We're going to look today at
one of the oldest recorded questions that any man has ever asked. It's found here in the book of
Job, which we're told was the first book in our Bibles to have
been written. It was written even before Moses
wrote the first five books of the Bible, written before Moses
wrote about the creation of the earth. how God created the world
and all things in it in six days. We might call this an ageless
question. It's not only an old question,
but it is one of the most important questions, the answer to it at
least, one of the most important questions that you could ever
ask, you could ever consider. It's found in the last part of
verse two, where Job said, how should man be just with God? How shall man be righteous with
God? There was a time, it was a short
time, no doubt, but there was a time when man, the only man
at that time, would never have asked that question. Adam, our
father, as he came from the hands of God Almighty, his creator,
he was created righteous. He would have never asked this
question, how should a man be just or righteous with God? You might say, well, how long
was Adam righteous? How long was he in that condition
in which he would have never asked that question? I can only
answer that question by saying this. He was like that long enough
to demonstrate the wisdom, the knowledge in which God created
him. God brought all of the animals
before Adam, and he named all of them, just giving us a at
the knowledge and the wisdom that man was created with before
he sinned, before he fell. My wife is reading a book. She
was telling me something about it yesterday. A researcher researching
prodigies, child prodigies and others. There's a couple of other
categories there. But she read me the story of
one young boy, four years old. His mother took him into a Barnes
and Noble bookstore one day, and he picked up a book on astronomy. And he couldn't put it down.
He was so interested in it. And so she bought the book for
him, knowing that it was way above him. But he was reading
it, four years old. Later, sometime, they went to
a lecture where a man was lecturing on the universe and creation,
I guess, and he asked a question about so many moons around one
of the planets. I forget which planet it was.
He asked the question to the audience. Here's this four-year-old
boy. He answered the question. Nobody
else dared to answer it. And he was right. When she was
telling me that, I said, do you think that maybe God, I looked
up that word prodigy and it means extraordinary, out of the ordinary,
but I thought, do you think God just every once in a while lets
someone be born like that in this world to testify to the
knowledge that man had when he came from the creator before
he fell into sin. That's how I know Adam would
never have asked this question, how can man be just with God? How long was he in that condition? Long enough to give a witness
to you and I in the word of God of his knowledge, his wisdom
that God created man with. Of course, we know that we lost
that, much of that in the fall. I believe that. I do. I believe that all of creation,
not just man, but all of creation, the animal creation, the plant
creation, all of creation has suffered by sin coming into this
world. In fact, the apostle Paul tells
us in Romans chapter eight, the whole creation groaneth and travaileth,
waiting for that day when God's creation, the heavens and the
earth, a new creation. This old creation is groaning
under the weight of the curse of God because of man's sin. How long was Adam in that condition? Well, long enough to demonstrate
the wisdom and the knowledge that he was created with. And
I would say this, he was in that condition long enough for God
to show how wonderfully good he is. How good God is. You say, how did he show that?
He showed that by, it's not good that Adam should remain alone. Would you like to be on just
an island alone? No one to talk with, no one to
share anything with. It was not good that man should
be alone. And God shows his goodness in
creating for Adam a helpmate. his better half, if you please,
to make him complete, man and woman, a person that Adam could share
with and could love and have fellowship with. And he was in that condition
long enough to be tempted by Satan and to disobey God and
to fall into sin. Then, then Adam became a fallen,
sinful creature. And he should ask this question,
how then shall man be just with God? He no longer was. He no
longer was righteous before God. Adam was created by God, and
he was a federal head. This is a word that the theologians
use, a federal head of all of his posterity. He was your representative. He was my representative. And
when he fell, he became a fallen creature. But that means that
all of his posterity, all of us who are his descendants, We
come into this world with a fallen nature. For by one man, the scripture
says, sin entered into the world. All who were in Adam, all that
Adam represented, we all fell in him. God quickly, now let me point
this out. Before God drove Adam and Eve
out of the garden, God quickly answered this question to Adam. He quickly showed, God did, he
quickly showed how it is that man may be just with God. God
taught him that it would be through the work of a substitute. It would be through the work
of a person and of a substitute. Adam thought, he's now fallen. He's now depraved, that's the
word they use. Total depravity, it doesn't mean
that every man is as bad as he could be. Some men go deeper
into sin than others do. That's not what total depravity
means. Total depravity means that every
part of us fail. Our mind, our understanding is
darkened. Our love, our affection now is
not upon our Creator, upon God, but it's turned inward upon ourself. And our will is in bondage to
sin, total depravity. But in this fallen state, Adam
He got the idea, well, I can make me some fig leaves. I'll
take some fig leaves, rather, and make me a covering. And that's
the way I will be righteous before God, by covering myself with
these fig leaves. But you know, that didn't work,
did it? Just as soon as God came walking that day in the cool
of the day in the garden, what did Adam do? He was clothed.
He had on fig leaf clothes. But he knew, he knew he was not
clothed before God. He was not righteous with God. What does he do? He runs to hide,
doesn't he? Tries to hide from God. Now,
fig leaves, and that's what man's religion is. You may be here
today. I wouldn't be surprised. There's
some here today. and you've got fig leaf religion. You're trying to make yourself
right before God by covering yourself with your works, by
what you do, by how you can please God, how you can make yourself
righteous with God. Those are just fig leaves, that's
all they are. That's all they are. Fig leaves. Man's works can never
cause a man to be right with God, just with God. Now, in the
New Testament, this truth is stated like this, knowing that
a man is not justified, that is, he's not righteous before
God, he's not justified by the works of the law. Now, everyone
is under that law, the law that God gave to Moses is a picture
of the law that every man comes into this world. We're all under
that law. It's wrong to lie. It's wrong
to steal. Before God gave the law to Moses
on Mount Sinai, it's always been wrong to have another God and
worship an idol. That's always been wrong. And
men, all of us, when we come into this world, we're under
that law of nature, they call it. Law of nature. And it doesn't
matter what law. If it's a law of nature, if it's
a law that's recorded that God gave from Mount Sinai by the
works of that law, no flesh will be justified in His sight. No
one. No one will be right before God. By the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified. Now I said that God taught Adam
quickly how a person may be right with God. I believe he did that
two ways, and I want to share those with you, two ways. He
taught him first, Adam overheard. Now God did not speak this to
Adam. God spoke these words to the
tempter, Satan. But Adam was there, and he overheard
what God said to the tempter. And what God told him was, I
will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy
seed and her seed. Now listen, the seed of the woman,
her seed, it shall bruise thy head. and thou shalt bruise his
heel. Now get the picture there. God
told Satan, here's a woman, here's Eve, her seed. Well, all of us
here today, we are the seed of our father. We're all the seed
of some man, not the Lord Jesus Christ. God did a new thing in
the earth. Right? A virgin, a virgin conceived
and brought forth a son, the Lord Jesus Christ. That means
that he was not in that covenant with Adam. And he didn't become
a sinner by Adam's transgression because he wasn't in that covenant
with Adam. That covenant with Adam pertained
to all of his posterity, all of his sons and daughters. The
Lord Jesus Christ, not the seed of the man, he's the seed of
the woman that came into this world absolutely sinless. How did it all work out? Well,
the apostle Paul tells us in Galatians like this, when the
fullness of the time was come, God had it marked on his calendar
from old eternity. You know, there's no time with
God. We call it old eternity. We're just talking about before
time began. You say, when did time begin? In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth. But before time ever began, God
had marked on the calendar when his son would come into this
world. And you know your birth was marked on that calendar too. Did you know that? You were not
an accident. The day of your birth, the time
of your birth, and not even your name. Your mother and father,
they may have flipped a coin to decide on what to call you. But I guarantee you, in God's
book, you were already named. He said, and that coin just,
it came up heads or it came up tails, it came up whatever God
had determined that you would be called. There are no accidents
with God. In the fullness of the time,
in God's calendar, he sent forth his son into this world. We've
heard that so many times. I'm ashamed to say it. I'm ashamed
to think it's true of me, but I know it is. I've said that
so many times, you've heard it so many times, that we're not
even amazed. We're not even overwhelmed with
the thought anymore that God came into this world. God sent
his son into this world. And he sent him here to die. He sent him here to be a sacrifice
for the sins of his people. That becomes old hat to us, doesn't
it? Well, we need to pray that it
doesn't, that we're overwhelmed with the truth that God would
love anyone, any fallen creature. so much that he would give his
own son. But he did in the fullness of
the time. God sent forth his son, made
of a woman, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might
receive the adoption of sons. Adoption of sons, being made
a son, a daughter of God. You see some of these people
on the side of the road begging. And I've seen some sad sights,
haven't you? Filthy, hair all matted down
the back. You think, how in the world could you take someone like that
into your house? In the sight of God, we looked
a whole lot worse than they looked. With all our sin, evil thoughts,
evil deeds, unkind words, I mean, we could just go on and on. And
yet God sent his son to redeem men and women who, by nature,
are sinners. Adam heard that. He heard the
prophecy. So that's the first way that
God quickly taught Adam that the way to be righteous with
him would be through the seed of the woman, through the person
and work of a substitute. The second way that God taught
Adam, God clothed him, the scripture says, with coats of skins. Now
that coat, that coat of skin, had to be taken from an animal.
Blood had to be shed. Well, it's not possible in the
letter of Hebrews we read that it's not possible that the blood
of bulls and goats could take away sins. No, the blood of an
animal could not wash away the sin of an individual, but the
blood of an animal could picture, could be a type of the blood
that his son would come and shed. Adam was clothed with those coats
made of skins from an innocent victim. An innocent one had to
die, a substitute had to die in his stead. And this tells
us from the very beginning, without shedding of blood is no remission. The blood which obtains remission
of sins for the people of God has to be the blood of the one
who is the seed of the woman, the God-man. When Adam and Eve were put out
of the Garden of Eden, they knew, now listen, follow me now, they
knew the answer to Job's question, how shall man be just with God?
They knew it. They'd been taught it by God.
First, by hearing the prophecy of the seed of the woman. Second,
by being clothed with the skins of an animal. They knew it and
they taught their children. They taught their children. And
so we read next that one of their sons by the name of Abel, he
believed. He believed that message. And
so he offered a sacrifice. We believe it was a lamb. And
God had respect unto his offering. In other words, that animal that
he brought and offered unto the Lord, he was looking forward
to that one who was promised to come. This lamb was just a
pitcher. And you know, in Hebrews, we
are told this about Abel. Abel offered unto God a more
excellent sacrifice than Cain. Now listen, by which? by his
sacrifice, by his faith, looking forward to that promised Messiah,
by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, that he
was just with God. If you still have your Bibles
open here to Job chapter nine, I want you to see that that question
is the second part of a statement. The first part is, I know that
it is so of a truth. Do you see that? I know that
it is so of a truth. What was the truth that Job knew? What does he have reference to
here when he said, I know it's so of a truth. Well, if you look
back in chapter 8, verse 3, it's what his friend Bildad said. Doth God pervert judgment? Or
doth the Almighty pervert justice? In other words, Job, is God just? Is God holy? Is God righteous? Job said, I know of a truth that
he is. Yes, he is. He is holy. He is just. He is righteous. And Job also knew what his friend
Eliphaz would say later, if you look in chapter 15. Remember,
he had three friends that came to speak to him. Bildad, he said, God, are you
saying, Job, that God is unjust? Are you saying that he's not
righteous? Oh, no, I'm not saying that. I know of a truth that
it's so. He is just. But he also knew
what his friend Elipaz tells him here in chapter 15 and verse
16. How much more abominable and
filthiest man which drinketh iniquity like water. So here
we have God, he's holy, he's just, he's righteous, and we
have man who drinketh iniquity like water. Now, how is this man who drinks
iniquity like water, how is he going to be just with this God
who is absolutely holy, righteous, How's that going to take place?
That's the question. How is man, how should man be
just with God? Now, it should be recognized
that that question is answered all through the Old Testament.
It's answered all through the Old Testament. It was answered
in the Garden of Eden to Adam, as I've showed you here this
morning. But it was answered all through the Old Testament
in types and shadows and pictures, it's more clearly revealed now
by the coming and dying of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's more
clearly revealed unto us since the seed of the woman has come.
The answer wasn't nearly as clear in that Old Testament dispensation,
but it's the same answer. There's only one answer. There's not two answers, not
one answer for those who lived before Christ came and another
answer for those who lived after Christ came. There's only one
answer. The point I'm making, it was revealed in that Old Testament
days, that old dispensation, but it's more clearly now revealed. They were looking forward to
one who was prophesied to come. We see that he came. We know
that He came and He did the work, and yes, even He said, it's finished,
the work which the Father gave Him to do. And that work is making
man just or righteous with God. He finished that word. It's easier,
it's clearer, I should say, for us now who live in this dispensation. And no doubt that's one reason
in Hebrews we read this. How shall we escape? How shall we escape if we neglect
so great salvation? more clearly revealed to you
and I than those who lived in that
old dispensation. It was revealed, but more clearly
revealed. How shall we escape if we neglect
so great salvation? You say, well, was that revealed
in the book of Job? I said that was the oldest book
in our Bible as far as a book being written. Yes, it was. I
want you to look in chapter 33, Job chapter 33. I'm going to read verses 22 through
24. Job chapter 33, beginning with
verse 22. Yea, his soul draweth near unto
the grave, and his life to the destroyers. If there be a messenger
with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to show unto
man his uprightness, then he is gracious unto him, and saith,
Deliver him from going down to the pit. I have found a ransom. The words there speak of a man
who was sick. And every one of us, when we
come into this world, we have that same sickness, sin, the
disease of sin. And this man in this verse here,
he's drawing near, he's drawing near, and every one of us are
drawing near each day to the grave. Every day we draw near. And then the question is asked, a messenger, a messenger of sin,
an interpreter he's called here. We might refer to him as a preacher. a messenger of God. The word
angel means messenger and God's preachers are messengers, they're
angels to the church, to the angel of the church at Laodicea,
to the angel of the church at Sardis. All those churches, those
seven churches in Revelation, the letters addressed to the
angel, to the messenger, to the pastor. And the question is here,
or stated here, that the preacher here is one among a thousand. One among a thousand. There's
so many false prophets, so many deceivers entered into the world. The Apostle John said there,
even in his day, there are many antichrists, many that are against
Christ. But a man who has the gospel,
first of all, revealed to himself and who will preach and teach,
first of all, who God is. Who God is, God is sovereign. God rules, reigns, always has
and always will. He doesn't need us, we need Him. God is, tell people the truth
about God and tell people the truth about man himself. He's not the, The person he thinks
himself to be, well, down in his heart, he's really a good
person. Down deep in his heart of hearts,
he's really a good person. But the scripture says there's
none good, no, not one. There's none that understandeth.
There's none that seeketh after God. They're all, the scripture
says, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. a
preacher, an interpreter who will tell who God is, who man
is, or the condition of man, and who the Savior is, and what
he has done. He has accomplished, the Lord
Jesus Christ is on the throne today. He's at the right hand
of the Father, and he accomplished everything that he came into
this world to do, and that was to save his people. He's accomplished it all. And
now interpreters are sent out preaching and our message is,
is a message from God. God is speaking here, I have
found a ransom. In other words, God is telling
us that he's provided the ransom, the atonement as it is in the
margin there. There's only one ransom, only
one atonement for man's sin. And that is the Lord Jesus Christ,
his death, his substitutionary death. Yes, the answer to this question
is revealed all through the word of God. I said more clearly in
the New Testament, I want you to turn to one last place, if
you will, to Romans chapter three. How should man be just with God? I want to know the answer to
that, don't you? And I pray that you want to know
that answer too. Because one day all of us are
going to stand before God. Here in Romans chapter three,
actually the first part of Romans, Paul is answering this question,
isn't he? Verse 20, we read, therefore
by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in
his sight. In other words, that fig leaf
religion's not gonna work. Not gonna work. By the law is
the knowledge of sin. The law, you see, is like a mirror. When I look in the mirror, I
see spots. Now, the mirror didn't put these
spots up here, but it shows them to me. And when I look in the
law of God that requires perfect, absolute holiness, righteousness,
the law doesn't cause me to sin. It shows me. That's what I am. It's like a mirror. The law,
by the law, is the knowledge of sin. And what the law should
do when it's in the hands of the Lord, when God is saving
a sinner, I'll tell you what the law will do. It will shut
a man's mouth, first of all. I'm guilty. Quit making excuses. Forget about all those alibis. How it's somebody else's fault.
It's your environment or anything like that, the law will shut
your mouth. I'm guilty. And number two, it
will drive you to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's like a schoolmaster,
Paul tells us in Galatians, a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, to show
us what we cannot do. We cannot make ourselves just
with God, that Christ has done that for all who trust in him,
who believe in him. Let's read on. But now the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets. even the righteousness of God,
which is by faith of Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
author and finisher of our faith. This faith here is the gospel. The gospel of Jesus Christ is by the gospel of Christ unto
all. Go into all the world and preach
the gospel to every creature. It's unto all. Now notice, and
it's upon all them that believe. For there's no difference. That's
righteousness. How can a man be just with God?
Through a substitute, through the person and work of the Lord
Jesus Christ, through faith in him. Paul began this letter of
Romans, let me remind us of this and I'll close. He said, for I'm not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ. For it's the power of God unto
salvation, unto everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and
also to the Greek, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed
in the gospel. There it is, revealed, how man
may be just with God by trusting in a substitute, not any substitute,
the substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ himself. I pray the Lord
would bless these words. this message to you and to me.