⬇ EPUB

“JUST WITH GOD”

These words of Job find an echo in the human heart until the ages of time: “how can man be just with God”. Sin coming into the world has left man with the distance there is between God and men. The distance that Job felt, and men are made to feel that they can never meet, God removed. Job said no matter what he did how could he come and make peace with God. Men seem to have tried this from the outset. Even what we call the most primitive of tribes had some sense that they had got to make some approach, some peace, for some gain far outside their own reach. They made their idols, they made their sacrifices, but Job had a sense that there was nothing that he could do that would at all make a settlement between his soul and God. It is a blessed fact that he realised. That is what we have to come to, what God said here set his soul order, He cleansed him. Alas what deception has come into the race! Men think if they do the best they can it will make some peace with God. How could He look, how could He accept what man as held in the power of sin could ever offer. Job came to realise that and said there was nothing he could do. Whatever he could gather together, it would never make a way that he could be at rest with God. There is no way, my friend! There is no way that man of Adam’s order could ever approach God. In God’s holiness and His majesty, He must come in in judgment. We see that in Cain when he tried to draw near it brought in God’s disapproval. So today as men would try one thing and another it remains as Job says, “Who can bring a clean man out of the unclean? Not one!”, chap 14: 4. There is no way to draw near.

But in the gospel what God is proclaiming is that if man could not draw near, God has drawn near! The fact is that the approach must be from God’s side. He must take it up, Job felt that there was nobody, he said “There is not an umpire between us, who should lay his hand upon us both”. There was none of man’s order who could lay his hand upon the throne of God. There could be none that could rise up from that race and solve the question, “There is not an umpire between us, who should lay his hand upon us both”. Job as seen in this book was a remarkably upright man, a man that was very much above the mortal characteristics of men; his uprightness and honesty. But he was honest in this, there was not anything that man could provide would ever reach and make a settlement of the distance that existed between God and men. It says that he longed for it! Would that men be at the glad tidings today were longing for someone to be able to bring them near to God. It says that in the last scripture that Christ has brought us to God. The only One who can draw near. God has drawn near in Him. It tells us in the scripture that He has drawn near in the “man Christ Jesus”. A remarkable statement that, He has not drawn near in an angel, that would hardly settle the question, but it says, “the mediator of God and men one, the man Christ Jesus”. Remarkable that Job should have these feelings to draw near to God and God has the feelings to have the creature. It is the “Saviour God, who desires that all men should be saved”. The great matter of sin and sins could be resolved only from God’s side, and He has done it in the “man Christ Jesus”, the anointed Man. The Man of another order, the “man Christ Jesus”. That is a Man, a mediator thus being able to meet and resolve the issue that had been raised. The mediator must be one who is greater than the problem and here He is, “the man Christ Jesus”. A man, but a different kind of man. Not a man who lived here at a distance from God, but a man whom God had anointed. He was here, He came from God, the hymn says—

From heav’n the Saviour came,

Jesus, His precious name, (Hymn 245)

He came from God, not of man’s order. It is God coming out in answer to the feelings of Job, but too coming in from His own side with the feelings of His heart who would have all men to be saved. He has provided a means, He has provided a Man, a Man who has satisfied Him about what has come into the race, “the man Christ Jesus”, on whom when He was here the heavens were opened. A Man who satisfied God about what had come into the race, what it must have been in God’s sight when Jesus was here, “the man Christ Jesus”. It says in earlier times just as Job had looked for a man, so God looked for a man and said there was no man, Ezek 22: 30! He wondered that there was no man! In the whole race from Adam right down there was no man. The “man Christ Jesus” has come in from God’s side, He has come in on God’s behalf. He has come in on man’s behalf, but first of all He has come in on God’s behalf. Because if God was not satisfied with what has come into the race, there could be no hope for humanity, Christ came in from God’s side, He came in on God’s behalf, “the mediator of God and men one, the man Christ Jesus”. There is One there, a Man, but a different Man upon whom God’s eye could rest with perfect complacency. In the circumstances in which men lived, He lived in the physical environment that men live in, and the circumstances of life, but there He is, God’s Man.

Pilate found it when he brought Him out to the Jews he said, “Behold the man!”, John 19: 6. Israel will yet see that there is only one Man! In the glad tidings God is proclaiming that there is one Man, “the man Christ Jesus”. No liabilities that lie upon the race lay upon Him. He was tempted by Satan and then left for a season (Luke 4: 13), He is the man that that Ethiopian eunuch said who is He, Acts 8: 34. When he had read that chapter in Isaiah 53, he says who is this man? He could not fit into any other society that he knew, the Man was so different. The Man who “when suffering, threatened not” (1 Pet 2: 23), the Man who glorified God in the circumstances of life through which men were passing. The Man that God is setting forth. It is the Man that God is saying He has found His infinite pleasure in, that He has made Him the Mediator, He is that, “the mediator of God and men one, the man Christ Jesus”. Precious words these, He gave “himself a ransom for all”. There it is, the core of the gospel, He “gave himself”. He said in the gospels that they had no authority over Him unless it was given from above, John 19: 11. There He is! Could He not have called on all that power, all those legions of angels He spoke about, but there He is; He “gave himself a ransom for all”. God’s claims, God’s holiness, God’s majesty had to be met and there it was met in the “man Christ Jesus”.

All that had come into the race, the power of sin, had been arrested in the incoming of Jesus. What had activated and the power against every other man was negated there, “the man Christ Jesus”. Peter says about Him, “who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth”, 1 Pet 2: 22. The power of sin was broken there. It says He “gave himself a ransom for all”; so perfect, so precious in God’s sight, it is implied He had no need Himself. It involved that He Himself was spotless, holy, precious Lamb of God that He was able to meet God about what had come into the race. And that goes forth in the glad tidings tonight that God’s holy claims have been met in the sufferings and death of Jesus as to what has come into the race. The “man Christ Jesus is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world, so if the whole world came to God tonight and repented, the blood of Jesus would be enough for everyone.

Thousands have fled to His spear-pierced side;

Welcome they all have been, none are denied

(Hymn 169)

God has been satisfied in the Mediator. That is the great fundamental matter that God has been satisfied with what the Mediator has done. Men say why does not God come in in these cruelties of men, why does God not intervene? At the moment, God is looking upon men in mercy because of the delight He has found in Jesus, “the man Christ Jesus”. God’s answer to that movement of Jesus is that He has glorified Him. God raised Him up, as Peter said in that beautiful preaching God has “glorified his servant Jesus”, Acts 3: 13. That shows God’s perfect satisfaction in the Mediator, He has glorified Him. That is a wonderful thing, that a man has been glorified. A man who was here in the circumstances of life has been glorified. He is alone in that. Others will be brought into the glory, but He is alone in having been glorified in that way on account of His moral excellence and beauties.

Peter says again about Him that it was not possible that He should be held by the power of death, Acts 2: 24. The Person who was there in His intrinsic worth death could not rend Him, death could not hold Him, death who could hold every other man, there He is, “the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all”. That was for God! The judgment has been stayed, He paid the price; so the ransom means that the debt and penalty that lay upon the race Christ has paid the price for the race, He “gave himself a ransom for all”. O what a day it must have been for heaven! Think of all the power of sin that had reigned from Adam right down, the debt that had to be paid, what a debt had accrued, He “gave himself a ransom for all”. What that price was! Job said he could not meet it, “None can by any means redeem his brother”, (Ps 49: 7), but here is One who gave Himself “a ransom for all”. O how it would cause you to tarry on the worthiness of Jesus! There was no other that could be there at the cross, He gave Himself “a ransom for all”. What depths were tasted, what a price was paid, not only that He was there on the cross, but He bore the judgment of God, He bore it in His body. O the measure of what He felt, the measure of what was laid upon Him, it says, “Jehovah hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all”, Isa 53: 6. What rested there upon Christ, what God laid upon Him was what was due to the sinner, blessed be His name, God has been satisfied in that work. He was on the cross, when His blood was shed, when He died, when He lay in the grave, it is all part of the work of Jesus when He was set forth as a mediator between God and men; God “has glorified his servant Jesus”. The gospel goes forth to tell you, to tell all humanity that God is satisfied with the Mediator. The gospel goes forth that you, a sinner like Job, you who indeed could do nothing like Job, may come and be satisfied with the Mediator that God has provided.

When all the others rise up, there will be a man who rises up on this earth to try and draw man away, that draws men after himself to do homage to him. It speaks of men doing homage to the beast (Rev 13: 4), men rising up with great power, but God’s judgment will lie upon them. Here is a man proclaimed in the gospel that in God’s heart is infinitely loved, and He proclaims the glad tidings today that you may come to have confidence, that you may rest your case upon the Mediator that God has provided; “the mediator of God and men one, the man Christ Jesus”. He has come, it is not an angel who has done it, it is a Man! It is a Man who has gone into the position, a Man who fills the office, “the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all”. That is to endear Him to you as well. It has endeared Him to God, has it endeared Him to you? Some were there, it said “by the cross of Jesus”, some stood there, they were endeared to a Man who was there upon the cross, it says “by the cross of Jesus stood”, these three women, John 19: 25. In all that the Lord was doing He endeared Himself to them. That is what Peter would bring home to us, he says “for Christ indeed has once suffered”, 1 Pet 3: 18. Christ indeed once suffered for sins, “the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God”. There is no other way! Good works, whatever the form they may take, whatever way they may try and prepare themselves, there is no other way, here is the Man, Christ who has once suffered for sins “the just for the unjust”. That is to endear Him to you; your sins! He did it, He did it from God’s side, He met what had come into the race in God’s eye, but in the gospel, it is preached, faith, and we have to come to believe He has met your sins. The sins for every person! The great sacrifice we can hardly compass, but it met God’s eye for what had come into the race, but here Peter is saying, “Christ indeed has once suffered for sins”, that is personal, it is your sins, “the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God”. He went that way, He bore all that judgment of God on the cross, He went that way that He may endear Himself to you. God has His confidence in the Mediator, and the gospel is proclaimed tonight that you may have your trust, you may have your confidence, you may rest your case in the hands of Jesus; He has “once suffered for sins”. Not only suffered for sin and removed it from God’s eye, but the details, it required a personal transaction that you could say that not only what was for God’s eye, what had come into the race, but He met in His body, He met in Himself in those sufferings, He “suffered for sins”. It must be yours; it was never His own, He “suffered for sins”. What sufferings they were, those women around the cross saw that, they saw a holy, perfect, just Man, “the just for the unjust”. He stands alone, “the just”. It speaks of Him too, “the just one” (Acts 22: 14), a Man of another order! What confidence it brings into the human heart that such a One suffered for my sins. The hymn says—

My sins—O the bliss of this glorious thought—

My sins—not in part, but the whole—

Were borne on the cross, and are gone evermore,

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!’

(Hymn 238)

The original hymn was written by someone who came to trust in the Mediator; ‘not in part’, and ‘are gone evermore’ for those who have put their faith and trust in the Mediator that God has provided. What glad tidings is God proclaiming. Job felt that there was no one, but in the gospel God is proclaiming His Man, the Mediator that He has set forth, the One that He has established, there is a meeting place where the sinner can come to God, it says, “that he might bring us to God”. It is a very personal touch, He suffered for your sins and removed them, and He wants to take you by the hand to bring you to God. Is there any other way? Is there any other man who could bring you in? No! No other man has been accepted of God and may that same Man be accepted by all here tonight, the One whom God is setting “forth a mercy-seat through faith in his blood”, Rom 3: 25. And it says here in Peter that “he might bring us to God”. It is a very personal experience, a very necessary experience that He might bring you to God. Not only that He suffered for your sins, that is the only way, but He brings you to God, He brings you to have peace. The peace that Job was longing for! The peace in a sense that all claims and liabilities have been met to God’s eternal satisfaction and they have been met for your conscience, and they too have been met for your heart.

The work of Christ is to ease the conscience, for it is what every man has, it must have been working in Job, it says “how can man be just with God”, his conscience was active. But here God will show how Jesus suffered for sins to settle your conscience, and it says, “to bring us to God”. It is bringing in the peace; it is bringing in a sense of blessing so that normal relationships are now resumed. A very fine thing! When normal relationships have been disturbed and God saw that the distance was removed and normal relationships are brought in between God and men. He is with God; it is not a matter of God not accepting Him. And the theme of the glad tidings is that you may see that there is nothing in you, there is nothing in man, but there is everything by putting your faith and trust in the Mediator that God has provided; He has “suffered for sins”. Blessed be His name! It never will need to be repeated because of God’s delight in the work of Christ and for your soul in faith it is done once and for all. Peace with God, peace established because all the distance has been removed and He has brought us to God. What man could never aspire to; God has made a Mediator and will bring us in. What a reception! What a reception as Christ brings us to God what a reception is found. God delights to bless those who put their faith and trust in Him, turning away from their own self-righteousness, come to see their own insufficiencies and put their faith and trust in the “man Christ Jesus”. It remains there today, the power and virtue is there for the eye of faith; put your trust in Him. The day is coming when God will take up matters on a different basis but tonight, He is waiting on a soul that would come and put their faith in Jesus, it says “that he might bring us to God”.

May it be the experience of those who hear the glad tidings tonight that they come and are brought to God, to know the peace, to know the joy, to know the blessing of His house.

May He bless the word.

EDINBURGH

21^st September 1996

This preaching has been included from a recording; the script has been edited but not by our brother.

← Previous Article 13 of 32 Next →