The uselessness of a great ransom.
Job had sinned, says Elihu, though not in the black and hypocritical way that his three friends attributed to him. His sin had been in judging God, and charging the Holy One with injustice; and this sin brought its own punishment; indeed, it was its own punishment, because to think that God, our Maker and our Judge, is unjust is to be in torment. Now Job is told that if he holds to this sin the greatness of a ransom will be of no avail; he cannot be saved.
I. MAN LOOKS FOR DELIVERANCE THROUGH A. RANSOM. This is not only a Christian idea. It is found in the Old Testament, and it is to be traced through heathen systems of religion, though among these systems it appears in a degraded and corrupted state.
1. Man has a sense of bondage. This he feels. When conscience is aroused, he has the most intense consciousness of its galling fetters. "Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" (Romans 7:24).
2. Man cannot escape from his bondage. The old brigand, Satan, that great robber of souls, has too tight a hand on his victims to let them go free whenever they choose to escape from his clutches. Habit is a stronger bandage than the cords with which Samson was bound. The deliverance must come from without.
3. This deliverance must be at a great cost. We do not know what the cost must be, nor how it should be settled. It cannot be true, as some of the Fathers held, that a price must be paid to Satan that he may consent to liberate man. He never consents. He can have no compensation. The liberation is by the overthrow of Satan and the conquest of his domain. The Bastille must be stormed and hurled down if its prisoners are to escape. But this can only be done at great cost.
II. CHRIST IS THE RANSOM FOR THE DELIVERANCE OF MAN. This is his own statement (Matthew 20:28). His advent with humiliation in a state of servitude was a Divine payment—a sacrifice on the part of God. His death was his own surrender of his life for the liberation of man from sin. We need not understand why the ransom had to be paid in order to see that it has been paid. A clear idea of the reason and necessity of the payment might help our faith. Still, the fact is the great thing to know. Christ has given himself fur us, and through him we have liberty.
III. THE GREATEST RANSOM MAY BE UNAVAILING.
1. If it is not rightly paid. Men make great sacrifices in asceticism; yet there is no reason to think that they are of any adequate value, because they are not required by God, and they serve no good end.
2. If there is no repentance. The work of Christ is for the benefit of all who will avail themselves of it. But a first condition of profiting by it is repentance. While a man holds to his sin he cannot enjoy the benefits of Christ's sacrifice. For him Christ has died in vain.
3. If it is not accompanied try faith. This is the connecting link that joins the soul to Christ. All that he has done for us remains outside us, not touching our life and need, till we learn to confide in him.
CONCLUSION. It is worse for the ransom to be paid in vain than for it not to be paid at all. They who reject Christ are doubly without hope, for they are without excuse.—W.F.A.