Series: Questions
Title: (Pt 2) Wilt thou also disannul my
judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?
Text: Job 40: 6-8
Date: December 31, 2017
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
We saw in the lase message that Job’s first
problem was pride.
Job
40: 1: Moreover the LORD
answered Job, and said, 2: Shall
he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth
God, let him answer it. 3: Then
Job answered the LORD, and said, 4:
Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my
mouth. 5: Once have I spoken;
but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further.
But it was not enough for Job to shut his
mouth. Pride was not Job’s only problem. So God continues with a second
question.
Job
40: 6: Then answered the LORD
unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said, 7: Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and
declare thou unto me. 8: Wilt
thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be
righteous?
This second main question deals with Job’s
second problem: self-righteousness. Every believer struggles with this
constantly.
Job lived daily and served God in the
right way. God said that about him. But doing so, Job thought God was wrong to
send him this trial.
Proposition: Remember, God is always right and deals
only righteously toward all—especially his elect, redeemed, regenerate people.
JOB’S PROBLEM WAS SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS
First, understand, the problem
is not that Job was looking to himself for righteousness, for justification,
before the law of God. Job clearly declares his righteousness is Christ.
Job 19: 25: For I know that my redeemer
liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:
26: And though after my
skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: 27: Whom I shall see for myself, and
mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed
within me.
Job believed Christ to be his living
Redeemer. To believe Christ is my
Redeemer is to believe he has redeemed me from the curse of the law by being
made a curse for me. This Christ did for all God’s elect. He redeemed us—freed
us—from the curse of the law. He redeems us—frees us—from the dominion of our
sinful flesh so we can believe on him. Christ shall redeem us from the body of
this death in resurrection. He shall redeems us from all consequence of sin in
glorification.
Job believed Christ to be his redeemer
right then as his Surety because the work was finished in the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. So Job’s problem is not that he is trying to make himself
righteous before the law of God. Job plainly declares his confidence is Christ
his Righteousness.
The problem Job has is that he
was self-righteous concerning his daily walk as a believer in those things every
believer ought to do. Job said,
Job 31: 35: Oh that one would hear me! behold,
my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine
adversary had written a book. 36:
Surely I would take it upon my shoulder, and bind it as a crown
to me. 37: I would declare unto
him the number of my steps; as a prince would I go near unto him. 38:
If my land cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain; 39: If I have eaten the fruits thereof
without money, or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life: 40: Let thistles grow instead of
wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.
Jobs says he would that God had a book
that recorded all his steps, all his actions. Job was so confident that he had
lived in all righteousness and avoided all evil that he says if God wrote such
a book of his steps, he would put the book on his shoulder and wear it as a
crown.
Job had walked in the right way and avoided
evil. God said that about him. But Job thought God owed him for doing so. He
thought God was unjust to treat him this way because he had honored God in his
daily walk. That is self-righteousness.
Self-righteousness thinks something about
me and my walk is giving something to God for which God owes me a peaceable
life. It is as deadly as self-justification and self-sanctification. No, our
right living, just like our sin, adds nothing to God nor does it indebt God.
Job 35: 1: Elihu
spake moreover, and said, 2: Thinkest thou this to be right, that thou saidst, My
righteousness is more than God’s? 3: For thou saidst, What advantage will it be
unto thee? and, What profit shall I have, if I be cleansed from my sin?
Job is saying if I avoid sin and walk to
honor God, what profit is it if God sends me this kind of trial anyway? Elihu
said,
Job 35: 6: If thou
sinnest, what doest thou against him? or if thy transgressions be multiplied, what
doest thou unto him? 7: If thou be righteous, what givest thou him? or what
receiveth he of thine hand? 8: Thy wickedness may hurt a man as thou art; and
thy righteousness may profit the son of man.
When a believer does what is right and
avoids wrong it does not indebt God to us. It is simply what he ought to do. Christ said,
Luke 17: 7
But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say
unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? 8: And will not rather say unto him,
Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have
eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? 9: Doth he thank that servant because
he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. 10: So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which
are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which
was our duty to do.
So we see that a believer who is not
self-righteous in matter of justification before God’s judgment seat in heaven but
casts all his care on Christ his Righteousness to justify him can still be
self-righteous over his daily walk. Both
are deadly. When a believer does what is right and avoids wrong, God owes us
nothing. It is simply what we ought to do.
Job
32: 1: So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his
own eyes. 2 Then was kindled the wrath
of Elihu…against Job…because he justified himself rather than God.
DISANNULING
GOD’S JUDGMENT AND CONDEMNING GOD
Job
40: 8: Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou
mayest be righteous?
The worst thing about self-righteousness
is that in saying we are right, we disannul God’s judgment in sending the trial
and condemn God that we might be righteous. Job was disannulling God’s judgment
and condemning God by saying God is not right to send this trial upon a man like
me who does what is right and avoids evil for God’s honor. This is what all men
do who call into question God’s right to do as he will with his own.
Romans 9: 10
And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even
by our father Isaac; 11 (For the children being not yet born,
neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to
election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) 12
It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. 13
As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. 14: What shall we say then? Is
there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
God told Moses this was his glory as God
Almighty to choose whom he would and pass by whom he would. Likewise, t is God’s
glory as God Almighty to send trials to his child. We cannot call into question God’s right to be
God and do as he pleases with whom he pleases. God says to the man who cries
unfair, “Wilt thou also disannul my
judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?”
SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS’
BOAST
Self-righteousness boasts that our own
right arm can save us. But Christ is the Arm of God. Christ is the Voice of God. God says,
Job
40: 9: Hast thou an arm like
God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him?
Isaiah 40: 10: Behold, the Lord GOD will come with
strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is
with him, and his work before him. 11:
He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm,
and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead [with his
right hand] those that are with young.
Christ is God’s majesty and excellency,
glory and beauty who alone decks his
people in his beauty. God says,
Job
40: 10: Deck thyself now with
majesty and excellency; and array thyself with glory and beauty.
We could not make ourselves holy in the
beauty of holiness. Christ is our beauty of Holiness who gave us a pure holy
heart in regeneration. We could not make
ourselves righteous, purge our sins and justify ourselves before God’s law.
Christ is our Righteousness who robes us in his beautiful garment making us
perfect by his obedience.
God satisfied
his justice and made his people righteous by pouring out his wrath on Christ in
place of his people. It is by giving us a view of Christ accomplishing this for
us that God abases us who are wicked elect sinners. Can we do so? God says,
Job 40: 11: Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath: and behold every
one that is proud, and abase him. 12: Look on every one that is proud, and bring him
low; and tread down the wicked in their place. 13: Hide them in the dust together; and bind their faces in
secret. 14: Then will I also
confess unto thee that thine own right hand can save thee.
God says if you can do any of these things
then I will confess unto thee that thine own right hand can save thee. We are
saved by God’s right hand, Christ the Lord; by God’s Voice, Christ the Word of
God. Self-righteousness would take this
glory from Christ and give it to ourselves. Oh, what a deadly thing self-righteousness
is!
THE
RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD ILLUSTRATED
God uses several large animals to illustrate
his righteousness. He shows why we are
to submit to God and know that what he does to us is right.
First, God uses a large animal called
behometh which God made glorious—Job 40:
15: Behold now behemoth, which I
made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox. 16: Lo now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is
in the navel of his belly. 17: He
moveth his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his stones are wrapped together. 18: His bones are as strong
pieces of brass; his bones are like bars of iron. 19: He is the chief of the ways
of God: he that made him can make his sword to approach unto him.
The lesson is found in verse 19. This
animal “is the chief of the ways of God.” God
made this animal glorious. But God
says, “he that made him can make his
sword to approach unto him.”
God in Christ has made his child glorious. A ruined, helpless sinner saved by the blood
and righteousness of Christ is the chief of the ways of God. A dead sinner regenerated, given a new
nature, brought to cast all his care on Christ is the chief of the ways of
God. But no matter how glorious God has
made us in saving us, in robing us in Christ’s righteousness, we are still his
and he can send the sword upon us if he will. It is right because God is God.
He made us, not we ourselves. He knows what is best for his child.
Secondly, God uses a large fish called
leviathan which no man can stand against, only God—Job 41: 1: Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or his tongue
with a cord which thou lettest down? 2: Canst thou put an hook into his nose?
or bore his jaw through with a thorn? 3: Will he make many supplications unto
thee? will he speak soft words unto thee? 4: Will he make a covenant with thee?
wilt thou take him for a servant for ever? 5: Wilt thou play with him as with a
bird? or wilt thou bind him for thy maidens? 6: Shall the companions make a
banquet of him? shall they part him among the merchants? 7: Canst thou fill his
skin with barbed irons? or his head with fish spears? 8: Lay thine hand upon
him, remember the battle, do no more. 9: Behold, the hope of him is in vain:
shall not one be cast down even at the sight of him? 10: None is so fierce that
dare stir him up: who then is able to stand before me?
The
lesson is found in verse 10. Here is some massive, fierce water creature that
is far and away mightier than any man. Read more about this mighty creature in
verses 13-34. As you read about this mighty creature think of God who far
mightier in justice than this creature. All these things that God says man is
unable to do to this mighty creature, God who made him, God is who far more
mighty, can. God says, “Who then is able to stand before me?”
Brethren, God is teaching us to never think
we are so big that we can stand before God apart from Christ. If we thing how terrible it would be
to face such a mighty creature as the one described here, imagine how far worse
it would be to stand before God outside of Christ. We are never so big, never
so right, that we can stand before God who is above all in righteousness! Oh, let
us humble ourselves from self-righteousness at the feet of Christ casting all
our care on him! The only way we can stand before God is robed in the perfect
righteousness of Christ whose precious blood tamed the fierce justice of God
and reconciled us to him.
Thirdly, God asks what have we first given
to God so that God owes us—Job 41: 11:
Who hath prevented me, that I should repay him? whatsoever is under the whole
heaven is mine.
It is the same thing that is said in
Romans 11:
Romans 11: 35: Or who hath first given to him,
and it shall be recompensed unto him again? 36: For of him, and through him, and to him, are all
things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.
If you and I—as sinners saved by the grace
of God in Chirst—do as we ought in our daily life, we are not first giving to
God. The only reason we do as we ought is because God has first given to us to
cause us to do so. So we must praise God, not ourselves. After declaring, “Of
him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory forever.
Amen”, Paul says,
Romans 12: 1: I
beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your
bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service.
REPENTANCE
AND LESSONS LEARNED
Job
42: 1: Then Job answered the
LORD, and said, 2: I know that
thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden
from thee. [God
you asked me] 3: Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? [I
answer] therefore have I uttered that I
understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. [God you
said] 4: Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee,
and declare thou unto me. [I answer]
5: I have heard of thee by the
hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. 6: Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.
Job did not say that before. It was not
enough that Job said I will shut my mouth. A lot of people shut their mouth
while in their heart they are justifying themselves. It was not enough that Job
merely shut his mouth, Job had to be brought to see Christ high and lifted up
as he had never seen him before so that he be brought down to the dust of
humility to confess, “I have heard of
thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”
A lot of well-meaning people think this is
when God saved Job. I think I know at least two reasons why men think that.
One, in the beginning God repeatedly said
of Job, “There is none like him in the
earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?”
(Job 1: 8; 2: 3) Then as we see all the proud, self-righteous things Job said, we
are left to think, if God said there is none like him then where does that
leave me? Our own pride and self-righteousness would rather say a believer
would not have said those proud, self-righteous things Job said. But oh yes my
brethren, a believer will say those proud and self-righteous things and much
more. Sadly, you and I do so every day.
But thank God, according to his free grace and unchangeable love for his elect
in Christ, our heavenly Father will not allow one for whom Christ died to
perish in our pride and self-righteousness. God will send us a grievous trial
as he did Job and turn us again to Christ.
The second reason some believers think
this is when God saved Job is because Job said, “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth
thee.” But that does not only happen at our conversion, it happens
repeatedly in the life of a believer.
God called me to faith in Christ in the
mid-to-late eighties. I knew the Lord Jesus Christ, believed on him with all my
heart, cast all my care upon him and confessed him publicly in believer’s
baptism. Though I faced a few very minor
trials, about 18 years later God put me through a 4-5 year trial that
culminated in the worst suffering I had ever endured as a believer. When God
brought the trial to an end, he made me see the Lord like I had never seen him
before. So much so, that I thought God had just saved me. I could truly say, “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the
ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.”
But about 8 years after that, God sent another
difficult trial. Again, when it was over, I saw Christ like I never saw him
before so that once again I thought God had just then saved me. But that does not happen only when God first
saves us. That is what happens as God grows a believer in the grace and
knowledge of Christ throughout our live of faith. If you are a believer who has
not yet experienced this, hang around, you will!
So brethren as we come to the end of this
year and awake tomorrow to one brand new, let us thank God that he continually brings
us to repentance, makes us abhor ourselves in dust and ashes and saves us in
Christ, who put away the sin of our pride and self-righteousness. Those are ugly,
wicked twin brothers. Where you find one you find the other. If you took every
problem a believer has, these two would make up our main problem: pride and self-righteousness. Oh, but
thank God that he beholds his child in Christ our Righteousness and will not charge
us nor allow us to perish by these two wicked twins.
In this New Year, when we go
into the trial may God make us not face it in pride as if we are sovereign and
wise and all powerful. May God make us humble at Christ’s feet trusting him! All
things in our salvation and all things in our daily lives is by the absolute
sovereign hand of our righteous God, not of us. May God keep us from the self-righteous
thought that God owes us something for doing as we ought to do. Seeing what
Christ has suffered in our room and stead whatever God calls us to do is our
reasonable service.
Most of all may God make us thankful
that Christ is our Righteousness, apart from our works. May he keep us looking away from ourselves,
away for any good thing God brings us to do and keep all our confidence upon
Christ alone the rest of our days!
Amen!