Job 13:15-28 “Make Me to Know My Transgression and My Sin”

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Study Aired March 11, 2012

Job 13:15 Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.
Job 13:16 He also shall be my salvation: for an hypocrite shall not come before him.
Job 13:17 Hear diligently my speech, and my declaration with your ears.
Job 13:18 Behold now, I have ordered my cause; I know that I shall be justified.
Job 13:19 Who is he that will plead with me? for now, if I hold my tongue, I shall give up the ghost.
Job 13:20 Only do not two things unto me: then will I not hide myself from thee.
Job 13:21 Withdraw thine hand far from me: and let not thy dread make me afraid.
Job 13:22 Then call thou, and I will answer: or let me speak, and answer thou me.
Job 13:23 How many are mine iniquities and sins? make me to know my transgression and my sin.
Job 13:24 Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy?
Job 13:25 Wilt thou break a leaf driven to and fro? and wilt thou pursue the dry stubble?
Job 13:26 For thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth.
Job 13:27 Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks, and lookest narrowly unto all my paths; thou settest a print upon the heels of my feet.
Job 13:28 And he, as a rotten thing, consumeth, as garment that is moth eaten.

Introduction

Most all of the commentaries, Jewish and Christian, affirm that the main theme and purpose of this book of Job is to explain why it is that the innocent must at times suffer. It is this book more than any other which explains why there are those who are good people, but who, because of God’s providence must suffer along with the wicked in order for the plan of divine providence to be carried out.

Rom 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Rom 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

It is because of His providence there is the need for Christ to suffer and to die for the benefit of all men. It was because of divine providence that a man had been born blind “that the works of God should be made manifest in him”.

Joh 9:3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.
Act 4:26 The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.
Act 4:27 For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
Act 4:28 For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.

Yes, it is undeniable that Christ’s death, as well as the affliction of the man who had been born blind, were both “that the works of God should be manifest”. It is undeniable that God is “working all things after the counsel of His own will… for our good… to do what [ His] hand and [ His] counsel determined before to be done”. (Eph 2:11; Rom 8:28; Act 4:28). But there is also another purpose for this book of Job besides just teaching us that our fiery trials, when they have run their course, are for our good and will purify us as gold is purified in fire.

Job 23:10 But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

Another purpose of this book is to reveal to us “deep things out of darkness, and bring to light the shadow of death”.

Job 12:22 He discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of death.

The one “deep thing” which comes “out of [ the] darkness” within Job, who typifies us and all of his “miserable comforters”, is the “deep” rooted “pride of life” which is to be found within us all, and which must be “brought out to light” and revealed for “the shadow of death” which is all “the pride of life” really is.

1Jn 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

It is this “pride of life” and the tediousness with which God is destroying that pride that occupies this entire book of Job. It is the pride of life which has Job’s miserable comforters looking down their noses at Job in his afflictions, and it is the pride of life in Job which has Job maintaining his own ways, his own integrity and his own righteousness.
So once again he declares to us:

Job 13:15 Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.

This is the theme and purpose of the twenty chapters of this book which are attributed to Job. It is “the pride of life” which is so deeply rooted within our flesh, that we of ourselves simply cannot and “will not let it go”.

Job 27:6 My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.
Job 27:5 God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.

“So long as [ we] live… till [ we] die” we will hold fast our [ own] righteousness” and uphold our own “integrity” and “maintain our own ways” before God and man.
Here is how our Lord deals with us when we are of that state of mind:

Joh 12:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

“Though He slay me… so long as I live…[ and] till I die” are all statements coming out of the mouth of the beast within us, demonstrating the inherent incredible hold which the beast within us, empowered by the great dragon, has upon us, by nature.

Rev 13:4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?
Rev 13:5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.
Rev 13:6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.
Rev 13:7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.

We aren’t even one third of the way through this book, and we are just getting started hearing Job’s pride- filled declarations of his own righteousness. Job is just getting started demonstrating for us the extent of the grip which this beast of self- righteous pride has upon Job, who is the Biblical type of each of us. We literally worship the beast of our pride and our own self- righteousness. One of the hardest things for any of us to ever do is to admit that we were just simply dead wrong. When we are not yet granted to overcome that beast, we are actually worshiping him and his father the devil, also known as “the dragon”.

Rev 12:9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

At first our beast overcomes us all. There has never been an exception other than Christ. To apologize to those we have hurt or mislead is many times simply not possible for that beast within us.
Now let’s look again at what Job tells us concerning his trials:

Job 23:10 But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

When will take place? When will Job “come forth as gold”? Will this trial Job is enduring cause him to “come forth as gold” spiritually while he is living in this age? Asked in another way, did Job’s enduring of this trial prepare him to be able to enter into the temple of God in heaven where everything in sight is pure gold? Was Job in Christ? Did his trial minister to himself? Did the trials of any of the Old Testament great men of faith minister to themselves? Were any of the Old Testament saints ever out from under the law for the lawless? Were any of them living in the saving faith of Christ? Asked in still another way, will any of the great men of faith mentioned in Heb 11 receive the blessings of the kingdom of God along with or ahead of those who are in Christ?
Here are all the names mentioned and referred to in Heb 11, the so- called ‘faith chapter’: Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Jephthah, David, Samuel, “and the prophets”.
Did any of these great Old Testament men of faith receive the promise of the salvation that has come to you and to me? What do the scriptures say in answer to all of these questions concerning all these Old Testament men? Here in this same chapter is what we are told concerning all the great men of faith of the Old Testament:

Heb 11:39 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:
Heb 11:40 God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

But doesn’t “some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect” simply mean that they will just have to wait to be raised up in the first resurrection with us? Is that what is being said, or are we actually being told that they were not even ministering to themselves at all but unto us? Are we actually being told that their faith was not the saving faith of Christ, any more that the manna which Christ Himself referred to as “bread from heaven” was the true “bread of life”?
What is the scriptural answer to all of these questions? Here is the answer for all those who are given to believe that “He that is least in the kingdom of heaven in greater than John the baptist”, who is as great as any man born of woman.

1Pe 1:9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
1Pe 1:10 Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
1Pe 1:11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
1Pe 1:12 Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

Was it the salvation of their own souls in this age of which the prophets had inquired? No, it was “the salvation of your souls, and the glory that should follow”. It was not ‘the glory that preceded you’. It was “the salvation that should come unto you… not unto themselves, but unto us”. The scriptures actually teach that the ministration under which all the Old Testament men of faith lived “had no glory” at all, when compared to the glory of the ministration of the New Testament.

2Co 3:9 For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.
2Co 3:10 For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.

Was it revealed to the prophets that their faith and trials were ministering to themselves? Of course they will, ‘in their own order’, become the beneficiaries of every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, but will they be of those who “first trusted in Christ”?

Eph 1:12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

Has the desired end product of the ages come upon anyone in the Old Testament? What is the answer? Here it is: ” Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister…”
Again, upon whom have the ends of this age come first?

1Co 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

“Not unto themselves did they minister, but unto us… upon whom the ends of the ages have come”.
So let’s ask the question, did the ends of the ages come upon any of the men of faith of the Old Testament? Did ‘these things happen to any of them for their own admonition’? No, “these things happened to them… and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world have come… not unto themselves but unto us they did minister… they received not the promises [ because] God has provided some better thing for us…”
So Job’s trials, and the blindness which he and his ‘miserable comforters’ as types of us, have at first been given, keeps them from seeing “the deep things out of darkness” which concern the self- righteous pride within themselves. This ‘all happened unto them as types’ of us, and they are written for our admonition, because the desired product of the ages is come upon those in whom Christ’s spirit can now dwell as the consequence of His death and resurrection. The death of Christ and the power of His resurrection was simply not available to any of the typical ‘men of faith’ of the Old Testament.
But was it not called faith? Yes, it was called faith, in the same sensethat manna was called “bread from heaven”.

Exo 16:4 Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no.

Was that Old Testament manna the true “bread from heaven”? Was the faith of the ‘men of faith’ of the Old Testament the true faith of Christ? What do the scriptures teach us concerning both the true faith of Christ, and the true bread from heaven?

Joh 6:30 They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work?
Joh 6:31 Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.
Joh 6:32 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.
Joh 6:33 For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.
Joh 6:34 Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.
Joh 6:35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

Was the manna “bread from heaven”? Yes, as a type and a shadow of “the true bread from heaven”, it was. Nevertheless the spiritual Truth is that “Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven… I am the bread of life“.
So it is also with the spirit of God in the men of the Old Testament, and so it is with the faith of all those men. They received ‘bread from heaven’ only in type and in shadow, and they received God’s spirit and the faith of Christ only in type and shadow.
So the New Testament teaching still remains that:

Mat 13:14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
Mat 13:15 For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
Mat 13:16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.

Who does “this people” whose eyes were blinded and whose ears could not hear, include?

Mat 13:17 For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.
Rom 11:7 What then? Israel [“Many prophets and righteous men”] hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded
Rom 11:8 (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.
Heb 11:39 And these all [ Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and King David, are all mentioned], having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:
Heb 11:40 God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.
1Pe 1:12 Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves [“Many prophets and righteous men”], but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

Was it possible to receive the holy spirit before Christ came in any way other than in type and shadow? Here is what Christ tells us:

Joh 16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

If “the comforter which is the holy spirit” had already come into the hearts and lives of the Old Testament saints, then why would it be “expedient for you that I go away”? The answer is that “these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:
God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.” Job is not mentioned in Heb 11, but he is nevertheless included, along with all the prophets who are also not particularly mentioned. Job was physically blessed after being physically humbled and physically crushed. It all “happened to him and it is written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come (1Co 10:11).
If even one Old Testament saint will be in the first resurrection, then they were ministering to themselves as well as us. But that is not the case. The Truth is that John the baptist was as great as any man born of woman, and he that is least in the kingdom of heaven will be greater than John, or any Old Testament saint.
Job demonstrates for us why that is. Job is just getting started with explaining to God and man how righteous he is because we are being made to understand the depth of the pride of self- righteousness within us all. That is why Christ made this statement:

Mat 18:4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Here is a list by chapter of all the discourses between Job and his three “miserable comforters” which I have cut and pasted from Wikipedia, which outline the three cycles of all these discussions.

Speech cycles

The dialogues of chapters 3-31 are, in general, a cycle of speeches between Job, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar that are structured as follows:

Cycle 1
Job Chapter 3
Eliphaz 4-5
Job 6-7
Bildad 8
Job 9-10
Zophar 11

Cycle 2
Job Chapters 12-14
Eliphaz 15
Job 16-17
Bildad 18
Job 19
Zophar 20

Cycle 3
Job Chapters 21
Eliphaz 22
Job 23-24
Bildad 25:1-6
Job 26; 27-28; 29, 30, 31

The third cycle, it should be noted, does not follow the pattern of the first two cycles. Zophar does not give a speech and Bildad’s speech is significantly shorter than his previous speeches.

Notice that Job’s pride filled defense of his own righteousness occupies 20 long chapters. His miserable comforters accusations occupy only nine chapters. What does this tell us about ourselves? It reveals simply that no man is equipped to “make war with the beast” of our own self righteous pride of life.

Job 13:16 He also shall be my salvation: for an hypocrite shall not come before him.

What this verse reveals is that it is much easier to detect hypocrisy in someone else than it is to detect the self- righteousness that is within ourselves. Job is self- righteous, but no one could say he is a hypocrite. It is Job who tells us:

Job 15:34 For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery.
Job 36:13 But the hypocrites in heart heap up wrath: they cry not when he bindeth them.

As hypocrites we all heap up wrath by refusing to cry when Gods binds us in our own afflictions. Paul tells us the same thing.

Rom 2:3 And thinkest thou this, O man [ Greek – anthropos, mankind], that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?
Rom 2:4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
Rom 2:5 But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;

These words are addressed to “O man”. The Greek is ‘anthropos’. It is the same Greek word we find in this verse of God’s Word:

Mat 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man [ Greek, anthropos, mankind] shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Where are all these hypocrites to be found? Are they in others or are they within us?

Isa 33:14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
Isa 33:15 He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;

It is “in Zion [ that] fearfulness has surprised the hypocrites”, and it is the righteous who will dwell with the devouring fire [ and] with [ the] everlasting burnings” which are the fiery words of God through Christ within us, purifying our heavens.

Jer 5:14 Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.
Eph 2:6 So that we came back from death with him, and are seated with him in the heavens, in Christ Jesus; (BBE)
Heb 9:23 It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
Heb 9:24 For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:

Christ is in “the heaven itself”, within the temple of our hearts and minds (1Co3:16), “appearing in the presence of God for us”, but this was not possible for any of the Old Testament men like Job, simply because He had not yet paid the price of His life so He could come into each of us via his Father’s spirit.
Job knows nothing of the saving faith and the grace of Christ. Just like each of us while we are in Babylon, we give great lip service to God and His sovereignty. Like us while we are in Babylon, Job still believes his salvation depends upon his own righteousness, and he is just getting started declaring his righteousness to God and to this world.

Job 13:17 Hear diligently my speech, and my declaration with your ears.
Job 13:18 Behold now, I have ordered my cause; I know that I shall be justified.
Job 13:19 Who is he that will plead with me? for now, if I hold my tongue, I shall give up the ghost.

This is what God has done with all of us, as we see ourselves in Job. We actually believe we have “ordered [ our own] cause” with our fabled “free will”, and like Job we are confident in our own self- righteousness, and it will take the “giving up of the ghost” of our old man before we will ever be able to see otherwise.
“Who is he that will plead with me?” Job is asking, ‘Is there anyone on my side? Is there not anyone, Oh God, who will plead with and for me?’

Job 13:20 Only do not two things unto me: then will I not hide myself from thee.
Job 13:21 Withdraw thine hand far from me: and let not thy dread make me afraid.
Job 13:22 Then call thou, and I will answer: or let me speak, and answer thou me.

Job wants to plead with God, just as we all want to do at this point in the destruction of our old man. We are so desperate that we simply want God to “withdraw [ His] hand” and speak with us in a way we can understand. The one thing we think we know for certain is that we are righteous enough that we do not deserve to be treated in this way, and with that attitude we are doing nothing short of condemning our own Creator:

Rom 9:13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
Rom 9:14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
Rom 9:15 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Rom 9:16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Rom 9:17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Rom 9:18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
Rom 9:19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
Rom 9:20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
Rom 9:21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
Rom 9:22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:

I used to think that “of the same lump” was referring to the earth out of which all men come. It certainly has that application, but that application misses the fact that God “endures with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath” which is our flesh and its desires. That application fails to acknowledge that all of us are “in [ our] own order… children of wrath, even as others”.

Eph 2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Eph 2:3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

Who in the orthodox Christian world teaches that God’s elect were ever at any time “children of wrath, even as others”?
Thinking “of the same lump” refers to someone else who also came out of this earth overlooks the need for “living by every word” (Mat 4:4). It doesn’t emphasize the necessity for the destruction of the “man of sin” who is sitting on the throne of God within the temple of our bodies.

2Th 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day [ the day of the Lord] shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

When Israel asked to die in the wilderness, that wish was granted. It was only the new generation that entered into the promised land.

Num 14:2 And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness!
Num 14:28 Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you:
Num 14:29 Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me,

But we live by every word, and since “all things are ours”, so “the same lump” is us as our old man whose carcase must die in the wilderness as the type of the death of our old man. But the new generation that entered into the promised land is also the type of our new man who is made “of the same lump” of clay, and we now have Christ “in earthen vessels”.

Jer 18:5 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
Jer 18:6 O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.
Jer 18:7 At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it;

God can and He will destroy the beast of our old man, yet in this same lump of clay we will be resurrected with Christ, and have this treasure in earthen vessels:

Rom 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
2Co 4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
2Co 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

Our old man must die. He must “lose his life”, and in his death our new man will arise to know whence he came, and be thankful for the death of that old man, and be thankful to know that he has never been anything more than a self- righteous, pride filled, dying sinner.

Rom 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Rom 7:25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

Job continues questioning his Creator:

Job 13:23 How many are mine iniquities and sins? make me to know my transgression and my sin.
Job 13:24 Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy?

God is bringing Job to His “wit’s end”. He is being made to ‘know his transgressions, his sins and the number of his iniquities’. But he is not there yet. God will answer all these questions Job puts to Him. You and I, as Job, will certainly come to know how many are our iniquities, and to know our transgressions and our sins. When this trial is completed, we will know why we cannot see God’s face while He counts us as His enemy. God does not commune with His enemies until He has determined to destroy them.

1Sa 28:16 Then said Samuel, Wherefore then dost thou [ King Saul] ask of me, seeing the LORD is departed from thee, and is become thine enemy?

King Saul is the type of our old man. Our old man is “enmity against God, for [ as such we] are not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be”.

Rom 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
Rom 8:8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

Not realizing any of this Job continues questioning God.

Job 13:25 Wilt thou break a leaf driven to and fro? and wilt thou pursue the dry stubble?
Job 13:26 For thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth.

The answer to Job’s question is, Yes, God will break and burn up our old man as “a leaf driven to and fro”, and he will, with His fiery Word, pursue and burn up all the wood, hay and stubble that can be burned up.

1Co 3:12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
1Co 3:13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.

We all first build with “wood, hay, [ and] stubble, before God burns those combustible things our of our lives. He has already written that bitter end against our old man, our “first man Adam… in His book”. When Job says ‘you write bitter things against me’, he agrees with King David in Psa 139.

Psa 139:16 Thine eyes did see mine unformed substance; And in thy book they were all written, Even the days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was none of them. (ASV)

Every day of Job’s trials were written in God’s book before there were any of those days, and every day of our trials is written in the book of each one of us before there were any of our days.

Mat 10:39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.
1Co 15:42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
1Co 15:43 It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
1Co 15:44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
1Co 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1Co 15:46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
1Co 15:47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
1Co 15:48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
1Co 15:49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
1Co 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

Both “the first man [ and] the last man” are within all of us. Notice the word ‘corruption’ in both verses 42 and verse 50. Flesh and blood are the corruption in which all mankind is sown. We are universally sown in dishonor and weakness, and we will also be universally raised in glory and power, after we have suffered for a little time.
That is why Christ’s own flesh and blood could not inherit the kingdom of God. That is why God gave Israel a sin offering as well as a trespass offering. The offering of our Lord’s flesh and blood body which “made Him to be sin who knew no sin”, still had to die, simply because “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God”. It never saw corruption, and yet it had to “be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye”, in order to enter into the kingdom of God.

1Co 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
1Co 15:51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
1Co 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
2Co 5:16 Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.
2Co 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
2Co 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Lev 4:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Lev 4:2 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a soul shall sin through ignorance against any of the commandments of the LORD concerning things which ought not to be done, and shall do against any of them:
Lev 4:3 If the priest that is anointed do sin according to the sin of the people; then let him bring for his sin, which he hath sinned, a young bullock without blemish unto the LORD for a sin offering.

We have already covered this subject in our studies on The Law of The Offerings. The sin offering does not mention any particular sins, while the trespass offering mentions many sins in particular.

Lev 6:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Lev 6:2 If a soul sin, and commit a trespass against the LORD, and lie unto his neighbour in that which was delivered him to keep, or in fellowship, or in a thing taken away by violence, or hath deceived his neighbour;
Lev 6:3 Or have found that which was lost, and lieth concerning it, and sweareth falsely; in any of all these that a man doeth, sinning therein:
Lev 6:4 Then it shall be, because he hath sinned, and is guilty, that he shall restore that which he took violently away, or the thing which he hath deceitfully gotten, or that which was delivered him to keep, or the lost thing which he found,
Lev 6:5 Or all that about which he hath sworn falsely; he shall even restore it in the principal, and shall add the fifth part more thereto, and give it unto him to whom it appertaineth, in the day of his trespass offering.
Lev 6:6 And he shall bring his trespass offering unto the LORD, a ram without blemish out of the flock, with thy estimation, for a trespass offering, unto the priest:
Lev 6:7 And the priest shall make an atonement for him before the LORD: and it shall be forgiven him for any thing of all that he hath done in trespassing therein.

The word ‘or’ appears six times in these seven verses describing various sins which are but examples of “all that he hath done” in committing the many trespasses which mankind routinely commits. There are no such distinctions made in the sin offering. Why are no particular sins mentioned in the sin offering, but there are in the trespass offering? That is because the sin offering is offered for what we are, as sinful flesh and blood, and for the sin which is inherently “in [ our] members”. Many Christians believe that flesh of itself is not sin, but what do the scriptures teach? Here are the scriptures:

Rom 7:17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom 7:19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Rom 7:20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

Twice here in Rom 7 we are told the very same thing Joseph told his brothers and what the scriptures declare from Genesis to Revelation: “It was not you that did it, [ the evil of selling Joseph into slavery in Egypt] but God…”

Gen 45:4 And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.
Gen 45:5 Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.
Gen 45:6 For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest.
Gen 45:7 And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
Gen 45:8 So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

“It is not I that do it, but sin that dwells in me… it was not you that sent me here, but God”. How does this work within us?

Rom 7:23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
Rom 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Rom 7:25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

Both the sins and the trespasses we commit operate through “the law of sin [ which] is in [ our] members, and that “law of sin” is part of our “marred” condition at the hands of the Potter, who is also called the “one lawgiver”.

Jer 18:4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
Jas 4:12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?

The trespass offering, on the other hand, is for what we do in these bodies of sinful flesh and blood. The trespass offering is not for what we are with the “sin that is in [ our] members”, rather the trespass offering deals with the particular sins we commit. The trespass offering is not for what we are, but for what we do with what we are as marred vessels.
How then can Jesus of Nazareth be a trespass offering? Here is how that is accomplished:

Mat 25:40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
Act 22:8 And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.

There is “Jesus of Nazareth” as our trespass offering. Christ was “made to be sin” by being “made of a woman, made under the law”, both of which are types of being made sin.

Gal 4:4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,

But our head “knew no sin”. Therefore it was up to those who are “Jesus of Nazareth” who were being persecuted by the church who now must fill up in their bodies that which is behind of the sufferings of the Christ. So Christ and “the Christ” are needed to get the job done as God has ordained. So we are plainly told:

Col 1:24 I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and do fill up the things lacking of the tribulations of the Christ in my flesh for his body, which is the assembly,

But this all necessitates the death of our old man upon the cross of Christ, and that is exactly what this book of the patience of Job is all about:

Job 13:27 Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks, and lookest narrowly unto all my paths; thou settest a print upon the heels of my feet.
Job 13:28 And he, as a rotten thing, consumeth, as a garment that is moth eaten.

It would seem that feet in stocks would not need a print on the heels. But the message is that God knows all about our every move before we move. The “my” of verse 27 is the “he” of verse 28. Both are Job as the type of our old man whose carnal mind is the target of God’s work of destroying the “man of sin”, who is first within us all.

2Th 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
2Th 2:5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
2Th 2:6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
2Th 2:7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

“He as a rotten thing” is a means of identifying with mankind as a whole, which is what Job will be doing in next week’s study:

Job 14:1 Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.
Job 14:2 He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.
Job 14:3 And dost thou open thine eyes upon such an one, and bringest me into judgment with thee?
Job 14:4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.
Job 14:5 Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;
Job 14:6 Turn from him, that he may rest, till he shall accomplish, as an hireling, his day.
Job 14:7 For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.
Job 14:8 Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground;
Job 14:9 Yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant.
Job 14:10 But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?

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