Thy mercy, my God, is the theme of my song. Sin takes on many forms in the natural man, but all sin stems from the basic pride of men who delight in their own way rather than submitting themselves to God in spirit and truth. As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good, no not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher. With their tongues they have used deceit. The poison of asp is under their lips. Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways. And the way of peace have they not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. The Lord said Job was a righteous man. He was, as one might say, the cream of the crop and was indeed a man favored in the Lord's sight and one preserved by him as he demonstrated to Satan in Job's trial, which the Lord was pleased to bring upon him. By nature, Job was not a bit different from any of the other men of the earth, but he was a man sought out by God and made upright according to the pleasure of the Lord who had delight in him and would maintain him and keep him from falling. Yet the manner in which the Lord was pleased to work in his servant Job is quite foreign to the sensibilities and considerations of propriety according to the understanding of natural men, most especially that of his wife and his erstwhile friends and comforters. Men would suppose that the blessing of God is visited upon men when they are vested with this world's goods or are basking in happiness and freedom from the cares and worries that beset men on every hand. It is according to man's common understanding and sense of propriety that doing good deeds and being religious ensures that one will enjoy this sort of favor from the hand of the Lord, and conversely that the avoidance of the opposite behavior will ensure the same. In this thought process, men do greatly err and prove the wisdom of the proverb which says, There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Most suppose that Job had favor in the eyes of God because he eschewed evil, feared God, and walked with an upright manner of life. They feel quite certain that if others followed his path that they too would enjoy God's favor, even as Job's miserable comforters sought to point out Job's faults as the cause of his heartaches. Yet the reality is that Job was a vessel of mercy, in whom the Lord was pleased to manifest His grace and favor, causing him to love the way of obedience and the path of the righteous, even though Job was himself but an earthen vessel. This manifestation of grace and favor was as real when Job was scraping himself with a potsherd as it was when he was held in high esteem by the multitudes who observed his wealth and upright walk. God was faithful to sustain him when even his wife encouraged him to curse God and die. And God enabled him to confess to his comforters that he would trust the Lord even if he slew him. The work of God in the lives of his people is an ongoing and continual process, whereby he is leading them into all truth. The revelation of the holiness of God is, over the course of the lives of the sons of God, made increasingly evident. And as it is, the work of repentance is carried out by the same Spirit in them. Even though Job was one who eschewed evil and feared God, yet his knowledge of himself and the absolute degree of his utter depravity was only made clear to him as God was pleased to reveal his own absolute holiness and matchless glory. Job testified that he thought he knew something about the Lord, since he was instructed in the ways of God. But as the Lord brought him face to face with himself experimentally, he was made to cry out. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee, wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes. Such is the work of grace in the lives of God's people. Whereas religious men consider themselves to be progressing in a work of sanctification and climbing new heights every day as they grow closer and closer to God and winning victories left and right, those in whom God is pleased to work are progressively acquainted with their own wickedness and their absolute dependence on the Lord. This is indeed the Spirit's work of repentance in them, as Paul confessed. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but done that I may win Christ and be found in him not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. If you would like a free transcript of this broadcast, email us at forthepoor at windstream.net.