Seek to be innocent before God

Text Job 31 Time 29/06/03 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

We are looking this week at the final part of Job’s closing speech. Job is suffering and he wants to know why. Now, as you know, Job never gets an answer to his question. However, at this point it is still the main thing on his mind. He has spoken of his past and his present in Chapters 29 and 30 and now he makes a final protest of his innocence. He has entered into covenant with God and here he solemnly assures us that he is willingly to be cursed if he is guilty of any of the sins he mentions here. Job is not claiming to be perfect. He is simply underlining that his suffering cannot be due to his having sinned in some way.
In the course of his speech Job speaks of some 10 sorts of sins. Perhaps the best way for us to benefit from what he says here is to consider those sins and whether we are guilty of them and how we can avoid falling into them. There is full forgiveness for every one of these sins in Christ. All you have to do is trust in him. However, if we really trust in Christ then we will want to turn from every one of them. Job is able to help us in this as he is an innocent man. He is a wonderful example for us to follow. Although Job had many troubles at this time, one thing he did not have was a bad conscience. We can be sure that if we suffer in this life then one thought that we do not want to have in our minds is ‘I deserve this’. It will only add to the torment. A good conscience is like a soft pillow. It will ease your pain in suffering and help you on your deathbed. Seek it. Seek to be innocent before God.
1. Be innocent of lust Lust is mental adultery

It is sin. Job saw this and Jesus preached it in the Sermon on the Mount. Job knew what it was to be tempted and how to deal with temptation. Listen to how he begins I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl. This shows us that when the temptation to lust comes we must
1. Act to deal with it

Job didn’t just say ‘Well, it’s one of those things. There’s nothing you can do about it.’ No, he saw that, as it has been put, although you can’t stop the birds flying around your head, you can stop them making a nest in your hair. Sin isn’t something that will simply go away if you ignore it. Unless we act there will be no progress at all. As one Puritan put it, if we are not actively killing sin, sin will be killing us.

Are you acting on sin or is sin acting on you?
2. Guard heart and mind

Job knew that the way his mind thought would affect his heart and so lead him into sin. And so he made this agreement with his eyes not to look at a girl lustfully. He didn’t reason ‘I’m only thinking about it, where’s the harm in that?’ No, he saw the connection between the way we think and the things we do. Do you see it? James says (1:14,15) each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. Have you seen those connections? Proverbs 4:23 Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.
3. Be practical

Sometimes people have romantic ideas about how to fight sin. It is a very practical matter. Job had learned that in certain situations if he saw certain girls he would be tempted to lust and so he made this covenant with his eyes to look away whenever such a temptation came near. If we are going to avoid lust and other sins we too need to take certain practical steps. You have to have rules for yourself about how you use the television or computer, what magazines and books you will read. Sometimes we will have to miss out on certain things for our own spiritual health.
4. Live conscious of judgement

Job goes on to ask (2) For what is man’s lot from God above, his heritage from the Almighty on high? And answers (3) Is it not ruin for the wicked, disaster for those who do wrong? Job was conscious of the judgement. He knew what every sin deserves. Do you?
5. Live conscious of God’s presence

Verse 4 Does he not see my ways and count my every step? He knew that God was watching him all the time. I’m sure we are all aware of what an influence the presence of others can have on us. There are certain things that we would not do if this person or that person were present. We need to be aware that God is always present. We are always in his presence and that should affect the way we act and speak and think. Does it?
2. Be innocent of dishonesty and adultery

Job goes on in verses 5-12 to protest his innocence in two other areas. Again what he says teaches us things about sin.
1. Live conscious of God judging dishonesty

Verses 5 and 6 If I have walked in falsehood or my foot has hurried after deceit - let God weigh me in honest scales and he will know that I am blameless -
2. Walk the straight and narrow with a true heart and clean hands

Job uses three images here to assert his innocence. He talks of turning from the path, which he has not done; letting his eyes lead his heart, which he had not done; his hands being defiled, which they were not. Is that you?
3. Are you dishonest?

Expect judgement. Job pronounces a curse on himself if he is guilty. Verse 8 then may others eat what I have sown, and may my crops be uprooted. He recognised that such sins deserve judgement. Do you?
4. Are you neglecting your heart or seeking sin? Expect judgement

Verses 9 and 10 If my heart has been enticed by a woman, or if I have lurked at my neighbour’s door, then may my wife grind another man’s grain, and may other men sleep with her.
5. See adultery as shameful, blameworthy and destructive

11, 12 For that would have been shameful, a sin to be judged. It is a fire that burns to Destruction; it would have uprooted my harvest.
3. Be innocent of oppression and selfishness
1. Expect to account to God for how you deal with others

Verses 13 and 14 If I have denied justice to my menservants and maidservants when they had a grievance against me, what will I do when God confronts me? What will I answer when called to account?
2. Never forget that we all have one Maker

Verse 15 Did not he who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same one form us both within our mothers?
3. Don’t forget yourself to help the needy

Verses 16-21 If I have denied the desires of the poor or let the eyes of the widow grow weary, if I have kept my bread to myself, not sharing it with the fatherless - but from my youth I reared him as would a father, and from my birth I guided the widow - if I have seen anyone perishing for lack of clothing, or a needy man without a garment, and his heart did not bless me for warming him with the fleece from my sheep, if I have raised my hand against the fatherless, knowing that I had influence in court,
4. Hate sin in the fear of God’s splendour and judgement

Verses 22 and 23 then let my arm fall from the shoulder, let it be broken off at the joint. For I dreaded destruction from God, and for fear of his splendour I could not do such things.
4. Be innocent of greed and idolatry
1. Don’t love money

Verses 24 and 25 If I have put my trust in gold or said to pure gold, You are my security, if I have rejoiced over my great wealth, the fortune my hands had gained,
2. Or worship false gods in your heart

26, 27 if I have regarded the sun in its radiance or the moon moving in splendour, so that my heart was secretly enticed and my hand offered them a kiss of homage,
3. See greed and idolatry as sins to be judged; be faithful to God

Verse 28 then these also would be sins to be judged, for I would have been unfaithful to God on high.
5. Be innocent of malice
1. Love your enemies

Verse 29 If I have rejoiced at my enemy’s misfortune or gloated over the trouble that came to him -
2. Guard your tongue

30 I have not allowed my mouth to sin by invoking a curse against his life -
3. Love those who serve you

31 if the men of my household have never said, Who has not had his fill of Job’s meat? -
4. Love strangers

Verse 32 but no stranger had to spend the night in the street, for my door was always open to the traveller -
6. Be innocent of hypocrisy and exploitation
1. Don’t cover up sins from fear of men

Verses 33 and 34 if I have concealed my sin as men do, by hiding my guilt in my heart because I so feared the crowd and so dreaded the contempt of the clans that I kept silent and would not go outside -
2. Be ready to meet God

35-37 (Oh, that I had someone to hear me! I sign now my defence - let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser put his indictment in writing. Surely I would wear it on my shoulder, I would put it on like a crown. I would give him an account of my every step; like a prince I would approach him.) -
3. If you exploit others, expect judgement

38-40 if my land cries out against me and all its furrows are wet with tears, if I have devoured its yield without payment or broken the spirit of its tenants, then let briers come up instead of wheat and weeds instead of barley.
The words of Job are ended and so are mine.