Alright brethren, let's go back
to Job 19. Now by God's grace, Job believed
God. God called Job, my servant. My
servant. And yet God put a heavy hand
on Job. permitted Job to suffer the most
difficult trials a person could suffer. The only other we find
suffering more is the Son of God. Job had a large family. He had 10 children. He had seven
sons and three daughters. And with one storm, they were
all killed one day. Job lost all his children in
one day. Job was a man of great wealth.
Job 1.3 says, the greatest of all men in the east. Great wealth. God took it all away. Every bit
of it. God permitted Satan to take
his health. Take his health. Here he sits,
covered in boils and sackcloth and ashes, scraping himself with
a piece of a pot all hope of living any longer
was gone. He thought he was about to die.
He thought death was near at hand. He said there in Job 19.13,
he described some of what he was going through. He said, he
had put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are
verily estranged from me. My kin's folk have failed. My
familiar friends have forgotten me. They that dwell in my house
and my maids count me for a stranger. I'm an alien in their sight.
I called my servant and he gave me no answer. I entreated him
with my mouth. My breath is strange to my wife,
though I'm treated for the children's sake of mine own body. Yea, young
children despise me. I arose and they spake against
me. All my inward friends abhorred me, and they whom I loved are
turned against me. My bone cleaveth to my skin and
to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth. Many
who have never suffered close to what Job suffered are critical of Job about some
of the wrong things that Job said throughout the book. But
in the end, God said Job spoke the truth. The Lord came to Job's
defense and he said of his friends, you've not spoken of me the thing
that's right. That's what God said. He said,
as my servant Job hath. What are some of those things
that God was commending that Job said? Look back at Job 1.21. After everything God took from
him, Job 1.21. Job said, naked came I out of
my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave,
and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
And in all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. In
Job 2, in verse 10, Job's wife said, why don't you just curse
God and die? He said there in the middle part
of verse 10, what, shall we receive good at the hand of God and shall
we not receive evil? And all this did not Job sin
with his lip. He said in another part of the
book, he said, though he slay me, yet will I trust him. Now,
after reproaching him 10 times, Job said to his friends, he said,
indeed, God has put his hand upon me. He said, He's set darkness
in my path. He stripped me of my glory, of
all that I possess. And they were saying, this is
because of your sin, Job. It's your sin that this is happening,
the reason this is happening to you. And he said, well, if
God indeed is chastening me for my sin, then the matter is in
me. It's between God and me. He said in verse 22, why do you
persecute me as God? As though you're God and not
be satisfied with my flesh, not satisfied with God's hand upon
me. God took away all from Job and
he expected his life was gone too. Even his body would go to
the dust. In just a little while, that's
what he expected. And he had no outward evidence of any love
of God for him. And he didn't have any in his
heart either at the time. He says in the chapter that God
wasn't answering him. What was Job's hope in the midst
of all of this? What's a true believer's hope
when God takes everything away? Our text shows us the root of
the matter in Job. This is the heart of the matter.
This is it right here. This is the hope. The only hope.
When everything's taken away, Everything that gives us some
confidence and we just don't know the things that fill us
up with pride and give us the confidence we have until they're
gone. Here's the one hope we have when
God takes off even your body and makes worms eat it. Here's
the one hope we got right here. Verse 23. Oh, that my words were
now written. Oh, that they were printed in
a book, that they were graven with an iron pen and laid in
the rock forever. Job says, I would that one thing's
recorded to declare my only hope, this is it. For I know that my
Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day
upon the earth, and though after my skin worms destroy this body,
Yet in my flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself,
and mine eyes shall behold and not another, though my reins
be consumed within me." Whatever God takes away from a true believer,
if this is the root of the matter, if this is all you hope, if this
is the confession of our heart, all is well. All is well. He said, I know my Redeemer liveth. I know my Redeemer liveth. Paul
said, I know whom I have believed and I am persuaded that He's
able to keep that which I've committed to Him against that
day. I'm the sinner. I need redemption. Christ is my Redeemer. I know my Redeemer liveth, Job
said. The sinner saved by grace says
Christ is all my hope of eternal life. He's the only hope I've
got. I know Christ my Redeemer. I know He liveth. That's my only
hope. He stood on this earth and He
redeemed me. And He's coming again. He's going
to redeem me out of this earth. And everything that I am and
everything that I've ever put any confidence in is going to
the dust and worms are going to eat this body. That's about
as much as I can put confidence in anything I am or anything
I've ever done in me. But I know my Redeemer liveth.
I shall arise by His life with a new body and see Him and be
like Him and praise Him alone forever. My hope is my Redeemer
alone. That's what Job's saying. That's
what Job said. Christ is the Redeemer of his
people. Christ is the Redeemer of his
people. Our hope is Christ our Redeemer. He's the kinsman Redeemer. God made a law that a man, when
he lost everything, all his living, all his livestock, all his house,
all his money, everything he had, when he had absolutely nothing,
God made a law that if he had a near kinsman, if he had one
who was wealthy and one who was willing and able, he could redeem
him. He could come pay all his debt.
He could come and purchase him, redeem him out from under all
his debt, pay all his sin debt and buy him out of debt. and
provide everything for him, restore him, give it all to him. You know, Naomi, Elimelech took
Naomi down into Moab to try to save them from the famine that
came into the land. God killed Elimelech, killed
his sons, and Orpah stayed behind and ended up being just Naomi
and Ruth, but God brought them back. He brought them back to
the house of bread. And there was a near kinsman.
They didn't have anything. Naomi went down there. Her name
meant pleasant. She came back. She said, don't
call me pleasant. Call me Mara. Call me bitter.
She came back. She said, the Lord dealt hard
with me. He'd taken everything away. I
got nothing. And she came back. And Ruth went
out there to glean in the field. And Boaz was there. And he saw
Ruth. And he left some handfuls of
purpose so she could have some to glean and take back. And Ruth
told Naomi about this man Boaz. And Naomi said, that's your near
kinsman. That's the near kinsman. And
Boaz loved her and he bought, he redeemed her and restored
everything to her. He assumed all her debts and
he restored her. Job's sitting here now and he
says, I have nothing. I have nothing. I have absolutely
nothing. It's gone. Everything I had any
confidence in is gone. I've got nothing. He stripped
me of all. I have nothing. Nothing in my
life to put any hope in. But I know my kinsman redeemer
liveth. He's going to stand on this earth.
He's going to redeem me by his precious blood. And he's going
to come back. He's going to redeem my body
out of the grave and take me to glory with him. He's going
to pay my sin debt in full and no worms destroy this body. This
body won't even be visible anymore. Job said, you think that this
is something that he's taking everything away from me here?
My body's going to be to the point you won't ever be able
to see a piece of it and know it ever existed. Ain't that going
to be something? God's going to take and bring
out of the ground a brand new glorified body of His people. conformed to His image, perfect
like our Redeemer. Nothing in my body, nothing in
my life is gonna give me any hope, it's not gonna give me
any confidence. We just don't realize how much
we have our peace and our comfort and we're not shaken by things
we have in this life. We're just saying things that
once were wild alarms, don't disturb me anymore. Very few,
very few. A flat tire will do it, won't
it Caleb? Yet when worms destroy this body
in my flesh, I'm going to see my God because my kinsman redeemer
liveth. He can restore all and more than
I lost. Christ is the near kinsman redeemer
of all his chosen people. The first Adam plunged us into
sin. The last Adam redeemed his people
from all iniquity. The first Adam took all away.
The last Adam restored all and more. The first Adam, scripture
says, in him all died. All who he represented. The last
Adam says all who he represented shall live. The first Adam was
a living soul. The last Adam's a quickening
spirit. Eternal God in human flesh and he accomplished eternal
redemption by his precious blood. That means we're His purchased
possession, we belong to Him. He arose triumphant from the
grave, and all His redeemed people arose triumphant in Him. He said, yet a little while,
and the world seeth me no more, but you see me, because I live. There's the only reason. Because
I live, you shall live also. That's it. Because He lives. He said, you shall live also.
We have nothing in us which to trust or hope in. Christ our
Redeemer must be all. He must be all. That's the chief lesson we learned
from Job. God took it all away and at last
his diseased body's gonna return to the dust. We're sinners. There's nothing good in us in
which to trust. There's none good but God. There's none good but God. That
lumps us all in there, don't it? None good but God. God took
everything from Job to show us that none of those things were
salvation for Job at any point in time. He was not worse off
without anything he had because he had Christ. Not worse off
for anything he lost because he had Christ. There's no personal
righteousness in us. None at all. There's no goodness
in us in which to put confidence. God said, my people shall be
satisfied with my goodness. It's His goodness. It's His goodness. All the hope a sinner has, a
sinner saved by grace, is the Redeemer, Christ Jesus. Isn't
that so? The near kinsman had to have
wealth. He had to have wealth. He had to be able to pay. If
he's going to redeem, he had to be able to pay. He had to
be wealthy. He had to be able to pay everything that was old. Our Redeemer's wealthy. He's
wealthy. We're bankrupt, but Christ is
rich. He's rich. He didn't need Job's
wealth. He gave him his wealth. He took
it away. Why? To remind Job, I'm your
riches. I just ain't want your riches,
Job. I'm your riches. We have no righteousness. Who's
the righteousness God requires? It's not a doctrine, it's a person. Christ is the righteousness His
people require. You think about what Abraham
really knew. What did he really know? No. God said, Abraham,
I'm your shield and I'm your reward. Abraham said, yes, Lord,
I believe you. I believe you. We have no holiness. Christ is
the holiness in a person. He's the holiness without which
no man shall see the Lord. He's the only holiness. He's
the perfection of holiness at God's right hand and He was the
perfection of holiness dwelling in that thief on the cross who
that day he was born had the holiness with which he could
see God. Christ is that holiness. He's the sanctification abiding
in his people. We put far too much confidence
thinking that because we've not done something that God just
restrained us from doing, that that's holiness. There's gonna
be a lot of that when you get to be 80 years old. That don't
mean you're gonna be holy because of it. Christ is our holiness. Job's hope was not in his riches,
it was Christ. God stripped him of everything
to show him and to show us. God gives it, God takes it away,
but the riches remain the same. The riches of Christ, the riches
never change. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
the righteousness. In our near kinsmen, He's the
one who's rich. And through His poverty, He makes
His people rich. Rich in faith. Rich in grace. Rich in mercy. Rich in love.
Rich in His glorious person and His finished work. Rich in Him.
Not in us, rich in Him. Well, the Redeemer not only had
to be wealthy, He had to be a near kinsman. Couldn't just be anybody.
He had to be a near kinsman. God's elect are His children. They're His children. He predestinated
us to the adoption by Jesus Christ to Himself. God's elect are His
children. That's who they are. That's who
you are. You're His child. You that have been called by
Him, you're His child. And Christ is the elder brother.
He predestinated His people to be conformed to the image of
Christ, that Christ might be the firstborn among many brethren. He's the elder brother. He's
the near kinsman. He's got the right of redemption.
It's His. Job's hope was not in His children
or His wife or His friends. God took them away. Job's hope
was Christ, His near kinsman. That's who his hope was. He's
the near kinsman. The Redeemer had to not only
be wealthy, he had to not only be a near kinsman, he had to
be willing to redeem. Job said, I know my Redeemer
liveth, and at the latter day, he gonna stand on this earth.
Job said, I know he's willing. I know he is. He's coming. Our
Lord Jesus, the Son of God, was willing and He was able. He came
down, He took flesh, willing to take flesh, willing to dwell
in this hell hole we call Earth with a bunch of hell-deserving
sinners. He was willing to do that for His people. Aren't you
glad He didn't turn His back, say, I'm not having nothing to
do with them, I'm gonna dwell among them. That's what He did
for us, brethren. Job said he's gonna stand on
the earth, and he did. He came and he took flesh and
he walked on this earth willingly for his people. We're all like
Job. We all have a loathsome disease. How afraid would you be if you
saw Job sitting there with leprosy, scraping his wounds, and when
he said, escape by the skin of my teeth, it means my teeth have
fallen out. All I got is my gums and his
nose is, rotted off and he's got leprosy and if you touch
him, you're going to get it. That's me and you and this thing
called sin and Christ came to where we are. And to show us
how willing he was to dwell among us and be one with us, when that
leper came up to him and everybody was jumping back and saying,
you're supposed to be yelling unclean, nobody wants to have
anything to do with you. Christ reached out and touched
him and said, I will be thou clean. I will be thou clean. willing to be made under the
law, willing to come and take his place under his own law.
Think of the love of that condescension. It's not just condescension,
it's love. He came and made himself under
the law he gave to redeem his people from under the curse.
Willing to lay down his life in place of his people, willing
to bear the shame of our sin, We're not ashamed of our sin,
not like we would be if we knew what real perfection was. Christ knew that, and He knew
the shame of sin with perfect hatred for it, and He was willing
for this world and for his father to look at him with the sin of
his people on him and see him as the one bearing it, the one
who is made the shame and bearing it for his people. and then to make him a curse. That came after Adam's sin, to
be made a curse, to bear the curse, to bear the wrath of God
and the punishment and the fierce anger of the one he loved. Willing
to do that for his people. He said, I laid down my life
for the sheep. I know my sheep. I love my sheep.
I'm laying down my life for my sheep. And he said, and no man's
taking it from me. I'm willingly doing this of myself. I have this commandment from
my Father, and I willingly lay down my life. That kinsman redeemer
had to be rich, he had to be a near kinsman, and he had to
be willing, and Christ was willing. Willing to bear the wrath of
God until justice was satisfied, to declare God just and the justifier
of His people. He was willing to bear that,
not just to be made sin, not just to be made a curse, but
to bear it until God said that's enough. to an eternal hell was suffered
on that cross for his people so that God's just to say, that's
enough. Willing. And that's what he did. Job's hope was not in his will.
Wouldn't that be foolish now for Job to say, but here's my
hope, I'm willing. It wasn't in his will. Job couldn't
will his condition away. Job couldn't will his disease
away. He couldn't will his children
back. He couldn't will his wealth back. His will wasn't doing him
any good where he was, was it? His hope was, my Redeemer shall
stand on this earth in the latter day because He's willing. He's
willing to redeem me. The only hope of the believer
is our Redeemer liveth and He shall stand on this earth again
and He gonna make us like Him. He stood here one time, he redeemed
his people, he accomplished it, and our hope now is my redeemer
liveth. And at the last day, he gonna
stay on this earth again. Redeem me out of this place.
Body, soul, and spirit perfection. That's my only hope. Job said,
I know my Redeemer liveth. He restored that which he took
not away. Romans 4.25 says he was delivered
for our offenses and was raised again for our justification.
Romans 5.16 says, not as it was by one that sin, so is the gift.
The judgment was by one to condemnation. Just one offense brought us into
this condemnation. There was a lot of offenses that
had to be atoned for. and the free gifts of many offenses
unto justification. Every offense His people have
ever committed. I was thinking of this the other
day. You ever had somebody tell you a story about something that
you did, you and them did 20 years ago, and they remember
it in detail, and you're sitting there thinking, I don't even
remember that happening. Imagine standing before God without
Christ and Him making known every sin you ever thought. There can
be sins, not only that you didn't know you sinned, but there can
be sins you don't even remember that you sinned. But not for His people. Because
all the offenses from beginning to end, our Lord Jesus Christ
justified us from them. Every one of them. Every one
of them. Romans 5.18 says, therefore,
as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men the condemnation,
even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon
all men and the justification of life. All who Adam represented
died because of what he did, and all who Christ represented
are justified because of what Christ did. Men say, I don't
want to be made sin by another man. You got to be. If it wasn't a
first head that made you sin, you can't have any hope in the
last Adam making you righteous because it's all of him. It's
all of him. That's how God arranged it and
that's how it is. Job's hope wasn't diminished
by any man being his judge. He had some judges and they were
saying some awful hard things against him and making him feel
like he didn't even know God and nothing, like they didn't
know him. He said to them, aren't you ashamed that you're being
a stranger to me? But his hope wasn't diminished
that he was judged by men. Now I'm sure in his flesh it
was. I'm sure that he was cast down. But the Lord spoke into
his heart and he made him know this right here. My judge is
that one who redeemed me and justified me. That's my judge. That's my judge. Job's hope wasn't
diminished because he had no friend on earth to intercede
for him. He knew my Redeemer liveth. He's risen. He's the same one that justified
me, laid down his life for me. He's risen to the right hand
of God and he ever lives to intercede for me. And he's my intercessor
with God, my advocate with the Father who says who shall lay
anything to his charge. Job's hope wasn't diminished
because his health was taken and his body would die. He looked
at that grave and he saw it, he knew it, and he thought it
was just right there. It was within a breath or two from him. I've been with a few fellas that
died when they took their last breath. We're not too proud at
that moment. And Joe was at that moment, and
he saw it. He saw where he was headed. He
knew what he was and where he was, and he knew this is it right
here. I'm right here on the edge of
it, a few breaths from now. And he knew what was in the grave.
He said, worms are going to destroy my body. That didn't diminish
his hope. He said, just like Christ stood
on this earth, he's going to come again, and in my flesh,
I'll see God, and I'm going to see him myself. Nobody else is
going to see him. I'm going to see him for me.
My flesh, with my eyes, with my glorified body, I'm going
to see him, Job said. My reins are going to be consumed
within me, but he's going to raise me, and I'm going to see
him. We were buried, corruptible. That's how we're going to be.
We're going to be corrupt when we go into that grave. We're
going to be raised incorruptible. These people are going to go
into that grave mortal. We're going to be raised immortal.
We're going into that grave in shame. We're going to be raised
in glorious holiness in perfection of Christ. Listen to this, brethren. Ephesians 2.4, But God, whose
rich in mercy for His great love wherewith He loved us, that everlasting,
unchangeable, immutable love that is as immutable as God,
Great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in
sins, has quickened us together with Christ, by grace are you
saved, and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And here's the reason,
that in the ages to come, He might show the exceeding riches
of His grace and His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
He raised His people with Him, and they're seated with Him in
glory. Each one of us right now, we have a tabernacle in the heavens,
seated right now in glory, prepared for us, and it's so that in the
ages to come, this is not it. This world's gonna end, this
life's gonna end, everything we accumulate's gonna be gone.
We came in naked, we're going out naked. And what's gonna matter
then is whose we are. whose we are. And if we're Christ,
He did all that and we're seated with Him now because it's God's
purpose that in the ages to come, endless ages of eternity forever,
that He's going to show us the exceeding riches of His grace
and His kindness toward us. That's why He did it. accepted of God. Job said my
body is going to be consumed, but my body is going to be raised
glorious. In my flesh I'm going to see God, I'm going to see
Him for myself, and it won't be another. It will be myself
that sees Him. And I'm going to see... I could
see Job in that place. He's saying it. This is what
he's saying. I don't have any earthly riches. They're gone.
He went from the top to the bottom. He went from having everything
to having nothing. And he said, but right now I
have exceeding riches in Christ. And He's going to bring me up
into glory with Him and I'm going to see those exceeding riches,
the exceeding riches of His kindness and His grace to me forever and
ever and ever and ever. Brethren, here's what Job's saying. God took everything from Job
except his Redeemer. Everything except his Redeemer.
His friends couldn't see that. They couldn't know that. He had to end up interceding
for him at the end. But this is what he's telling
them. He took everything but my Redeemer. If Christ is all you have, this
is what he is saying, if Christ is all, and He is all you have,
you have all. You have all. Can you say that? Lord, if you take it all away,
I still have all in you. My riches and my possessions
and my inheritance and my righteousness and my holiness and everything
I have has not diminished in the least. I have Christ and
I have all. Can you say that? I know my Redeemer liveth. He's
my only hope. That's where he gonna keep his
people. And that's what we're learning ever Little by little
as we go, he's really all. That desk I've been talking about
since 2006 or so, it keeps getting a little more narrow and a little
more narrow and things we don't need keeps falling off. It wouldn't
fall off if we needed it because he only lets fall off what is
best for us to see that he's all. In the end, God gave him
a little more time on the earth, and he made his latter end better
than the beginning. Gave him family, gave him riches,
more than he had before. What's that picture? That's what
he's going to do in our end. Whether he does that for you
in this life or not, it's not really a matter. He's going to
do it there. That's what he's teaching us.
Thy redeemer liveth. Amen.