Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And
now for today's program. I'd like to welcome you to our
program today. I'm glad you could join us. And if you'd like to
follow along in your Bibles as I preach this message, I'll be
going back to the Old Testament, to the book of Job. And the chapter
is Job 25. It's one of the shortest chapters
in the Bible, just six verses. And the title of the message
is, How Man is Justified with God. How Man is Justified with
God. Now, you know, the book of Job
is a very, very interesting book. And a lot of people, when they
think about Job, obviously we think about suffering, because
Job suffered in a great way, as much as probably any human
being can suffer. He lost his home, his family,
he lost his wealth, he lost his health. lost everything that
we by nature hold dear in this life. And of course, I'm not
going to go back into all of the dealings with how God dealt
with Job other than to tell you that he was, Job was, a righteous
servant of God. And that means this. That means
that Job was a sinner saved by grace. Job's position. In the book of Job chapter 1,
he's described by the Lord as being perfect and upright. Now,
perfect means that he was right with God. It doesn't mean that
he was a perfect man. In fact, if you read the book,
you'll see that. that Job sinned greatly in his
pride, in defending himself, in getting to a point where he
claimed that he didn't deserve what he got. But Job was a sinner,
and that's the way we all are. We're sinners in this world,
and if we're saved, if we're right with God, if we're perfect,
it's based upon the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ and
not our own works or our own choices. And then Job is described
as an upright person. That means he stood upright.
He did what was right. And what that means is that he
was a believer. He was regenerated and converted
by the Holy Spirit to look to Christ as Job saw him as the
Redeemer who would come in the later days. The Messiah. That's how in the Old Testament
they look forward to the Messiah coming into the world. to die
for their sins, that's what believers did, and to make them righteous
in God's sight by the work that he would do. And that's Job being
upright, he was a man of faith, he was a man of integrity. He
wasn't saved by his works now. Salvation is by grace. And that
holds true for Job as it does for any sinner who is saved. But this book, as Job began to
suffer for reasons that God unfolds as you go through the book, he
had three friends who came and tried to comfort him, and they
were unbelievers. They didn't know the gospel.
They thought like we all think, naturally. And you see somebody
who's suffering or whatever, and there's a natural tendency
in us, and sometimes we try to curb it, But we wonder, well
now, what did this person do to get him or herself in this
shape? What's happened here? And that's
what Job's three friends were trying to figure out with him.
Job, why are you suffering like this? You must have done something
really bad to bring this down upon you or God wouldn't do this,
you see. So we've gotta find what's wrong
and then we've got to remedy it. And Job began to justify
himself. Now, that's a problem. We have to understand, and this
is something that we don't understand by nature, that whatever we have
that's good is a gift that we don't deserve and don't earn.
And so thinking those terms, well, one of Job's friend was
named Bildad. He was a Shuhite, and that was
his nationality. And in chapter 25 of the book
of Job, here's what Bildad the Shuhite says. As they're arguing
and fussing and discussing and philosophizing and trying to
figure all these things out, Bildad asks some good questions
here. In fact, it's the central issue of the gospel, and only
the gospel of God's grace in Christ can answer this. And it
says, look at verse one of Job 25. It says, then answered Bildad
the Shuhad and said, dominion and fear are with him, that is
with God. He maketh peace in his high places. God is the God of peace unto
his people. Verse three says, is there any
number of his armies? In other words, God is, Isaiah
called him the Lord of Sabaoth, which means the Lord of a great
army. And what that indicates is that God cannot be defeated.
He's invincible. And so he says in verse four,
now here's where the question, well, in verse three he says,
is there any number of his armies and upon whom doth not his light
arise? God is omniscient. But now here
comes the question, verse four. How then can man be justified
with God? How can a human being, a sinful
human being, now what Bildad is asking here is how can a sinful
man, now how do you know he's talking about sinful man? Well,
first of all, all men are sinful. All men and women, all humankind
fell in Adam into sin and death. The Bible teaches us this. And
the Bible says we've all sinned and come short of the glory of
God. So when we're referring to man here, we have to look
at it as fallen, sinful men and women who are unrighteous by
their works, who cannot save themselves. And the proof of
it is the next line in verse four. He says, or how can he
be clean that is born of woman? Born of a woman. In other words,
we're born sinful. I know people talk about, well,
we're born innocent and we go to the age of accountability,
but that's another discussion, and that's really not what the
Bible teaches. We're born in sin. The psalmist
recognized that. In sin did my mother conceive
me. And that's not just talking about
the sexual act, that's talking about the state of human beings
by nature, by natural generation, as fallen in Adam, ruined by
the fall, and born spiritually dead in trespasses and sins.
We have physical life when we're born. We have physical eyes,
physical ears, but we don't have spiritual life. We are spiritually
dead in trespasses and sins. That's why the Lord said we must
be born again. We must be born again. He says
in verse five, Bildad says this, he says, behold even to the moon
and it shineth not, yea, the stars are not pure in his sight.
Now what he's referring to there is in a metaphorical way, he's
showing that God is so holy and righteous and just. He's pure
that he cannot even look upon sin. God must punish sin. The heavens are not pure in his
sight. So he says in verse six, how
much less man that is a worm. Now we don't like to use language
like that, but that's what the Bible says. Man that is a worm
and the son of man which is a worm. Now, that verse there takes some
interpretation if we use the right rules of interpretation.
First of all, you gotta recognize that there's two words for worm
here. The first one that refers to
sinful human beings is the word we would use for maggot today. I know that's not pleasant to
think about, and it might offend your sensibilities, but it's
just true. He's using metaphorical language
to describe how sinful we are, like wriggling maggots. Now the
second word worm there in verse six is a worm that is used for
the red color, the red dye, there was a worm, it was an actual
worm called the tola. And it was a worm that they used,
they squeezed it and got the blood out and used it for red
dye to dye clothing with. It was used, all the red in the
tabernacle was made from this tola. It's the same word that
Isaiah used in Isaiah 1, 18, when he said, come, let us reason
together. Though your sins be as scarlet,
they'll be white as snow, though they be red like crimson. That
word crimson is the same word translated worm here in the second
part of verse six. They shall be as wool. And I
believe the reference here, the Son of Man, which is the worm
there, is an indirect reference to Christ who shed his blood
as the payment for all our sins. In the Messianic Psalm of Psalm
22, Christ prophetically, David speaking, but he's speaking in
terms of Christ prophetically, where he says, I am a worm and
no man. Well, it's this word tola. So what it's saying there
is how much less man that is a worm and the son of man which
is a worm. In other words, there's a direct reference here that's
teaching us that our salvation must come through redemption
by blood. So go back to verse four now.
How then can man be justified with God? How is that possible? Or how can he be clean that is
born of a woman? Now what he's talking about here
is the justification of sinners. What Paul in Romans chapter four
spoke of as the justification of the ungodly. God justifies
the ungodly. That's how he saves sinners.
You see, for sinners to be saved, there are two problems, two major
problems that we as sinful people have. The first problem is a
legal problem, a legal matter. And that means that by nature
and by practice, we're guilty and deserving, we're pronounced
legally guilty of sin and we're liable to the punishment that's
due, which means death. We talk about it in Romans 6,
23, for the wages of sin is death. That's what we've earned. Anytime
preachers talk to you about something that you can earn or deserve
from God, you better get away from them. The only thing we
can earn or deserve is death. the wages of sin. You say, well,
what about my good works? Even our good works cannot be
accepted before God apart from Christ and washed in His blood. So that legal problem, the Bible
says in Romans chapter 3 and verse 10, there's none righteous. No, not one. And what that's
talking about is how by nature and by practice There is no human
being who is righteous in God's sight. We've got a legal problem. We're sinners and deserve nothing
but death and hell. So then he says, how can a man
be justified with God? Well, to be justified means this.
It means number one, to be forgiven of all my sins. Now don't stop
there now. This is the problem today. Well,
I'm forgiven of all my sins. No. To be justified is to be
forgiven of all my sins on a just ground. In other words, on whatever
ground God forgives me of my sins, it must be a righteous
ground. Therefore, God doesn't forgive
me based upon my works. God does not forgive me based
even upon my faith. You know, these people that tell
you all the time that God loves everybody and Christ died for
everybody, but it does no good unless you choose Him. Let me
tell you something, that is so unbiblical. God forgives, but
He does it through His grace based upon the righteousness
of His Son. So that legal problem has to
be taken care of. Sins have to be paid for. Righteousness
has to be established. That's the legal problem. Now
the next problem, remember I said we had two problems. Number one's
a legal problem. Number two is a spiritual problem. And the spiritual problem is
how we are in this world, how we're born into this world spiritually
dead in trespasses and sins. And what that means is this.
It means that we are in darkness, in ignorance, and even our wills
and even our desires are against God and His way of salvation.
If left to ourselves, we will not choose God. You see, this
freewillism that is so prevalent today, which says that you've
got a spark of good or some kind of a good in you that if you
will just exercise that goodness and choose Christ, you can be
saved, that is not biblical. It sounds good and it's popular. Multitudes believe it, but it's
not biblical. The Bible speaks of the will
of man, of being in bondage. In the book of Romans chapter
9, God says, it's not of him that willeth, nor of him that
runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. The Bible speaks in John
chapter 3 and verse 19 of the light that comes that men by
nature hate. because their deeds are evil.
I quoted Romans 3.10 a while ago. There's none righteous,
no not one. If you go on through those verses 11 and 12, it speaks
that there's none good, no not one. There's none that seeketh
after God, no not one. If God left us in our natural
state and came down here and took a vote on how many would
choose him, none of us would choose him. That's why we must
be born again. In John chapter 1, he spoke of
those who received Christ who were born not by the will of
the flesh, not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the
will of man, but born of God. So you see, we're in a mess. That's what the Bible teaches.
Legally and spiritually. Legally, we don't have the righteousness
that God requires to justify us, to forgive us of our sins.
And spiritually, we don't have the desire to come to God, the
true and living God. You know, when it says there's
none, in Romans chapter three, when it says there's none that
seeketh after God, it does not say that there are none who seek
after a God. Man is religious by nature, but
his religion is an abomination in the sight of God. That's why
not only must we be brought by God to faith in Christ, but we
also must be brought to repentance of dead works, because we're
so proud of ourselves, we're so proud of our works and our
efforts, our experiences. You talk to people today about
salvation, they always go back to their experience when they
were young and walked an aisle, and as they say, gave their heart
to Jesus and got baptized. Doesn't matter what they believed,
they just had some notion that God loves them and if they do
what they're supposed to do, they'll be saved. But that's
not biblical. Well, go back to Job 25. Verse four, how then can man
be justified with God or how can he be clean that is born
of woman? How is that possible? Well, that's what the gospel
is all about. Paul wrote in Romans 1 16 and
17, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. For it is the
power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. Faith
is necessary, folks, but it's not because we can muster it
up within ourselves by our own free will. It's because it's
the gift of God. And so everyone that believeth
to the Jew first and the Greek or the Gentile also, verse 17,
for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith as it is written, the just shall live by faith. Now what
that means is those who are justified will live by looking to Christ.
I've written a book called, What is the Righteousness of God?
You ought to order it. Get it. We send it to you free
of charge. You can go to our website or
you can call. We'll send it to you. And it's dealing with the
heart of the gospel. The righteousness of God, in
Romans 117, refers to the merits of the obedience unto death of
the Lord Jesus Christ as the surety, the substitute, and the
redeemer of God's elect. And it's through Christ, by the
grace of God, that sinners, man, can be justified with God, can
be forgiven of all their sins on a just ground. And what is
that just ground? The blood of Christ. and be right
with God, have a right relationship with God. And what is the ground
of that right relationship? The imputed righteousness of
Christ. You hear me talk about that word
imputed. All right, it's imputation. What is that? That's a legal
term. It has to do with the demerit, the demerit of sin charged to
Christ. 2 Corinthians 5.21 says it, Christ
was made to be sin. How was he made to be sin? By
a legal charge of the demerit, the debt of the sins of God's
people whom God gave to Christ before the foundation of the
world. And who are they? How do you know who they are?
Because they are brought to faith in Christ, they believe. And
so that's imputed sin to Christ. How can a man be justified with
God? He's got to have a substitute.
He can't do it himself. You see, I cannot make myself
righteous in God's sight. I cannot wash away my sins. I
cannot pay the debt. I can't even contribute to the
payment of that debt. So I've got to have a surety,
one who will take my account, my sin debt unto himself and
say, charge it to me, I'll repay it. And that's imputed sin to
Christ. But in return, and that's why
Christ had to come and that's why he had to become a man. That's
why he had to walk this earth as God-man and keep the law.
That's why he had to suffer and bleed and die on Calvary's cross. to pay the debt, so that my sins
are forgiven by God on a just ground, the blood of Christ,
the Tola, here in verse six. Son of man, which is orange,
red like crimson, they'll be white as snow. Christ washed
my sins away. What does that mean? That means
he paid the debt in full, so that God does not charge me,
impute sin to me. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
can condemn me? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather,
is risen again and is seated at the right hand of God, making
intercession for me, pleading the merits of His blood. But
now when Christ died as my surety, as my substitute, He paid the
debt in full. He finished the work so that
when He went into the grave, He didn't stay there. He arose
again the third day. Why? Because out of His death,
out of that sin-debt payment that He made, comes righteousness
which God has imputed to me, charged to me. I stand before
God not in my works, Not in my choices. I stand before God in
the righteousness of Christ, imputed, charged to me. That's
how I have a right relationship with God. That's my legal standing
before God. I stand before God in His righteousness. What can wash away my sins? Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my hope and peace.
This is all my righteousness, you see? Christ, the Tola, he
stood in my place, took my punishment, paid my debt, and gave me in
return his righteousness. I have a right standing before
God so that God cannot and will not charge me with my sins. I
cannot be condemned. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. Paul wrote in Romans 4, 6, blessed
is the man to whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without works.
quoting David in Psalm 32. But then out of his righteousness
imputed to me comes life everlasting, spiritual life in the new birth.
That's the spiritual problem. The basis and the ground of my
new birth, my spiritual life, from which I derived life, but
from Christ through the Spirit in the new birth, whereby He
gives me faith to believe, brings me to repentance of dead works,
and keeps me continuing looking to Christ. The just ground of
all that is His righteousness, His blood. And what He does is
He shines that pure light into the souls of his people. He gives
them eyes to see, ears to see. You remember what Christ said
in John 3? He said, you must be born again or you cannot see
the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven. You cannot see the
glory of God in Christ. Without that new birth, the preaching
of the gospel will be nothing to you. It'll be nothing to you. You won't want to hear it. That's
why a lot of people, when we preach the gospel, say, well,
I don't want to hear what you say. I'm content in my religion.
Well, what is your religion? If it's not the religion of grace,
the Bible says in Romans 5, 21, that for as sin hath reigned
unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness,
not mine, but through righteousness unto eternal life, spiritual
life, the new birth, living by faith in Christ, unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord. And so when this question comes
up, some scholars say that Job is the oldest book of the Bible
as far as chronological time. And it may be. One preacher said,
well, maybe this is the oldest question. Well, it is really.
How then can a man be justified with God? That question was settled
right after the fall when God took Adam and Eve and He removed
their fig leaf apron clothing, which represents the works of
man, and He slew an animal, shed blood, and made them coats of
skin. That's a picture. Genesis 3.21,
you'll see that. That's a picture of the blood
of Christ and His righteousness imputed to His people from which
they gain life. Life everlasting, spiritual life. The Spirit indwells them continually. He abides with them forever and
He will not be taken away. He will not go away. And He brings
us to look to Christ. He brings a sinner to see his
sins, that we deserve nothing but death and hell, based on
our best efforts, even in our religion. And He brings us to
see the glory of God in the face of Christ, to believe in Christ,
to rest in Him, to submit to Him as our only righteousness
before God, and to live in that truth, walking, after the Spirit
and not after the flesh. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ who walk not after the flesh." That
is, don't walk in their works of religion and morality thinking
that that saves them, but walk after the Spirit, looking unto
Jesus. the author and finisher of our
faith. And that's how a sinner is justified before God, based
upon Christ's righteousness imputed. And from that legal standing,
that right standing, we gain a spiritual life from above in
the new birth. So, I hope you'll join us next
week for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1102 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia, 31707. Contact us by
phone at 229-432-6969 or email us through
our website at www.TheLetterRofGrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.