What Was Job's Sin

Fred Coulter—March 19, 2011

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Let me mention something here that I think will help us understand our relationship with God even more, which is this. Let's go back and look at how the children of Israel worshiped God. Where were the scrolls? At the temple! Worship was worshiping God while sacrifices were being offered. Worshiping God was the Levitical singers singing to God. That was public worship. We find not only David, but also Asaph—and some of the others who wrote the Psalms—you have personal worship of God. That was a forerunner of what was going to happen later.

The children of Israel did not have the Word of God like we have it today. If someone from even in the first centuryA.D. were resurrected to see our Sabbath services here, that we have in one book the Old and the New Testament. Plus we have other books which tell us about things that we need to know today. They would be astonished with the Internet. Just think what Paul would have done with the Internet. He could have stopped some of those heresies right quick. In the New Testament church all copies were hand written. It was the New Testament church that first devised the codex form. And codex means book, like this. And the codex was written both sides of the pages put together and it made it easy to do corrections. Whereas, written on a scroll, if you have one mistake, you've got to get rid of everything and start over again.

Now during the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, is when the Old Testament was canonized, in order to keep a proper understanding of the Word of God for all the Jews in the Diaspora, because they were scattered all around, Ezra and the Great Assembly made copies of the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms and sent them out to all the synagogues. With that then, they had worship of God publicly together when they would sing. They also had what are called cantors, who would sing various parts of the Bible too. Then you would have the rabbi get up there and he would be teaching. So in order to keep all the Jews on track, to keep them from apostatizing what Ezra did, he worked out what is called a triennial cycle of reading and they had to read on specific Sabbaths certain parts of the Law, certain parts of the Prophets, and certain parts of the Psalms.

This carried down to New Testament times. So when Jesus went into the synagogues, He taught. He taught on the Sabbath day. He was introducing what would be a greater worship service toward God. That greater worship service was not combined where we all have rituals, but it was a personal relationship with God the Father, because Jesus came to reveal the Father. The whole substance of how to worship God changes. It changes that you have direct access to God the Father in heaven above, as Paul wrote in the book of Hebrews. That's your worship. Jesus instituted teaching and He commanded the apostles to go in all the world, teaching all nations whatsoever things He had commanded and making disciples and baptizing them. That's why Sabbath services become a key focal point in learning and understanding. Now Sabbath services, coupled with our personal study and our personal relationship with God puts us into a situation that we are developing the character of God to be ready for the resurrection.

Having the whole Bible, we need to understand, the more that God gives, the more that's required—right? Yes! So this is why personal prayer, personal Bible study becomes such a very important thing in our relationship with God. That's why in prayers it is good if you, in praying, start out by going through some of the Psalms.

Let's come to Psalm 63. This is one of my favorites, so you will hear me use this quite often. In the New Testament Eph. 3 is one of the most inspiring chapters in the whole New Testament. Now, combined with God's Spirit in us, we are able, as no other time in history, because the whole Bible really wasn't made available to people until what was that—1537 when the first Thomas Matthew Bible was printed in English.

You talk about an about-face. It was against the law to even teach your children the Ten Commandments in English. There were those people who were burned at the stake for doing it. God provided through the Obedience of the Christian Man, that William Tyndale wrote, and Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII's second wife, gave him a copy of The Obedience of the Christian Man. Guess what he found in there? The reason to sever everything with Rome! Read about what happened with William Tyndale eighteen months after his prayer was, 'Lord, open the eyes of the king of England.' It had to come from the king. It couldn't come from the ground up. Today, things can come from the ground up. Then it had to come from the king.

What did the king do? He severed all relations with Rome, established the Church of England, and then he commanded that the Bible be printed and put in every single church and that if a person could not read, the church was to provide a reader for that person to be able to understand the Word of God.

That was the first time, a little over 400 and some odd years ago.—that was 1537, so we're 470-some years away from that—in all the history of the world. Now we come down here and we can print thousands. United Bible Society's printing hundreds of thousands—800,000 Bibles a year. They have a 10-year contract with one printing plant in of all places, China.

And they're printing in the various languages that are in those countries round about. So let's understand something. God is going to do something great and He uses a lot of people that people may know or not know that they're being used. Just think of this for a minute. Do you suppose that those soldiers down there below the cross, while Jesus was dying from the crucifixion, and they were casting lots on His garments, that they understand or even had an inkling that God was making them do what they were doing? No!

So God can use a lot of people to accomplish His will and they don't even know it. Now think of it today. The worst time that is ever going to come upon the whole world, we're verging closer and closer to that time. God says He's going to give a witness and

• the Gospel will be preached in the whole world
• the Gospel will be published in the whole world

If you have a Bible, you have the Gospel.

Let's also understand something very important. I've said this before, but we need to realize it. God does not fulfill the prophecies just an itty-bitty bit. He fulfills them to the maximum. So that's what's going to happen in the end time as it has all the way along.

Was there one prophecy concerning Christ that failed? No! Was there on prophecy that was fulfilled which would be very hard to discover? Yes! But you can discover it! We're going to do another book. It's important that we gets these books out. You heard me mention it before, so I'll mention it again. It's going to be entitled, The Appointed Times of the Messiah, explaining the seventy-weeks prophecy and all of the other prophecies that are centered around the appointed times, which are what? The Holy Days! The Passover!

So this world in their Christianity doesn't know what's going on, because they've rejected the Word of God and they've supplanted it with their own traditions and their own ideas and the things that they devise. 'A good understanding have all of those who do His commandments'—correct? If you don't have His commandments, you don't have any understanding. Is that not true? Yes! So you have to devise you own.

Now back to our personal worship here. We have an opportunity in this age, especially before we're chased from house to house and city to city, because that time will come. What we need to do is realize God has a big responsibility upon us. We have the whole Word of God.

• Are we learning it?
• Are we letting it be written in our hearts and in our minds?

We have opportunity to pray and be able to have that contact with God. We have opportunity to really have the laws and commandments and Spirit of God in us and written in our hearts and minds as never before in all the history of the world, brethren.

This is one of the reasons why Psalm 63 is one of my favorites, because it shows the attitude and the spirit that we need to have to God. Whatever we have done yesterday that's good, that's fine, but what are we going to do today? And then when tomorrow becomes today, what are we going to today? You've heard the saying, every time you hear one of these sports guys say, 'Well, I take one day at a time.' That is a true principle that comes from God. You take one day at a time.

Remember what He says concerning the Sabbath, Psa. 95, 'Today—this day, on the Sabbath—if you will hear His voice, harden not your heart.' Here's how to keep a tender heart, Psalm 63:1: "O God, You are my God, earnestly I will seek You!…." We don't let down. The Laodiceans let down—right? They get lukewarm. Here we have the whole Bible. Now if we repent and are zealous, God will use us to do whatever He wants us to do—correct? Now we have the means to multiply it much more than ever before.

Think about when we would get in our car and listen to the World Tomorrow program at a certain set time. And maybe you could hear it twice a day. Now we can put things online and it's there 24/7 continuously. Never before! And I hope and pray all the Churches of God will repent and get on the ball and do what they need to do and stop their infighting and all of their politics and all of the things that they are doing and realize that this is the kind of relationship that needs to be taught to the brethren, that they need to have.

It's not a matter of authority and control, it's a matter of God and relationship in each one of us and the Word of God, so that we can teach the brethren. And we have to teach ourselves. Paul said, 'You, who teach another, do you not teach yourself?'

Notice his attitude: "…My soul thirsts for You. My flesh longs for You, as in a dry and thirst land where no water is, to see Your power and Your glory—as I have seen You in the sanctuary" (vs 1-2). That verse is a very interesting verse. because Remember when David brought the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem? Where did he put it? He didn't put it at the tabernacle because that was over at Gibeon. He made a special area in his house and put up a special tent. He had Asaph the priest and other Levites to attend to it with incense and psalms and prayers. When David came to praise God with these psalms, he came right to where that tent was.

When he says, "…as I have seen You in the sanctuary," that means that God manifested Himself enough so that he could the presence of God there. Now we have direct access to God the Father in heaven above. So, if you need to kind of get over the 'ho-hums,' and the lukewarm and things, get on your knees with some of these Psalms, use them to start out your prayers, and so forth, like this. I'll let you finish the rest of that.

How many of you—or us altogether, include myself—really understand the book of Job? Someone told me about a book of all the scientific stuff that they found in the book of Job; very interesting, very scientific book. Remember, the book of Job was written before, probably three or four hundred years before Moses. Goes back to the patriarch, because he was a patriarch and could offer burnt offerings—correct? So that has to be at least contemporary with Abraham, maybe even before Abraham.

When I first read the book of Job—we'll go certain places in the book of Job here a little later—I thought God was wrong. Here I am, trying to overcome sin, and here's this Job blameless, carnally perfect, and here I am struggling. And I thought, for God to bring this upon Job, I don't know if that was right or not. I've learned a lot since then and it was exactly right what God did.

But here's a clue. Let's come here to Matthew 5:20: "For I say to you, unless your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, there is no way that you shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven." That's kind of a tough saying—isn't it? Yes! Especially if you don't know that Judaism is not the Law of Moses.

That's why Philip Neal wrote the book, Judaism—A Revelation of Moses or a Religion of Men? What was it about the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees that did not qualify them to enter into the Kingdom of God? And, as a matter of fact, constituted sin? That's something—isn't it?

Mark 7—you know what it says there, but we'll just review it. And we're going to see something really important when we get to the book of Job. That had to do with washing the hands. This is why in the book on Judaism; we put in a whole appendix going through many of the laws of the Jews to demonstrate what their righteousness was. And it was all from the self to accomplish physical things, which will help give you a clue.

After questioning why the disciples didn't wash their hands, Mark 7:6: "And He answered and said to them, 'Well did Isaiah prophesy concerning you hypocrites, as it is written, "This people honors Me with their lips, but their hearts are far away from Me. But in vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrine the commandments of men"'" (vs 6-7). There is a clue! The commandments of men! Are the commandments of men a form of righteousness? Yes, indeed! Are they God's righteousness? No! We're going to see this becomes very important in understanding the situation with Job.

Verse 8: "'For leaving the commandment of God, you hold fast the tradition of men, such as the washing of pots and cups; and you practice many other things like this.' Then He said to them, 'Full well do you reject the commandment of God, so that you may observe your own tradition'" (vs 8-9).

Now Job did not do that. Job had a special and different kind of problem. So we'll look at that here in a little bit. But let's look at some things to remind us what human nature is. Someone asked me, 'Well, what do you think of the problems over there in Japan with all of the things taking place, especially with the atomic generators?' And I answered it with a proverb. What do you suppose that was? 'There is a way that seems right to a man and the ends thereof are the ways of death.'

Now you can go along with that thing for a long time before something happens, but did it bring death and destruction? Did Chernobyl bring death and destruction? Did the atomic bombs bring death and destruction? And all of our knowledge, and all of our technology, and everything, they can't contain the power of uranium. So that's what was the problem there.

Let's look at another one here. Let's come to Psalm 39. Now just put in your notes there also the book of Ecclesiastes. How does Ecclesiastes start out? 'Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.' Let me tell you something, when you're young and you're strong and you have all your energy and you have goals and you're disciplined and you could do things, you don't think that's vain. You may be able to accomplish things, but we have to understand how we are before God.

In the world that's very successful. Apply it to business, apply it to sports, apply it to whatever. You train, train, train! You work, work,work! You study, study,study! You get yourself to where you're an expert in this, or an expert in that, and you excel in your field, and you end up having a good job and high pay. All of that's fine. But what does it have toward eternal life? Outside of the discipline, not very much!

Psalm 39:1: "I said, 'I will take heed to my ways so that I do not sin with my tongue... [That's a tough proposition—isn't it?] ...I will keep my mouth with a bridle while the wicked are before me.' I became dumb, keeping silent; I said nothing good, and yet my sorrow grew worse. My heart was hot within me; while I was musing, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue…. [See all these things that are happening.] …'O LORD, make me to know my end and the measure of my days, what it is, that I may know how short lived I am.... [And he died at what? 70-years-old!] ...Behold, You have made my days as a handbreadth...'" (vs 1-5).

So, every time we pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and tell ourselves good we are, what a wonderful job that we have done, you just put your hand right in front of your face and that's your whole life right there—a handbreadth.

"'...and the span of my days is as nothing before You….'" (v 5). It's hard for us to comprehend eternity—isn't it? Yet, we can in just a little way—not much, but just a little way. None of us can remember when we weren't here and even though we know we're going die, none of us can think of a time when we won't be here. That's as close to eternity as we can get in our little 'pee-wee' brains, as it were.

"'Surely every man at his best state... [without God] ...is altogether vanity'" (v 5). All you have to do is go to a shopping mall and just sit there and kind of watch the people go by, watch what they buy, watch what they're doing, and things like that. Men and women, but mostly women, wherever there's a big window and they're looking in the window, not only are they shopping, but they're looking at themselves. A lot of men do, too. Vanity! That's all television is. The whole thing is vanity.

Listen, the key thing about television is this: Everything is scripted, every word. I couldn't help but watching the news, here's all this death and destruction and mayhem going on over in Japan and all of the ads come on and everybody's happy, happy. If you take this, you're happy, happy. Everybody's smiling, nothing is wrong, and it's all scripted and looks so good. But beware if you take this medicine, you may have suicidal thoughts, or you may choke your wife. Vanity!

"'…Surely they are in uproar in vain... [nothing describes Congress better than that] ...He heaps up riches and does not know who shall gather them. And now, LORD, what do I wait for? My hope is in You'" (vs 6-7). That's why the Psalms are good for understanding how to pray. It focuses us directly on God and our hope is in God. And the older we get, the more we understand that.

"'Deliver me from all my transgressions; make me not the reproach of the fool'" (v 8). I'll let you read more about that. Now let's understand something, too. Just put in your notes, we won't turn there, because you know this. The carnal mind cannot please God and it is at enmity against God (Rom. 8:7-8).

Let's begin here to look at Job, but first of all let's go to Luke 17, because here's a lesson for us we need to learn. This is a very hard Scripture to really grasp. Here we are keeping the commandments of God. This is a hard one to understand. How many years have you kept the Sabbath? I can go back and I'm well over 50 years in keeping the Sabbath, Holy Days 49 years, striving to change and grow and overcome, keeping the commandments of God, and all of these sort of things. We put a lot of effort into it—right? God also says He's going to judge us according to our works—does He not? So, we have to have good works.

Luke 17:5: "Then the apostles said to the Lord, 'Increase our faith,' But the Lord said, 'If you had faith as a tiny mustard seed, you might say to this sycamine tree, "Be rooted up, and be planted in the sea," and it would obey you'" (vs 5-6).

We haven't had that kind of faith, yet. I don't think any of the apostles did back then. What is greater than moving a mountain or moving a tree is the conversion of the mind! That can only be changed and moved with the Spirit of God. That's what everything is all about.

Then He gives this parable, v 7: "'But which of you having a servant plowing or shepherding will immediately say to him when he comes in from the field, "Come and sit down and eat"? Rather, will he not say to him, "Prepare what I may eat... [If you're a union man, this is tough work rules—right? This would never go over in Wisconsin.] ...and serve me while I eat and drink'" (vs 7-8).

Here he's been out sweating, dirty, dusty, plowing, planting, and he comes in and the boss says, 'Clean up and serve me.' So here he sits there, enjoying everything that is there. The servant comes in and pours his wine and pours his water and brings him the meat, brings him the vegetables. He's sitting there enjoying everything and here this poor guy is hungry. He's been working all day; he's been out there in the heat of the day. Now that's not being very kind—is it? No! We don't find union work rules in the Bible. Don't do that to someone who works for you.

Verse 9: "'Is he thankful to that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not.... [Does that make him rude? No!] (this is what we are going to understand today): ...Likewise you also, when you have done all the things that are commanded you, say, "We are unprofitable servants, because we have done that which we were obligated to do"'" (vs 9-10). Now that's quite a verse—isn't it? Yet we're told to keep the commandments—right?

• How are we to keep them?
• Where does the strength to keep them come from?
• How does this fit in with Job?

Let's go to the book of Job, chapter 31. There are some really good things in the book of Job. I hope that the translation that we have here helps people understand it even more. Let's notice what Job did. Did he do everything that God commanded him to do? Yes, of course! He was called blameless, was he not? The King James says perfect. People read that and they mistake it to me perfect spiritually. Had nothing to do with perfection in the spirit. But notice how he followed so many of the laws of God. And the fact is Job did not sin by transgressing; that's the key. Job sinned by something else, even though he kept the commandments of God. How could that be?

Look what he did to avoid lusting with the eyes. Job 31:1: "'I made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I look upon a virgin?" They're saying, 'Come on, Job, you did this.' And he said, 'No—I...' This is the epitome of I; 'if I.'

Verse 5: "If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot has hurried to deceit, Let me be weighed in an even balance so that God may know that I am blameless'…. [Didn't God say he was blameless? How do we figure this out?] …If my step has turned out of the way, or my heart has walked after my eyes, and if any spot has cleaved to my hands... [talk about hand washing] ...Then let me sow, and let another eat; and let my harvests be rooted out. If my heart has been enticed by a woman, or I have laid wait at my neighbor's door, then let my wife grind for another, and let others bow down upon her. For that would be a heinous crime; yea, it would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges" (vs 5-11).

Verse 13: "If I despised the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they complained against me; what then shall I do when God rises up?" (vs 13-14). He was really looking at everything he had done—right?

Verse 16: "If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail, or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it—For from my youth he grew up with me, as with a father, and from infancy I guided her—.... [he's talking about how he treated his slaves, born in his house, treated them as his own kids] ...If I have seen any perish for lack of clothing, or there was no covering for the needy; if his loins have not blessed me, and he warmed himself with the fleece of my sheep.... [all the I, all the me, all the my.] ...If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless when I watched over my help in the gate" (vs 16-21). Then he says what to do.

Verse 24: "'If I have made gold my hope, or have called fine gold my confidence; if I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my hand had gotten much; if I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness, and my heart has been secretly enticed, or my mouth has kissed my hand'" (vs 24-27). Whatever that means then.

Then he goes on showing—if, if, if I, if I, if I. So he did all of it. Now we will begin to understand what his sin was.

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It's quite amazing, you read the arguments of those three men leading up to this part of the Bible and these arguments get pretty weighty. They accuse Job of all kinds of things and they were absolutely wrong.

Job 32:1: "And these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes." Much like the Pharisee that went to pray—remember?—and the publican. The Pharisee came in and said, 'God, I thank you I am not like other men. I'm not an extortioner, I haven't committed adultery, I tithe of all that I have, and I'm certainly not like this terrible tax collector down here.' So the tax collector beat on his chest and said, 'God, forgive me, the sinner.' So Job was just like one of the Pharisees, righteous in his own eyes.

"Then was kindled the anger of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram. His wrath burned against Job, because he had justified himself rather than God" (v 2). Very key important sentence here. But he waited, finally opened his mouth, and said, 'I'm just like wine in new wineskin and I'm ready to burst.' So he said, 'I waited for you old men because I thought the aged would be wise, but I found that that wasn't so.' So he says, 'I'm going to speak.'

Let's see how this unfolds, Job 33:1: "Wherefore, Job, please hear my speech, and hearken to all my words. Behold, now I have opened my mouth, my tongue has spoken in my mouth, my words shall be from the uprightness of my heart, and my lips will clearly speak knowledge. The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life. If you can, answer me; set yourself in order before me, stand up. Behold, I am according to your wish in God's stead; I also am formed out of the clay. Behold, my terror shall not make you afraid, and my burden shall not be heavy upon you. Surely you have spoken in my ears, and I have heard the sound of your words, saying, 'I am pure, without transgression; I am innocent, and there is no iniquity in me'" (vs 1-9). So you start adding it up, he was righteous in his own eyes. That's what he said back here in Job 31, he had done all of these things, there is no sin.

Verse 10: "'Behold, He finds occasions against me, He counts... [he's talking of God] ....He counts me as His enemy; He puts my feet in the stocks; He marks all my paths.' Behold, in this you are not right; I will answer you, for God is greater than man" (vs 10-12). What was Job's sin?

• he was self-righteous
• he didn't see anything wrong with himself
• everything that he did was right

What did his attitude do?

The key right here is in v 12, He made himself greater than God: "Behold, in this you are not right; I will answer you, for God is greater than man…. [How did he do that? We'll learn a lesson concerning God's laws and things from that.] …Why do you fight against Him? For He does not give account for any of His matters." No, He doesn't!

Job 34:1: "And Elihu answered and said, 'Hear my words, O you wise men; and give ear to me, you who have knowledge; for the ear tries words, as the palate tastes food. Let us choose for ourselves what is right; let us know among ourselves what is good. For Job has said, "I am righteous; but God has denied me justice"'" (vs 1-5). 'God was not fair!' You might agree with that or not.

How was it that God was fair? Verse 6, Job continued to say: "'"Should I lie against my right? My wound cannot be cured; I am without transgression.... [How did that happen?] ...What man is like Job, who drinks up scorning like water; who goes in company with the workers of iniquity, and walks with wicked men?.... [he didn't do that] ...For he has said, "It profits a man nothing when he delights himself in God"'" (vs 6-9). That's quite an accusation—isn't it?

Verse 10: "Therefore, hearken to me, O you men of understanding; far be it from God to commit iniquity; and from the Almighty, that He should commit iniquity. For the work of a man shall He render unto him, and cause every man to find according to his ways. Yea, surely God will not do wickedly, neither will the Almighty pervert judgment.... [Then he starts out to set the record straight, so this becomes quite important here]: ...Who has given Him charge over the earth? Or who has appointed Him over the whole world?'" (vs 10-13). Job didn't! No man did!

We can look at some other things here. You can read all the rest of it here, let's come to v 35: "'Job has spoken without knowledge, and his words were without wisdom. My desire is that Job may be tried unto the end because his answers are like those of wicked men.... [What was his sin? How could that be when he was doing all the things that he should be doing?] ...For he adds rebellion to his sin; he claps his hands among us, and multiplies his words against God'" (vs 35-37). How could that be?

Job 35:1: "And Elihu answered and said, 'Do you think this to be right, you that say, "My righteousness is more than God's"?'" (vs 1-2). What was his sin? He made himself greater than God! Yet, Whose laws was he following? God's! Does that not help explain about the parable of the unprofitable servant? Yes! Not only are we to do what God says, but we are to thank God for everything that gives us the ability to do so, and that it is all God's righteousness! That's what Job failed to do. 'My righteousness is more than God's.'

Verse 3: "'For you say, "What advantage will it be to You? What profit shall I have, more than if I sinned?" I will answer your words, and your companions with you. Look to the heavens...'" (vs 3-5). What have you done, Job? All you've done is keep what God has said and you claim that as your own—basically what it is.]

"'Look to the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds; they are higher than you. If you sin, what do you do against Him? Or if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to Him? If you are righteous, what do you give Him? Or what does He receive from your hand? Your wickedness may hurt a man like yourself; and your righteousness may profit the son of man. By reason of the multitude of oppressions they cry out; they cry out because of the powerful arm of the mighty. But none says, "Where is God my Maker, Who gives songs in the night; Who teaches us more than the animals of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of heaven?" There they cry, but He gives no answer, because of the pride of evildoers'" (vs 5-12).

Verse 13 is a key: "'Surely God will not hear vanity, neither will the Almighty regard it.'" Isn't it the vainest thing in the world to say, 'My righteousness is more than God's'?; when any righteousness we do comes from God.

Verse 14: "'How much less when you say you do not see Him! The cause is before Him; you must wait for Him. And now because it is so, He has visited in anger yet he does not understand even his great extremity.... [no, Job didn't understand it] ...Therefore, does Job open his mouth in vain; he multiplies his words without knowledge'" (vs 14-16). Boy, this is getting pretty heavy stuff. What I want you to think about, let's translate this into the one who's going to be the anti-Christ who comes and sits in the temple and says, 'I am God.'

Job 36:1: "Elihu also proceeded and said, 'Bear with me a little, and I will show you that I have yet to speak on God's behalf. I will fetch my knowledge from afar, and I will ascribe righteousness to my Maker'" (vs 1-3).

Nowhere in all of it did Job say, 'I have given to the needy because God has given to me to give to them.' He didn't ascribe righteousness to his Maker. And this is another whole key for the New Covenant, too. Having the Spirit of God and being able to do the things of God by being converted and having the Spirit of God, it all comes from God. Like Paul said to the Corinthians, 'What makes you greater than anyone else? You didn't have anything you didn't receive.' Everything about our whole existence is because we receive it from God—is that not true? Everything!

So we can apply that to commandment-keeping. Why do we keep the commandments? Is it from the heart because we love God and we're thankful that God has given us the knowledge and understanding to be able to do so? Or, are we like Job and the Pharisees to say, 'Oh, I'm righteous and you stand far off from me.' When we do that, we make ourselves greater than God.

Let's come down here to v 22: "'Behold, God is exalted in His power; who is a Teacher like Him?'" And yet what did Job say? 'I'm so righteous that what I really need is an umpire to stand between me and God and to judge me and find me innocent before God.' His sin was he didn't ascribe all the righteousness to God—see that?

Think of this in relationship to how—and we all do this—every human being on earth, including us, when we see other people, we make judgments in our minds as we are observing them. Is that not correct? Yes, indeed! How they walk; how they talk; how they dress; etc. We make judgments concerning those things. Now that's not entirely wrong to do. We have to make judgments, of course. But then when we use that to exalt ourselves, when we use that to say we're better than the other people, we have forgotten that God calls the weak and the lowly, the rejected and despised. That's what we are, so that He can confound the world. God is going to do a tremendous thing. Don't forget the dot, because at the resurrection, what we do now is going to be compared to that little dot. And it all comes from God!

Verse 23: "'Who has appointed Him His way; or who can say, "You have done wrong"?'" 'God, You're wrong.' A lot of people would say that concerning the death of what they would call innocent children; a lot of death and destruction—right? Why would God do that? Look at the society around. God hasn't done wrong! Are we not born with the law of sin and death within us? Yes, indeed! And if He never gave them an opportunity for salvation, God is going to make it right in the second resurrection. God knows! God understands! He hasn't done any wrong.

Verse 25: "All men have seen it; man may see it afar off Behold, God is great, beyond our knowledge; the number of His years cannot be searched out. For He draws up the drops of water; they distill into rain from the mist, which the clouds pour down and drop on man abundantly'" (vs 26-28).

When I fly and look out—this happened when I was flying from Pensacola up to Dallas—and here were these great billowing clouds, huge, just towering clouds that you could see just growing. And in order to get to Dallas we had to fly the highest I have ever flown in a commercial plane. We had to go to 44,000 feet. There, as we're going up, and I'm looking down and seeing all these clouds, I said to myself: How does God hold up these clouds? How do these clouds hold all that rain? How does it come down to the earth?

God has made everything that there is in the universe so that we can understand that we can't fathom His greatness or His existence except to give Him glory and honor for all that He has done and give great thanks for His calling. Who knew that God would call us? We'll ask God that when we see Him.

Verse 29: "'Also can any understand the spreading of the clouds, or the crashing thunder of His canopy? Behold, He spreads His light upon it, and He covers the depths of the sea'" (vs 29-30).

Talk about lightning, there's lightning going on the earth all the time. And they didn't discover it until about a year or two ago with the satellite photograph; they finally got a picture of it. When there is thunder and lightning coming down on the earth, there is a great flash that goes up about 200,000 feet out of the atmosphere. This is happening all the time, every time there is a great electrical storm. I don't know what that means. When I saw the picture of it, I thought, yes, this is incredible!

Like even the book of Job says, 'the earth hangs on nothing.' How does that happen? By God's power and magnetics, and so forth! But how does that happen? It comes from the sun and Jupiter! But how does that happen? How did He make and create the sun and put it just in the right spot? All of this for us! That's why we're to be thankful and grateful to God for everything. This is what Elihu was telling Job. You can read all of Job 37, because it gets real wordy here.

Job 38 starts getting really interesting. There's one particular verse in here, really hits the nail on the head. So God finally gets involved, because Job said, 'I want to speak to God.' There's a good example, be careful what you ask for.

Job 38:1: "Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, 'Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Now gird up your loins like man; for I will demand of you, and you shall answer Me'" (vs 1-3). 'If you're righteous, Job, if you say it's greater than Mine, meaning you have greater ability than Me, answer Me.'

"'Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare it, if you have understanding!.... [Job wasn't even conceived, wasn't even thought of] ...Who has determined its measurements, if you know? Or who has stretched the line upon it? On what are the foundations fastened to? Or who laid its cornerstone'" (vs 4-6).

I've looked at the globe many times over. I still haven't figured it out. Says the four corners of the earth. Now I can figure the North Pole and the South Pole, but I can't figure the rest of it. How can you have four corners on a sphere? Don't know; same way here.

"'When the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke forth as it came from the womb?'" (vs 7-8). Look at this huge trench that goes right up alongside Japan. The deepest part of the ocean is there. What is it, fifteen miles deep at that point? Can you imagine that? I tell you, the force and power of that earthquake to move the main island of Japan eight feet to the northwest! That blows my mind.

How strong was Job, could he pick up 200 pounds, let alone move the main island of Japan? And when I heard that and heard what happened when the earthquake took place, it affected the rotation and the timing of the earth, and I thought, whoa, what's it going to be like when God rises to shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything?

Verse 9: "'When I made the clouds its robe... [that is around the earth] ...and thick darkness a swaddling band for it, and prescribed My limit on it, and set bars and doors, and I said, "You shall come to here, but no further; and here your proud waves shall stop." Have you commanded the morning since your days began... ['Did you get up, Job, and say, sun, rise?'] ...and caused the dawn to know its place.... [No, no, don't come up over there, come up over here.] ...That it might take hold of the ends of the earth; that the wicked might be shaken out of it? It is changed like clay under a seal; and they stand forth like a garment. But from the wicked their light is withheld, and the uplifted arm is broken. Have you entered into the springs of the sea?.… (vs 9-16).

Imagine that! What are the springs of the sea? The currents! What are those currents called that keep everything going in the sea? They go clear around the world and come up by where north Atlantic and warms it and then it goes back down to the bottom of the ocean where it is cold and goes around the earth and comes back. And I thought, I wonder what that was like? because He said He walked in it, entered into the springs of the sea.

"...Or have you walked in search of the depths?…. [God could do that! Imagine that. He doesn't need a diving bell. He can just go there.] …Have the gates of death been opened to you?.… ['Do you know how to overcome death, Job?' No, none of us can! We don't even figure out aging except we count days and we get greyer and more wrinkled and all this sort of thing comes along—right?] ...Or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death? Have you surveyed the breadth of the earth? Declare it, if you know it all!'" (vs 16-18).

So Job's sin was in claiming that his righteousness was greater than God's! He was a 'know it all.' And none of those things he could answer. Then He keeps on explaining, Job 40. Everything is compared with the creation of God! How many of you read—I forget what the title of it was—but here was a biologist who was studying the quantum physics in the body and how the cells are made. Did you know that transistors follow that pattern on how cells work? The Biology of Belief. He said now he believed in God because none of those cells could do anything differently than what they were created to do.

Now another thing, how many of heard of Dr. Ray Comfort, the one who answers Hawkins, the atheist? I'm not quite done with that book, but he goes through and knocks down all the arguments of the evolutionists and everything. James gave me a book here, What Darwin Got Wrong (by Jerry Fodor). Everybody's got a lot of stuff wrong. They're all like Job. All of these atheists are like Jobs, but they have to have a big bang.

God would say, 'Go get your big bang, don't come and steal Mine. Get your own dirt, don't start with Mine.' But he's got one chapter in there that is absolutely fantastic, which is this: They cannot explain the reproduction of the species and evolution. Because in order to create from any sexuality of anything, be it plant, be it animal, be it insect, be it human beings, you must have male and female—correct? And they must both be compatible for each other or it won't reproduce—correct? So sexuality proves God! Therefore, there cannot be any intermediate species except in the figment of the imagination of atheists who have good artist skills. And it's also known, just as an aside here, that the communists tried to crossbreed humans and apes so they could get a super-fighting soldier. Didn't work! So, if humans came from apes, why wouldn't it work?

Now you can cross breed cattle and buffalo and get a beefalo, but it's only good for one generation. You can cross a horse and a donkey and get a mule, but it can't reproduce. Someone told me about calico cats. Male calico cats are sterile. So how can you have any evolution? So, sex proves there is no evolution. And out of this God is saying with all the animals and everything that He's done around the world proving His greatness and His creative powers. So how can a man say, 'My righteousness is greater than my Creator?'

So what was his sin? His sin was he saying, 'I am God'! And his righteousness, because he did not ascribe it to God and claimed it for himself, was then setting himself up to judge God and that was his sin. So whatever we do in the way of obeying God, keeping His commandments, whatever we do, we need to always acknowledge that it is God as the Originator of it. And what a fantastic thing that's He's given us life, that He's made us the way that He has made us, and that now He has called us—all of it comes from Him and from His Spirit. That's how we understand these things, brethren.

So Job got his wish, Job 40:1: "And the LORD answered Job and said, 'Shall he who contends with the Almighty instruct Him? He who reproves God, let him answer it'" (vs 1-2). 'Are you going to come and correct Me?' God says. Think of all the religions in the world and what do they do?

• They correct God
• They reject God
• They reject His Sabbath
• They reject His Holy Days
• They claim their own righteousness and stand in the pulpit and accuse God of doing away with His law

—when God is the One by His law, by His power, by His creationupholds everything by the Word of His power! And then they create a religion with their own righteousness, whatever that may be.

Ever heard of the sacrifice of the mass? An abomination before God! Have you ever heard of the rat temple in India? or The snake temple? The worship of cows? Bathing in urine? I don't know what they do with the excrement, but who knows, it's 'holy.' See what man has done? And who is the author of all of that? Satan the devil!

Are you going to correct God? 'Oh, we don't need the Sabbath, we've got something better.' You better be thankful that God is not coming down to answer you right away, to say, 'Who are you to say that My Sabbath is a curse when I say if you keep it and call it blessed of the Lord, I will be with you.'

Verse 3: "And Job answered the LORD and said... [What's he going to say?] ...Behold, I am vile! What shall I answer You? I will lay my hand on my mouth. Once I have spoken... [you spoke more than once] ...but I will not answer; yea, twice, but I will proceed no further'" (vs 3-5). God puts Job to the test, right here:

• if you're as great as you think you are
• if you're as righteous as you think you are
• if you have ignored all My creation
  • all the power
  • all the things that I have done
  • all the wondrous things that you cannot even explain

I have lived through all eternity and you know nothing about that, Job.

So He says out of the whirlwind, v 7: "'Gird up your loins now like man. I will demand you, and you declare unto Me. Will you even annul My judgment?.... [Everything that God has done has been by His judgment—correct? Creation, laws, statutes—correct?] ...Will you condemn Me so that you may be righteous?'" (vs 7-8).

That was his sin! What does this tell us? When you have the righteousness like the scribes and Pharisees, you condemn God because you say yours is greater. And when you say yours is greater, you reject God. No place, no one thing epitomizes what I just said more than the Passover. So then He says, 'Okay, Job, get your best suspenders and stand up and put your thumbs under them, and listen up.'

"'And have you an arm like God?…. [I get a kick out of these athletes whenever they do something great. Look at those biceps. They can fall off in nothing flat.] ...Or can you thunder with a voice like His? Deck yourself now with majesty and excellency... [In other words, make yourself a glorious spirit being.] ...and array yourself with glory and beauty'" (vs 9-10).

So here he is—pitiful, scabs from head to toe, maggots eating the puss, dust and ashes all over him, completely disfigured and distorted because of everything that he went through—boils from head to toe. 'Where's your beauty, Job? Show me your glory, Job. You're rotting right in front of My eyes, Job.'
After you glorify yourself, v 11: "'Cast abroad the rage of your wrath; and behold everyone who is proud, and abase him. Look on everyone who is proud, and bring him low; and tread down the wicked in their place. Hide them in the dust together; and bind their faces in darkness. Then I will also confess to you that your own right hand can save you'" (vs 11-14). You need two things to save you:

• God's Spirit
• God's laws

—and you ascribe all the righteousness to God. That's how it comes. Now, when you do that, with the grace of God, this lifts a great burden off you. This is why He has given His Spirit

• to cleanse us
• to help us
• to teach us
• to re-program our minds to the mind of Christ in preparation for the resurrection

That was the sin of Job. He made himself God, but couldn't perform. And he accused and condemned God when there was absolutely no reason to do so. And his three friends didn't understand that.

So what is a greater sin? Thinking that your righteousness is as good as or greater than God's! In that case, you have no need of God, because you are God. There will be a time at the resurrection when we will be part of the family of God, but that's going to come how? God's way and in His time!

Scriptural References:

• Psalm 63:1-2
• Matthew 5:20
• Mark 7:6-9
• Psalm 39:1-8
• Luke 17:5-10
• Job 31:1, 5-11, 13-14, 16-21, 24-27
• Job 32:1-2
• Job 33:1-13
• Job 34:1-13, 35-37
• Job 35:1-16
• Job 36:1-3, 22-23, 25-30
• Job 38:1-18
• Job 40:1-14

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Ephesians 3
• Psalm 95
• Romans 8:7-8
• Job 37

Also referenced:

Books:

• Matthew Henry Bible
• The Obedience of Christian Man by William Tyndale
• The Appointed Times of the Messiah (coming soon)
• Judaism—A Revelation of Moses or Religion of Men? by Philip Neal
• The Biology of Belief by Bruce Lipton
• You Can Lead an Atheist to Evidence, But You Can't Make Him Think by Ray Comfort
• What Darwin Got Wrong by Jerry Fodor

FRC:lp
Transcribed: 3-31-11
Formatted: bo—4-3-11