'm
saved because I just feel it. You know. That's who he's talking
to. It's not because you feel it. In fact, it's pretty strange
if you feel it. But then it says this, they trusted
in themselves in this sense, in their own works. in their
own wills. They trusted in themselves and
they despised others. And then he talks about two men,
verse 10, went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee and
the other a publican. Now here's the basis of their
trusting in themselves that they were righteous. This is what
Solomon is talking about when he says don't be over much righteous.
Don't be righteous in your own eyes. Don't make that assessment
of yourself. Well, somebody says, well, then
if we can't make that assessment of ourselves, who's going to
make that assessment of us? Well, hold on. All right. He
says the Pharisees stood, prayed with himself. God, I thank Thee
that I'm not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers,
or even as this publican, this hated publican. I fast twice
a week. I give tithes of all that I possess.
If this is the ground and the evidence of your assessment of
yourself, that you're righteous, You're being over-much righteous.
You're being self-righteous. And it says in verse 13, "...the
publican standing afar off would not lift up so much as his eyes
unto heaven, but snowed upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful
to me, the sinner." And Christ said, I tell you, this man, this
publican, went down to his house justified, being declared righteous,
not guilty, rather than the other. Who declared this publican righteous?
Not the publican. Christ did. Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It is who that justifies. It
is God that justifies. You say, not me, not you, not
ourself. That's what Solomon's talking
about back here. God must make that judgment. And how does He do it? By His
Word. And what does He say? They who
trust in the Lord. They who trust Christ. are the
righteous ones. And so, go back to Ecclesiastes
7. Man cannot make himself righteous
by his works or by his feelings. And he says there, why shouldst
thou destroy thyself? Why shouldst thou be proven out
to be desolate? Those who consider themselves
righteous in themselves, By their own self-righteous judgments,
they're going to be exposed as being desolate. I'm going to
tell you something, self-righteousness, now listen, self-righteousness
is the most deadly of all sins. Because it keeps sinners from
submitting to Christ and His righteousness as that which alone
saves us and entitles us to heaven. Now, you cannot be made righteous. You cannot be justified by your
works. So what should we conclude then?
Well, let's just abandon all obedience, abandon all good works
and go live like hell? Is that what we should do? No.
Look at verse 17. Be not over much wicked, neither
be thou foolish. Why shouldst thou die before
thy time? Don't abandon all moral restraints. all self-discipline, don't be
self-destructive. He says, why should you die before
your time? That before your time only refers
to man's point of view under the sun. We're to use all means
to live long and healthy and moral lives, even though we know
that God has already set the time of our death. God's the
one who gives and takes away. He gives life, He takes it away.
But from our point of view, we do everything that we can. To
live long and healthy lives is what he's talking about. So he
says in verse 18, now it's good. It's good that you should take
hold of this. This should be the rule of your life. This should
be something that you would lay hold of and don't withdraw your
hand from. And notice what he says. He gives
us the same conclusion that he gives in the whole book of Ecclesiastes
in verse 18. For he that feareth God shall
come forth of them all. And that kind of wisdom, verse
19, is more secure than ten strong generals, armies in a strong
walled city. You see, Christ is our strength
and our refuge. And though this body is dead
because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness,
and He is our refuge. Well, look at verse 20. Now this
is interesting. He says, "...for there is not
a just man upon earth that doeth good, and sinneth not." Now think
about that. And he says, "...and take no
heed unto all the words that are spoken, lest thou hear thy
servant curse thee. For oftentimes also thine own
heart knoweth that thou thyself likewise hast cursed others."
What's he talking about here? First of all, this just man that
he's talking about here, again, is a righteous man, a sinner
saved by grace. And what he's saying is that
even among the righteous, there's none who can truly say, I do
good and I sin not. Now, isn't that the teaching
of Scripture? Are we who are saved, are we not sinners saved
by the grace of God? And I want to show you something
on that. Turn to the book of Romans with me. Turn to Romans
chapter 6. And I know this is difficult
for people to understand, and especially when there are some
passages of Scripture that if we don't keep them in their context,
they'll be confusing to us. In Romans chapter 6, let me tell
you what Paul's talking about in Romans chapter 6. He's talking
about a saved sinner's standing before God in Christ. That's his subject. That's what
he's talking about here. He's talking about our union
with Christ. He said that back up in verse
5 of Romans 6. We've been planted together in
the likeness of his death. Christ is our representative.
He's our substitute. When he died, I died. Now, why
did he die? He died for my sins. He put my
sins away. I didn't actually die then. Christ
died in my place. That's what substitution is all
about. I've heard some preachers put some kind of a mystical notion
on it and say, well, I really died. No, it didn't. Christ died
for me. That's substitution now. You
always keep a distinction between Christ the substitute and his
sheep for whom he died. I deserve the death because I
sinned, but my sins were accounted, charged, imputed to him. And
he died, but he didn't die for himself, he died for me, he died
for his sheep. And therefore, When He died,
I can say I died. He is my representative. He is
my substitute. He is my high priest. He is my
sin-bearer. He is my sin-offering. I was
united to Him in representation, in substitution, all those ways,
and it's a beautiful thing. I mean, it's an amazing thing.
And so I was planted together. He says in verse 6, knowing this,
that our old man is crucified with Him. That's our old standing
in Adam. It was put to death. And incidentally,
that's past tense there. That old man was crucified. That's
not a continual process of dying, as some would say. That old man
died. I'm no longer cursed. My sins
cannot be charged to me. He says that the body of sin
might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. Verse
7, for he that is dead, how am I dead? I'm dead with Christ. And I'm freed from sin. Now that
word freed there is justified. Now go down to verse 14 of Romans
6. This is talking about our standing
before God in Christ. How God sees us in Christ. And here's what he says in verse
14. For sin shall not have dominion over you. What kind of dominion? Power to condemn. Sin has no
dominion, no power to condemn a sinner for whom Christ died. Isn't that amazing? It cannot
condemn us. The Bible says the strength of
sin is the law. But Christ fulfilled the law.
In other words, the power of sin to condemn us is in the law
because the law demands death where sin is charged. But no
sin is charged to his people. Why? They were charged to Him.
You see that? And therefore, sin shall not
have dominion over you. It cannot condemn us. Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Who can condemn
us? It's Christ that does. He says, for you're not under
the law. You're not under the law's dominion or its curse.
You owe no debt to the law of God. No legal debt to the law
of God. Because Christ paid that debt
in full. We're under grace. and God sees us in Christ. Now,
that's our standing, all right? And so in a sense, now listen
to me, there's a sense in which we can say that in Christ we
have no sin. We're righteous in Him. Now,
jump across the page there to Romans 7 and verse 14. Now, here Paul is talking about
a different subject, and I don't have time to read all the verses
in between. But you'll see how he goes from
our standing in Christ, washed in his blood, clothed in his
righteousness, now he's talking about what we are in ourselves
as we exist in our experience here on earth as safe centers. And listen to what he says in
verse 14. He says, "...for we know that the law is spiritual."
Now, what does that mean? That means the law reaches to
the heart, to the motives, to the thoughts, The law doesn't
just take care of the outward stuff. You know, don't murder,
for example. That's the law of God. Thou shalt
not kill. And that's a New Testament law
just as much as it is part of the Ten Commandments, folks.
It was a law before the Ten Commandments. You knew that, didn't you? You
knew it was illegal and sinful for Cain to kill Abel, don't
you? That was before Sinai. That law has never changed. It's
still just as wrong to kill somebody as it was for the 1,500 years
that the Ten Commandments were imposed upon Israel. So that's
not just Ten Commandments, that's the law of God. I tell you, the
law that covers it is this, love your neighbor as yourself. That
includes your worst enemy. So we know the law is spiritual.
Not only does it forbid murder, but it forbids the thought of
murder. the anger that would cause me
to want somebody dead. That's murder. In the eyes of
God's law, the law is spiritual. It reaches to the heart. All
right. Now, he says in verse 14, we
know the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, fleshly, that's
what that means, sold under sin. Now, this is the same fellow
who wrote over in Romans 6, 14, that sin shall not have dominion
over me. Now he says, I'm carnal, sold under sin. You know what
that literally means? It means I'm a slave to sin. It means
I cannot stop sinning. You say, well, he better stop
this, he better stop that. What Paul is saying here is that
in myself I'm still a sinner, subject to the desires of the
flesh, and I'm in a warfare. And that's what he goes on to
explain in Romans 7 here. He's not talking about his life
before he became a Christian. He's talking about his experience
as a Christian. I'll prove that to you. Look
at verse 15. He says, For that which I do, I allow not. I don't approve of it. For what
I would, that do I not. But what I hate, that do I. What
he's talking about here is the desire that he has. He has the
fleshly desire to follow the flesh and fulfill the lust of
the flesh, but he has a new desire that God has given him. To follow
Christ. And there's a warfare here. He
says in verse 16, if then I do that which I would not, I consent
unto the law that it is good. It's not the law. The law is
not the problem. Now then, it is no more I that
do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. He's tracing it to its
source. He's not passing the buck there. He's not saying,
well, it's not really me doing it. He's just saying it's sin
that dwells in the flesh. Sin that indwelleth me. That's
the source of it. And that sin is himself, that's
his desire to break the law, his desire to fulfill the lust
of the flesh. Verse 18, "...for I know that
in me, that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. For to will is
present with me." Now, if he wasn't a saved man, that will
there would not be present with him. The will to what? The will to
do what God commands me to do. The will to honor Christ in my
life, in my thoughts, in my motives, the will to be like Him is present
with me. But how to perform that which
is good, I find not. How to do that in my experience,
I don't know. When I want to love God perfectly,
something keeps me from doing it. Self-love. Selfishness. And so he says in verse 19, for
the good that I would, I do not, but the evil which I would not,
that I do. Now if I do that, I would not,
it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. The
real me. That's what he's talking about.
The real me, I want to be like Christ. That's the reality of
me. But I still have to fight sin. So he says in verse 21,
I find then a law. that when I would do good, evil
is present with me. For I delight in the law of God
after the inward man." That's the very inner heart of Paul. I delight in the law of God.
I want to serve God in the inward man, in my heart of hearts. But
he says in verse 23, I see another law in my members, warring against
the law of my mind. There's the warfare now, and
bringing me into captivity. Now you see that? Now this is
the same man who said, sin shall not have dominion over you. You're
not under law, you're under grace. But now he says, bringing me
into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. I
cannot love God perfectly and love my neighbors myself because
of sin, because of the flesh. And yet sin shall not have dominion
over me. Sin cannot condemn me. But sin is certainly present
in my life. Sin influences everything I think,
say, and do. That's right. That's just truth
now. I know a lot of people don't
like to hear that, but sin influences, contaminates everything I do. That's the kind of captivity
that we have, are still under in our experience. So he says
in verse 24, listen to the conclusion, O wretched man that I am, not
that I used to be, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver
me from the body of this death?" And what's the answer? I thank
God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I
myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of
sin. I'm in a battle here. I'm a walking
battlefield between the spirit and the flesh. Now go back to
Ecclesiastes 7. That's the issue. were sinners
saved by the grace of God. Our only hope now and forever
of salvation is Christ and Him crucified and risen again. I'm
just as much in need of the grace of God today as when I begun
the race. Christ is the author and finisher
of my faith. My only hope is in him, that
when I sin, I have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ
the righteous." And do you ever think about this? Look back there
at Ecclesiastes 7. Look at verse 20 again. Read it again in the context
here. Think about why he puts these next two verses. He says,
"...there is not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth
not." That is, doeth good according to God's standard now. Even we
love God, but we don't love Him perfectly. We desire to serve
Him and to be like Christ, but we're not there yet in ourselves.
We are in Him. See, we're perfect in Him. As
He is, so are we in this world in Christ now. But in ourselves,
we're not yet there. We'll be satisfied when we awake
with His likeness, you see, but that's in the next life. That's
after we leave this life. And so he says in verse 21, "...and
also take no heed unto all the words that are spoken, lest thou
hear thy servant curse thee. For oftentimes also thine own
heart knoweth that thou thyself likewise hast cursed others."
You know, one of the main ways that we can know that gives evidence
that we're still sinners in ourselves is our words. The very fact that
we get offended when somebody curses us, but hold on there,
don't get too upset. Remember, we've oftentimes, out
of our own heart, knoweth that we've likewise cursed others.
Our words expose us for what we are. That's what he's saying.
Look at verse 23. He says, "...all this I have
proved by wisdom." I've tested all this, he says. This is not
just the rambling thoughts. of a fool here. I've tested all
this by wisdom." He said, I said, I'll be wise, but it was far
from me. Wisdom's hard to get. That which is far off and exceeding
deep, who can find it out? You see, man's not going to find
this on his own. It has to be revealed by God. He said in verse
25, I applied mine heart to know and to search and to seek out
wisdom and the reason of things. That reason of things, that's
the meaning of life. Find out the meaning of life.
What does this all mean? All these things we see and we
don't know anything about them until God's wisdom comes in. To know the wickedness of folly,
even of foolishness and madness, what Solomon is saying is man
on his own can't even really know the difference between foolishness
and madness. He can't really know. What does
it take? It takes the wisdom of God. Where
do we find the wisdom of God in Christ, who is our wisdom?
Christ who is the wisdom and the power of God. The Scriptures
are able to make thee wise unto salvation. Why? Because they
lead us center to Christ for all salvation, for all righteousness,
for all glory. We cannot know God, we cannot
know ourselves, we can certainly not know the way of salvation
without this wisdom that God gives in Christ. And so he comes
to verse 26, I find more bitter than the death of the woman,
whose heart is snares and nets and her hands as bands, who so
pleaseth God shall escape from her, this woman, but the sinner
shall be taken by her, those who are left in their unbelief
and foolishness, this woman that he mentions. Behold, this have
I found, saith the preacher, counting one by one to find out
the account, trying to make an assessment. I've counted this
out. Verse 28, "...which yet my soul
seeketh, but I find not one man among a thousand have I found,
but a woman among all those have I not found." Now, you'd be amazed
at some of the different meanings given to this. Some say that
Solomon is simply speaking out in his bitter experiences with
women. And what he's saying is, you
can't trust any woman. And there's only one in a thousand
men you can trust. Now, if that's what Solomon is
saying, I'm going to tell you something. He has not found the
meaning of life and wisdom. And I'm certainly not going to
tell you all that God's Word is teaching you can't trust any
woman at all. And there's only one out of a
thousand men you can trust. That's not what he's teaching
here. Again, what's he trying to do? He's trying to find the
reason of things. He's not being a male chauvinist
pig here. Now, I'll tell you one thing,
if you read Solomon's biography in the Scriptures, you'll find
he did have problems with women. He did. But it was Solomon's
fault. He had multiple wives, concubines. He went out to fulfill his fleshly
sexual lust. He had that power and he set
out to do it. And he allowed his wives to turn
him away from God to idolatry. He allowed them to build idols
in Jerusalem, I suppose, to keep peace at home. I really don't
understand that, because if he's king, all you have to do is say,
off with their heads, you know, but I don't know. But there's
a lot of strange things going on in Solomon's life. You can't
really judge by appearances or take him by one moment in time. I can tell you about the end
of his life, which I believe we're reading through now, the
book of Ecclesiastes and the conclusion that he eventually
came to. He's simply saying, there's a
couple of things you can go by. First of all, many times in Scripture,
the seductions of false religion and false philosophies is indicated
under the symbol of a seductive woman. And that may be what he's
talking about. The seductions of false preachers
is sometimes indicated as spiritual adultery, spiritual whoredom,
things like that. And that's why the church and
God's people are espoused to Christ as a chaste virgin, spiritually
speaking. And we have one husband, and
that's Christ, and we're not to spiritually adulterate ourselves
out to other religions, other ways, other philosophies, because
that's like the seduction of a woman to a man, to draw him
away unto destruction. And therefore you have that.
But I think that what Solomon is saying here is this, that
in all of his searching and all of his seeking and all of his
fulfillment sexually and all of that, he still did not find
the meaning of life. It's not to be found in woman,
and it's not. But that's not just a put-down
of women. If the searcher here, Solomon, is seeking fulfillment
and love for women, but he cannot find it in her, it's interesting.
You know, the relationship of a man and woman is ordained by
God, husband and wife. God created man and woman to
be together, but they fell into sin. And there's nothing better
on earth than a godly marriage. Read Ephesians chapter 5 sometimes. How the godly marriage is to
be a picture of Christ and his church here on this earth. So
this is in Solomon's bitterness against women. It's not just
a put-down of women. What he's simply saying is this,
that there's no fulfillment to be found in that kind of love. And there's no fulfillment to
be found in woman. There's no salvation in woman.
I'm sorry, but that's just not so, and I'll tell the Catholic
Church that. There's no salvation in a woman. There's only salvation
in a man. And he's one man among a thousand,
thousand, thousand. And he's none other than the
Lord Jesus Christ. The Scripture teaches us that
very plainly. One man. There's one God. And
one mediator between God and men. The man, Christ Jesus. Now turn with me to Job 33. Scripture tells us in 1 Corinthians
15 that since by man came death, by man comes the resurrection
of the dead. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
He was taken from among men, yet without sin. And I want you
to look at this. This is Elihu speaking by inspiration
of God to Job and his three friends. He says in verse 12 of Job 33,
he says, Behold, in this thou art not just. He's talking about
Job justifying himself. Now, Job was a righteous man.
Job was a just man. God said it at the beginning.
He was a sinner saved by grace. But when Job began defending
himself and his own righteousness, he went astray. Remember what
Solomon said, there's not a just man on earth who doeth good and
sinneth not. You see, Job was trying to defend
himself with his own righteousness. And here's what Elihu comes in
and he says, verse 12, Behold, this, and this, thou art not
just, Job, you're not right. I will answer thee that God is
greater than man. And then it goes on to tell about
how we are so weak and pitiful and sinful, even at our best. Listen, even as a sinner saved
by grace, we don't have anything about ourselves to brag about.
Now listen to me. That's why Paul said in Galatians
6, verse 14, God forbid that I should boast glory save in
the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. He says in verse 23, now listen
to this, Job 33. He says, if there be a messenger,
that's an angel. I'm talking about the messenger
of the covenant here. I need a word from God. That's
what he's telling Job and his three friends. They've been arguing,
they've been accusing Job. Job's been defending himself
by his own righteousness. He knows better that even believers
can get caught up in that for a while. And he says, if there
be a messenger with him, an interpreter, One among a thousand. You see that? To show unto man
his uprightness. Not man's uprightness, the messenger's
uprightness. Then he is gracious unto him,
and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit. I have found
a ransom. One among a thousand. His flesh
shall be fresher than a child. 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." Job, don't go
around bragging on your own. You need the righteousness of
one man among a thousand. You brag about him. You plead
Him, His blood and righteousness. That's all you have to do when
those sad friends, those miserable comforters come around trying
to accuse you. You say, yes, I'm a sinner. Yes,
I've messed up. Yes, I've done a lot of things
wrong. But my righteousness before God, my holiness before God,
my salvation is in Christ, one man among a thousand. One man
who is God-man, the unique man. And then look back at Ecclesiastes
7 and verse 29. Here's the conclusion there. He says, "...Lo, this only have
I found, that God hath made man upright." That's how God created
man in the garden. But they have sought out many
inventions. That sums up the problem of man
that brings vanity. Man's inventions. Religion is
man's invention. Works religion, that's man's
invention. Free will religion is man's invention. All the philosophies that man
comes up with to try to save himself, that's his inventions.
That's why we don't need man's many inventions, we need the
salvation that's of the Lord, that comes in and by the one
man among a thousand, the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ.