Job 40:4

Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.

Job's Standing: The very first verse in The Book tells us that Job was perfect and upright. And in Job 1:8, God says to Satan, Hast thou considered My servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect man and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? In Job 2:3, God repeats the same words to Satan and adds, and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst Me against him, to destroy him without cause.

And after his troubles came, Job ...sinned not, nor charged God foolishly... In all this did not Job sin with his lips (Job 1:22; Job 2:10).

Drawing from Human Experience, Human Tradition, and Human Merit, his three "friends" did their best to find something wrong in Job so that they might condemn him and find a reason for his misfortunes.

In these trials, Job stuck to his faith. Once Job said, Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him (Job 13:15). Again, in Job 14:12-15 he gives that wonderful passage on Resurrection, praying that God would hide him in hell till the wrath was over, and finally says, Thou shalt call, and I will answer Thee.

He probably reaches the zenith in this trial in Job 19:23-25 where he says, Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book! That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever! For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: Nothing wrong with Job's standing.

Job's State: Here is a different matter. Job was perfect in his standing before God, and Satan could not change it. And this is true of every believer (Romans 8:38-39). And it is true of all of us that, although our standing before God is perfect in Christ Jesus, nevertheless, our state could be improved and needs it. Amen?

See what Job says in Job 27:2-6, that God hath taken away my judgment...My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go. Ah, there is the trouble. Job has the mistaken idea that in himself, that is, his flesh, is some good, some righteousness. Paul had learned the lesson and said, For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing (Romans 7:18). But Job did not know that his own righteousness was only as filthy rags in the sight of God (Isaiah 64:6).

Elihu, the daysman, puts his finger on the trouble in Job 32:2, where he gets angry with Job because Job justified himself rather than God. In Job 34:5, he accuses Job of saying, I am righteous: and God hath taken away my judgment. This is where Job was lacking in his state. He needed correction.

Job's Lesson Learned. God stepped in and asked Job a lot of questions that left him speechless. Then he said, I am vile (Job 40:4). Then God said, Wilt thou condemn Me, that thou mayest be righteous? And Job ends by saying, Now mine eye seeth Thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes (Job 42:5-6). This is a lesson all of us need to learn lest we think too much of ourselves.

Matthew 7:1

Judge not, that ye be not judged. 

Talk about sin and salvation to an unsaved person, and a favorite come-back or defense is a misuse of the verse above. The unbeliever would like to make you believe that if you talk to him about sin and salvation, you are judging or condemning him. So you are the guilty one, according to the Bible.

Of course, we find such a tricky approach amusing, and we need to inform such folks that they are already dead in trespasses and sins (judged) and have no hope of life unless they receive Christ.

But what about believers? Are they entirely free of this kind of twisted thinking? After talking to some believers, have you ever been left with this feeling: "Don't talk about my sins, and I won't talk about yours." Closely related to this is the thinking that what a person doesn't know, he won't be responsible for. Poor judgment!

Does the Bible actually condemn judging as such? We know it is necessary for all of us to make various judgments (decisions) every day. This is true even in Bible study. What you believe and strive to stand for in regard to The Bible is a judgment.

In John 7:24, the Lord told His critics, Judge, not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. Before making a judgment on anything, gather all the available facts before acting. This is what a court of law is supposed to do. In the verse above, Matt 7:1, just the opposite is implied. It is the unjustified condemnation of someone else that is given as a warning here.

Most serious of all, though, is how we judge God. Instead of letting an all-wise God plan and direct our lives, we fall back on human wisdom. Many people in the world think of God as some sort of absentee landlord. Do we? Many times, young people judge God as indifferent and unfaithful in the marriages they enter into. They won't trust Him to provide a Christian wife or husband, as the case may be. They will marry in haste to an unbeliever and spend the rest of their lives regretting it with bitterness and tears.

Evidently, we all must appear before the judgment seat of Christ (2 Cor 5:10) to receive the things done in the body, whether it be good or bad. Will this accounting we give include how we judged our Lord in this life?

Ephesians 2:8

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

For ye are saved by grace (Eph. 2:8-10). This is Truth for all times. All men who have ever been saved have been saved by grace and by grace alone. It has never been by works. Nor has it ever been by grace plus works at any time. No man has ever deserved salvation. The natural man can do no work that could be pleasing to God. The flesh, the natural man, is not subject to the law of God, neither can be.

Salvation has never been forced on any man of any age or dispensation. Peter recognized the universal Truth of this when he said, Whosoever believeth in Him (Acts 10:43), and that also agrees with John 3:16, which uses the same wording. So, salvation comes by faith or belief. That faith may be only like a mustard seed in size at the beginning, but God can make it grow. Man can choose life or death. He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. This is the principle given. Faith is not a work but simply the acceptance of a work that has been done and finished on Calvary.

And this salvation is not of works, or out of works, lest any man should boast. Why? So that no man can cheat our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, of the Glory of His finished work. He is to have the preeminence. He is to have The Glory.

For we are created in Christ Jesus. When we believe, then there is a new creation. A new man or new nature is put in us. And all for a purpose; that it might be unto good works. Here is where the works come in. It is after the creation of the new man. And this is logical, for we have seen that the old nature cannot do good works. But here is something that can. It would be very unusual for a man to work before he was hired.

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Acts 9:3

And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus:
and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:

In Acts 9:6, Saul of Tarsus might have said; Lord, I am very happy to meet You, and I do hope that from now on You will be with me in all my undertakings, blessing everything that I do so that I may be prosperous in this life, not only supporting those that are dependent on me, but also that I may have much to throw into the temple treasury. Fortunately for all of us, this did not happen.

Forgetting all his own ambitions, his trade or life work, his family, and all such ties, Saul simply said, Lord, what wilt Thou have me do?

In what appears to be his first Epistle, Paul claims that he is a sent one and that this was not of his choice or ordained of men, but from Christ Jesus and the Father (Gal 1:1). Paul also claims that his message is from God by the revelation from Jesus Christ (Gal 1:11-12) and that the field of his ministry was also allotted to him from God (Gal 1:16). Paul nor any other men planned his message.

So, as an apostle, he represents the One who sent him, and during his Acts ministry, he is careful to preach none other things than what was in Moses and the prophets. By a special revelation, he discovered that he could preach to Gentiles. Later on, he received and preached The Gospel of The Dispensation of The Mystery, both as a bondservant and prisoner of Jesus Christ.

Only once does he speak of himself as being a servant (Tit. 1:1). The servant could have no ambitions of his own. He was wholly the property of his master, bound to do service and subject to every whim of the master, even unto being put to death.

In Eph. 3:1, Eph. 4:1, and 2 Tim 1:8, Paul speaks of himself as being a prisoner of Jesus Christ or of The Lord. A prisoner did not have any rights or ambitions of his own. He was subject to the captor. He could be put to death, made to work, or maybe freed. But while a prisoner, he was at the mercy of his captor. He could not plan for himself.

We mention these things to show that in this example of Paul, which we have before us, there was a total commitment to The Lord. Paul was working for The Lord; he did not expect The Lord to be his servant in any way whatsoever.

Job had the same attitude, and he said, Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him. Abraham had the same attitude when he set out from Ur of the Chaldees, not knowing where God might lead him. Every great man of the Bible, whose example we might follow, has taken the same attitude.

The Jews fell into idol worship and finally were cured of it by the great captivity, but they returned to the land and worshiped their temple. So, their case was not much better. Today, Christendom worships pictures and statues of Christ and goes its own way and does as it pleases.

There is no bargaining with God. We cannot say that we will do so and so if He will provide. Paul knew both feast and famine and want and need in his life (Phil 4:12). Phil 4:19 is written to those who had helped Paul in his time of need and to show us our God provides.