the One Who made the appeal

Though I am in the right, I cannot answer him;

I must appeal for mercy to my judge.

Job 9:15

The truth about my sin is that I am never truly “right” under my own effort and power. My noblest efforts are tainted by selfishness and wrong. All my righteous acts are still filthy rags in view of God’s perfect holiness. I fall short. I fail. 

That is what Job is saying here. Although he does not believe his life difficulties are the result of judgment against some grievous sin, he does know he is a sinner and cannot stand before God to argue his case unless God cleanses him. Job accepts he is a sinner, as is every person on the planet.

Sin is the original pandemic. It has diseased the world for all generations. Everyone is born with its impurity and infection. It destroys people, controls lives, ruins families, takes over societies, and leads nations. No sinner can contend with a holy God on their own in order to convince Him to forgive their sin.

But Jesus came not to judge sin, but to take the condemnation for sin upon Himself. By dying on the cross as the spotless Lamb of God, Jesus took the Judge’s death sentence for all who will trust in Him. And in His resurrection we are assured that the death sentence will never fall on anyone who trusts in Him! The mercy of God in Jesus Christ is the cure for sin’s global and personal infection. And it is our appeal... freeing us from the sentence of death to find life with God forever in Jesus!