Now I have been exercised about these meetings and strangely enough I believe my messages are coming night by night to you from the oldest book in the Bible. Now I wonder if you would be right if you told me the name of that book. The book of Job. J.O.B. in Scotland when I preach there they call it Job. Well, J.O.B. is Job, isn't it? But not being a Scotsman, I call it two. Now will you turn to Job twenty five for a short scripture reading? Job twenty five verse one. Well, you see, why go back to the oldest book? Well, you know, this is just the great fact of things that Human hearts haven't changed. I suppose that men like Job and Abraham and some of those great men like Melchizedek, they moved around on camelback. But I suppose you move around in a chevalet or a catalogue or something like that. Just the difference. They may have had big flowing sort of skirts and all the rest of it in their tangled clothing in those old days, and you have what you've got on tonight. And the difference is outside, not inside. They have the same loves, the same sorrows, the same strivings, the same battles, and they were tormented by the same selfishness, sin. The old disease of the human soul was right there. And I tell you, in their questionings, they were wise men. They faced the battles of life, and they questioned God. And thank God we've got an answer. Full revelation in this wonderful word of God we hold in our hands. Now you look for the question in this chapter as I read it. Job twenty-five. Then answered Bildad the Shuhite and said, Dominion and fear are with him. He make it peace in his high places. Is there any number of his armies, and upon whom does not his light shine arise? How then can man be justified with God? Or how can he be clean that is born of a woman? Behold, even to the moon, and its shine is not, either stars are not pure in his sight, How much this man that is a worm and the son of man which is a worm? Simple, short chapter with questions. Now think of three thousand, five hundred years ago. A man with his friends around him, giving their talks, their debates, Right in the midst of it all, this burning question comes. How then can man be justified with God? These men believed in God. They knew men. And as they measured the holiness and greatness of God, and they saw the smallness and the selfishness and the sinfulness of Adam's race, For the great gulf that lay between the question rings out, how then can man be justified with God? Now I dare to suggest to you that this is a problem that has troubled thinking men and women and boys and girls, all down through the long ages. Of course, if you are an infidel, you're a fool. The fool has said in his heart, no God. I don't want to think about him. I don't want to have anything to do with him. And in his foolishness, he tries to live his life without God, says there isn't good God. Well, there are genuine agnostics. There are men and women who face the issues of life, and they say, well, I don't know. I don't think God can ever be known. Who is he, anyhow? And I suppose there are many genuine agnostics today. You can meet them. But there are multitudes of people all over the world who instinctively believe in God. They say, I'm sure there must be a creator, a designer. There must be someone back of all this. Everything I can see around me, there's someone behind it. And surely this isn't a great big charm. And so they question, is it possible to know God? And as they grow, they find out this, that there's something in their own lives. There's something in the lives of those around them that distresses them. And if they're brave enough to use the old Bible world, they admit it's sin, the disease of sin and the human soul. Sin that sits with all its selfishness in the human life. And the wages of sin are manifest around us in a dying world. On every hand we can see the results of sin. And looking up to God and looking within their own hearts, a question begins to arise. How then can man, the sinner, be justified, cleared from every charge to stand before God accepted? great question that seems to burn through the ages. Now a great friend of mine who went when I was a boy to the heart of Africa to preach the gospel, told me that he learned the language of a great tribe that stretched the way out through the jungles and forests. And there came the time when he could leave the missing base where they'd done so much language study and move out into great new districts, new villages. You just imagine the missionary's dream of being able to go, having learned the language, with the gospel to people who have never heard that message. And he said he would go into a central village and he would make friends with the chief and runners would go out to the districts and villages around and they would call a great big conference. Then there came the moment when he was introduced at a messenger and standing up to a great concourse of people he would preach the gospel. Now every gospel preacher knows that you've got to start with A and then you've got to move to B. And then you've got to move to C. You can't get the great big message of the gospel all over in five minutes. And so he usually started with, A, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And then having finished that, he would move on to his next great message, which was, behold the Lamb of God, which takes it away, the sin of the world. And as he told of Christ's coming to meet our need, He would have a bit of a rest off, and then he would move to his third message. Come on to me, all ye that labor and the heavy laden. I will give you rest. And he preached the ABC of the Gospel. And he tells how a thousand orders gathered, and he said he had preached his first message, and then there was a sort of break. And he looked into their faces and he said, Now, before I move on to my second message, I want to know if there are any questions. He tells how an old African with white hair, obviously a village leader got up, lifting his finger and pointing toward the servant of God who had come amongst them with the gospel, he said, Warner, Warner, We know all this. But is there no way out? Now he had only listened to the first message as he had spoken of sin and the awful disease of sin in human hearts and lives. And the old African rose up and said, We know all this. Do you know most boys and girls who grow up in our old sobbing world today? They see all the gifts of God, the lovely trees, the blue skies, the rolling seas, the face of mother and father, friendship, good food, healthy life. But very soon they realize that all is not well with the human life. They begin to see tears on cheeks. They begin to hear that great big groan in a sinning humanity. And if they're brave, they know that something's wrong. Now these men, Job and his friends, have faced this fact. They knew something was wrong. But the great burning question of three thousand five hundred years ago was this. How then can man be justified? How can that man that was born of a woman and born with Adam's nature and is naturally selfish and sinful? How can he be cleared of every chance to stand before a holy God except it? And there they sit together, and this question rings out from the lips of Bildad. What is the answer? Have you ever dared to face the fact that God looks down from heaven his dwelling place upon the children of men? And he looks down to see if there are any seeking after him, if there are any longing for his company, and he doesn't find one. Now, dear sir, don't tell me you're an exception because I don't think you are. You see, you were born into this old world just like all the other millions. And perhaps you are mistaken if you think that you are the one exception that seeks God. No, God has to seek you. You've no desire for God. You've no desire to know him. You've no desire to seek his companionship. No. God looked down from heaven his dwelling place upon the children of men, and he said they've all gone the same way. There isn't one that looks up and really seeks me. And God is the seeker? Oh, yes. Occasionally a man looks up and he says, When I consider thy hands, the work of thy hands, the sun, the moon, the stars, what is man that thou art mindful of him? Could God take an interest in the children of men, little creatures that walk in this robbing humanity in the world? Could God care? And oh, how wonderfully we know he cares. For God is the seeker. God is after that which was lost, after that which has been hurt and destroyed by sin. In fact, God has come down amongst us, come to seek and to save us. This great love, the love of God, is shed abroad in our world today. Millions of tasting of it. told of the world that he gave his only begotten son. And of course the answer to this question is, in that son of his love. Now, have you ever read through the epistle to the Romans? Be honest, just answer that question deep down inside you. In this book there's a letter to the Romans. I tell our young West Indian preachers, if you ever want to preach the gospel, you soak your mind and heart in Romans. Read it through again and again and again and again until it burns in your soul. Then go out into the villages, over the mountains, and preach what you find. You know, Paul says in chapter one, verse sixteen, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation, to everyone that believe it. For therein that in the gospel is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. And in those opening eight chapters, the first four chapters, it's the gospel to sinners, and the sinner by simple faith enters into pardon. But in the next four chapters, it's the gospel to saints, to Christians. And by faith the Christian enters into power to live victoriously. And the good news of the gospel in Romans is absolutely vital. Now I feel sure if that Christian is going to be answered, three thousand five hundred years ago it was spoken, how then can man be justified with God? Now why this came for me to do, if I'm going to seek to answer it, is to turn to Romans to find the answers. Now I'm going to turn to five verses in Romans, and I'm going to ask you to listen to the answers coming out of the New Testament. Romans eight, verse thirty-three. Verse thirty-two, God spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. How shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies us. What a statement. Oh, Harold Wildish, child of Adam, sinner, selfish in all your need. You can never clear your own self from every charge to stand before God. Simply nothing you can do about it. You stand condemned as a guilty sinner in the presence of a holy God. And if justification is going to come to me, it's going to come from God. God will do it. It is God. I don't know if you've heard that old story of two boys who went to school, sat side by side in the old schoolhouse, played together in the playground and out on the field. And one day they had to part company, but school days were over and they went in different directions in the path of life. After many years they met again and in a very trying circumstance. One of them was the man of justice, the judge in a court, and the other was the prisoner standing at the bar. And the news got out in the courtroom and people were all talking about it. They said, you know, these two were boys playing together in the old schoolhouse. And some were whispering and saying, well, you see, he'll get off lightly. I guess he'll give him a very easy deal. But as the case came up and the witnesses gave their witnesses and so on, the case went squarely against that prisoner and the judge brought him in as guilty and gave him a fine or imprisonment that seemed to be as firm as anything he'd ever done. Just as they were leading the prisoner away, the judge was seen to take off his official... clothes or wig or whatever he wore at that time, and stepping down to the clerk of the courts, he said, how much fine has the prisoner to pay? He was told the sum, and taking from his own pocket a personal checkbook, he opened it, and he wrote out the full amount and handed it over to the clerk of the courts. And the word went down to the man who was being led down to the cells, who was free. The fine had been paid. Now it's a simple story happening in life, but that's just what God did. God saw the disease of sin with its awful devastation in the human race, and God in tremendous love planned salvation and sent his son down to pay the redemption price upon the cross. And when the question of the gospel comes ringing out into our world, it's this, it's God who has justified. God has planned it, God has worked it out, and God has sent the glad tidings into all the world for us to hear. When you say, if God is going to justify me, the guilty sinner, how did he do it? What price did he pay? I want you to take your Bible and turn back just a page to chapter five in Romans and look at verse nine. We'll read verse eight just to get the continuance of the thinking. Verse eight. But God commended his love toward us. In that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from walk through him. There it is. Justified by his blood. You see, if God is the great author of justification, the ground on which he can do it is that precious blood of his Son shed upon the cross. And on the ground of Calvary, that tremendous transaction upon the cross of shame, God comes out as far as he can toward men. And he says, Whosoever will come to that cross admitted me, Whosoever will bow at that cross in cruel repentance, confessing their sin and their need. whosoever will trust in that precious blood. That's in his work. They can be justified by his blood. I think it was that old preacher, the old American revivalist Jonathan Edwards, who used to love to tell the story of a dream or vision he had. He pictured it something like this. He said, I saw a beautiful creature called mercy. And she came to a big high stone wall, and she looked over this stone wall into a great enclosure that was loaded with people, people in great distress, people wounded and crying in desperate need. And all the heart of mercy went out toward those people. She wanted to lift their burdens, find out their wounds, wipe their tears away. So she came round the wall and she tried to find the way of entrance. And when she got to the way of entrance, she found standing in the entrance a tall, stern figure called Justice. And he held in his hand a sword, and the sword of Justice was moving across the only opening. He was guarding it. And Mercy faced Justice and said, Justice, May I go in to meet the need of those people? They need me so badly. Will you let me go in? Justice said no. Not till every claim of justice is met. So mercy and justice faced each other and the fraud of justice barred the way. And poor mercy turned away weeping. And as she turned away weeping, She met one like unto the Son of God, Jesus is his name. And he said, Mercy, what aim is thee? And she told him all her heart. He didn't speak much. He simply said, Mercy, you come with me and we will meet justice together. And as they approached justice, he was seen to be loosing his clothing and bearing his heart. And as he came face to face with justice, justice raised his sword to defend the gateway. And the Son of God moved forward. And all of a sudden justice raised his sword to strike. And the Son of God moved forward. And all of a sudden those are flash. And the sword of justice was seized in the heart of the Son of God. And every claim of justice was met. Satisfied. And now the door's wide open, and mercy can go in to whosoever will, to lift the burdens, to wipe the tears away. That's what happened at Calvary. When God moved out to justify, at the cross his darling son faced the claims of justice. Those dead and dark hours the Son of God bore out sin in His own body on the tree, the waves and billows of divine wrath sought for Him and found Him, and He exhausted them. And at last triumphantly He cried, It's accomplished. And God is completely satisfied with what Jesus did for you on that cross. And he will meet any sinner around the world, whether they come from a palace or a prison, on that ground of Calvary, where his darling son dealt with the question of your sin and was wounded for your transgression. Or I hope you are satisfied with what God is satisfied with. I don't think forgiveness can ever come to your heart. I don't think you could ever rejoice in salvation until you meet God at the cross. It's there the word forgiven can be spoken to your soul. That word that alone can bring peace to your heart. The joy of a great salvation to your life. You know it's a wonderful thing to be a forgiven man, a forgiven woman. Some of you don't realize this, but do you know you need forgiveness tonight? And you need to be justified, cleared from every charge that God has against you. Or wouldn't it be wonderful if you went home tonight to lay your head upon your pillow with a clean slate, with a happy conscience, with a joy and peace that forgiveness alone can give. You know, it's a strange thing, but men need more than forgiveness. They need justification. I heard of a little girl who was going to a party at four o'clock. It's a very homie story. And the little girl was dressed up to look like a little angel. You know, little girls about ten and eleven dressed up for a party really looked tremendous, don't they? And Baba got her all ready and said, I'm taking you about five to four, and I'm running upstairs to get ready. Now be a good girl, don't go outside, it's raining a bit. And the little girl was playing or just waiting, when all of a sudden she heard a noise of a passing band. And you know, this band was irresistible. She rushed to the window to look and listen. But she couldn't see because there was a line of trees and hedges on the front of the garden. So she dashed to the front door and down the old wet slippery path to the front gate to see the band passing. And as she ran she fell. Slot. And now our little angel's a fallen angel. Well, she got up and she got all about the band. The first thing she thought of was dear Mother. And she turned around and she knew instinctively that confession was the only thing. And as Mother came out to meet her, she said, Oh, Mommy, Mommy, could you ever forgive me? I'm sorry. And the Mother looked at that little girl and saw the bleeding knees and the stained dress. Poor little girl with the tears on her cheeks. And Mother didn't give her a slapping. Mother said, all right, I'll forgive you. But listen, it's just time to go to the party. Hold my hand and we'll go right off to the party. And the little girl says, Oh, Mommy, I can't... What? I've forgiven you? What more do you want? What more do you want? She just needed one thing more. She needed to be restored just as if she had never tumbled down on that part. You know, you need more than forgiveness. You need justification. You need to be restored so that you stand before God, cleansed, fit for His divine presence. And that's what God offers you. He says, I've done it. I've walked it all out. I'm the author of justification, and at the cross I will meet you on the ground of that bloodshed by my darling son when he gave his life to redeem you. when he bore all your sin in his own body on the tree. Now if you turn just one chapter back in Romans to chapter four, verse twenty-five, we read these words, Jesus our Lord, who was delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification. Now don't get confused, God is the author of justification. The precious blood shed upon the cross is the ground of our justification, but the empty tomb, the written Christ, is the proof of our justification. A living, magnificent Savior makes our gospel different to every other gospel in the world. You contest nearly every teaching and cult on this ground. Do you believe that God manifested himself in flesh, in the person of his son, who died upon the cross, who finished the work of redemption, and was buried, and on the third day was raised again in written glorified manhood, and attended, and lived, able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him. That's the gospel. And anything else but that is not the gospel. He lives. I don't know if you heard of those two dear Mohammedan followers of Islam who walking along a North African road saw an old Ford car at the side of the road and sitting in the Ford car was one of their old friends who had become a Christian. And as they passed, they saw him reading the Bible, the Holy Scriptures, and they went up to the car side and they said, Why do you read that book? And he said, Well, why shouldn't I read this book? It's a wonderful book. Oh, they said, That book's no good. You should read the Koran. He said, Well, you know, I've read the Koran for years. You know that. I know much about the Koran as you do, but I love to read this book. But he said, why do you read that book? Well, he said, I'll ask you a question in answer. He said, you know, if you were going down a road and you came to the corner where two roads stretched out in different directions and one went up over the hills and through the valleys and the others went through this valley and down toward the sea and you looked for some way to guide you. You wanted to get to a certain place and you didn't know which of those two roads to take. And you'd been on a long journey and the sun was setting. And you looked round to see if there was someone who could help you and show you the way. And as you looked around, you saw a dead man lying at the side of the road there. Poor fellow is dead, is lying dead at the side of the road. And over here you see a living man, and he's standing at the side of the road. Now he said, my friends, I ask you, who do you think I would ask about the way? Oh, they said, don't be so foolish, man. Of course you wouldn't ask at gate, man. You'd ask the living man. Well, he said, you know, for years I read the Quran and he said, I wanted to get to paradise one day and I wanted to please God. He said, I saved up my money. He said, there was a time when I took my pilgrimage to Arabia and I got to the big city of Mecca and I went out to the pilgrims to the burying place of Muhammad. And I came to that big black top tooth and I kissed it again and again and again I kissed this burying place. Hoping I would get to paradise, but still there were doubts in my mind and I wondered whether I was praying sufficiently and doing sufficiently and living sufficiently. He said, one day I met Jesus Christ, the one who died on the cross, but he's alive from the dead. And he said, I looked into his face and I heard his words and he said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. And he said, I decided I would trust him. And he said, he brought joy and peace to my heart. And he said, I live with him and walk with him. I can come to his throne of grace at any time to find grace, to help in time of need. And he said, somehow he lives in this book to my heart. Do you wonder? that if I wanted merely to know the right way, I should go to the living man. And of course they have no answer. And that's what makes our Christian message completely different. He lives! He was raised again for our justification. He is our living receipt in heaven. But God is satisfied with the work He did upon the cross. And on the ground of that work we can stand before God, pardoned, cleansed, accepted in that beloved Savior. Now turn back to chapter three in Romans and verse twenty four. Being justified freely by His grace. didn't pay a king for it. All we had to do was to confess our sin. All we had to do was to come just as I am without one plea. All that we had to do was to come at the end of ourselves in our bankrupt condition of sinners into the presence of a holy God and take His grace. It's all of His grace. All that men and women and boys and girls would see that it's all of his grace. By grace he has saved through faith. That's not of yourself. It's the gift of God. You don't have to pay for a gift. If it's of works, it's of works. If it's of grace, it's of grace. And God comes out in pure grace. And he offers salvation. He says, I've planned it, my son died on the cross to make it real. I've raised him from the dead and I offer to you in grace a living Savior who can come into your life and make all things new. Oh, I've cheated you. Never talk again about your trying. When God comes with a free gift in grace, don't say, well, I'm trying to be better. I'm trying to be a Christian. I'm doing my best. I'm working hard at it. I hope someday it will be all right. No, no, God doesn't want you to do that. He wants you to come just as you are and say with a great big thank you in your heart, I thank you for the grace of God that brought salvation. that can give to me pardon and cleansing and power to walk in newness of life. And from beginning to end, my salvation is a written Savior who died for me on the cross, who lives for me on the throne. I'm justified by His love, but I'm saved by His life. And wonder of wonders that grace pours into lives, grace sufficient for every time of need. All that dissatisfied heart, all that struggling soul, all that man and woman who's tried by a hundred means to try and justify themselves, they think they've a sporting chance somehow to slip into heaven, somehow they hope it'll be all right. I beg of you, just come and rest in the grace of God and taste of this gracious Savior's mighty salvation. Well, you see, how could I do it? Well, in my closing moments I will tell you, turn to chapter five, verse one, all the thrill of it. Therefore being justified by faith, you see, by grace you are saved through faith. God asks nothing more. Your forefather tells you unbelief, and God says, all I ask you is to believe on my son. He tells you lack of trust, all he asks you to do is to come with childlike trust. Yes, being justified freely by his grace, I can in simple faith lay hold upon all that Christ has for me. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Don't miss this. You must come with empty hands in simple faith. You say, well, I can't see God. That's where faith is needed. Faith steps out on the seeming void and finds the rock beneath. God loves to be trusted. Without that you can't please him. Without faith it's impossible to please God. It's the way by which he brings you into his great eternal kingdom to be a child of God, to rejoice in eternal life. I wonder if you would come to Christ tonight and put your trust in him. I can only say to some soul that God is speaking to. Get right with God and do it now. Get right with God. He tells you how. Oh, come to Christ who shed His blood and at the cross. Get right with God. Would you meet God at the cross? You're not too young, you're not too old. Would you meet him as a sinner, meeting a holy God on the ground of that one, who has the one mediator stood between at the cross, who has bridged the Gulf, who satisfied the claims of God, to meet your deepest need? Would you come to that cross tonight? Would you do business with God at that cross tonight? You see, well, I've often wanted God's best. I've often wanted to be a real Christian. I've often felt a lack in my own life as I faced the part of life. I wonder if God brought me here to do what I hear so many people talking about, really enter into all that God has for me. How then can man be justified with God? It is God that justifies. It is the precious blood of Jesus shed upon the cross in those dark hours when he bore your sin that is the redemption Christ that can justify and tear from every charge and give you standing before God. The resurrection of Jesus, the empty tomb is the proof. He lives mighty to save you. And God in wondrous grace comes out and says, taste of the grace of God tonight. In simple faith, possess your possessions and be able to go home saying, I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.