The Remarkable Ransom

Evening services, We're going to read from God's Word.

Want to read tonight from the Book of Job.

I must confess I find the Book of Job a fascinating book.

I can't remember the name of the preacher, but there was 1

preacher and bygone days and he spent 13 years preaching from

the book of Job. That's a long time, 13 years.

Wished I could remember his name, but anyway, 13 years, I'm

sure somebody will be able to find that information out.

We're going to read from the book of Job, Job chapter 33, and

Job 33 · chapter mention

we're going to read from verse 14 to the end, Job 33, verse 14.

Job 33:14

Let's hear God's word. We're reading, of course, from

the Authorised Version, Job, chapter 33, verse 14.

Job 33:14

Job's easy to find. If you get the book of Psalms,

you'll find the book of Job, Job 33, verse 14.

Job 33:14

For God speaketh once, yeah, twice.

Yet man perceiveth it not in a dream, in a vision of the night,

where deep sleep falleth upon men, and slumbrings upon the

bed. Then he openeth the ears of man,

and sealeth their instruction, that he may withdraw man from

his purpose and hide pride from man.

He keepeth back his soul from the pit, and his life from

perishing by the sword. He is chastened also with pain

upon his bed and the multitude of his bones with strong pain,

so that his life of horrid bread, and his soul dainty meat,

his flesh is consumed away that it cannot be seen, and his bones

that were not seen stick out. Yeah, his soul draw near unto

the grave, and his life to the destroyers.

If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among

1000 to show unto man his uprightness, then he is gracious

unto him and safe. Deliver him from going down to

the pit. I have found a ransom.

His flesh shall be fresher than the child's.

He shall return to the days of his youth.

He shall pray unto God, and he will be favourable unto him, and

he shall see his face with joy, for he will render unto man his

righteousness. He looketh upon man, and if any

say, I have sinned and perverted that which was right, and it

profiteth me not, he will deliver his soul from going into

the pit, and his life shall see the light.

Lo, all these things work with God, often times with man, to

bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the

light of the living. Mark Well, O Job, hearken unto

me, hold thy peace, and I will speak.

If thou hast anything to say, answer me, speak, for I desire

to justify thee. If not, hearken unto me, hold

thy peace, and I shall teach thee wisdom.

Amen. We know the Lord and stamp with

His own approval and blessing, His reading of His own precious

and infallible word. Now my text tonight is found in

Job chapter 33, verse 24. It reads as follows.

Job 33:24

Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from

going down to the pit. I have found a ransom.

They have entitled this message the Remarkable Ransom.

Now these words were part of a speech that was addressed toward

Job by a young friend and counsellor by the name of Elihu.

Now Job, remember, was one of the truly great men of the East,

a godly man, one who was upright, one that feared God.

He was holy, an Old Testament believer.

This is what we read of Job in Job One and One there was a man

in the land of Olives whose name was Job, and that man was

perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and he shewed

evil. 4 things we Learn about Job's character And yet this

godly man's life was turned upside down.

He suffered a horrible, intense period of great trials and

troubles. Job Chapter 1 and 2 records that

Job 1 · chapter mention

in one day 10 children were killed by a terrible wind from

the east, like a great tornado. On the same day all his animals

were stolen, and then another calamity struck.

All his servants bar one were brutally murdered by the

Chaldeans. And to make matters worse, Job's

wife. Whenever he would have spoken to

her out of fear, I believe probably desperation, she

counselled Job and this is what she said.

Curse God and die. And on top of all that, if that

wasn't enough, his body broke out into terrible sore boils.

Reading Job chapter 2 and verse 7, these words, so went Satan

Job 2 · chapter mention

forth from the presence of the Lord, and smoked Job with sore

boils from the sole of his foot unto the crown.

Verse 8. And he took him a potsherd to

scrape himself with all, and he sat down among the ashes.

According then to Job 2, verse 11, right through to chapter 31,

Job 2:11

verse 40, we have a record of three of Job's best friends who

came to mourn with him and to comfort him.

Their names were Elifaz, the Timonite, Bildad.

The shoe height wasn't very big. And so for the Nathamite, for

seven days, for seven nights, these three friends, along with

Job sat in silence. Not one word was uttered.

They saw that the grief of Job was very great and sore.

You see, physically and mentally this man was broken.

He probably wished that he'd never been born.

Societally, one of the great men of the East, a powerful man, A A

a, a prominent man. He was reduced to being one who

very few cared about materially. He had lost all his great

possessions paternally. His family was devastated.

You see, in one day his life had been turned upside down.

When Job's friends eventually got round to speaking, these

three councillors, we'll call them three miserable

councillors, for that's what they were, one after the other.

You see, they blame Job, they argued.

Wait a minute, Job, you must have sinned.

Job, you've sinned secretly, You've sinned.

Seriously, Job, all of this calamity that has come, God is

punishing you. Why else would all this calamity

come upon you? Now what they were saying was

not true, and it was certainly not true in Job's experience.

And could I say this, when individuals, when families fall

into terrible calamities, let's be slow to judgement.

Let's be prayerful. We really don't know all the

facts and circumstances in our lives.

Unfortunately and sadly, we're too quick to rush to judgement

about certain things. Then in chapter 32, another man

entered the discussion. His name was Elijah.

He was the youngest of the four councillors.

He spoke the truth in Job's presence.

God is sovereign. That he's a God of all grace,

That he is not merciless to any of his children.

Yet sadly, he too accused Job of playing the part of a hypocrite.

He scolded him. He said you sound like a man

that's full of self justification.

Yet he maintained that he would not pass judgement but pointed

out the way that God deals with his children.

And that's what Job 33 is all about.

From 14 onwards, it's about the way that God deals with his

children. And in verse 24 of Job 33, he

made a powerful statement, a remarkable statement about

deliverance for a man in the depths of despair and in

sickness. And from going down to the pit.

Listen to these words. This is a remarkable statement.

Then he is gracious unto him and self deliver him from going down

to the pit. I have found a ransom.

There's the remarkable ransom. I have found a ransom.

The word ransom, as I told you this morning is used 16 times in

the Bible. The word ransom unfortunately is

used today about paying a a sum of money to kidnappers to have a

loved one released. But but the the thought and the

sentiment is behind it. When it's used in the Bible

sense, it's richer and more fuller and clearer in meaning.

It's connected to redemption. It's it's connected to release.

It's connected to rejoicing. As I looked at this text last

Sunday night before I went to bed, there was three things come

to mind. One, the danger that was faced.

Look at the text and it says from going down to the pit, you

see the words there going down suggest a path, a pathway

suggest what we could really say a course of life.

And if you notice, it's not a pathway towards paradise, but

going down to the pit. So it's not a pathway of

deliverance and delight, we would have to say.

It's a pathway, of course, that's leads to death and

destruction. You see the reference to going

down to the pit. Speaks Speaks of of a a

direction direction of of travel travel and and it's it's not not

just just going going down down into into a a state state of of

sin sin and and guilt guilt and and shame shame, but but going

going down down to to the the pit pit. the pit is mentioned

three times look at verse 18 he keepeth back his soul from the

pit and then you come down to verse 30 to bring back his soul

from the pit and it's mentioned again in verse 24 from going

down to the pit 3 * 3 in the Bible is the number of complete

witness And what is this pit? Well, we'll see in a moment.

It's the pit of hell. You think of our world tonight.

Think of our United Kingdom, the major cities, London, Belfast,

Liverpool, Manchester. Think of our major towns.

Think of our villages. 10s of thousands or running into

millions, and they're in the journey of life and God has been

good and God has given them breath and health and strength

and provided all that they've needed materially.

And yet they're going away from God.

They're going on in their sin, they're going on in the way of

the devil that they're going on full of pride and full of

rebellion. They've forgotten the Lord.

They've forsaken him and his word.

And where's the direction of travel taking them?

Not just down to the grave, not just down to the door of death,

but they're going down into this awful place that the Bible calls

hell. You see, this is serious.

This is solemn. We'll ask the question, what is

this pit? I believe that it's the pit of

hell, a place full of terror and torment, a place of outer

darkness, a place of weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, a

place of immense danger, because the individual who goes down to

this pit is going into a place of doom and destruction.

I want to emphasise this because we live in a day when many

preachers want to take the horror out of hell, want to make

it a happy place. There's those and I have books

in my study who've argued that the fire of hell is not real,

it's not literal, it's not eternal.

Even had one preacher, a man called Mr Fudge, who maintained

that what he was saying in the book was contrary to the Bible.

At least he was being honest. He argued that eternal death

doesn't mean eternal suffering and hell for all eternity.

There's many preachers who deny Hell's existence.

There's many preachers who want to make hell like heaven.

But when we come to the book, and one of the little choruses

that I picked tonight was I have a precious book.

It's the word of God. And we've got to come back to

the word of God. We've got to ask the question,

what saith the Scriptures? We'll remember over there in

Luke chapter 16 the Lord Jesus told a parable about the rich

Luke 16 · chapter mention

man and Lazarus. Lazarus was the beggar, it says

in Luke 16, verse 22. And it came to pass that the

Luke 16:22

beggar died and was carried by the angels in the Abraham's

bosom. The rich man also died and was

buried. Listen to verse 23.

And in hell, he lifts up his eyes, being in torments, seeing

Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom.

Can you think of this rich man? He also died, says unburied.

You think of the pomp and ceremony, the big funeral, nice

things said about him. Maybe somebody's asking how much

money did he leave? Who's going to get his fancy

clothes? Who's going to buy the mansion?

Is it going up for sale? Could I get the gates?

Maybe somebody was thinking. And yet we read and inhale.

He lift up his eyes, being in torments, the rich man entered

the place of terror and torments, a place of personal,

permanent and powerful torments. And those that live in our

cities and towns and villages in the journey of life may be like

the rich man. They could be top of the class

educationally. They could be top of the social

ladder, big house mansion with gates, parties and friends, rich

and powerful. And yet for all their

possessions, for all the parties, for all their human

attainment, for all their merriment, they're not rich

toward God. And that's why this rich man was

in hell, wasn't because he was rich.

It was he was not rich toward God, and this rich man went down

to the pit and inhale, lifted up his eyes, being in torment.

Could I stress tonight that that day is closer for many than they

think? Did David not say there is but a

step between me and death? Do you realise that you're just

a breath away from God's eternity?

Any of us, A heartbeat between you and the pit of hell.

Why? No, many don't believe it.

What is this pit? Where is it located?

Well, if you turn again in your Bible, let's turn this time to

the book of Numbers. And in Numbers chapter 16, we

Numbers 16 · chapter mention

read in verse 31 these words. And it came to pass as he made

an end of speaking all these words, that the ground cleave

asunder that was under them, and the earth opened their mouth and

swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that

appertained unto Kora, and all their goods, they and all that

appertained to them. Now notice these words underline

them because we're linking them up.

We're comparing Scripture with Scripture went down alive into

the pit, and the earth closed upon them, and they perished

from among the congregation. Here's Kora's rebellion.

Kora was a rebel. He had many friends with him.

Kora and his friends stood against Moses.

They accused Moses of behaving badly in the ways of God.

They issued a challenge to Moses authority.

And what do we read? We read they went down alive

into the pit, and many in life's journey, that's their danger

that they face. And the Lord Jesus said three

times, John 822 to 24, If you die in your sins where I am,

there you cannot come again in the Gospel of Matthew, in

Matthew chapter 25, when we read in verse 41 these words, they

Matthew 25 · chapter mention

and shall he say unto them in the left hand, depart from me,

ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his

angels. Why did God create such a place

called Hell for the Devil? And his angels that sinned with

him. And there's no return, and

there's no exits and there's no escape.

And there's none that can pass from hell into heaven.

There's no reprieve. There's no release.

The day you enter is the day you face your eternal doom.

You, you face the fearful destruction of your soul and

body. Now this is a place for all

unsaved unbelieving individuals. The Bible says the wicked shall

be turned into hell and all nations that forget God.

You see you would maybe say to me tonight, but and I would

understand this hell surely is a place for murderers and you're

100% right. No murderer hath eternal life.

Do you know tomorrow at 9:30, 1st of September marks the 50th

anniversary of the murder of five Orange brethren in County

Armagh? A very dark period in Ulster's

troubles. John Johnson 80, James McKee 73,

Ronnie McKee 40, Nevin McConnell 48, William Heron 68.

Six other men were injured in the Tully Vallen Orange Hall.

And the Bible says that the soul that sinneth it shall die.

And it's not just the murderers and the rapists and the drunkers

and the thief and the harlots, but it's the unbelieving, it's

the fearful. Remember John 3 and 16?

Because that message is there. For God so loved the world that

he gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him

should not perish, but have everlasting life.

But he that believeth not on the Son have not life, and the wrath

of God abideth on Him. We live in a day when sin is

ignored. We live in a day when sin is

misunderstood and yet has forgotten that sin pays wages.

The wages of sin is death, eternal death.

The gift of God is eternal life. You know, people live every day,

they take every step, they take every breath, they enjoy

everything that God gives them. And yet every day they live,

they're getting closer and closer out of Christ to this

place called the Pit. I could link it up with

Revelation 20, the bottomless pit where the devil will be

bound for 1000 years. The danger that was faced going

down into the pit very quickly. And secondly, notice the

discovery that was found. If you go back to the text, it

tells us something truly amazing there in the book of Job in Job

33 and verse 24. Then he is gracious unto him and

said, deliver him from going down into the pit.

I have found a ransom. Then he is gracious.

That refers to God Almighty. And whenever it says, then he is

gracious unto him. Him as a reference to the man

who faces this danger. And what does God say in grace?

Deliver him. Now why does God give such a

gracious word? And here's the answer.

I have found a ransom and the word ransom here is the Hebrew

word cofer, which means atonement.

You see this word ransom speaks of redemption.

It speaks of a release, it speaks of a rescue.

There's tremendous salvation here.

It says in the text then he is gracious.

They in a school town, which means at that time and and out

of grace what is spoken is a word of deliverance and safe

deliver him. Do you feel the sense of that

that word deliver him is spoken and free grace.

Is it any wonder Paul could say where sin abounds, grace does

much more abound. We were singing there

deliberately. Amazing Grace.

How sweet the sound that saved the Wretch like me.

I once was lost, but now I'm found was blind, but now I see

Amazing Grace. The little chorus.

There's a way back to God from the dark path of sin, and

Calvary's cross is where you begin.

When you come as a Sinner to Jesus.

You see there's no Sinner conceive himself.

There's no Sinner can set himself free from the terrors

and torments of this pit. The Sinner is without strength

and power. The Sinner needs one to come and

deliver him. The Sinner needs one to speak

the word of deliverance, and that's the context.

Look at verse 23. If there be a messenger with

him, a messenger with him, and who is the messenger of the New

Covenant? Well, it's Christ.

He's the mediator of the New covenant, not just a messenger.

And he is a merciful high priest.

He is sinlessly perfect, and on the ground of ascendous life and

atoning death. He has power to set the captive

free. You see, there's a wonderful

deliverance here for the Sinner. Imagine God Almighty in heaven

saying, deliver him. Why?

For I have found a ransom. And he speaks that word in

grace. A search was made in heaven and

in earth, and the ransom was found.

And who is the ransom? It's none other than the Lord

Jesus. Listen to what He Himself said

in Matthew chapter 20 and verse 28.

Matthew 20 · chapter mention

Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to

minister and to give his life a ransom.

For many, the ransom speaks of paying a price to release a soul

from bondage. And here's the Lord Jesus.

And he came into the world and he lived and died for sinners,

and he died as the sinners substitute.

He, he, he provided a ransom price.

His shed blood is the means of our deliverance.

It's not found in the Roman Catholic Church.

It's not found in neither Pope nor priest or confessional.

I'll tell you better than that. It's not even found in the

Protestant Church. Not the Protestant Church that

saves. It's Christ.

Not as pastors and elders, but Christ alone is not found in

good living. It's not found in a moral

lifetime. It's not found in religious

rites and ceremonies. For by grace.

So you see it through faith and not all of yourselves.

The gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.

And here's a text that says, then he is gracious unto him.

Do you, do you feel the weight of that?

And he saith in grace, deliver him on what ground?

He hasn't earned it. He hasn't worked for it.

Wait a minute. He doesn't deserve it.

He's a murderer, he's a rapist, he's a thief.

He's a law breaker. He he's an unbeliever.

It's in the basis of free grace. What is grace?

It's undeserved, unmerited favour to lawbreakers and

criminals and sinners. Do you know there's a story told

about Doctor Tory? Doctor Tory?

Whenever he was in New York, he he met this old Shoemaker.

Shoemaker was a drunkard, used to beat his wife, drank whiskey,

gave his wife no money, spent all that he earned in the public

house. He had no time for the gospel.

He cursed and swore like a tripper, and he cursed Tory and

his God to his face. Well, Tory prayed for him.

Tory went to befriend him, to minister to him, to tell him he

needed to repent and get saved. And there was a day came when

that man repented, and that man received Christ.

And here was the word Ho everyone that thirsteth, come ye

to the waters, he have no money. Come ye by and eat ye come by

wine and milk, without money and without price.

Tory pointed him to the words. Jesus paid it all.

All to him I owe. Sin had left the Crimson stain.

He washed it white. As so.

Can you say that tonight? Can you sing and say by way of

testimony, I am redeemed? Oh, praise the Lord.

You see the Gospel, The gospel is a gospel message about a

ransom price. It's a good news from God about

God's remedy for human sinfulness.

And God's remedy centres in the personal work of Christ.

And here's the greatest discovery in the world, that God

himself found a way to be just and the justifier of the

ungodly. And God's way was in the ransom

price, the birth, the life, the death, the resurrection of a

substitute, and then grace. He proclaims it.

He speaks a word of deliverance. Deliver him.

Atonement has been made. Divine justice has been

satisfied. God's wrath has been appeased

and propitiated. His law has been fulfilled.

The resurrection's proof that God accepted the ransom price of

Christ. Not only the danger that was

faced and the discovery that was found, but we'll close with

this, the deliverance that was focused.

Look at these words again in the text.

Then He is gracious unto him and sayeth, deliver Him.

They pause there, underline the word Him.

It's an individual. It's not them, it's Him.

You see it. It's a personal deliverance, and

God deals with every Sinner on an individual basis.

The Bible says then everyone shall give an account of himself

unto God. You're not accountable for your

wife. You're not accountable for your

brother, your sister. You're not accountable for any

member of your family or every other individual.

They're accountable for their own sin and their own guilt and

their own bondage. So here, here's a personal

message. Deliver him.

But it's not only a personal deliverance.

Notice it's a powerful deliverance.

Deliver him from going down to the pet.

It's it's it's in that sense where deliver him now because

he's in immediate and imminent danger.

Speak the word now. Can you hear that the Lord Jesus

deliver him now? He's speaking to you personally,

but he's speaking powerfully. Doesn't the Bible say, behold,

now is accepted, now is the day of salvation today, if you will

hear his voice harden not your hearts as in the provocation.

Boast not thyself of tomorrow. For no man knoweth what a day we

bring forth in the context we read the words for God speaketh

once, yeah, twice. Yet man perceiveth had done.

How many times has God spoke to you in the Gospel?

You know you're a Sinner. You know you need to be saved.

You know you have a precious soul.

You know about the reality of heaven and the awfulness of

hell. That's in the book.

You, you accept that teaching. But what have you done about it?

Here's the call of the gospel. It's a powerful call.

Deliver him from going down to the pit.

Now, could I tell you something else?

It's a particular deliverance. Look with me at the text in the

context the pit is mentioned. 3 * 1824 thirty.

But look with me at verse 27. He looketh upon man, And if any

say I have sinned and perverted that which was right, and it

profited me not, he shall deliver his soul from going down

into the pit. You see, here's the call of the

gospel. The gospel calls for a

confession of sin. You coming to the Lord and

saying, Lord, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight.

That's the first step to deliver your soul.

Go to God and say, I've sinned against heaven, and in your

sight, Lord, save me, I perish. Notice it says in verse 28, And

his life shall see the light. With confession there's true

conversion and in true conversion there's change.

Remember Zacchaeus, he was told up the tree, Come down, make

haste for today I must abide in thy eyes.

The lame man was told some thy sins be forgiven thee.

Here's the call of the gospel. It's not only personal and

powerful, but it's particular. You're called to confess.

You're called to repent. You're called to have faith.

You're called to see that you've got the light of God flooding

into your soul. Could I finish tonight with

this? You know that one day you'll die

as I will, and on that day you need to be aware of the

destruction that's in front of you, the danger that you face

going down into the pit and you need to make this discovery.

The greatest discovery is that you've found a ransom.

Not the discovery of £1,000,000, no, not the discovery of a

goldmine, not not the discovery of immense wealth that you never

had to work again in your life. Greater discovery, the greatest

in the world. God says I've found a ransom,

make the discovery of a deliverer because the deliverer

in grace is saying deliver him. You not only need a relationship

with the Lord, but you can rejoice in a day of salvation,

the deliverance that was focused.

Is that true of you tonight? Have you that particular

deliverance? And you know how powerful it's

come to you and changed you. You're converted tonight.

You've called on the Lord. Whosoever shall call upon the

name of the Lord shall be saved, and you've particularised it

because it's particular to you. You're in a right relationship

to the Lord. Your soul has been restored.

You're rejoicing tonight in all the blessings and benefits of

God in the gospel. May that be true of you tonight.

If not, remember this danger. You need to make this discovery

so that you can enjoy this deliverance.

The Lord bless you tonight. Thank you for coming, thank you

for listening, and I pray the Lord will use His Word for His

glory.