Job chapter 9, the question of
all questions. How can man be just with God? What Job says in verse 2, verse
1, he says, then Job answered and said, I know it is so of
a truth. How should man be just with God or before God? Now to understand this question,
we must have an understanding of who God is. We really don't care how God
can be just and justify us as long as we can get out of trouble. We really don't care. Until He
does the work of grace. Until He does something in us,
we really don't care how He can be just and justify us. Just go down to the local jail and tell them they can go free. That they have been cleared of
all charges. You think they're going to care
how? You think they will ask, well,
how can I be just? No, they're going to say, I'm
gone. I'm out of here. Especially the ones that have
been in there a long time. They don't care. They just want to
go free. Satan said to God concerning
Job, I'll make him curse your face skin for skin. skin for skin. A man will do
anything to save his neck. It doesn't matter how. Do you really care how God can be just and justify
you? Has this question ever troubled
you? Has it ever really, really troubled
your heart? How can God, who is holy, and
just have anything to do with someone like me, a wiggling maggot
like me. Do you really care about that?
Do I care about that? I believe I do. I believe you
do. I believe you care about it. If you are saved, you care about
it. If you are saved, if God has
saved you, If He's given you life, you have an interest in
this. This is not just a cold doctrinal
message. You have an interest in this.
How can God be just and have anything to do with a man like
me? I want to be saved in a just
way. Do you? I do. Do you want to
be saved in a just way? I want to be saved in a just
way, and here's one of the reasons. Later, no one can come back and
condemn me. No one. If I'm saved in a just
way, if I'm cleared of all charges, if I'm justified in a just way,
no one can condemn me later. The accuser of the brethren can't
condemn me. It says in Romans, who can condemn
us? We have been justified in a just
way, so who can condemn us? It's God who justified me. Is
there any greater than God? No. That's it. If I find favor with the judge,
I don't have to worry about anybody else, do I? Not at all. We want to be saved in a just
way. I don't want to deal with God's
justice on my own. That will end in disaster. But
I want God to deal with me in a way that he can be just and
justify me. I don't want to change God. You
don't want to change God. God is who he is, and we would
not change him. He's absolute perfection. It wouldn't change him. Now the
lost would. Those that are lost, they'd change
him. They'd whittle him out to be just like they want him to
be. Use him when they need him and set him on a shelf when they
don't need him. That's the kind of God they want. That's not
the kind of God I want or you want. Are you interested? Are you interested
in this question? I know it's so of a truth, but
how should man be just with God? How can man be just before God?
Well, first of all, how is a man brought to this place to even
have an interest? You and I were not always interested
in this, were we? There was a time that you and
I both had absolutely no interest in how God could be just and
justify me. There was a time I didn't give
a flip about it. And you, same way. Same way. We were going our own way. Our
own way. So how is a man brought to this
place to even ask this question? Well, first of all, it's through
the preaching of the Gospel. It's what I'm doing right now,
what Frank did here Sunday, and Eric. It's through the preaching
of the Gospel. It's through the hearing of the
Gospel. It's through the preaching of truth. Truth about God. Truth about Jesus Christ and
truth about ourselves. I thought about this today as
I was going over these notes. God is not who we think he is. You thought, not by nature, the
way we used to think of God. He's not who we thought he was.
He's not like we thought he was. God said in the Psalms, you thought
I was altogether just like yourself. You thought I was like you, didn't
you? Boy, is that low thoughts of God or what? And that's awful
high thoughts of ourselves, isn't it? To think that God's like
me? But God is not who we think He
is. Christ is more than we think
He is. This world thinks, when they
look at Jesus Christ, they think He's a good man. He's a man who
went about doing good. No, this man's God. This man
is God, he's more than we think he is, and we are more sinful
than we think we are. Oh my, we haven't even scratched
the surface on how sinful we are by nature. We couldn't handle it, could
we? If God was to reveal to me how sinful I am by nature, we
couldn't handle it. When Christ was made to be sin
for us, He sweat great drops of blood. I've never done that. The strongest conviction of sin
on any of us has never brought great drops of blood. But when
He was made to be sin, hmm, because He knew the full depth of it.
He knew the full vileness of it. He knew the cesspool of it. He knew. So how is a man brought
to this place? Through the preaching of the
gospel. Secondly, by conviction of the Holy Spirit
takes the preaching of the gospel and he convicts us of sin, righteousness,
and judgment. The Lord says over in John 16a,
we must be convicted of sin. We must have some understanding
of sin. We must have some understanding
of righteousness and our need of righteousness. Because until
that happens, until the Holy Spirit convicts us of these things,
we're not even concerned about righteousness, are we? Not really. Not really. And he must convict us of judgment. We deserve the wrath of God,
but he took it out on his son. What I deserve was taken out
on Christ. This is not something we come
to of ourselves. This is the work of God. Now,
as I said earlier, how's a man brought to this place? It's through
the preaching of the gospel, of who God is. The Scriptures
teach us that God is holy. Let's never get over that. I'm
telling you, we hear it so much, don't let it go over your head.
They cry, holy, holy, holy day and night, Lord God Almighty. They are constantly crying, holy,
holy, holy. God is in His what? It says God
is in His holy temple. Now you look up the word holy,
and my soul, it's just scripture after scripture after scripture
speaking of God's holiness. But let's look at a few examples of God's holiness, Him acting
in holiness. It's over in Exodus chapter 4. Let me see if I've got that right.
Exodus 4. Yeah. Why don't you look here
at Exodus 4. Look at verse 24. Now remember
this. God called Moses and He's going
to send Moses down to Egypt to be a deliverer. He told him that. You're going to go to Egypt and
you're going to deliver the children of Israel out of Egypt. And so
He's on His way there. And it came to pass by the way
in the end that the Lord met Moses, that's who met him. He
met Moses and God sought to kill him. You know why? He did not circumcise
that boy. God told him to do that. He was supposed to do that and
he didn't do it. His wife didn't want to do it.
Read here. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone
and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it at his feet.
Boy, was she upset. She just threw it at his feet.
And says, surely a bloody husband art thou to me. Boy, there's
a message there. Christ is a bloody husband. He's
our bloody husband. But now listen, that's not the
message tonight. So he let him go. Who let him go? God let Moses go. You say, God
wasn't going to kill Moses. I assure you, if He hadn't circumcised
that boy, He'd have killed him. God is holy. He doesn't change. He says, this
is the law. This is what you do. I command
this. Now, I tell you what, just don't
do it. See what happens. This is a holy God. Moses, you're
dealing with a holy God. You're not dealing with a God
who compromises. We are not dealing with a compromising
God. God is holy. He said he sought
to kill him. And after Zipporah did the circumcision,
cast it at his feet, God let him go. He let him go. Now look over in Leviticus chapter
10. Leviticus chapter 10, look in
verse 1. And Nadab and Abihu, the sons
of Aaron, took either of them his censer. And he put fire therein,
and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the
Lord, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from
the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.
And Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that the Lord spake, saying,
I will be sanctified in them that come nigh to me, and before all the people I will
be glorified. And Aaron held his peace. God killed his two
sons because they did not sanctify him before the people. I'm not a man as you are. God
is holy. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
God of holiness. And here he's acting in holiness.
He's acting in it. Uzzah. What did Uzzah do? What did Uzzah do? The Ark, remember the Ark of
the Covenant, David's taken it back. The oxen stumble, and the ark
starts to teeter like this. Now, I believe probably any of
us in here would have done exactly what Uzzah did. Uzzah reached
up to steady the ark, put his hand on it, and God killed him. God killed him right there on
the spot. And you talk about putting the
fear of God in David and those people around there. Only the
priests were to touch that ark. Only the priests. Is God holy? He sure is. We have examples
of it through the Word of God. Isaiah 61. In the year that King
Uzziah died. Isaiah said, I saw the Lord high
and lifted up His train and filled it with water. Uzziah was a great
king. He reigned for a lot of years
in Israel. He cut down the groves. This
man followed after the Lord. King Uzziah followed after the
Lord. Isaiah thought, I live this king. I live him. But you know what he did? God
killed him. This was a king that was a great
king and followed after the Lord and cut down the groves. I mean,
he followed after the Lord. You know what he did? He went
into the temple and he offered incense. Nobody used to do that
but the priest. Not the king. I don't care how
great the king is. I don't care how great King Uzziah
is. You don't go in that temple and
offer the incense. That's the priest's job. And when he did
it, God killed him. Is God holy? He sure is. He's holy. But is God holy? Just look at Calvary. The greatest
example of God's holiness is that man hanging on that cross
is the only begotten, beloved, well-beloved Son of God. And
when our sins were found on Him, He was put to death. God spared
not his own son. Why? Psalm 22. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping
me and from the words of my roaring? This is the words of our Lord.
O my God, I cry in the daytime, but Thou hearest not, and in
the night season, and am not silent, but Thou art holy. O Thou that inhabitest the praises
of Israel. Right there in the midst of his
suffering, he recognizes why he's suffering. He recognizes
God's hand in this. And he recognizes this, thou
art holy. Is God holy? He sure is. He sure is. And here's another thing we must
be brought to, is how sinful we are. How sinful we are. As holy as God is, man is the
complete opposite. God is light, man is darkness. God is holy, man is sinful. God is truth, man is a liar. God is good, man is bad to the
bone. You know, just as much as I cannot
describe the holiness of God, I really
can't describe the sinfulness and wretchedness of human nature.
I really can't. I heard Henry say this, and this
is good. When we talk about God's holiness
and man's sinfulness, we always, always understate both of them. Write that down. We always understate
both of them. We don't even come up to God's
holiness, nor can we go to the depth of man's sinfulness. Look here in Job, look in Job,
back in Job chapter 4. In Job chapter 4, look in verse
17. Shall mortal man be more just
than God? Shall a man be more pure than
his maker? Behold, he put no trust in his servants. In his
angels he's charged with folly. How much less in them that dwell
in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed
before the moth?" Look over in Job 15. Job chapter 15. Look in verse 14, Joe 15, 14. What is man that he should be
clean, and he which is born of a woman that he should be righteous?
Behold, he put no trust in his saints. Yea, the heavens are
not clean in his sight. How much more abominable and
filthy is man? There's your description. There's
how the Word of God describes us, isn't it? That's offensive. Listen, that is offensive to
human nature. Don't tell me I'm like that.
I know I'm not like that. When the Word of God says you're
like that, it says I'm like that. And you know what? However the
Word of God describes us, that's exactly the way we are. How much
more abominable and filthy is man which drinks iniquity like
water? Just drinks it up like water.
And of course, I read to you Job
25. Let's read it again, Job 25. Verse 4, How then can man
be justified with God? Or how can he be clean that's
born of a woman? Behold, even to the moon, and
it shines not. Yea, the stars are not pure in
his sight. How much less man that is a worm. And that worm
means maggot. And the Son of Man, which is
a worm, He called Jacob a worm. God said, Thou worm Jacob, Thou
wiggling maggot Jacob. Are we really like that? Do you really see yourself like
that? It takes the work of God for
us to see what we truly are. It takes a powerful work of God. Look over in Genesis 6. You see this in the Scripture. Genesis chapter 6. Look in verse 5. And God saw
that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that
every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Have we gotten any better? Has
the human race gotten any better? Nope. Not one ounce. Because human nature hasn't changed.
You know, a lion is still a lion, isn't it? It's still a beast. It's still a beast. It's a beast
of the field. It'll rip your head off if it gets a chance.
And you can take the best person out there, and I'm telling you
what, give them the right opportunity in the right situation, just
push the wrong button, and it'll rip your head off. That's us. That's us. Psalm 14. Psalm 14, verse 2, the Lord looked down
from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any
that did understand and seek God. And here's the answer, verse
3, they are all gone aside They are all together become filthy. Look over in your margin, what
to say? Stinking. Lazarus' sister said, Lord, he's
been dead for four days and he stinketh. And he still stinks. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. Here's the problem, is that we have a real tendency
to compare ourselves with each other, and we begin to set ourselves
up as the standard of good. God is the standard of good,
not me and not you. God is. Look over in 2 Corinthians. Chapter 10. 2 Corinthians 10, look in verse
12. For we dare not make ourselves
of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend But they
measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves among
themselves are not wise. You hear that one? You're not
wise. Cole, I can remember this one.
He was about four years old. He'd go up and measure himself
against other kids to see who was the tallest. Measure yourself up against God.
There's the standard. Measure yourself up against Jesus
Christ. There's the standard. When he
was reviled, he opened not his mouth. There's the standard. They lied on him, and he opened
not his mouth. They slapped him. He says when
the enemy slaps you, don't turn the other cheek. Someone will
slap you, turn the other cheek. Can you do that? Do a spinning back fist probably.
That's how you turn it. He did. He did. Love your neighbor as yourself. Aren't you glad he's our righteousness?
Because he did. He loved his neighbor as himself.
He turned the other cheek. He walked that extra mile. He
walked more than an extra mile. He's the standard, not me. You know, we usually judge. Even believers now, we fall into
this trap. We have a tendency to want to
judge others by what we do and the way we are and what we believe.
That's what the Word of God says. It's according to the Word of
God. It's according to the standard of God. Not me. Not us. We dare not compare ourselves
among ourselves. God's the standard. Someone said this. We have never
done what we could do. God has put a hedge of restraint
about us to keep us from running in headlong and to just vow open
sin or self-righteousness, which
is among the worst of it all. So, to answer the question, briefly,
to answer the question, How can a man be just with God? Turn
over to Matthew 19 for a minute. There's something we have to
understand here if we're going to answer this question. Look in verse 23. Then says Jesus
unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, that a rich man shall
hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto
you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle
than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. When
his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying,
Who then can be saved? And Jesus beheld them and said
unto them, With men this is impossible." We've got to get a hold of this.
Salvation with us is absolutely Impossible. It's impossible. Don't even try. It's impossible. We have absolutely, we have absolutely nothing to
do with justification, with justifying ourselves before God. We don't do anything to do it.
You say you believe, was that not the gift of God? Is faith
not the gift of God? It is solely a work of God. He said, with man it's impossible,
but with God all things are possible. It is possible. It is possible
for God who is holy and just to save me. It is possible for
God to be God and justify me, a guilty, vile, wretched sinner. It's possible with God. It's
not possible with me, but it's possible with God. Look over in Romans chapter 3. I'll hurry up and wind this down.
I'm going too long here. Romans chapter 3, verse 25, whom God has set forth
to be a propitiation through faith in His blood to declare
His righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through
the forbearance of God. Whose righteousness? His, the
righteousness of Christ. To declare, I say at this time,
His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of
him which believeth in Jesus. How can God be just and justify
me? Through the righteousness of
His Son. He can do that. In Jeremiah 23. Jeremiah 23.
Jeremiah 23. Let's look in verse 5. Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and
a king shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and
justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved,
and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is his name, whereby
he shall be called the Lord our righteousness. How can God be
just and justify me? Through the righteousness of
His Son. Jesus Christ. Now, one last scripture. Turn
over to 1 Peter 3. Here's the answer to the question,
how can a man be just with God? In verse 18, 1 Peter 3. For Christ
also hath once suffered for sins, the just, the just one, for the
unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in
the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit." How can God be just
and justify me? Through the blood, the righteousness,
the person of Jesus Christ. Are you interested? Thanks a
lot.