Often we minimize the importance of beginnings. All of us are affected by persons and events in our lives which shaped the pathway from where we came, who we are, what we believe, who we associate with, where we live, and what we do for work. As a human race we have a beginning which has deeply affected every person born since the creation of the earth.
As we first look at the text today, we see a man named Job crying out for justice from God in his human condition. From his limited perspective he feels that he is innocent and could sustain a court case against the Almighty, yet his SIN nature undermines a case of innocence. The hard truth is, it is not simply the sins of our lives that condemn us; it is our inherited nature which holds us back, cripples us, blinds us, and drives us toward death from birth. Our dead nature is the foundation of our guilt and sin.
It is not that we should not sin, or that we have not sinned, but sinfulness itself is the rooted reality – we are recipients of a sin nature from conception. The SIN of our nature corrupts us even when the sins of our lives are not present. It is not only what we do, but what we are as decedents of our first sinner parents – Adam and Eve – from whom we all inherited our dead, SIN natures. As the scripture says “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Rom.3:23), and “For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die (or, are born dead), so in Christ all will be made alive.” (1Cor.15:21,22).
Let us see the futility in which Job cries out for help. Let us also give praise to God that today we know and believe in the “Someone” (v.33) for whom Job cried out. Let us give praise to God for the amazing, wonderful escape God has provided for us by the cross.
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November 30, 2014 | Pastor John Bayles | First Sunday of Advent: If Only There Were Someone! | Job 9:25-35
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