One Mediator Between God and Man

[00:00:00] Let's look once again to the Lord in prayer. Father, we pray that you might illumine our hearts and minds, for we recognize your word as perfect, your word as very clear in all that it teaches. [00:00:19] But the problem rests in us, in our understanding, in our comprehension, in our willingness to focus. [00:00:33] And so, Father, we ask that as your word is read, we might honor it in our hearts and in our minds, and that the things that you have for us here might be profitable to us in our lives. [00:00:55] We ask these things in Jesus name. [00:00:58] Amen. [00:01:02] Please turn in the book of Job to chapter nine. [00:01:26] Last week we looked at what Bildad had to say to Job. And Bildad was a very unrighteous judge of Job. [00:01:38] But Job is concerned about the righteous judge God. [00:01:46] And we see that here. In his answer in chapter nine, then Job answered and said, truly, I know that it is so. But how can a man be right before God? [00:02:04] If one wishes to contend with him, one could not answer him once in a thousand times. [00:02:11] He is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has hardened himself against him and succeeded. [00:02:18] He who removes mountains, and they know it not when he overthrows them in his anger. Who shakes the earth out of its place and its pillars tremble? Who commands the sun and it does not rise? Who seals up the stars, who alone stretches out the heavens and trampled the waves of the sea, who made the bear and Orion and Pleiades and the chambers of the south? [00:02:44] Who does great things beyond searching out and marvelous things beyond number? Behold, he passes by me, and I see him not. He moves on, but I do not perceive him. [00:02:57] Behold, he snatches away. Who can turn him back? Who will say to him, what are you doing? [00:03:05] God will not turn back his anger. Beneath him bowed the helpers of Rahab. How then can I answer him, choosing my words with him? Though I am in the right, I cannot answer him. I must appeal for mercy to my accuser. If I summon him and he answers me, I would not believe that he was listening to my voice. [00:03:30] For he crushes me with a tempest and multiplies my wounds without cause. He will not let me get my breath, but fills me with bitterness. [00:03:41] If it is a contest of strength, behold, he is mighty. If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him? Though I am in the right, my own mouth would condemn me. Though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse. [00:03:59] I am blameless. I regard not myself. I loathe my life. It is all one. Therefore I say, he destroys both the blameless and the Wicked. When the disaster brings sudden death, he mocks the calamity of the innocent. The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He covers the faces of its judges. If it is not he, who then is it? [00:04:26] My days are swifter than a runner. They flee away, they see no good. They go by the skiffs of reef, like the skiffs of reed, like an eagle swooping on the prey. If I say I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face and be of good cheer. [00:04:48] I become afraid of all my suffering, for I know you will not hold me innocent, I shall be condemned. Why then do I labor in vain? If I wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with lye, yet you will plunge me into a pit and my own clothes will abhor me. [00:05:10] For he is not a man as I am, that I might answer him. That we should come to trial together. There is no arbiter between us who may lay his hand on both of us. [00:05:27] Let him take his rod away from me, and let not dread of him terrify me. Then I would speak without fear of him, for I am not so in myself. [00:05:41] Thus ends the reading of God's word. Please be seated. [00:05:57] When I began this series on Job, I cited that passage in James which speaks of Job's patience. [00:06:08] And I made the point that on the basis of that, I believe that alone would be basis enough for saying that Job is a real person. [00:06:21] And I really think it's sad that many in our day and age have begun to view things in the Old Testament as not quite real. And when you do that, you rob the Scriptures of. One of the real wonderful things about it is it's about real people. [00:06:40] But there's another passage I'd like to refer you to as we begin this evening, and that is Ezekiel, chapter 14. [00:06:49] Ezekiel, chapter 14. And beginning with verse 12. [00:06:56] And the word of the Lord came to me, son of man, when a land sins against me by acting faithlessly, and I stretch out my hand against it and break its supply of bread and send famine upon it and cut it off, man and beast. [00:07:14] Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel and Job were in it, they would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness, declares the Lord. [00:07:29] Fictional characters do not have righteousness. [00:07:36] And when you look at that list, Noah, Daniel, Job, God is making no distinction between those three. [00:07:59] When we come to Job this evening, we see that he is struggling with a question that more people in our day and age should consider, and a question which I hope you have asked. [00:08:21] And that is how Can a man be right before God? [00:08:29] See, in our day and age, there's an awful lot of assumption that people are basically good. Have you heard that? [00:08:38] Kind of shocking when you read the news of what's going on around the world, if you believe that. [00:08:47] But those of us who realize that that is not the case, how can we be right before God? [00:09:07] If you wanted to debate, go. [00:09:12] And that's what Job talks about here. Because he says if one wished to contend with him, one could not answer him. Once in a thousand times. [00:09:25] Have you ever run into anyone like that that just loved to debate? [00:09:29] I've had friends, and I guess frenemies is what you would call them, who love nothing more than to debate anything and everything. [00:09:41] And they're very difficult to deal with because a lot of times they have a lot of answers. [00:09:50] But imagine that person who is so clever at debate and loves to argue things, trying to argue with God. [00:10:09] Rather foolish thing to do, who has hardened himself against him and succeeded. [00:10:25] We've seen people do that, haven't we? [00:10:30] People who've hardened themselves against God. [00:10:36] I have known people that I am convinced were absolutely committed atheists. [00:10:52] And a lot of that comes of hardening oneself against God. [00:11:01] One does not succeed by hardening yourself against God. [00:11:07] For after all, he's the one who can remove a mountain. [00:11:14] And that's happened. [00:11:18] There have literally been mountains on this earth that have exploded and are no more mountains. [00:11:37] He shakes the earth. [00:11:41] I finally, after living in Kansas most of my life, experienced an earthquake there. [00:11:50] It actually shook some bricks loose. There are a number of chimneys in Hutchinson, Kansas, that if you look at them, they look like something that Dr. Seuss drew crooked and it was because the earth shook. [00:12:11] He goes on to talk about God's command of creation. He commands the sun, and it does not rise. [00:12:25] There are people who tell you that that's never happened. [00:12:30] They don't know God's word. [00:12:36] God is in control, even of the things that are so predictable. [00:12:41] You know, if I were to tell you that I don't think the sun's going to come up tomorrow here, I think I would be proved quite foolish. [00:12:54] But if God were to say that the sun is not going to rise, it would not. [00:13:04] Job knows this. [00:13:07] He does not have a limited view of God, as many in the world do. [00:13:22] He seals up the stars. [00:13:26] He's the one who stretched out the heavens. [00:13:32] He made the great constellations that we see in the sky. [00:13:42] And Job says here in verse 11, in fact, if God were to pass by me, I wouldn't See him. [00:13:55] There are those who act like they can't believe in God because they can't see him. Well, there are a lot of things you can't see and you believe in. [00:14:05] I remember one of the cosmonauts made the comment when he went into space and came back down, he said, I was up there in space and I didn't see your God. [00:14:18] What was he expecting? [00:14:25] Job knew that that was not a situation. [00:14:29] That's a reality he snatches away. And who can turn him back? Who will say to him, what are you doing? [00:14:42] Have you ever found yourself saying that to God? [00:14:45] In situations when something gets rough, difficult, life isn't always easy. [00:14:56] And we wonder sometimes, God, what are you doing? [00:15:07] But Job's telling us, who are you to question God? [00:15:15] God will not turn back his anger. And then it says, beneath him bowed the helpers of Rahab. [00:15:22] That phrase may seem real strange to you because the word rahab has a couple of different meanings in the Bible. One is that lady that we know about who was blessed by God for hiding the spies. [00:15:36] Rahab sometimes is a reference to Egypt, but in this particular case, it's believed that it is a reference to a pagan God. [00:15:51] And what this is saying is that God rules even over the pagans. [00:16:09] God does not believe in freedom of religion. [00:16:15] Do you realize that? I'm not saying there's anything wrong with our government having that attitude and not persecuting people. But the reality is that God is under no obligation to recognize anyone else's religion whatsoever. He is the one who has established what is true. [00:16:39] How am I going to choose my words to him? [00:16:44] And Job knows that he's in the right now. I know there are a lot of times where we think we're in the right and time will tell. [00:17:00] Even a stopped clock is right twice a day. [00:17:06] That's what I've heard. [00:17:08] As a matter of fact, I think some of those who have theories about time and the way it passes, they say that the stopped clock is the only one that's ever absolutely right. [00:17:30] Job knows that he has not done some horrible thing, that his accusers, his friends have said of him. That the terrible things that have happened to Job, we know from the beginning of the book, those are not the result of Job's sinfulness. [00:18:00] I must appeal for mercy to my accuser. [00:18:07] If I summoned him and he answered me, I would not believe that he was listening to my words. [00:18:17] Have you ever gotten a summons? [00:18:23] I got one. It was to appear for jury duty. I believe that's called a summons. But you know, and if you don't respond, if you don't show up, somebody may come out looking for you. [00:18:38] You can't issue a summons on God, can you, and demand that he show up? [00:18:53] He crushes me with a tempest and multiplies my wounds without cause. He will not let me get my breath, but fills me with bitterness. [00:19:03] If it is a condensed test of strength, behold, he is mighty. [00:19:11] In other words, you can't win against God in a contest of strength. [00:19:21] If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him? No one. [00:19:26] Though I'm in the right, my own mouth would condemn me. Though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse. [00:19:34] I am blameless. I regard not myself. I loathe my life. [00:19:42] It is all one. Therefore I say, he destroys both the blameless and the wicked. [00:19:51] There have been some terrible storms that have come through our nation this week. [00:19:59] Tornadoes. [00:20:01] And the tornadoes didn't pick and choose between the righteous and the unrighteous. [00:20:12] When disasters come, they come upon all. [00:20:29] The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He covers the faces of its judges. If it is not he, who then is it? [00:20:42] God's in charge. [00:20:46] And so when these things happen, we can't sit back and say, well, God can't do anything about it. There's a man who wrote a book called When Bad Things Happen to Good People. [00:20:58] And as good Calvinists, we all know there aren't no good people. [00:21:06] But in his book he argues that either God is all powerful and therefore we would conclude that he doesn't care, or God is not all powerful and he would like to do something, but he can't. [00:21:36] What a terrible kind of way of looking at God. Job doesn't look at God this way at all. He has not fooled himself into thinking that God is not in control. [00:21:51] But he's struggling to understand why. [00:21:56] Why do these things happen? Why has this happened to him? [00:22:06] My days are swifter than a runner. They flee away. They see no good. [00:22:13] They go by the skiffs of reed like an eagle swooping on the prey. [00:22:22] I stopped one time on my trip down here and at a restaurant, and I had my cat with me. And she was in the jeep there, sitting in the window, looking out. And someone came by. And some lady warned me. She says, don't let that cat out. [00:22:41] And I said, well, I wasn't intending to let the cat out. She says, oh, good. And she had this little dog with her. And she said one day she was out with her little dog and a bird of prey swept down and Almost took the dog. [00:23:03] Those things happen, and our lives can seem that way, as if there's some constant threat upon them. [00:23:16] And then Job here in verse 27, says something that sounds very contemporary. [00:23:28] There was a book put out some years ago, but I haven't heard of it in years, but I think it would still be quite popular. I'm okay. You're okay. [00:23:49] I will forget my complaint. [00:23:52] I will put off my sad face and be of good cheer. [00:24:01] How's that work? [00:24:06] It doesn't solve any problems, does it? [00:24:12] Job is not willing to deny the reality of his own suffering. [00:24:26] But he questions there in verse 29. Why then do I labor in vain the efforts that I make to live a righteous life? [00:24:48] Are they vain? [00:24:51] If I should lose my life? [00:24:57] That's an earthly, human sort of judgment, not a godly judgment. [00:25:07] Jesus said, what if a man gained the whole world and loses his soul? What's it worth if I wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with lye, yet you will plunge me into a pit and my own clothes will abhor me for he is not a man. [00:25:39] If you have any Mormon friends, remind them of that. God is not a man. He's not some giant man. [00:25:59] Job recognizes that God is of entirely different category than we are. [00:26:16] That's why we can't come to trial together. [00:26:19] There's no arbiture between us. [00:26:26] It's interesting that in the King James Version, I remember this term because it sounded so strange to me. [00:26:39] Daysman, D A Y S M A N. We don't use that commonly today, do we? [00:26:47] The arbiter was the daysman. [00:26:53] It was someone who could lay his hand on both. [00:27:07] Someone who would be a referee, a judge, but truly an arbiter. [00:27:18] In our society, we make a distinction between mediation and arbitration. [00:27:25] Mediation is kind of like the thing you go to if you're going for counseling, marriage counseling. [00:27:33] That person that you go to, ideally, should be a mediator, trying to bring the two together. [00:27:47] But here, the term is much more of an arbitrary. [00:27:52] And in labor disputes, there are situations where, according to the law, arbitration is required. [00:28:00] And when you come before the arbitrary, the arbiter tells and sets down what the terms are going to be. [00:28:19] It fascinates me here at this point that Job sees the need for that. [00:28:29] Something that we've never seen. The equivalent of this in the Scriptures before this point. Remember, Job lives in a time before Moses, before the Exodus, before the prophets that speak of the coming Messiah, and by God's Holy Spirit putting a longing in his heart for someone who could identify with both God and man. [00:29:08] It's like that case of a black swan. Have you heard about that? That expression, the black swan? Something that people speculated about. [00:29:17] Realize that the people in Europe speculated about that they'd never seen a black swan. [00:29:23] But they speculated because of other birds and things that, you know, there could be a black swan, might be one. We've never seen one. [00:29:34] They got to Australia, and in Australia they have black swans. [00:29:48] Job has never seen this, but the Spirit has put a desire in his heart for someone that would be that perfect arbiter, that mediator, the same one that we have in the New Testament. [00:30:16] First Timothy, chapter two and verse one. [00:30:23] First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and there is one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time for this. I was appointed a preacher and apostle, and I am telling you the truth. I am not lying. A teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth, Jesus Christ, who is very God and who is fully man. [00:31:54] Let him take his rod away from me and let not dread of him terrify me. Then I would speak without fear of him, for I am not so in myself, left to myself, where would I be? [00:32:14] But thanks be to God that he sent his eternally begotten Son to earth to become a man and to suffer and die for our sins, and to be able to at the same time lay one hand upon God the Father and one hand upon you. [00:32:59] And it's this one who has asked us this evening to remember his death, because it is his death that pays for our sins. [00:33:19] But as we're remembering his death, it's not like some who gather at a funeral and talk about the deceased. I've been at funerals where people have gotten up and said things like, as long as all of us continue to remember him, he'll live on. [00:33:37] That's not what this is about. [00:33:40] He lives. [00:33:45] And it's not just because we remember. [00:33:49] We will live forever because he remembers us. [00:33:59] And so, as you come forward to the Lord's table to partake of these symbols that are a sign and seal of his sacrifice. [00:34:18] Remember that we only have this relationship with God because we have that arbiter, that mediator, who has reconciled us with God the Father. [00:34:45] Let's look to God in prayer, Father, as we consider the things that your servant Job was put through and the struggles that he had, and how you mercifully brought him through all of those things. [00:35:15] We recognize your hand, the hand of. Of our Savior in our lives, to bring us through very difficult. [00:35:33] Often times that we are amazed that we survived. [00:35:44] And your love never fails. [00:35:53] Father, as we come to your table, may we come with empty hands, receiving all that you have to offer us in Christ Jesus and rejoicing that we have that Daysman, that we have that mediator, that we know, the one who has established our relationship with you, a relationship that can never be broken. [00:36:41] In Jesus name we pray. [00:36:43] Amen.