How can a man be just with God

… The book of Job, Job 9. I nearly hesitated to read this tonight. Our brother David here, I first met him around about 20 odd years ago. I was delving in the book of Job, you'll think I've never moved out of it. Anyway, Job 9. Then Job answered and said, I know it is so of a truth, but how should man be just with God? If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him, one of a thousand. He is wise in heart and mighty in strength, who has hardened himself against him and not prospered, which removeth the mountains, and they know not, which overturneth them in his anger, which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble, which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not, and sealeth up the stars, which alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea, which maketh Arcturus, and Orion, and the Pleiades, chambers of the south, which doeth great things, but finding out, yea, and wonders without number. Verse 32, for he is not a man as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment, neither is there any daismon betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both. Romans 3, verse 9, what then are we better than they? No, in no wise, for we have proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin, as it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one, there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God, they are all gone out of the way, they are all together become unprofitable, there is none that doeth good, no, not one, their throat is an open sepulchre, with their tongues they have used deceit, the poison of ash is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness, their feet are swift to shed blood, destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace have they not known, there is no fear of God before their eyes, now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God, therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no place be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin, but now 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 unto all and upon all and that believe, for there is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 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 fast through the forbearance of God, to declare I say at this time his righteousness that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus, chapter 4 and verse 23, 22, and therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness, now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but for us also to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our justification, therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we also have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Verse 6, for when we were yet without strength in due time Christ died for the ungodly, for scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet for a venture for a good man some would even dare to die, but God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us, much more than being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. Finally in the epistle to Timothy, the first epistle of Timothy, chapter 2, the end of verse 3 of chapter 2, God our Savior who will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth, for there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time, whereunto I am ordained a preacher and an apostle, I speak the truth in Christ and lie not, a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and in verity. Now where we commence to read in the book of Job we have one of the oldest books in the Bible, the internal evidence is such that there's no mention of the children of Israel and ever after the children of Israel were brought in, in the scriptures there's ever a reference to them, no mention of Abraham, Isaac or Jacob and after these were brought in there was always a reference to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all these things carry on even into the New Testament. Ever after the Passover was an established thing there was always a reference to it even carrying on even right into the New Testament and so we could go on, we could multiply evidence, internal evidence from this book that this is the history of man in a very early stage, very early stage of man's history here in this world and I don't know whether you noticed enough but you see they had a problem even then that we have today, how can a man be just with God and to get the connection of this we have to just move to the previous chapter where we have indeed the discourse of Bildad and he's saying indeed about speaking of one whose hope shall be cut off and whose thrust shall be like a spider's web, he's speaking of the hypocrite, he shall lean upon his house but it shall not stand, he shall hold it fast but it shall not endure and so on and then he comes down to this point where he says indeed behold God will not cast away a perfect man neither will he help evildoers and to this all up to all this joke says yes I know that, I know that but how shall man be just with God? God can't have respect unto the wicked, he won't give help unto the evildoers, he cannot but how can man be just with God and we have the same problem today and this problem has existed ever since sin came in and unless you get this problem solved unless you get this matter solved between you and God how can man be just with God then there's no peace, no peace. But we're here to tell you tonight and we had a lovely time this morning the love of God bowed our hearts in praise and worship and adoration but to you do not know the saviour however young however old you are the same love that bowed our hearts in praise and worship this morning is the self-same source of the gospel the good news to you tonight the gospel springs from the heart of God himself if this question couldn't be resolved in Job's far-off day man left to himself cannot resolve it today there's no nearer no nearer resolving it today than he was all those hundreds and thousands of years ago and it was a sad picture you know at the end of the chapter 9 and Job says God's not a man like me how can I answer God how can we answer God great God the omnipotent God omniscient omnipresent God over all blessed be his name but oh what a wonderful thing God is not a man as we quoted last night God's eye the Lord changed not God's unswerving unswerving he changes not and he doesn't need to have to change his mind he repents not but oh at this day indeed when Job lived through the sad state of affairs there's no man that can lay his hand upon God and speak for God and on the other hand there's no man that can lay his hand upon me and speak for me there's no umpire there's no arbitrator oh we get a lot of that today don't we industrial disputes of one thing or another mediation mediation we're all well aware of this mediation to bring two opposing sides together amicably and there's no man between God that can lay his hand authoritatively and speak on behalf of God and who on the other hand can take up my place here and speak when days come up for me you know Job's looking at the same problem that David looked at David was a shepherd lad you know and he was out often at night looking after the sheep and as he was looking after the sheep and he saw indeed the moon and the stars which thy hands have made he saw the omnipotent power of God he says what is man that thou art mindful of man he's doing God in his greatness man in his filthiness or the son of man authoritatively Job is looking at the question from this side there's no man between God and me that nobody can put his hand upon God there's nobody that can speak for me and bring me to God but I just want to make a little diversion now for the sake this is not the gospel what I'm just going to say now but I think it's a very interesting thing and I just want to just this is a diversion which removeth the mountains and they know not which overturneth them in his anger which shaketh the earth out of a place and the pillars thereof tremble which commandeth the sun and it riseth not and sealeth up the stars I think here dear brethren to you our students of scripture we have indeed an answer to a great problem that the scientists would like to solve in Genesis 1 it says God created the heavens and the earth and I believe that everything was created there and created perfect God cannot create anything imperfect he created it perfect but we know that he would come then to the second verse and the earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep darkness and we know indeed that between those two verses there are limitless years we can't tell how long we don't know and if the geologists and the scientists and they want thousands they want millions of years there's room for them in between those two verses but God created things perfect but in verse 2 the earth was without form and void scripture tells us that without form and void he didn't create it he didn't create it like that how had it become like that I think here in this old book we have indeed a reference to how these things came about for Genesis 1 tells indeed our God he created them in the first place and then in all the succeeding verses he's telling us how he reformed it and made it habitable for man and this tells us how it has become in this condition darkness he's shaken the earth he'd overturned the mountains in his rock now if you turn anything upside down that which is at the top becomes at the bottom and I think this occurred when sin entered the universe through satan when pride lifted up the heart of satan and he aspired to be God when sin rebellion against God came in I believe that this was the moment when God was rough and he overturned the mountains in his rock shook the earth out of a place shook it out of relation to the sun that the sun's rays did not light this earth and there was darkness upon the face of the deep and if you read Genesis 1 carefully you'll find indeed that God is reforming reshaping things and putting the sun in relation to the earth and the earth in relation to the sun and these things are indeed then made habitable for man and I think here in this old book of Job we see indeed how he's overturned the mountains in his rock has he overturned the mountains in his rock he has indeed we've been burning coal for a long time hasn't we and coal is vegetation that was that grows at the top how did it become at the bottom he overturned the mountains in his rock the weight of the mountains has indeed confessed them and here we have in so long ago in the word of God it's the word of God is this it can be relied upon he overturned the mountains in his rock then we find in Genesis 2 that he may set the earth in relation to the sun it's only on the fourth day that the earth is set in relation to the sun the sun isn't just in the middle of the of the circuit of the earth the other the earth has indeed the sun has indeed to travel up for the earth has to travel up four days before it's in relation to the to the sun there that's why we get a spring equinox and the autumn equinox when the day and the night are just equal day and night just equal these things are perfect the overturn of the mountains in his rock that which was at the top is at the bottom and we've burnt coal for a long time haven't we and he's made these things serve man such as our God but that's a digression it's a digression food for thought just commanded to you well if the condition had continued that we've referred to in joe that question if that condition had remained the same no daismon betwixt us no arbitrator no mediator between God and man i wouldn't have been standing here tonight because there had been no gospel and there'd be no gospel in this world there'd be no good news but oh we're happy to tell you that there is this is as we were reminded in prayer tonight the very first words of the prayer meeting tonight were it was the gospel of God it's God's good news God's good news it's not anything that man's done here in his love not that we love God but that he loved us sent his son of appreciation for our sins and it's God good news concerning his son and oh we can indeed find indeed the words that are echoed in jokes so long ago deliver him from going down to the pit i found a ransom man need not perish i have found a ransom blessed be his holy name deliver him from going down to the pit i have found a ransom oh that's how the question's been settled but before we come to that there's one or two more points we must make there's non-righteous unless you think that there might be an exception says no not one not no not one if you think you might be the exception God includes you and he says no not one all gone out of the way all of sin is non-righteous no not one even if you think you might be the exception God covers that as well no not one and then we find indeed that if man is seeking to justify and to be justified with God and before well God well man indeed likes to think indeed that well by keeping the law he can justify himself i tried for a long time tried for a long time turned over new leaves by the dozen i spoiled them all spoiled them all but oh indeed we come indeed by the the law is the knowledge of sin and that's what the law does you see the law is God's requirement the law is God's plumb line and God had to bring that in he had to bring that in by bringing that plumb line and he brought in the whole world guilty before God you see the Adam Adam sinned he broke the only one condition that God made a foreman in the garden of Eden and he sinned and it was a long time before indeed Moses brought in the law a long time as it said there were those who not sinned after the similitude of Adam but between Adam and Moses Moses bringing in the law men died death reigned sin reigned and because of sin death reigned they died even because they'd not sinned after the similitude of Adam sinned they hadn't transgressed the law one commandment that God had given them but yet there was the evidence that men were sinners sin reigned and death reigned the evidence of sin was there and they had not sinned after the similitude of Adam sinned and where there is no transcript where there is no law there's no there's no transgression it can't be marked you see if you have some apples or anything on the table and you haven't prohibited your child to take one it's not broken the law but if for any reason say now you have to touch that and he does or she does then of course they transgress it's a definite transgression and God brought in the plumb line thou shalt not thou shalt not thou shalt not and so it was indeed like a plumb line you know and we all know what the plumb line is and all these do-it-yourself men at home you know when you're putting the wallpaper on the wall you put the plumb line on to see if you've got the the wallpaper straight and woe betide you if you haven't you know I know it's serious it's serious when your wife says that isn't straight but anyway that's what the plumb line's for it shows you how far out of perpendicular the building is or the wallpaper is or what man's state is it shows you how far short you are oh yes God's law is holy as it says in in Romans God's law is Roman it is his holy and true and just but you see as soon as the law comes in it prohibits the lust the lust that's in us the apostle says I've not known lust except the law said thou shalt not lust and it's the lust of the eyes the lust of the flesh the pride of life lust it's what we are not only what we've done but what we are sinners by not only by practice sinners by nature we have a nature of fallen nature if you don't know it I know I know my part oh I come to know a lot about myself and I'm thankful that God has taken this blessed way righteous holy way of bringing one to himself and so we find indeed by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified there's no hope on that line neither am I making the picture black dark I hope I am because if you get to the point when it's hopeless and helpless you're a fit subject for the grace of God for that's the next thing that we read how shall man be just with God there's no mediator between God and men nobody that can speak for God nobody can speak for me and bring us together the mighty God and poor puny puny maid puny man is non-righteous known at once by the deeds of the law can no flesh be justified in his sight and then we read blessed words being justified freely by his grace freely by his grace oh you know the night that I got me sins forgiven and to know that I could have it for nothing free gratis and for nothing what a wonderful day it was what a wonderful day it was happy day when Jesus put my sins away being justified freely by his grace and you know indeed we we find indeed it's quite true that in the acts of the apostles the gospel is preached in the epistles the gospel is taught we have the doctrine of the gospel and in the gospels themselves we have the gospel illustrated and so we find indeed that a man had two accredited two debtors 500 pence 50 pence great debtor little debtor it didn't matter it didn't matter both debtors both debtors both debtors but when they've not been prepared he's trying to forgive them he's trying to forgive them and the gospel is the wondrous story you see how God can save and yet righteous be and this is the gospel we want to tell you that God has changed his tactics as it were he's not deviated from what he is in his self at all he was just and righteous and holy in the past dispensation in spinning the guilt onto the sinner and he's just as righteous today in lifting the guilt off the sinner he said indeed we deliver him from going down to the pit i found that answer God can now by his grace freely frankly forgive them all and we're justified by his grace right we're justified by faith did you notice that we learned that too justified by his grace justified by faith justified by his blood justified by grace is God's grace disposition forgive you justified by faith that's what Romans 3 is about the righteousness of God God's righteousness forgiven our sins but now a righteousness of God is indeed displayed a righteousness on the principle of faith without the law being witnessed by the law we find in Romans 3 it's the righteousness of God in the righteousness which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe for there's no difference when there's nothing to fear there's no difference when there's nothing to fear chapter four of Romans is the righteousness of faith the righteousness of faith chapter three is the righteousness of God and the apostle shows by the spirit in chapter four that was on this line that Adam Abraham so many years ago he was a counted righteous what how what did he do he believed God he had faith in God he staggered not the promise being strong in faith he believed God because God said it that's faith faith believes God about anything about everything faith believes God and Abraham believed God and it was left to him to him for righteousness this was the righteousness of faith and it wasn't written for his sake alone that he wasn't righteous but for our sake also to whom it will be included is when he believed there was a way to believe that Jesus died for our offenses and was raised again for our justification God cannot pass the sinner by his sin demand that he must die but in the cross of Christ we see how God can save and get righteousness the same is on the Savior's way he's in his blood since this is the turn justice can demand no more and mercy can dispense as thought the sinner who believes is free can say the Savior died for me can point to the atonement Lord say this made my case with God it's as simple as that as a preacher at uh at Bramley once said you know he says it's just as simple as catching that fly there and it's just as easy to miss as well just as easy to miss it's just as simple as that and because of the simplicity of it you know a lot of people miss it and fall over it when I was converted oh I couldn't get over the simplicity that I could be freely gripped without doing anything without saying anything nothing at all to do just to receive and when I thought I couldn't say I couldn't understand why it's just so simple as easy to get is that this is easy to miss I hope anybody doesn't think that it's difficult it's as easy as that simple faith in the Lord Jesus but don't let the simplicity of it delude you I couldn't understand why people wouldn't be saved when it was as simple as that nothing I've been trying to do for years and I found all was done to be in God's favor believe in the Son Christ ever secure it's all pleasant all free my merciful freely to you and to me so indeed the first thing is justified by God's grace that's God's side God says there's sin and iniquity I remember them no more if you want something to do yes all right then this is your side justified by faith will you will you indeed exercise faith in what God says that Christ was delivered for our offenses that's why he died he was raised again for our justification and he died under our sins that he might bear them away and on the other side of death is there a prince and our savior and like the children of Israel on the other side of the Red Sea the Egyptians and their chariots were all drowned and all gone on the resurrection side death's dark sea behind them none can find their enemies they'd gone indeed in the sea they were on this side now the my faith that justified know that God is for them to the world they're crucified glory as they fall the death and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and so indeed in his death in his death you cross you cross to the other side and you go on dry ground the depths of Christ for us in his death you go down you walk through on dry ground come up on the other side death's dark sea behind them none can ever find their sins they're all beneath that all gone power of the enemy broken is people gloriously free justified by faith that's your side that's your side justified by his grace God's side justified by your faith in what God says and you know he gives you the faith to believe and then he puts it down to your account what a God he is what a God he is he works in it indeed and grants it you and then he puts it down to your account marvelous by grace are you saved the grace of God through faith that's on your side not of yourselves it is the gift of God and yet it puts it down to your account being justified be reckoned unto us if we believe that Jesus died and rose again and then indeed that you might you might indeed be firmly firmly grounded you know our brother David will remember Mr. Ashworth Bramley he used to say that my foot standeth in an even place you don't want one foot up here and one down here you want to be firmly standing on both feet in an even place well it's lovely it's grand to have one foot on the love of God and then to have the other foot firmly planted on the righteousness of God it's wonderful it's great one foot in the love of God and one foot on the righteousness of God the love of God will break your heart it is but the righteousness of God will set you up the rightness righteousness of God will set you up it's grand one foot on his righteousness one on his love one on his righteousness you'll stand in an even place like the pillars like the orchards in the tabernacle you know on sockets of silver two tenons one on the love of God one on the righteousness of God for the redemption the silver the pockets of silver they speak of the redemption which is in Christ Jesus our Lord it all springs from the love of God and it's all sustained by the righteousness of God and so the able to stand up and be able to stand up and then on the other hand you're justified by his blood his blood a sinner who believes he's free and say the same is out for me and point to the atoning blood and say this is my peace with God it's on this ground is that God can show this it's on this ground that your faith can justify you so we come indeed to Timothy we are indeed there the lamenting joke there's no judgment there's no arbitrator there's no mediator we want to tell you there is there is it's a grand game truly God is one the mediator is one between God and men the man Christ Jesus now mark this the mediator is one you haven't a choice you haven't a choice it's Christ or nothing and you know I'm not a scholar I'm a very ignorant man I don't even know Yorkshire never mind English so I can't talk about greek but this word here is the word of God and it's the word of God and it's the word of God and it's the word of God and it's the word of God and it's the word of God I don't even know Yorkshire never mind English so I can't talk about greek but this word here ransom it's a unique word there isn't this equivalent in classical greek I understand it's a new word it's a unique word we get the word lutheran twice I think in the gospel the son of man is come to give his life as ransom a lutheran it's just a lutheran it's by paying paying releasing by paying a price in place of purchasing this is the price it has to be paid a ransom we've heard a lot about ransom money lately haven't we this is the price that they demand for the release of yes we're all aware of the terms of what a ransom means so this word lutheran appears twice in the gospel to give his life as lutheran as ransom from heaven oh indeed when it comes in deep to this one it's anti-lutheran it's a unique word it only occurs once in the bible only occurs once and there isn't this equal in classical greek you need and so is the work of christ which you need and the mediators want you need you haven't a choice if you miss this you miss everything you've got this you've got everything it's as simple it's as easy as that so it's just as if you've got a joke to say how shall man be just with god well we're just with god justified by god's grace that god has moved in grace grace is love in activity the spring of grace is love it was the grace it was love in the heart of our lord jesus though he were rich for our sake he became poor and that displaced his grace and his love seen in his grace coming down to you and me make you and me the love the source the spring inactivity is seen in the grace of our lord jesus coming down and the work that we need upon power is the wrath of a sin-hating god with us can have nothing to do for the saviors of billions of blood how shall man be just with god it's an age-old it's an age-old problem it was there right at the beginning it's been there ever since saint and if the love of god has no effect upon us if it causes no response then we have to wonder that the apostle peter they preached the gospel god had indeed ordained them to preach the gospel and to testify to the truth and to the truth and to the truth and to the truth god had indeed ordained them to preach the gospel and to testify if you reject the gospel we can only testify that death and if the love of god doesn't win your heart nothing ever will nothing ever will all in the grand word is 13th of corinthians and it means what it says it says love never fail us love never fail us we suffer at long and this time they brought the savior from glory above who's going to bring from everlasting to everlasting he's brought him down in power and if you do not replace the savior you'll reject it you've lost everything all your judgments of the young how can that be just justified by a person yours you have on your side the ground of it all secure is the death of christ justified by it that's the ground in which god shows his grace and that's the ground in which you can have faith and so you can be in this position tonight when all that god is one and the mediator between god and men one the man christ jesus and this is the due time in which it's announced and the due time is god's grace has lasted so long nearly 2 000 years we can't help state it to the moment it could end tonight it could be your last opportunity oh and first to say that we can testify you'll never regret it god says he that believeth in me shall never be confounded you'll never have to change your mind you'll never regret it god will never put you to shame and if god says it namely he's a god that cannot lie he thinks that he doesn't lie he can't lie god says you'll never be confounded there that they're trusting me never be confounded he'll never put you to shame and the day coming when it will indeed when he justifies and you'll see indeed what a blessed thing he's had in these days to serve him and to believe in him and accept his glorious salvation which is in christ jesus …