JESUS, THE JUSTIFIER OF WICKED, WORMY MEN
By Michael D. O’Neal
Pastor, Gospel Light Baptist Church
Albany, Georgia
Scripture Reading: Job 9:1-2; 25:1-6
Text: Job 25:4
Job 25:4 How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?
Introduction: I remind you tonight that the book of Job is also about JESUS, and that this book of SUFFERING is also about the SAVIOR. Each of the Old Testament books point to Jesus, I believe, which is why the Lord said:
John 5:39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
After His resurrection, Jesus met with two of His disciples,
Luke 24:27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
Luke 24:44 And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.
Luke 24:45 Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,
Both Job and Bildad asked the question, How can man be justified with God?
Occasionally a skeptic asks, “How can a just God send good people to hell?”
That is not the problem. People are not basically good; they are basically BAD. The problem is, how can a just God send bad people to heaven???
JESUS IS THE ANSWER.
Think with me about this great, ancient question, and the wonderful answer of the New Testament scriptures.
I. CONSIDER THE WORMINESS OF MAN
Job 25:6 How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man, which is a worm?
As a worm,
A. Man is dirty
1. Made from dirt
2. Eglon – “the dirt came out”
B. Man dwells in dirt
C. Man digs in dirt
1. He investigates sin
2. He wallows in sin
D. Man is dominated by dirt
1. He gets covered with it
2. He looks like it
3. He smells like it
II. CONSIDER THE WICKEDNESS OF MAN
Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
A. Man is defiled and depraved
B. Man is devilish – Jn. 8:44
1. Devil-led
2. Devil-taught
C. Man is dead – Eph. 2:1
D. Man is damned and doomed – Jn. 3:18
III. CONSIDER THE WORK OF THE SAVIOR
1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
Romans 5:9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
A. The God of heaven became the God-man on earth – 1 Tim. 3:16
B. The godly Son died for ungodly sinners – Rom. 5:6
C. The guiltless took the guilt of the guilty – Gal. 3:13
IV. CONSIDER THE WAY TO SALVATION
Romans 3:30 Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.
A. Justification is free
1. Romans 3:24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
B. Justification is by faith
1. Romans 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
2. Galatians 3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
C. Justification is final and forever
1. Romans 8:30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
2. Every justified person is predestined for the adoption (Eph. 1:5), which is the redemption of the body (Rom. 8:23), or the future glorification of the believer at the Rapture.
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Michael D. O’Neal (Proverbs 11:30), Pastor, |