(Oh, that I had one to hear me! Here is my signature. Let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser compose an indictment. Sermons
I. MAN CANNOT UNDERSTAND GOD'S DEALINGS WITH HIM. This thought repeatedly recurs in the Book of Job; it is one of the great lessons of the poem. We can now see that Job was almost as much misjudging God as the three friends were misjudging Job. But at the time it was not possible for the patriarch to comprehend the Divine purpose in his sufferings. Had he known all, much of the gracious design of his trial would have been frustrated. The very obscurity was a necessary condition for the testing of faith. While we are enduring trial we can rarely see the issue of it. Our view is almost limited to the immediate present. Moreover, there are future consequences of God's present treatment of us which we could not truly comprehend if they were visible to us. The child is not capable of valuing his education and appreciating the good results of it. The patient is not able to understand the medical or surgical treatment he is made to undergo. While we walk by faith, we must learn to expect dispensations of providence that are quite beyond our comprehension. II. IT IS NATURAL TO DESIRE AN EXPLANATION OF GOD'S TREATMENT OF MAN. 1. That doubts may be removed. It is difficult not to distrust God when he seems to be dealing hardly with us. If only he would roll back the clouds we should be at rest. 2. For our own guidance. Is God accusing us of sin? Are we to take his chastisements as punishments? Then what are the sins in us that he most disapproves of? III. GOD DOES NOT PUNISH WITHOUT ALLOWING US TO SEE THE GROUNDS OF HIS ACTION. Job craved an indictment. He wanted to see the charges against him in black and white, 1. When we are guilty conscience will reveal the fact. It would be monstrous to condemn and punish the criminal without even letting him know of the offence with which he is charged. We dare not ascribe such injustice to God. He has implanted within us an accusing voice that echoes his accusations. If we seek for light and the guidance of conscience, we must be able to see how we have sinned and come under the wrath of God. 2. When no consciousness of guilt is to be found the suffering cannot be for the punishment of sin. We are all conscious of sin, but sin may be forgiven; we may not be falling away from God, but cleaving to him - though with weakness and sin in our hearts, still with faithful adhesion. Then God will not punish. If, therefore, the blow falls, it is for some other than a penal reason. Consequently, we need not search about anxiously for some unseen and unsuspected wickedness. Job made a mistake in asking for an indictment. There was none, simply because there was not any ground for one. Over-scrupulous consciences suspect the wrath of Heaven when the gracious purging of the fruitful branch is really a sign of the husbandman's appreciation of it. - W.F.A..
If I have covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom. To cover and hide sin is sin: it is the adding of sin to sin. Sin is the disease of the soul, and there is no such way to increase and make a disease desperate as to conceal it. Silence feeds and cherishes the diseases of the body; and so it doth the diseases of our souls. Sin increaseth two ways, by concealment or hiding.1. In the guilt of it. The obligation to punishment takes stronger hold upon the soul, and every man is bound the faster with those chains of darkness by how much the more he labours to keep his sins in the dark. The longer a sin remains upon the conscience unpardoned, the more doth the guilt of it increase. Now all the while sin is hid, all the while sin is artificially and intentionally covered, it remains unpardoned; and therefore the guilt of it must needs increase upon the soul. 2. Sin being thus covered, increaseth in the filth and contagion of it, in the strength and power of it, it gains more upon the soul, it grows more master and more masterly; lust begins to rage, rave, it commands and carries all before it, while we are so foolish as to keep it close and covered. If any say, Surely it is not so sinful to cover and hide sin, for doth not Scripture condemn those that did not hide it? I answer, that there is a two-fold not hiding of sin.(1) There is a not hiding which proceeds from repentance.(2) And there is a not hiding which proceeds from impudence. Or there is a not hiding of sin which proceeds from a broken heart, and there is a not hiding of sin which proceeds from a brazen face, from a brow of brass. As Job in speaking this, would deny the hiding and covering of his sin, so he affirms the confession of it. So that here is more intended than expressed; when he saith he did "not cover," his meaning is, he discovered his sin; when he saith he did not hide it, his meaning is, he did disclose it. A godly man doth not only "not hide," but is ready to confess his sin. He makes confession that he may be freed from condemnation. The holy confession of sin, which is opposed to the covering or hiding of sin, hath three things in it. 1. A confession of the fact, or the thing done (Joshua 7:19). 2. A confession of the fault; that is, that in doing so we have done amiss, or done sinfully and foolishly. 3. There is in confession not only an acknowledgment of the fact and fault, but a submission to the punishment. Confession is a judging of ourselves worthy of death. True confession is a submitting to the sentence of the Judge, yea, a judging of ourselves, and a justifying of God in all, even in His sharpest and severest dispensations. Some may say, Is there a necessity to make such a confession of sin, seeing that God is already acquainted with and knows our sins, with all the circumstances and aggravations of them? But we do not confess to inform God of what He knows not, but to give glory to God in that which He knows. We are also called to an acknowledgment and confession of our sins to God, that we ourselves may be more deeply affected with them. The knowledge which God hath of sin in and by Himself may be a terror to sinners, His knowing of them by us is only a ground of comfort; God hath nowhere promised to pardon sin because He knows it, but He hath if we make it known. Nothing is known properly to God in that capacity as He pardons and forgives, but that which is acknowledged by us. The acknowledgment of sin is — (1) (2) (3) (Joseph Caryl) People Abaddon, Adam, JobPlaces UzTopics Accusation, Accuser, Adversary, Almighty, Behold, Bill, Book, Defense, Desire, Ear, Giveth, Hearing, Indictment, Mark, Mighty, Oh, Opponent, Ruler, Sign, Signature, Someone, Writing, WrittenOutline 1. Job makes a solemn protestation of his integrity in several dutiesDictionary of Bible Themes Job 31:34 4030 world, behaviour in 5016 heart, fallen and redeemed Library Thou Shalt not Steal. This Commandment also has a work, which embraces very many good works, and is opposed to many vices, and is called in German Mildigkeit, "benevolence;" which is a work ready to help and serve every one with one's goods. And it fights not only against theft and robbery, but against all stinting in temporal goods which men may practise toward one another: such as greed, usury, overcharging and plating wares that sell as solid, counterfeit wares, short measures and weights, and who could tell all the … Dr. Martin Luther—A Treatise on Good Works Question of the Active Life Whether virtue is in us by Nature? Whether after Christ, it was Proper to the Blessed virgin to be Sanctified in the Womb? Whether Corporal Alms are of More Account than Spiritual Alms? Whether Confession is According to the Natural Law? Whether one Can, Without a Mortal Sin, Deny the Truth which Would Lead to One's Condemnation? The Advanced Christian Reminded of the Mercies of God, and Exhorted to the Exercise of Habitual Love to Him, and Joy in Him. Trials of the Christian The Christian Business World The Seventh Commandment Tit. 2:06 Thoughts for Young Men Thoughts Upon Worldly-Riches. Sect. Ii. 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