Thy mercy, my God, is the theme
of my song. Sin takes on many forms in the
natural man, but all sin stems from the basic pride of men who
delight in their own way rather than submitting themselves to
God in spirit and truth. As it is written, there is none
righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth.
There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of
the way. They are together become unprofitable.
There is none that doeth good, no not one. Their throat is an
open sepulcher. With their tongues they have
used deceit. The poison of asp is under their lips. Whose mouth
is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed
blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways. And the way
of peace have they not known. There is no fear of God before
their eyes. The Lord said Job was a righteous
man. He was, as one might say, the cream of the crop and was
indeed a man favored in the Lord's sight and one preserved by him
as he demonstrated to Satan in Job's trial, which the Lord was
pleased to bring upon him. By nature, Job was not a bit
different from any of the other men of the earth, but he was
a man sought out by God and made upright according to the pleasure
of the Lord who had delight in him and would maintain him and
keep him from falling. Yet the manner in which the Lord
was pleased to work in his servant Job is quite foreign to the sensibilities
and considerations of propriety according to the understanding
of natural men, most especially that of his wife and his erstwhile
friends and comforters. Men would suppose that the blessing
of God is visited upon men when they are vested with this world's
goods or are basking in happiness and freedom from the cares and
worries that beset men on every hand. It is according to man's
common understanding and sense of propriety that doing good
deeds and being religious ensures that one will enjoy this sort
of favor from the hand of the Lord, and conversely that the
avoidance of the opposite behavior will ensure the same. In this
thought process, men do greatly err and prove the wisdom of the
proverb which says, There is a way that seemeth right unto
a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Most suppose
that Job had favor in the eyes of God because he eschewed evil,
feared God, and walked with an upright manner of life. They
feel quite certain that if others followed his path that they too
would enjoy God's favor, even as Job's miserable comforters
sought to point out Job's faults as the cause of his heartaches.
Yet the reality is that Job was a vessel of mercy, in whom the
Lord was pleased to manifest His grace and favor, causing
him to love the way of obedience and the path of the righteous,
even though Job was himself but an earthen vessel. This manifestation
of grace and favor was as real when Job was scraping himself
with a potsherd as it was when he was held in high esteem by
the multitudes who observed his wealth and upright walk. God
was faithful to sustain him when even his wife encouraged him
to curse God and die. And God enabled him to confess
to his comforters that he would trust the Lord even if he slew
him. The work of God in the lives of his people is an ongoing and
continual process, whereby he is leading them into all truth.
The revelation of the holiness of God is, over the course of
the lives of the sons of God, made increasingly evident. And
as it is, the work of repentance is carried out by the same Spirit
in them. Even though Job was one who eschewed
evil and feared God, yet his knowledge of himself and the
absolute degree of his utter depravity was only made clear
to him as God was pleased to reveal his own absolute holiness
and matchless glory. Job testified that he thought
he knew something about the Lord, since he was instructed in the
ways of God. But as the Lord brought him face
to face with himself experimentally, he was made to cry out. I have
heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye
seeth thee, wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and
ashes. Such is the work of grace in
the lives of God's people. Whereas religious men consider
themselves to be progressing in a work of sanctification and
climbing new heights every day as they grow closer and closer
to God and winning victories left and right, those in whom
God is pleased to work are progressively acquainted with their own wickedness
and their absolute dependence on the Lord. This is indeed the
Spirit's work of repentance in them, as Paul confessed. Yea,
doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of
the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered
the loss of all things and do count them but done that I may
win Christ and be found in him not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. If you would like a free transcript
of this broadcast, email us at forthepoor at windstream.net.