12-21-14. Beholding the Glorious And Awesome God

Job 42:1-8                                                                                                  Kevin E. Jesmer

Key Verse: 42:5,6                                                                                         12-21-14

“5 My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. 6 Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.” (NIV)

Beholding the Glorious And Awesome God convicts and leads us to faith and the mission of God. In this passage we learn about what it means to be convicted of our sins and a little of what it means to repent before the Lord. Look at Job 42:1-6, “42 Then Job replied to the Lord: 2 “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted. 3 You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. 4 “You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’ 5 My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. 6 Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”

Job was not satisfied about hearing about God, he wanted to meet God personally and bring his case before him. Now the opportunity had come. God spoke to him and Job openly and honestly faced God, conceding that he was the one who have been foolish all along.

Throughout the book, Job’s friends had asked him to admit his sins to God and ask for forgiveness. Finally in this passage, Job did indeed repent. But

What happens when we take a good look at who the holy God truly is? First, one realizes, the character of God and they see themselves as sinners in need of forgiveness. And second, the spirit of repentance stirs in our hearts and we fall to our knees in humble submission. Job’s reaction is consistent with the experience of many found throughout the Bible. Let’s see.

First, realizing the character of God and responding to our own sinfulness. Look at verses 1-4, “Then Job replied to the Lord: 2 “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted. 3 You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. 4 “You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’”

Job comes to know that character of God through personal experience. Job’s repentance was not the kind expected and even asked for by his friends. Job did not ask for forgiveness for committing secret sins, as the three friends implied he made, but he repented for questioning God’s sovereignty and justice. Job knows that God is omnipotent and omniscient, that is, all powerful and all knowing. Basically, Job repented of his wrong attitude and acknowledged God’s awesome power and perfect justice expressed in the world and in his life, even in the midst of great, personal suffering. Instead of shaking his fists and saying to God, “Why have you done this too me?” he yielded to the Lord in full submission. There is a time when we all must submit to God, confessing that God is good and he can do whatever he wills in this world and in my life. And for all he does, I am truly thankful.

     Second, Job fell to his knees in repentance and found a new life direction. Job had felt well about his condition and held fast top his own moral excellence. But now he stood before the holy God. His carefully constructed case that he planned to present, collapsed. He had no answers to God’s questions. He no longer insisted on his own righteousness, realizing that no one is righteous before God. Job fell silent, repenting in dust and ashes. The Lord then provided the means to receive forgiveness and also a mission for Job in verse 8, “. 8 So now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. You have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.”  Job now had a mission to pray for his friends and he would embrace that mission. This is a healthy response to meeting the holy God.

The discovery of the deep corruption of the heart is one of the most painful and humbling, and yet life giving and liberating thing that a person can do. Let’s take a few examples of other people in the Bible. We will look at Isaiah, and Apostle Paul.

When Isaiah saw God in his holiness, in Isaiah 6, how did he respond? Look at Isaiah 6:1-5, “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;    the whole earth is full of his glory.” 4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. 5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”  Isaiah saw his sinfulness. He thought  he was going to die right then and there and so he cried out, “Woe to me…I am ruined.” He also saw that his people, Israel bogged down by sin also. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips…”  He was stunned by his experience with the King, the Lord Almighty.

Though Isaiah was stunned by his experience with God, he did not remain in his stunned condition. He experienced the grace of God. The Lord forgave all of his sins and called him to a mission. Isaiah 6:6-8 reads,” Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” 8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” God accepted Isaiah as his servant, despite his sinfulness, and presented him with a great mission. And now, strengthened by his personal experience with the Lord and the grace of God, Isaiah accepts the calling, saying, “Send me.”

What was Saul’s reaction when he met the risen Jesus on the road to Damascus? Look at Acts 9:1-19, “Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” 5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” 7 The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. 8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9 For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.”  Paul fell to the ground, stunned. He was humbled, calling the Risen Jesus “Lord”.

Later on, as Paul grew in his relationship with Jesus and in his experience with the Gospel. He knew the truth about his sinful nature.  Romans 723-25a, “23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!…” He was appalled by his own sinfulness. But he didn’t remain appalled. His experience led him to a stronger relationship with Jesus Christ, his Savior.

The grace of God spurred Paul onto a mission to serve the Lord Jesus. Look at 1 Corinthians 15:7-10, “7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. 9 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” Paul knew, that because of his sin, he was like an abnormally born child. He knew that he was the least of all the apostles. This was not just some cliché. He really meant it. He knew that he did not deserve to be included as one of the apostles and in the birthing of the Christian church. He was standing only by the grace of God and that grace spurred him on to serve the mission of God in his life.

Becoming convicted of our sins is a normal part of the Christian experience. There is a point when we realize that all of our own righteousness is nothing but filthy rags. Isaiah 64:6, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.” God accomplishes this through the Holy Spirit. Let’s think about the convicting work of God. The Holy Spirit is God in us. The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, righteous and judgment. John 16:7-11 reads, “But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 about sin, because people do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.” The important part is that we not stifle the convicting work that God is doing in our hearts. Allow it’s work to go to completion, which is leading us to the Gospel.

Conviction of our sin occurs when we look intently into the word of God. When we come before the Bible we need to prayerful and focused, making it a regular practice. We must face it, practice it, and allow the word to work, for it is living and active. It says in James 1:22-24, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.”  If we remain focused on the word of God, then we will see ourselves as we are. We will experience conviction of sin and be drawn to Jesus, the subject of the whole Bible.

When we come to Jesus and receive his complete forgiveness of sins, then Jesus becomes our righteousness. (1 Cor 1:30-31) Listen to what Paul’s writes when he realizes that his righteousness is nothing but filthy rags. In Philippians 3:7-8, “But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.”  In verse 8, the King James Version the word “garbage” is translated as “dung”. Paul does not mince his words when he despises his self righteous attempts to be right before God.

Does this mean that anyone who meets comes to Jesus will faint and fall to the ground in awe of the holy God? They might. But not always. It didn’t happen to me. I think it means that a person stops arguing with Jesus. They stop questioning Jesus about the things going in their lives. They stop resisting and doubting Jesus. When they behold the holy God with the eyes of their hearts, they accept God for who he is in their life, the Lord. They accept what God is doing. They are content and thankful for God accepting them. They will also turn away from sin and accept a new hope and a new life direction, to live for the glory of the one who loved them and forgave them.

There is a great promise for those who allow the convicting work of God in their lives. They will meet Jesus very personally. They will be forgiven completely as Jesus becomes their righteousness. They will stand in awe of God and accept the mission of God, the Gospel mission that God has for them in their lives.  They will experience times of refreshing. Acts 3:19 reads, “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,” It all starts with beholding the glory of God in Jesus Christ.