“Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Does Job
fear God for no reason? (Job 1:9 NKJV). Doth Job fear God for naught? (KJV) In other words,
“Is Job good for nothing or is he good for selfish mercenary motives?”
In 30 minutes or less, Job found out that he had
lost everything, including his children. “In all this
Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong” (1:20-22).
Satan
accused Job of not being good for nothing.
So God tested Job to prove Satan wrong.
Satan knew the nature of the natural man. “Because
the natural carnal mind [Paul says] is
hostile toward God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be” (Rom 8:7). But some people, even like
animals, sometimes seem to behave unselfishly.
Dogs often adopt orphaned cats, squirrels, ducks and even tigers. Dolphins support sick or injured
animals. But animals do this out of
natural empathy and instinct. Their
kindness is created by God. Though it is
beautiful, only God gets the credit.
Humans can also be kind out of the same natural animal instinct, but not because they fear God for naught.
Men
can appear to have the right motive, but “man looks at the outward appearance,
and the LORD looks at the heart” (1Sam 16:7).
God sees that, in the natural, “We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags” (Isa 64:6).
Three
times the Book of Job asks if it is really possible for a man like Job to be
right with God. Satan said, “No. Job has an ulterior motive.” But God described Job as “a blameless
and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil.” How is this possible? Can a leopard change his spots? Can a man change his motive? No.
But God can.
This is the question: How? How can a man be pure before his Maker and
fear God for nothing? Is it by works
righteousness? Is it by deciding to not
do the bad things you used to do? Well,
that’s a start, but not good enough.
Jesus said unless our righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees, it is
not good enough. Is it by piling up a
mountain of deeds until the volume is enough to be accepted by God? No.
You could never be good enough.
God’s word says it is “not by works of righteousness which we have done,
but according to His mercy He saved us, through the
washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit” (Tit 3:5). A person can do
many good things from a wrong motive.
God rejected Cain’s sacrifice because his motive was selfish. It was based on what he could get. Abel’s focus was on gratitude and the
excellence of God’s glory. He feared God
for naught.
The
difference between a false convert and a true one is the motive. Is the motive to glorify God or for fire
insurance?
It’s
true that men can be frightened into seeking salvation. But seeking salvation is not the same as
seeking God. The difference is the
motive. Men should seek salvation, but seeking salvation is not the same as
seeking the Lord. They call them “Seeker Friendly Churches,” but men never seek
God till they are born again after God
creates a new heart in them.
Man
cannot change his heart… his motive. But
God can. How does God do that? How
does God give men a pure heart? He does
it like He did with Job: through the work of humiliation. Yes Job already feared God and was no doubt a
true convert. But the work God does in
saving conversion is the same work that He does after conversion. It’s called sanctification.
The work of humiliation is also called the
work of preparation. The 1st thing the Lord does is to send “The
voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the
LORD; Make straight in the desert a highway for our God” (Isa 40:3). “And one shall say, ‘Heap it up! Heap it up! Prepare
the way, Take the stumbling block out of the way of
My people.’” God says, “Behold, I send
My messenger, And he will prepare the way
before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek,
Will suddenly come to His temple” (Mal 3:1).
After the way is prepared the Lord comes to His temple. The convert becomes God’s temple. But notice it says, “the Lord, whom you seek,
Will suddenly come.” All the time during
the work of preparation the natural man is not really seeking the Lord. He is seeking escape or comfort. To the natural eye it might seem like he is
seeking God, but in reality he is not.
His motive is mercenary. He is NOT good for nothing yet. But after the work of the Holy Spirit makes
the way straight and takes the stumbling block out of the way, the Lord comes
suddenly; in the twinkling of an eye.
But how does He do this?
The
Awakening
He
does it in steps. 1. First He sends His messenger to awaken
us: the voice of one crying in the wilderness.
His messenger could be an accident or a tragedy, it could be someone
witnessing to us, or many other things that cause inspirational
dissatisfaction. This is called, “the
awakening.” “Therefore He
says: ‘Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give
you light’” (Eph 5:14). 2. Secondly, He makes the way straight
by sending the Holy Spirit to convince the sinner of sin, righteousness, and
judgment. The Messenger says, “Prepare the way of the LORD; Make straight in the desert a highway for our
God.” The Holy Spirit uses God’s law to set us straight. He convinces of sin by convincing the sinner
that he is a sinner. He convinces of
righteousness by showing the sinner that God’s word is right and man is wrong. Once the sinner sees that, he is convinced
that judgment is on the way. Jesus said
the Holy Spirit “will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and
judgment” (John 16:8). Once humbled, the
convicted sinner is prepared to see the solution: the atonement of Christ.
The
way God creates the right motive in us is first
by making atonement for our sins. The
guilt problem has to be taken care of.
Satisfaction must be made, and Christ did that by taking our guilt and
punishment on himself. Although atonement is made
for all men, there is still no forgiveness until there is faith in God. And there can be no faith in God till there
is no more faith in self. The work of
humiliation takes care of that.
Secondly,
to bring about faith there must 1st be an awakening. “Awake, you who sleep.” Thirdly,
He convicts us of sin, righteousness, and judgment. Fourthly,
He says, “Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light.” The new birth is the 1st
resurrection. It creates in us a new
heart and a right spirit. It makes us
good for nothing. Now we no longer serve
God for what we can get. We now serve
God for naught. The Lord becomes our
salvation and our righteousness. No
longer do we look for fire insurance or trust in good works. Now God can say what he said of Job: a blameless and upright man,
who fears God and turns away from evil. God alone can do that. Salvation is of the Lord.
So
we have the careless sinner, the awakened sinner, the anxious sinner, the
convicted sinner, and the converted sinner.
The
5 Point Covenant Model
1.
The Careless
Sinner does not believe God is in charge.
2.
The Awakened
Sinner starts coming to church (God’s delegated authority on earth.)
3.
The Anxious
Sinner is nervous about the rules (God’s Law).
4.
The Convicted
Sinner is convinced of the covenant sanctions.
5.
The Converted Sinner
looks to inheriting the earth.
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