This is the great question still for many a soul. How can man be justified with God? There is not so much difficulty as to how a man can be justified with men, or before men. That must be by works—what men can see, as is very fully brought out in the epistle of James. But how to be righteous before God, that is a very different matter, and that was Bildad the Shuhite’s difficulty.
This question is illustrated by the history of a remarkable man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job. This man was the most religious man on the earth at that time. “And that man was perfect [or sincere] and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.” “And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and escheweth evil?” Had he lived in the days of the law, he might have said with Saul, “Touching the righteousness which is in the law blameless.” Before men and in his own eyes, he was the fairest specimen of man in the flesh on record. Surely it was for our instruction, that this man was allowed to be so severely tested by Satan. Patiently he bore much, enough, we might say, to crush any man: Loss of children, and all his property. Then smitten with a loathsome disease. Then harassed by his wife; and lastly by his three friends. They do their utmost to prove that God is against him, because of his wickedness. And the verses we have read, are amongst their last words, “How then can man be justified with God?” Job is now in great distress and perplexity, and the gloomy thought took hold of him that God must be against him: he says: “As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment; and the Almighty who hath vexed my soul:.... My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit..... My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.” (Job 27:2-62As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment; and the Almighty, who hath vexed my soul; 3All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils; 4My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit. 5God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me. 6My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live. (Job 27:2‑6).)
Now if you would see how a truly upright religious man would struggle to hold fast his own righteousness, read chapters xxvi. to the end of 31. All this time he was suffering from a most loathsome disease, like leprosy—a most striking figure of sin in the flesh, the loathsome condition of the old man. To a man born of God, an upright sincere man, nothing could be more loathsome.
You may go on for years, and never know, or even suspect that you have a nature so utterly vile. You say, I have given my heart to God, and see how useful I have been to others in the Sunday school, or the pulpit; how I have been respected and looked up to by my fellow professors. But now to find that I have a nature worse than a beast. The thing I feared has touched me. What awful thoughts of God. Is He, must He not be against me? What darkness, what doubt! When I think of my present state, what I am, I say surely God is against me; yet all the while struggling desperately to hold fast my own righteousness.
Still this awful, sinful flesh! Now you know it, once you did not. Now you groan, “Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me. When his candle shined upon my head, and when by his light I walked through darkness; as I was in the days of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle.” &c. (Job 29:2-42Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me; 3When his candle shined upon my head, and when by his light I walked through darkness; 4As I was in the days of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle; (Job 29:2‑4).) Did you ever say, “Oh that it was with me as when I was first converted?” Job tried to remember everything that he had done that would give him comfort—and at last in desperation he says, “Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.” (Job 31:4040Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended. (Job 31:40).) It is quite clear Job had not yet learned, How man can be justified with God. It is further manifest that his three friends could not tell him, It may be just so with the reader. And if looking for the solution in your own experience, however sincere and upright before men, however devoted in doing good to your fellows, as Job was; yet you say, It is not with you as it once was. You cannot clearly understand how you can be justified, reckoned righteous, before God; and none of your friends can help you. Such is the case so long as we are occupied with ourselves. And the more sincere and upright we are—the more earnestly we desire to be righteous before God, the more miserable we are, and the poor wearied soul is ready to say, I can do and say no more. The words of Job are ended. Yes, this is man’s, Job’s, extremity. It may be yours. Thank God if it is. Can you say another word for yourself! Do you say, How can you describe my experience like this? Nay, God has described it in this book of Job.
If any man could be justified before God by works, was not dear old Job that man? You and I, dear reader, are not fit to hold the candle to Job; but after five chapters of determined effort to justify himself, he is done. And so are we if we spend fifty years to do the same thing. You notice every word was about what he had been, what he had done; and what he had not done. Is it so with you? Then on that ground you never can understand how man, ungodly sinner as he is, can be justified with God.
We now come to the explanation. Another person appears on the scene—Elihu— (My God Himself). Yes, God will be His own interpreter. He will make it all plain to you. Elihu is angry with Job, “because he justified himself rather than God.” (Job 32) He was also angry with Job’s friends, “because they found no answer, and yet had condemned Job.” God does not want to condemn us, but to justify us; but the question is, how is this to be done? One thing is very remarkable and little understood to this day after thousands of years, that to struggle as Job did to be justified by our works, and doings, is to strive against God—to make our righteousness to be more than God’s righteousness.
Elihu says, “Surely thou hast spoken in mine hearing, and I have heard the voice of thy words saying: I am clean without transgression, I am innocent; neither is there iniquity in me. Behold, he findeth occasions against me, he counteth me for his enemy; he putteth my feet in the stocks, he marketh all my paths. Behold, in this thou art not just: I will answer thee, that God is greater than man. Why dost thou strive against him?” Is it possible for a religious man to strive against God by thus seeking to attain to justification by his works? And the most terrible thing is, that a man may be so deceived as to say he is without sin, that he has not sinned for years. And all this is found to be striving against God. And the man may be sincere all the time, as sincere as Saul of Tarsus, or Job of old, or as the Jaws when they cried, “Crucify him.”
You may ask, How is it when I have spent a religious life in seeking to do good, that I find no rest or peace to my soul or body? I am so troubled, because of the chastening hand of God. I lose my sleep, and lose my appetite, and seem ready to die in despair. All this is exactly described in chapter 33:14-22. And in it all God has a gracious purpose of love “That he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man. He keepeth back his soul from the pit.” What can be the meaning of all this? Ah, God has sent One from heaven to explain it all.
“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.” It is very humbling to think amongst those that profess to be the messengers of God, and teachers, it is most probable that you will be deceived. But there is a Friend that never deceives. Now where is the point of uprightness where God thus can meet a soul that takes the place of self-judgment? “He looketh upon men; and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not; he will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light. Lo, all these things worketh God oftentimes with man, to bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living.” The meeting-point then is, first, on God’s part: “I have found a ransom.” Secondly, on man’s part: “I have sinned.” The order is most remarkable. It is the grace of God that bringeth salvation. When God reveals Himself in having found a ransom, having provided an atoning Lamb—when thus revealed to the soul, the effect is that man can say, (in the original it is “he sings”), I have sinned; but God hath redeemed me, delivered my soul from going down into the pit. This is the only true meeting-point between God and man. It is not, I have given up my sins, or I am better than others, or I am righteous, clean without transgression, or without sin. How many, like Job, try to meet God on that ground, or in that way.
Has the one Interpreter met you and led you honestly, and in deep reality, to come to God just as the prodigal with “I have sinned?” God says first, “Deliver him from going down into the pit, I have found a ransom.” “If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
How beautifully the new creation is shadowed forth in the words of Elihu: “His flesh shall be fresher than a child’s: he shall return to the days of his youth: he shall pray unto God, and he will be favorable unto him; and he shall see his face with joy.” Oh, mark the sure result of thus meeting God in truth: “I have sinned.” The prodigal saw his Father’s face with joy—and so shall we, for God hath found a ransom. Not only delivered us from going down to the pit; but we shall see His face with joy. Yes, and the Father saw the face of His lost one with joy. And oh, the joy of God when He shall see the face of His ransomed one in glory. Poor weary soul, long hast thou sought in vain to meet God in thine own righteousness: thou canst only meet Him in the full confession of thy sins before Him. “Hold thy peace, and I will speak. If thou hast anything to say, answer me: speak, for I desire to justify thee.”
Did not Gain say, as it were, I am righteous; here I bring the fruits of the earth, results of my labor? Did not Job say, “I am righteous? Every thought centered in himself—what he was, or what he had been. Is not this the human heart? Oh, how many thousands around us are seeking to be righteous, and to establish their own righteousness before God, like Job. What is so tenacious as self-righteousness? Job did not give in, and change his mind yet. Many a religious reader may not give in, and give up all hope of being better and more fit for God, and thus take the counsel of the Interpreter, and come at once with those three words, “I have sinned.” Oh, how ready God is to meet us! Oh, my soul, think how God found, provided, sent the ransom first. Yes, He gave His only begotten Son—the holy, holy, holy One. He who dwells in the bosom of the Father; He who created this vast universe, was given a ransom for me, a poor, vile sinner! And how long did I spurn the proclaimed redemption, by seeking to work out a righteousness of my own, like Job?
How long have we said, like Job, “My righteousness is more than God’s?” (Job 35:22Thinkest thou this to be right, that thou saidst, My righteousness is more than God's? (Job 35:2).) Surely, you say, I never said or thought that. God’s righteousness is unto all through the death of the ransom. But have you not made more of your own doings, or feelings, and works? Have you not thought much more about these, about your righteousness, than God’s? Have you, or can you, find peace in that way? Never. Did Job find peace by being thus occupied, with himself? No: it is a hard struggle to give up self. Hard for Job, and hard for you. Very striking, and most true, the teaching or preaching of Elihu: but still Job was not brought to the end of Job. You, too, may have met the “one in a thousand” of Teachers among men: and still you may not have come to the end of yourself. What had to be done in Job’s case. We will next inquire. It may be blest to you.