I would appreciate your prayers
this morning in a special way. I never got much rest last night. I took an extra pill this morning,
a steroid. I'm very weary. And I covet your
prayers. I need God's help. Job chapter 19. Job chapter 19, beginning with verse 23. Job
19, 23. This man, Job, was a man greatly afflicted of
the Lord. Not because he did anything wrong,
but to be a lesson to us how strong God's grace really is. The children of God, sons of
God, came before God to worship, and Satan came among them. God challenged him. He said,
Have you considered my servant Job? None like him on this earth. Fears God. Stays away from evil. None like him. Satan said, yeah,
I know, but you've got a hedge about him and you've got a hedge
about everything he's got. Can't touch him. Said, you turn
that hedge down and he'll crush you to your face. God told Satan, said, go get
him. Just don't touch his body. Job
was a very, very, very wealthy man, and Satan took everything
he had. His wife turned against him. There was another day, with old
Job, this was his response, The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh
away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
There was another day the sons of God met to worship God, and
Satan came among them. God said, Have you considered
my servant Job? There's none like him. He fears
God. He refrains from evil. There's
none like him on this earth. And old Satan said, Yeah, but
I'm not going to give him anything for his life. You touch his life,
he'll cut you to your face. God said, go at it. You can have
his body, don't take his life. And he afflicted that man with
grievous boils from head to toe. And Job wound up sitting on the
garbage heap outside town, scraping the boils with a dirty piece
of pottery, a broken piece of pottery. He sat there for several
days and his friend came. They're supposed to be comforters,
supposed to be friends. And that was the greatest trial
of all. He said, you're miserable physicians. You're miserable
comforters. You persecute me. You don't help
me at all. Beginning with verse 23. He said, Oh, that my words were
now written. Oh, that they were printed in
a book. That they are, aren't they? They
are. That they were graven with an
iron pen and laid in a rock forever. Job, what words are you talking
about? What do you want to tell us? And if everybody here this
morning can say this, these words of Job, everything's all right. And if you can't, nothing's all
right. I know. Not only that there is a Redeemer,
I know He's my Redeemer. Redeem me unto God by His own
life's blood. But I know that he's alive, that
he shall stand in the latter day upon this earth. You ever think about that, seeing
him face to face on this earth? And though after my skin, worms
destroy this body, they just eat me up, my body. Yet in this same place, this
same body, I'm going to see Him. He's going to stand on this earth,
and I'm going to see Him face to face. I see my God, my Redeemer, my
Savior, whom I shall see for myself My own eyes shall behold him, not another. I myself, my own
eyes, in this own body of flesh, I'm going to see him face to
face. Though my reins consume within
me. But you should say, then why
persecute we this man? seeing the root of the matter
is found in him. Why are you persecuting this
man? The root of the matter is in
him. God said concerning him, there is not another one like
him on the face of this earth that does good, fears God, refrains
from evil, worships God, offers sacrifices for his children.
Not like him. Why do you persecute him? If
you were some sort of God. And in the previous verses here,
it shows how low he had come in the esteem of men and women
around him. Everybody thought because he
was afflicted of God, he'd done something grievously evil. That's what his three friends
kept charging him, but he hadn't. He hadn't. I'm sorry for what happened to
Job, but I thank God for what happened to Job, because I know
what kind of God I serve. If I'm in His hand, none can
pluck me out. If He's prayed for me, my faith
will never fail. I can say with Job, you can write
it down in a book, you can print it in a book, you can write it
with lead and iron and a rock. I know my Redeemer lives. One
of these days, this weak body that I know for me is not going
to be far away, going to lay down in the grave and the skin
worms are going to come after my skin. They're going to destroy
this body. And yet, notwithstanding, one
day I'm going to stand up out of that grave, stand on this earth in a glorified
body. and see my Savior and my Lord
face to face. You write it down. That's my
hope. That's my faith. That's my confidence. And it was true of Job. There's
only one way God saved sinners. I want to point that out first.
There are people that think that there was law in the Old Testament
and grace in the New Testament. Boy, there's grace in the Old
Testament. The God of glory appeared to Adam when he had sinned, trying
to hide himself naked before God. God went to him. God clothed
him in free sovereign grace. Abraham and Abel and on down
to the ages. There's only one way God saves
sinners, though some break up the two Testaments into law and
grace, and there are some who begin at Pentecost for the doctrine
of baptismal regeneration. Of course, they didn't have baptism
in the Old Testament, so they didn't have baptismal regeneration.
Two Gospels. But there's only one. There's
only one. The Apostle Paul said, if any
man come to you, I don't care if he's an angel from heaven,
and preach unto you any other gospel than what I preach, he's
under the curse of God. Stay away from him. Stay away
from him. And some, after the Book of Acts,
they look for their doctrine of no water baptism at all. And
I met some of those and read some of their books. The fact
of the matter is that Job's faith and Job's hope is exactly like
ours. If we have true faith and true
hope, then it's just like Job's. Just like Job. Look at Acts 10
just a moment. Acts 10. You can hold your place
here in Job. Turn to Acts chapter 10. And you can look at Luke chapter
24, two places. In the 24th chapter, you look
at Galatians chapter 3. Hebrews chapter 4, you find that
the same gospel the apostles preached was the gospel preached
in the Old Testament. Same message, same gospel. Now, I'm just going to read this one
verse, verse 43. To Him, Jesus Christ, to Him,
give all the prophets witness. What are they talking about Christ?
What did they write about Christ? What was their witness? Christ.
that through his name, this is their witness, all the prophets
up to Samuel and since Samuel, all the Old Testament prophets, that through his name, Jesus
Christ, the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, whosoever believeth in him shall
be forgiven. His sins shall be forgiven. What
did all the prophets talk about? That's what they talked about.
Same thing Paul did. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The Messiah. And they all talked
about the same thing from Genesis 3, 15 onward. All the redemptive
promises and prophecies in the Bible are contained in this one
person, the Lord Jesus Christ, and grow out of Him. They all
grow out of Him. pivotal point. He's the foundation
of all these prophecies. Every bloody sacrifice and type
of the Old Testament, every ritual and ceremony of the Old Testament, looks to this verse for meaning
and authority. Forgiveness in Christ. Forgiveness
in Christ. Genesis 3.15, all the way back
there. See to the woman. That old ark, that smitten rock, that manna
in the wilderness, that brazen serpent, those things were all
mere shadows of good things to come. And that which cast the
shadow is the Lord Jesus Christ. He made the shadow. He casts
the shadow. He's the reality. They were just
shadows of Him in one way or another. The Lord Jesus Christ. Why would men think that there
are different Gospels? I thought about this. The only
way I can figure it out is that they don't understand. They don't
understand God's justice and man's sinfulness. and the only
remedy. There's only one remedy. God's
justice and man's sinfulness. How can man be reconciled? I
got it only one way. Law has to be satisfied. Justice
has to be satisfied. And that's only done in the Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's only done in Him. It isn't
in our doing. It isn't in our deeds. But as our dear friend, Brother
Scott Richardson, used to say, it's in the doing and dying of
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only remedy. The only
remedy. Send a God-man. Send a Nazarene. Send Mary's son. Send the Son
of God. That gloriously unique God-man,
the Lord Jesus. Old Job had the same need, same
faith, and the same hope of every one of God's redeemed. Same gospel. Same Lord and God and Savior. All the same. Go all the way
back to Abraham and the Bible says, Christ said it of Abraham,
he rejoiced to see my day. He saw it. And it sure made him
glad. When Abraham saw Christ, he saw
Christ. Isaiah chapter 6, saw the Lord
high and lifted up, and the seraphim floating around, flying around,
holy, holy, holy. Who was that? That was Christ.
That was the Lord Jesus Christ. John chapter 12. Now, Job looked at Christ as
his Redeemer. Isn't that all we need? To look
to Christ knowing who He is? Knowing He redeemed us to God
by His own blood. Job looked to Christ and he said,
He's not only a Redeemer, He's my Redeemer. I know that my Redeemer
is alive. And I know that one day He's
going to stand on this earth. When it's created in righteousness. be no more sin here. When it's
changed, when it's purged, when it's renovated, He's going to
stand on this earth and I'm going to stand here too. My Redeemer,
and I'm going to see Him face to face, the One who redeemed
me, the One who will love men where it behooved Him to be made
like me, take upon Himself the likeness of sinful flesh, live
upon this sin-cursed earth, walk the sands of time, suffer the
contradiction of sinners, against himself and redeem me unto God
on the cross. I'm going to see him. This word
redeemer here is kinsman, redeemer, goel. That's a wonderful word. It means the next of kin, closest
of kin. And the kinsman, redeemer in
the Old Testament had rights and privileges if he was willing,
if he was able. And if he was willing and if
he was able, that kinsman-redeemer could redeem us in three different
ways. He could avenge the death of his kin, and our Lord did. He put Christ to open shame,
publicly shame, on the cross, triumphing over him on the cross,
bruising his head, destroying his kingdom. And then there's the redeeming
from slavery through debts. The Old Testament, if an Israelite
got into debt and sold himself into slavery to pay off his debt,
on that day of Jubilee, he was set free. And then if a man got
so far in debt he lost all of his property, all of his inheritance,
everything he had, on that day of Jubilee, it was fully restored. Absolutely free. No charge. Thank you. Nothing to pay. Absolutely
free. Day of Jubilee. And that's what
Christ is to us. For we are in debt. And we have
nothing to pay. And he said, charge it to me
and I'll pay it. That's what he said to God Almighty.
Charge it to me, I'll pay it. And he paid it in full. He paid
it in full. Poor old Job. All my friends and loved ones
have turned against me. He said, I can call out to a
servant living in my house and they won't even answer. My wife
is strange to me. She told me, won't you curse
God and die, you old fool? Little children. He used to set
at the gate of the city, a man of great respect and honor. And
now when he gets up and little children look at him, they make
fun of him. And he sits all alone, outside town in the garbage dump,
scraping his balls with an old dirty piece of pottery. All my friends, all my loved
ones have turned against me. My family's all gone. I had seven
lovely children. They're all gone. No one pities me. No one pities
me. Looks like they would, doesn't
it? But they don't. No one pities me. And you three
friends, supposed friends, you come here and persecute me. as
if you were God or something. I done something wrong, so you
turn your anger out against me. But you wait a minute. You engrave
this with a lead pen and a big stone. Write it down. I know. that my Redeemer liveth. Do you know that this morning?
Do you know the Redeemer? Do you know that He liveth? And
do you know He's your Redeemer, as He redeems you unto God by
His own blood? Oh, what a thing to write down.
You say, I wish it was written down. I wish it was printed in
a book. I wish it was printed in a book. I wish it were graven
with an iron pen and laid in a rock forever. It is. It's written down, preserved
of God for us to read here this morning. Long time later. Long time. Long time. I have
a living Redeemer, an Avenger, a Vindicator, a restorer, he
shall restore that which he took not away, my Redeemer. Christ hath redeemed us unto
God by his own blood, gave himself a ransom unto God to redeem us,
buy us back, set us free. He paid our debts, he delivered
us from slavery, and he recovered our inheritance. One day we're
going to dwell on this earth in all of its purity. He's going to redo it. He's going
to purge it with fire. And God boldly left any trace
of sin forever. Nothing but righteousness. Nothing
but righteousness dwelleth therein. Righteous people in a righteous
earth. No sin. My Redeemer shall restore
the garden of paradise, stand at the latter day on this earth.
I don't care how people feel about me now, what people say
about me now. It hurts. But boy, you wait just
a minute. You write this down. I've got a Redeemer. I'm not
going to be like this forever. I've been redeemed. I have a restorer. I know I've
lost all I have in this world, but I have an inheritance. Incorruptible,
undefiled, fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for all who believe. And in this day there be no more
sin. No more suffering, no more bondage,
no more death. Perfect peace and joy forever. Life and peace and rejoicing. And I know that He's my Redeemer.
That's the root of the matter. That's the root of the matter.
I know that He's my Redeemer. I have all of my confidence,
all of my faith, all of my hope in this very one here, my Redeemer,
Levith. And His testimony that one day
He is coming back, one day He is going to stand on this earth,
one day I'll stand with Him, I believe that. That's the root
of the matter. We trust in Him and Him alone,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Trust in His infinite power and
ability. This kinsman redeemer is not
only willing, but he's able. He's able. Able to save to the
uttermost all that come to God by him. Therefore old Job had,
though he had terrible realities to contend with at the present,
he had strong expectations. Do you have strong expectations? I do. I do. When God gives me the grace and
the faith and the hope, I have strong expectations. Old Job
said, look at me here, diseased and dying. And that's all of
us here this morning, every single one of us. We're diseased and
dying. That disease is sin and it brings
forth death. There is no escape. except in
this Redeemer. Let men lay me in the ground,
let the worms eat my body and crawl away to someone else. Yet in my flesh and in my body,
oh, the mystery, oh, the mystery and the power and the greatness
of our The worm is going to eat up this body and crawl off and
start eating on somebody else. Yet one day I'm going to stand
up in this body, a perfect body, a body fashioned like unto the
body of the Lord Jesus. And I'm going to stand on this
earth before the Lord Jesus. And I'm going to see Him face
to face. all problems behind us, all discomforts
behind us, all sin and disease, sorrow and tears, all behind
us. Yeah, he had great expectations.
He said, in this place, with my eyes, I'm going to stand with
him. I'm going to stand before him.
I'm going to see him face to face. Oh, foolish Job. Foolish, foolish
Joe. How shall you ever accomplish
this? He said, I can't. I can't do
this for myself. I can't and I won't. But my Redeemer
will. He'll do it for me. What a Redeemer. I'm going to ask you this morning, this day in which we live, do
you know the Redeemer? Can you trust Him? Is He your
Redeemer? Have you put all your hopes in
Him? An old preacher said years ago, put all your eggs in one
basket. Christ! It's all in Him. All in Him. I'll tell you what I think. I
think if he can gather and raise these bones after the worms have
had their day, I think he can grant you repentance
in faith this morning. This morning, right now. Why don't you ask him? May God bless these words to
every heart. May God give us the faith of
Job and increase it. OK, ladies.