God is determined that no excuse will be left to any. Lest any man should think that he needs no repentance – that he is too good for that, Job’s case stares him in the face. There was a man of whom God could say that there was “none like him in the earth.” When compared with other men, He who knew all men could put Job at the top and say, That’s the very best one of them all. As long as it was only a question of Job and his neighbors, he could hold up his head and be self-satisfied; but when it became a question of Job and God, it was quite another thing. Struggle after struggle may be gone through before he is ready to take the only attitude which becomes a man there, but he must come to it. Hear him:
“I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”
What a confession for the best man on earth!
What about you and me, dear reader? Were we the best of our day, yet must we too come to Job’s conclusion, when it is with God we have to do. And we must have to do with Him sooner or later.
But lest any repenting man should despair at the sight of his great sinfulness and guilt, God has put another character in His Word. It is Saul of Tarsus. Hear him speak of himself:
He commends the blessed Saviour to all, showing His readiness and ability to save any and every one, inasmuch as He had saved him, the chief of all sinners – a man who had dared lift a murderous hand upon the sheep of Christ.
Dear reader, if you are the best man among men, you are a lost sinner nevertheless, before God. If you feel as though you were too bad to be saved, hear again the word you need, and which will do you good:
It is a salvation which changes a guilty conscience into a rejoicing heart; which makes sin loathsome, and holiness more desired than gold; which sets one’s soul at home with God, binds the heart to Christ, makes His return the bright prospect of tomorrow, and finally introduces us where He has prepared us a place to share His glory with Him forever and ever.
Hark! the Saviour’s voice from heaven
Speaks a pardon, full and free:
“Come, and thou shalt be forgiven;
Boundless mercy flows for thee –
Even thee.”
See the healing fountain springing
From the Saviour on the Tree;
Pardon, peace and cleansing bringing;
Lost one, loved one, ‘tis for thee –
Even thee.
Hear His voice and mercy speaking:
“All thy sins were laid on Me:
Though thy heart for guilt be breaking,
I have rest and peace for thee –
Even thee.”
Come, then, now – to Jesus flying,
From thy sin and woe be free;
Burdened, guilty, wounded, dying,
Gladly will He welcome thee –
Even thee.
Every sin shall be forgiven,
Thou, through grace, a child shalt be;
Child of God and heir of heaven,
Yes, a mansion waits for thee –
Even thee.