Job chapter 9 and Job 25. You and I, last time we looked
in Galatians chapter 2, we looked at justification illustrated. And tonight I don't want to go
to Galatians 2. I want to tie these together,
but I want to look this evening at simply the doctrine of justification. the doctrine of justification.
I want to do that because it's not only in the Old Testament
set forth, but it's in the New Testament, but the Old Testament
too. But let me read a passage, and I do want to refer back to
this in just a minute. So hold the 9th chapter of Job
and the 25th chapter of Job. But I just want to read a verse
here in chapter 9, verses 1 and 2. And Job answered and said,
I know it is so of a truth, but how shall man be just with God? And I want to look at just a
second as to why he said that, but look now over in the 25th
chapter of Job. Job and Bildad had these two
conversations concerning justification. the twenty-fifth chapter of Job,
then answered Bildad, the Shuhite, and said, Dominion and fear are
with him, with the Lord. He maketh peace in his high places. Is there any number of his armies,
and upon whom doeth his light arise? How then can man be justified
with God? We find this asked by these old patriarchs,
these old saints of old, and I want to look at the doctrine
of this great important truth of justification. But before
I do, I think it always helps. to deal with something like this,
to give you a definition. We find many definitions, and
I was looking again just this past week, and Webster said this
about justification. To absolve or acquit from guilt
and merited punishment. Now, if this definition is correct,
and I believe it is, I believe it's scriptural, then we have
to consider some things. And let me quote this definition
to you one more time. Justification means this, to
absolve or acquit from guilt and merited punishment. Now, as I considered his definition,
I thought these are some key words here, and the way he phrases
this is very important. To acquit from guilt. to acquit from merited punishment. Now, that's very important, and
I think that's a scriptural definition. But as we consider that this
evening, first of all, we've got to consider this. Justification
does not mean that those who are justified have never sinned. It doesn't mean that they're
looked upon as they have never sinned. Now, I know some says
that, and I'm not here to argue that point with them. If men
want to say that, that's fine. You and I may have said that
ourselves. But according to Webster's definition, justification does
not mean a person is counted as though he has never sinned. They are acquitted even though
they have sinned. Now that fits our definition,
doesn't it? If we say that justification
means it's as though a man has never sinned, that won't fit
our definition. But if we say a man is justified
even though he has sinned, or in spite of his sinning, then
that makes our definition I think more scriptural. Let me read
two or three scriptures to you in the light of that definition.
In Romans chapter 3, let me quote these for you because they are
very familiar scriptures. Whatsoever things the law saith,
that saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth may
be stopped, and all the world become guilty before God." Then
he says in verse 23, "...all have sinned, and come short of
the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace." So see
how these two are tied together. Guilt before God. All have sinned. Then immediately he adds, "...being
justified freely by His grace." So we can't say that being justified
is saying that it's as though one never sinned. It's not that
at all, because the Scriptures link these two things together.
All have sinned being justified. And in the fourth chapter in
verse 5 of Romans, he said this, "...to him that worketh not,
but believeth on him that justify the ungodly." So that's going
to the extreme, ain't it? Justify the ungodly. And then in chapter 4 verse 8,
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. A justified man is not a man
that has no sin. But he's a man to whom God will
not impute sin. Now, our Lord Jesus gave a good
example of who is justified. When he told of that publican,
remember the publican that went up to the temple to pray? And
he said, God be merciful to me, a sinner. And he acknowledged
that he was a sinner, and he was a sinner. And I think the
Lord Jesus that told us of that man would have us to understand
this was a true sinner that smote upon his breast. He was a guilty
man. But then he says in the very
next verse that he went down to his house justified. So who is justification for that? It's not for those who have never
sinned, but it's for those who are sinners and have sinned. And yet they're justified in
spite of it, in spite of their sin. So Webster's definition
here of justification is a scriptural one. A person has acquired guilt,
that is, he's sinned, he deserves punishment, but instead he is
justified and acquitted. Now this is one of the most amazing.
aspects of justification, and I think one of the most confident
things. The most confident aspect of justification. And this is
why we preach the gospel. This is the very reason we preach
the gospel to this lost world. Because this is the blessing
of the gospel. You remember what God spoke to
Abraham way back there in Abraham's day? He said, I'm going to bless you. But not
just you, he said. Not just you. I'm going to bless
all the families of the world, all the nations of the world.
And he says it like this. God foresees, the Scripture foresees,
that God would justify the heathen through faith. Preach the gospel
unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all the families of the
earth be blessed. And how is the families of the
earth to be blessed? It's a gospel blessing. And what
is that gospel blessing? It's this very thing that we've
just been talking about, ain't it? Justification. And you and I have a gospel to
preach to the ungodly. We have a gospel to preach to
sinners. And here's the blessing of it.
Sinners are justified. Those who have acquired guilt
can be acquitted. Those who deserve to be punished
can be released and freed. A wonderful gospel blessing.
But we have to consider something else. Not only who is justified,
but who justifies. Who is it that can so acquit
a man, a guilty man of his sin, and free him from acquired punishment? There's only one that can do
it, and that's God. The very one whom the sin is
against. The very one who has set his
hand to punish. If I whip my glittering sword
and my hand take hold on judgment, I'll render vengeance to my enemy.
And yet this is the very God that must justify. Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God who justifies. And it's only God who can justify
a sinner. The very one whom we've sinned
against is the only one who can justify us. And this is the problem
that the Jews had. When they thought of justification,
it was always, how can we be justified in the eyes of man?
You are they who justify yourselves in the eyes of man, but God knows
your heart. But what you and I are speaking
about this evening and considering, not justification before one
another, James speaks of that. But you and I are talking this
evening, how can a man be justified in the eyes of God, in the sight
of God? And that's the blessing of it
all. And the Scripture says this, not the hearers of the law shall
be just before God, but the doers of the law, before God, just
before God. By the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified in His sight, but that no man is justified
by the law in the sight of God. So that's what we're talking
about this evening. Not me being justified in your eyes, or you're
justified in my eyes, but justified in the eyes of God. And who can
justify the eyes of God? Only God. Only God. Every aspect of justification
is glorious, not only because who is justified? Sinners. The guilty. But who does the
justify? God. Right before His own presence,
in His presence, before His sight, He justifies. And this is the
very thing that makes justification so difficult for us to believe.
And it's just because of this reason, these first two points
that you and I have been talking about. Because we're such sinners
and God is so holy. And that's what Job and Beldad
have been speaking about. Look here with me one more time
while you still have your Bibles there at Job. Look at Job back
here at Job chapter 9 again. Now look at this. Here's the
great mysteries that we face in justification in these first
two points. And you know, we need to stop
and deal with this in our day. Some sound teaching upon this,
and this is really where we start. This is where we start. You may
start with God, who does the justifying, and then go to the
next point, who He justifies, sinners. But this is where we
fail to spend enough time, the nature of God and the nature
of fallen man. And then we bring in, how can
this be? But look here what Bildad and
Job were speaking about. And Job said in verse 2 of chapter
9, I know it is so of a truth, but how should man be just with
God? Now what's he talking about?
I know it is so of a truth. Well, what Bildad had been talking
about. Look in verse 20 of chapter 8,
just to give you an example of what he'd been talking about.
Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man, neither will He
help us, because we are such sinners, and God is so holy. And that's what Job and Beldad
have been speaking about. Now, look here with me one more
time while you still have your Bibles there in Job. Look in
Job back here at Job chapter 9 again. Now look at this. Here's the great mysteries that
we face in justification in these first two points. And you know,
we need to stop and deal with this in our day. Some sound teaching
upon this. And this is really where we start.
This is where we start. You may start with God. Who does
the justifying? And then go to the next point.
Who He justifies? Sinners. But this is where we
fail to to spend enough time, the nature of God and the nature
of fallen man. And then we bring in, how can
this be? But look here what Bildad and
Job were speaking about. And Job said in verse 2 of chapter
9, I know it is so of a truth, but how should man be just with
God? Now what's he talking about?
I know it is so of a truth. Well, what Bildad had been talking
about, Judgement? W-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w And then we bring in, how can
this be? But look here what Bildad and
Job were speaking about. And Job said in verse 2 of chapter
9, I know it is so of a truth, but how should man be just with
God? Now what's he talking about?
I know it is so of a truth. Well, what Bildad had been talking
about. Look in verse 20 of chapter 8,
just to give you an example of what he'd been talking about.
Behold, God... And you see him speaking highly
of God and the power of God and something of God's glory in that. And then he goes on down in verse
20 of chapter 9, and look what he says about himself. If I justify
myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me. If I say I'm perfect,
it shall also prove me perverse. God ain't going to cast away
a perfect man, but Job says, I'm not perfect. How's God going
to justify me? Is he going to pervert justice
and judgment? And then he goes down in verse
30 and look at this. He said, I can't prepare myself
to be justified. If I wash myself with snow water,
and make my hands never so clean, yet thou shalt plunge me into
the ditch, and my own clothes shalt abhor me. For he is not
a man as I am, that I should answer him, and that we should
come together into judgment." What happens when we stand before
God? We're condemned. We're guilty. No flesh shall be justified in
His sight. He's of two pure eyes to behold
iniquity. He cannot look upon sin. His holiness forbids it. His
justice would burn against us. He would destroy us. Job said
we can't come together. How can man be just with God
when we consider God and His holiness and man and his sinfulness? And look what Bildad says over
in chapter 25. Look how he goes ahead and proceeds.
And this is the mystery here we face about justification. Verse 4 again. How then can man
be justified with God? Or how can he be clean that is
barned of a fallen, sinful, filthy woman? Behold, even to the moon,
and it shineth not, not in the light of his glory. Yea, the
stars are not pure in his sight, how much less man that is a worm,
and the Son of man which is a worm." So that's a good question, ain't
it? When we consider something of God and His glory, His immensity,
His holiness, His character. And then consider man, that's
unclean. Well, this brings us to the third
thing. And, you know, we can't stop
on these first two points. We just can't, can we? We say
that God is the one who justifies, and the guilty, the sinners,
are the ones who are justified, acquitted, but we can't stop
there, can we? If we consider these two things,
our own conscience won't let us stop here. We've got to know
more. We've got to know more. And the two things that we've
got to know is this, why and how does God justify? Why would
God justify a sinner? Why would He clear him of his
sin, of his guilt? It's against God after all, and
He deserves to punish him, and He must punish him. Why would
He justify? The world wants to hear a gospel
that stops after our first two points. That's what the world
wants to hear. God is a great God, and you and
I may be sinners, but He justifies us, so let's stop right there.
Everything's all right. Ain't that what the world wants
to hear? After all, we're told God loves us and Christ died
for us. That's all we care about, no one. Just tell us that sometime.
But we don't need to hear any more. But we can't stop at those
first two points. We have to ask why and how. If you read much of the commentaries
and some of the theologians, they talk about a moving cause
in God and a moratorial cause in God. That's how they say it. That's probably the proper way
to say it. But instead of saying the moving cause, I just say
why. Why does God justify sin? Instead
of saying the meritorious cause, I just say, how can you do it?
But here's the moving cause. Here's the why God does it. What is it that moves God to
justify a guilty man, to clear him, to acquit him of all charges,
to free him from merited punishment? Well, the cause is found in God.
It's not found in the one He justifies. It's found in Him. Romans 3, verse 24 says this,
"...being justified freely by His grace." There's the moving
cause. There's what moves God to say,
I'm going to justify that man. I'm going to clear him. Let me
read this to you like this. I like this paraphrase. being justified without any cause
found in us, our cost to us, our obligation on our part. Now, I like that, don't you?
Being justified without any cause found in us, our cost to us,
our obligation on our part, but because of that free grace, and
love and goodness which is in God Himself. That's what moves
God to justify sin. Freely by His grace. There was a leper who came to
the Lord Jesus one day and he was full of leprosy. He shouldn't
have been there where he was. He could have probably, according
to law, been stoned for He was supposed to keep away from society,
but he came. The Lord Jesus reached out and
handled him. He got that close to him. And he was full of leprosy. His nose was rotted off and his
ears were black, running a high fever, full of leprosy. And he
said, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. And what he
was saying, if you have good will towards me, I don't have
anything to plead. I'm here unlawfully. But if you
have a goodwill to do it." That's what he pleaded. And the Lord
Jesus said, I will. I will. That's what we're told.
That's the moving cause in God. It's His goodness, a goodwill,
peace on earth and goodwill towards man. That's what we see in God. The leopard had nothing to plead
but the Lord's good will. And this is why you and I see
sin mentioned and spoken of when it speaks of our justification.
It wants us to know that we can't
merit this. The cause is not found in us.
We were ungodly. We were sinners. And what was
it that moved God to us, to justify us? It was in Him. It was in
Him. That's why we call it free, ain't
it? Free grace. God's not obligated to do it.
It's grace. Free grace. But then, how does
He do it? And the old timers called this
the meritorious cause. And here we come to the very
heart of the Gospel. How can God be just and justify
the ungodly. And that's the thing that seemed,
I don't say they were confused about it, but this is the thing,
this is the conversation, this is the heart of this conversation
that Bildad and Job was discussing when they considered who God
is and who man is. And it brought out this question
in both of them, how then? They said, how then? Can man be just with God? And
this is a question that has only one true scriptural answer. Only one answer to this question.
How can God do it? And we find this also in Romans
chapter 3 verse 24 and 25. Listen to this. Being justified
freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus. whom God has set forth to be
an atoning victim, a mercy seeker through faith in His blood. Turn
over here with me to a very familiar chapter, over to your right,
over in Isaiah chapter 53. This is the very heart of the
Gospel. Look in here in Isaiah chapter
53. How can God acquit us of our guilt? Real guilt. Not pretended. We're guilty.
We can't deny it. The Bible won't allow us to deny
it. Our conscience won't allow us to deny it. We're guilty before
God. We're made aware of that daily,
aren't we? Every night. Lord, we're unprofitable. We're
useless, certainly. But look at this chapter here
like this. Look here, first of all, in verse 11. Look in verse 11, and I want
you to notice how these are tied together. In verse 11 of chapter 53 of
Isaiah, He, God the Father, shall see of the travail of His soul,
Christ's soul. And we know what that's talking
about, don't we? That's on the cross, the cross of Calvary,
His groanings, His suffering. And He shall be satisfied. By
His knowledge, and I read that, you can read that if you want
to by saying our knowledge of Him, but I like to read it, by
His knowledge of us. I know my sheep. The foundation
of God standeth sure, having this seal, God knoweth them that
are His. By His knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many. There it is. He shall justify
many. How can He do it? For He shall
bear their iniquity. See how those two things are
tied together? He can now justify the cause Christ has borne for
our nation. And we look back in verse 6,
and I'm sure you've got these verses memorized now, but look
here back in verse 6. Go through this and look at it.
How did our iniquities get on Him? In verse 6, all we like
sheep have gone astray. We've turned every one to his
own way, and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquities of us all. Now that's a mystery. That's
something you and I can't enter into. We just have to believe.
We can't feel it. We weren't there to see it. If you'd have been there, you
couldn't have saw it. But we just believe the account. I tell
you what, Larry, I'd rather be right here tonight looking at
this Bible than to have been there. Now that's how sure this
Bible is. That's what Larry just read to
us. God laid on Him the iniquity of us all. And then when he did
that, look in verse 4, "...surely he hath borne our griefs, and
carried our sorrows. We esteemed him stricken, smitten
of God, and afflicted. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed." In verse 10,
"...it pleased the Lord to bruise him, He hath put him to grief,
when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin." How can
God acquit us? How can He justify us from our
sins even though we are guilty? Because sin has been punished.
God has punished sin in His Son. He has punished it to the uttermost.
Brothers and sisters, sin was more effectively punished and
justice is more satisfied there upon the cross in the sufferings
of Jesus of Nazareth than it could ever be in that person
who is suffering in hell for all eternity. Justice is never
satisfied in that. That's why a million years justice
will still be saying, I require more, I require more. But when
the Lord Jesus suffered those hours upon Calvary, and He lifted
up His head and gave up the ghost, the Father Himself said, I'm
satisfied. Everything in me is satisfied. My judgment is satisfied. My
justice is satisfied. Now I can be just and justify
the ungodly. I declare them of all their guilt. Now that's a beautiful doctrine,
ain't it? And that's a scriptural doctrine. And fourthly, there's
something else concerning justification that we must consider. Who is
it who are justified sinners? The guilty. Who does the justifying? God. Why? It's grace. How? By
Jesus Christ's death. But there's something else that
we must ask. How can you and I, as individuals, become partakers
of this? How can this come to me and to
you? That's what I'm interested in
too. I just want to talk about it being done. I want to partake
of it. It's obvious that God hasn't
justified everybody. That's obvious. Because many
are yet perishing today. We can't stop here, then, can
we? All of these things go hand-in-hand. They all link up together. We
take them as individual truths and aspects of justification,
and we look at them, but they all go hand-in-hand. We have
to consider all of them. It would be dangerous, really,
to stop at any of them. So here is the fourth one. How
can you and I be justified then? How does this tremendous blessing
become ours? The Scripture foreseeing that
God would justify the heathen through faith. Preach the gospel
unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all the families of the
earth be blessed. Well, how can I partake of this
blessing? And here's what the Scripture says, and you and I
looked at this the last time in Galatians 2.16. And listen
to this. Let me quote it to you again.
And I love this. This is one of my favorite verses
in all the Scriptures, simply for how pointed it is. Even we
have believed in Jesus Christ. Now, you remember who said that?
This great apostle. been saved several, several years
and established more churches and preached the gospel and served
the Lord all these years. And here's what he said about
himself and the great Apostle Peter. We have believed in Jesus
Christ that we might be justified. Paul said, I believe in Christ
to be justified. And that's the way he comes to
us, ain't it? God is the just and justifier
of him which believeth in Jesus. And we conclude that a man is
justified by faith, by trusting Christ, by leaning upon Christ,
by looking to Christ, without the deeds of the law. All that believe are justified.
from all things by which he could not be justified by the love
of Moses. To be acquitted of all guilt
and merited punishment, and it comes to us by faith. It's evident
that we're guilty. We can't deny it. We know who
God justifies. We know how. And now we find
out how it comes to us. Faith. God be merciful to me
a sinner. And you know something? He believed
on the Lord Jesus Christ. You say, how do you know? Because
he went down to his house justified. And there's no other way to be
justified. We have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be
justified by the faith of Christ. We can't earn it. We can't merit
it. We can't work to get it. And
we can't work to keep it. We simply believe. We believe. Now let me show you some things
right quick. Just turn over to Romans chapter 4. Right quickly,
and I'll close. Just read you a passage. Romans
chapter 4. If you look at the commentaries on these things,
They get very technical. You talk about imputed righteousness.
You and I were talking about that at dinner table. Imputed
righteousness and justification and adoption. Forgiveness of
sins. And technically, you can separate
all these things. And the theologians do that.
But sometimes when they do that, they get so technical, I get
so confused. And I don't know where I'm coming
or going. And I go through the Bible to get straightened out,
you see. But sometimes the Holy Spirit leads these riders just
to lump all these things together. And that tells me if you've got
one, you've got the other. If you believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ, you've been justified. And what else do you have? What
else do you have? Well, look what Paul says in
Romans chapter 4. Look what he says. Let's begin
there at verse 1. What shall we say that Abraham,
our father, as pertaining to the flesh is found? For if Abraham
were justified by works, well, he was justified, but not by
words. But if he was, he'd have something to glory about, but
not before God. No flesh is going to glory before
God. But what saith the Scriptures? Abraham believed God. And he
was justified by faith, wasn't he? But look what else. It was counted to him for righteousness.
You justified? You have righteousness. You have
righteousness. Imputed righteousness. Look what
he said down in verse 6. Even as David describes the blessedness
of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness. If you're justified,
you have imputed righteousness. What is that imputed righteousness?
You know, brothers and sisters, there ain't but one, and that's
Jesus Christ. He of God is made unto us righteousness. How's God going to impute something
to you? It's a person He gives you. You're
righteous. The Lord, our righteousness. To him that worketh not is the
reward not reckoned of grace, but of death. But to him that
worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David describes the blessedness
of the man to whom God imputeth righteousness without work. And
look at this, saying, look how he links these together. Justified,
Abraham justified, therefore he had imputed righteousness.
And look at verse 7. Here's how David linked them.
Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are
covered. Forgiveness of sin. See, all
these just lump together, aren't they? Blessed is the man to whom
the Lord will not impute sin. Then, of course, he goes on in
chapter 5, and you can work these out yourself. Look at these yourself. Being justified by faith. Look what we have. Peace. Peace. Peace with God. When God justifies
us, He gives us peace. We have His peace. And look at
this. We have access. By whom also?
By Christ. We have access. unto this grace
wherein we stand." And look what else we have. Hope. Rejoice in
hope of the glory of God. We have this grace of hope. Verse
5, "...hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts." Ain't that amazing? Ain't it wonderful
to think of this? The love of God is in your heart.
God is love. And somehow or another, He's
put His love in your heart. The love of God. No wonder we
love Him. His love's in our heart. And what put it there? The Holy
Ghost. If you're justified, you've got
the Holy Ghost. You're not waiting to get the Holy Ghost. There's
no such thing as God justifying a man and not giving him His
Spirit. You have the Holy Spirit. One more place and I'll let you
go. Look over in Titus chapter 3. Look in Titus chapter 3. Justify.