There is no righteousness on earth…
Isa 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
In today’s reading, we see Job, in his affliction, seeking to get right with God, and discovering, in and of himself, it is impossible.
Job 9:2 I know it is so of a truth: but how should man be just with God?
20 If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse.
30 If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean;
31 Yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me.
32 For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment.
33 Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both.
v24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked: he covereth the faces of the judges thereof; if not, where, and who is he?
This is the eternal cry of the heart of man, every man, for all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
Job, was the most honorable man on the entire earth, living nobly before all men, yet his heart condemned him.
He knew, like all of us should we care to admit it, that God is Holy, and there is no way to possibly come to Him on His terms.
No matter how great our good works, our sin is ever before us, and it separates us from God.
I remember reading the testimony of Martin Luther, the Catholic priest now known as the one who brought the entire reformation to the church, through his one simple revelation.
He desired to please God, yet he was honest. As he would pray, he would see within himself, corruption, sin, desires that would never be able to face a holy God.
I understand that at one point in his life, he crawled over a mile down a cobblestone lane, on his knees in prayer, crying out to God in prayer, begging for forgiveness, cleansing, peace with God, yet it eluded him.
Job knew he needed a mediator, an acceptable sacrifice, one who could stand between him and God.
Deep in his heart, Martin Luther knew this too.
There are no amount of good works we can ever do, to absolve us of our sins, and permit us to enter heaven, and the presence of a holy God.
Man cannot make a way to God, and religion has always been a system of man’s rules and regulations to WORK one’s way to God.
Jesus, when He died upon the cross, as God the Son, shed His blood, and God received this blood, as an acceptable cleansing for the sin of humanity, on yours and my behalf, on only one condition:
‘The just shall live, by faith!’
These simple words, illuminated to the heart of Martin Luther, changed human history, and begun what is now known as the reformation.
You and I can have peace with God, only one way. Through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, by faith, plus nothing.
We cannot earn it, or in any way work our way into heaven. It is a free gift; Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
The only question is whether or not you would receive this gift, eternal life, and adoption into the family of God.
John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
Do you believe?
If you would believe, then simply pray this pray, out loud:
“Father, I come to you, and ask that You forgive me. I choose to believe in what Jesus did for me on the cross. I receive His sacrifice and shed blood for me, and I receive Him as my Lord, and King now. I believe that God raised Him from the dead, and I determine to do what You want me to, now, and for the rest of my life, AMEN!
