"ANOTHER IMPORTANT QUESTION FROM JOB"
Job 25:1 Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,
2 Dominion and fear are with him, he maketh peace in his high places.
3 Is there any number of his armies? and upon whom doth not his light arise?
4 How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?
5 Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight.
6 How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man, which is a worm?
Introduction: Bildad is one of Job's friends and he, along with Eliphaz and Zorphar have been trying to counsel Job. They are convinced that Job must have committed some great sin in order to have so much trouble in his life. This demonstrated a fundamental misunderstanding about the character and conduct of God. There is one thing that Bildad does get right and that is his concept of the wide gulf that exists between God and man. He poses a question with two parts. How can man be justified with God and how can he be clean that is born of a woman?
I. THE MEANING OF JUSTIFICATION
a. The essence of justification
A simple definition of this term would be that in justification God treats the sinner as though he had not and never sinned! Why would God do this? For two very important reasons. One, He is absolutely holy in every way that the term can be applied. Basically Bildad has already said in verses 1-3 that that God is greater and higher than men. Since God is holy we can only approach Him if we are holy! As a matter of fact God demands this of us.
1 Peter 1:16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
Two, in verse 4 he declares that even the stars in heaven are not pure in his sight and in verse 6 he uses the metaphor of a worm to compare man to God. We are sinners before a holy God in both position and practice.
b. The essentials of justification
What we learn is that justification is essential in order for us to have a relationship with God. He is righteous and we are not, we cannot be. We may try to be and go about seeking to establish our own righteousness but it will not work.
Isaiah 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
Ezekiah 33:13 When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it.
ILL - The great problem with trying to earn salvation is that no-one has ever done it! It is not that there was anything wrong with the Law. The problem is with human beings. In the movie the 'Sound of Music' a young woman by the name of Maria is sent from a convent to become governess to the five mischievous children of a wealthy widower sea captain. When she arrives Captain von Trapp informs her that the children have had seven governesses and that the last one had only lasted one day. Maria looked concerned and asks "What's wrong with the children Captain?" The captain looks at Maria annoyed and says "there is nothing wrong with the children only with the governesses". The law of God is perfect. There is nothing wrong with it. The problem is really with us - the children of men. Our sinful nature makes us incapable of perfectly obeying God. As a result justification by perfect obedience to the law of God is a path that is completely closed to us.
c. The example of justification
Romans 4:1 What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found?
2 For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.
3 For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
4 Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.
5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
6 Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works,
7 Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.
8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
II. THE MEANS OF JUSTIFICATION
a. The sovereign
How is justification possible? It is the sovereign act of almighty God. Listen to the words of the Apostle Paul on this subject:
Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
b. The substitute
Isaiah 53:11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
1 Peter 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
THE FIRE
H. A. Ironside told the story of pioneers who were making their way across one of the central states to a distant place that had been opened up for homesteading. They traveled in covered wagons drawn by oxen, and progress was necessarily slow.
One day they were horrified to note a long line of smoke in the west, stretching for miles across the prairie, and soon it was evident that the dried grass was burning fiercely and coming toward them rapidly. They had crossed a river the day before but it would be impossible to go back to that before the flames would be upon them.
One man only seemed to have understanding as to what could be done. He gave the command to set fire to the grass behind them. Then when a space was burned over, the whole company moved back upon it.
As the flames roared on toward them from the west, a little girl cried out in terror, "Are you sure we shall not all be burned up?" The leader replied, "My child, the flames cannot reach us here, for we are standing where the fire has been!"
What a picture of the believer, who is safe in Christ!
On Him Almighty vengeance fell,
Which would have sunk a world to hell.
He bore it for a chosen race,
And thus becomes our Hiding Place.
The fires of God's judgment burned themselves out on Him, and all who are in Christ are safe forever, for they are now standing where the fire has been.
Source: Illustrations of Bible Truth by H. A. Ironside, Moody Press, 1945, pp. 34-35c. The
III. THE MANNER OF JUSTIFICATION
a. The imputation ascribed
Even though we are devoid of anything redeeming through justification God treats us as though were righteous.
Romans 4:6 Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works,
ILL - It is by His grace that God imputes merit where none previously existed and declares no debt to be where one has been before.
RIGHTEOUSNESS CREDIT
The meltdown in worldwide economic markets in 2008 was seen by many economists as the issue of the sub-prime mortgage failure in the United States. Basically, it revolves around giving credit to those who did not deserve it.
You may have received in the mail those tantalizing notices of "Pre-approved Credit--Immediate Acceptance" as advertisements for charge cards. Someone is assuming your trustworthiness to pay your debts (plus a substantial interest fee), so they extend you credit.
The gospel, on the other hand, offers us "righteousness credit" based on Jesus Christ and his faithfulness...It is by God crediting or imputing his righteousness to us that we are saved.
(SOURCE: Barton, B. B. (1994). Galatians. Life application Bible commentary (94). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House.)
b. The innocence assumed
When we are justified (treated by God as though we had not sinned) He looks at us as being innocent!
I WILL PAY THE FINE
Let's say you where caught speeding down this highway in front of the church. You were doing 100 mph, obviously slightly out of the acceptable speeding window. You go to court and just as the judge is about to throw the book at you, someone steps forward and says, "I will pay the fine. I will take the punishment." And you get off, without paying the fine, without any punishment at all. You have been justified, Made right in the eyes of the law. It doesn't change the fact that you were speeding, but the court sees you as innocent. That is what Christ did for us.
c. The implications analyzed
ILL - During one of his great campaigns, D L Moody was approached by a man who had been to a number of the services and who, although convicted of his need for Christ, had kept on postponing a decision. Now the last night had come. The appeal was over, the people were going home, the work crew was busy folding up the chairs and dismantling the platform, and Mr Moody was preparing to leave. The man finally plucked up his courage. He came to the evangelist and blurted out, "Mr Moody, what must I do to be saved?" Moody looked at him. "I'm sorry sir," he said, "but you're too late." "Too late; Mr. Moody?" The man was desperate now. "Surely I'm not too late!" "Yes, sir," said Moody. "You're too late. As a matter of fact, you're two thousand years too late if you want to DO something to be saved. All the DOING has been DONE. But if you would like to accept Christ by faith as your personal Saviour, you're just in time. You can do that right here, right now."
So what do we know about Bildad's question? We know that he was right and wrong. He was right in believing that God is so much higher and holier than us that we can despair of ever being justified or clean before Him. He was wrong in that God loved us so much that He himself made a way for us to be justified, through His Son Jesus Christ. We learn that God did this by substituting His Son in our place and that Jesus bore all the wrath of God on our behalf. Because of this my sins have been applied to his account and his righteousness has been applied to my account and I am justified.
Romans 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
Conclusion: In just a moment I'm going to ask our musicians and worship leader to come and we will sing an invitation hymn and you will have the opportunity to make a public response to the claims of Christ on your life. You must respond publically because according to what Jesus taught if you are ashamed to confess Him (publically) before men then He would be ashamed to confess you before His Father. You may need to come for some other
