So Lord may graciously help me,
I would turn your prayerful attention to the book of Job and reading
for a text from Job 19 and that great leap of faith that Job
was able to describe in verse 25. Job 19 verse 25, although
I do want to look at this character Job and how the Lord was graciously
with him and gave him that living faith in his pathway. Job 19 verse 25, for I know that
my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day
upon the earth. This January it was 20 years
ago that some of you knew my auntie Marjorie. 20 years ago
this January it was she died. And this is on her gravestone,
this text. For I know that my Redeemer liveth. And it's a beautiful testimony. You see, if you'd
have asked Job many questions, as God did later on, Job would
have said, I don't know the answer to this. I don't know what God
is doing. I don't know why this has happened. I don't know why
I've lost so much. I don't know so many things.
But here we have Job standing firm and saying, this I do know,
for I know that my Redeemer liveth. You see, there's so many things
he didn't know. But this one thing he did know, he clung on
to it. And oh, the faith of Job. He
had so much to seek to turn him away from God. And yet he clung
on to God. And he had, you see, we don't
know when the book of Job was written, when Job actually lived.
Some people think he was a contemporary of Abraham. It talks about animals
in the book of Job that when God is talking, which we don't
know today, obviously they weren't yet extinct in the day when Job
lived. He obviously knew these animals,
these great leviathan and so forth, these fire-breathing animals. The book of Job is clearly a
very old book. Some people think it's perhaps
the oldest book in the Bible. Right at the beginning, we have
something of a redeemer, something of one who was going to stand
in Job's place, and something that Job found so precious. It's incredible really, his desire,
which starts in verse 23, O that my words were now written, O
that they were printed in a book. How incredible it is. Thousands
of years later, here we're gathering together and reading these words
printed in a book. Job's request was answered. He wanted this truth, with all
the things that he couldn't understand, that this truth to be set down,
for I know that my Redeemer liveth. He believed that he would have
one that would redeem him, one that would vindicate him and
justify him in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Later
on as you go in the book of, as God speaks to Job, you see
he comes then to confess. You see Job was not a perfect,
God describes him as a perfect man, but we don't believe he
was a sinless man. He did have his sins, which he then
confesses, and he confesses that he was vile at the end. he had
this view that he had a Redeemer. He believed in the resurrection.
Right at that early stage in the Word of God, he believed
in the resurrection from the dead. He believed that he had
a Redeemer. And he believed that though he
would die, he would be raised bodily up again and that he would
see God. And what a hope that is for us
today. that true believers, when we
put them in the grave, we often think people say well that's
the final resting place of that person. But it isn't really. It isn't really the final resting
place of a person when you bury them. You see they're waiting
a resurrection day. There's a time coming when there
will be no more death. Everyone who's ever lived will
be raised again, either to the resurrection of the just or the
resurrection of the wicked. Everyone that's ever lived will
come to life again, either to live with Christ forever within
their spirits, will be joined by their resurrected bodies.
Job believed this. You see, we're surrounded with
graveyards and evidence of death. But there's a day coming, you
see, there's not going to be that. There will be no more death. You see, but then there will
of course be eternal punishment for those that are outside of
a Redeemer. Those who saw no beauty in Christ. Those who felt that their own
righteousness was sufficient. Well, you see, Job in this chapter,
He pleads, have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye, my friends,
for the hand of God has touched me. He realised that he was dealing
with God. And you see, when we come with
our souls, it's God and our souls. It's not other people. Ultimately,
God deals with us to bring us, to humble us under his mighty
hand, to bring us to repentance, to show us our need of a saviour. This is this great work that
God brings Job to. You see, Satan had challenged
God and said that if you take all this away, Job will curse
you to his face. But Satan was wrong. Satan was
wrong. If you just look in Job 13 and
verse 15, he says, though he slay me, yet will I trust in
him. This is the tenacious faith of
Job. Whatever God did, he would hang
on to God. He would cleave to God because
he believed in God. He couldn't understand many things,
but he believed in the resurrection. He believed that there was a
God. He believed that God was his God, although he couldn't
understand so many, many things. You see, he says, miserable comforters
are ye all. That's in chapter 16 of Job. And if you speak of, if you look
at some of the words in chapter 16 of Job, I'm sure there's references,
pictures of the Lord Jesus. Job 16 verse 9, He teareth me
in his wrath, who hateth me, he gnasheth upon me with his
teeth. Mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me. They have gaped
upon me with their mouths. Nearly identical language to
Psalm 22 that is talking about Christ on the cross. Gaped upon
me with their mouths. They have smitten me upon the
cheek, reproachfully. They gathered themselves together
against me. You see, this is the great thing
that, in Job 9, we have this question that Job says, how shall
man be just with God? How can man be just? How can he be made right? Well,
you see, the friends of Job, they had their thoughts. They
said God wouldn't, they wouldn't destroy a perfect man. Behold,
God will not cast away a perfect man, neither will he help the
evildoers. But you see, the plan of salvation
was this, that God would take a perfect, the perfect Lamb of
God, and offer him up as a perfect sacrifice, and an acceptable
sacrifice. And you see, this, I believe
Job, early on in the Bible, was pointing to the coming of the
Just One, the coming of the Saviour, the One who would. But Job in
his life, there's many things that are typical of a true believer,
but there's also those things that show the coming of the Lord
Jesus Christ and that faith that Job had. Job had a faith that
was fixed on his Redeemer. And you see in that, what we
quoted in Job 19 verse 25, For I know that
my Redeemer liveth. You might think, well that's
perhaps the end. He's now come to believe that the Lord is going
to vindicate him, that his Redeemer is truly alive. But that's not
the end of Job. That's not the end of the book.
We're only in chapter 19. It goes on to chapter 42. Oh, there was much more that
Job was going to experience. There was many deeper sorrows
that he was yet to pass through. His faith was going to be sorely
tried. But you see, he clung on to his
God. And the Lord Jesus, you see,
he suffered. He suffered so much. And yet,
you see, if you, we're reading through Hebrews in our family
reading, and it speaks of the sufferings of Christ there in
Hebrews 5. Hebrews 5 verse 7, who in the
days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications
with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save
him from death. You might say, well, he didn't
save him from death. He died on the cross. But he saved him from staying
in the grave, didn't he? Psalm 16 picks that up. Thou wilt not leave my soul in
hell, nor wilt thou suffer thy holy one to seek corruption. You see, he was raised, he went
through death and was brought up victorious with strong cryings
and tears unto him that was able to save him from death. This
is what Job clung on to. Job clung on to God that was
able to deliver him. He knew that his Redeemer liveth.
Many things he didn't know, many things he couldn't answer, but
this he clung on to with tenacious strength. To save him from death and was
heard in that he feared, though he were a son, yet learned he
obedience by the things which he suffered. the Son of God learning
obedience by the things which he suffered. Well, if Christ
learned obedience by the things that he suffered, how much more
do we need to learn obedience by the pathway that we pass through? We need to be made conformed,
you see, to the image of his Son. Well, then we read Well, as we go through the book
of Job, one of the things that happened to the Lord Jesus, he
was totally falsely accused, wasn't he? And he didn't read
it, but if you look in Job 22, verse 6 to verse 9, there's a
total false allegation against Job. We're told by God that he
was an upright man that feared God. We're told also by Job later
on how he looked after people. He was careful for the widows
and provided people. If anybody was in trouble, Job
would provide for them. That was the character, the righteous
character of Job. But you look at the words spoken
by Eliphaz the Temanite. He seems to be the chief speaker
against Job. Verse 6 in chapter 22, But thou
hast taken a pledge from thy brother for naught, and stripped
the naked of their clothing. Thou hast not given water to
the weary to drink. Thou hast withholden bread from
the hungry. Then in verse 9, Thou hast sent
widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken. This is what Eliphaz the Temanite
said. in the end against Job, which
was totally wrong, totally misrepresented, totally falsely accused. It's painful, you know, to be
falsely accused. Have you ever been truly falsely accused? It's painful. It's wrong. It
just feels so difficult to take. This is what was told to Job. This was what was told to our
Saviour too. He was totally falsely accused. You see, they were gathering
together. You see, the whole point of the, when it came to
the trial of Jesus was to try and find a reason to call him
guilty. And if they had a reason why
they could call him guilty, then they could put him validly to
death. But the whole qualification for
him being a suitable saviour was that he was innocent. And
you see, as you go through the people around his trial, so many
declared his innocency. Judas did. I've betrayed innocent
blood. Pilate declared his innocency. Pilate's wife declared his innocency. Herod did. The centurion, this
was a righteous man. They all declared that he was
sinless. The dying thief, this man, hath
done nothing amiss. They gave the fact that he was
sinless and you see this was this false allegation that Eliphaz
the Temanite was given to Job. And then in chapter 23 that we
read together, we have Job saying this, then answered Job and said,
even today is my complaint bitter. My stroke is heavier than my
groaning. Oh, that I knew where I might find him. We have Job
just longing to have communion with his God. Longing for it. He looks forward, he looks backward,
to the left, to the right. He can't have that communion
that he desires with his God. He's so keen on it, he so desires
it. Our mind goes to Isaiah 50 verse
10. Who is among you that feareth
the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh
in darkness and hath no light? This was Job at this time. He
was in such darkness and yet he had obeyed what God had told
him to do. He'd walked rightly. What should
he do? Let him trust in the name of
the Lord. and stay upon his guard. What
wonderful godly advice. Keep on holding on. And that's
what Job did. He held on. I know that my Redeemer
liveth. I don't know what's going on.
I don't know why I can't find him. And Satan, of course, would
furnish you, as we spoke this morning, with many reasons why
you're in darkness. Well, it's because you don't
know the Lord, because you have no union with him. But you see,
Christ experienced this. Who was a servant that obeyed
the voice of his Father more than the Lord Jesus Christ? I
ever do those things that please the Father, but he walked in
darkness and had no light. And he did it out of love for
his church. He did it to bring them to glory.
He did it to experience the wrath of God that should have been
upon them throughout a never-ending eternity of separation from the
favourable presence of God. He endured that at Calvary. Let
him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his guard.
Hold on to God. In the darkest times, he's a
faithful guard. And you see he was faithful to
Job. Job couldn't find him. He'd lost
the favorable sense of Christ's presence. I go forward but he's
not there, backward but I cannot perceive him, on the left hand
where he doth work but I cannot behold him, he hideth himself
on the right hand that I cannot see him. But then Job comes to
another lovely high point in his spiritual experience, but
he knoweth The way that I take. Do you see what I mean by the
book of Job? It's not all about the sorrows of the loss of his
wealth, is it? It's about his relationship with
his God. That's what really, really mattered
to Job. That's what he was really concerned
about. That's, and that's what Satan was trying to tell him.
The fact that he lost these earthly comforts was an indication that
God was against him. And in one sense, God was coming
against him as, I believe, something of a type of what the Lord would
do against his beloved son. You see, we have these many chapters
of Job. These three friends, they have
two rounds. You have the three friends talking
and Job replying against them. And then you have the three friends
again and Job replying to them, interleaved. And then you have Elihu, he came and spoke and
was like a mediator between the two. He didn't really take sides
with Job or with the others. But when they'd done all that
they had said, then God came and talked to Job. And in the
chapter that we read, in Job 23, it says, Will he plead against
me with his great power? No, but he will put strength
in me." But really, although that's a beautiful word, and
ultimately God did put strength into Job, but Job was going to
feel the great power against him. He was going to feel God
also dealing with him, not just his friends. You see, God didn't
immediately come and caress him and say, my servant Job, like
we have at the beginning and then we have again at the end.
There was this time when he didn't, as it were, put his arms around
him and said, my servant Job. He couldn't get hold of the favourable
presence of his God. And you see, there was an aspect
of Job's sufferings that seemed that God was also against him. It seemed that God speaks to
him for several chapters and asks Job, can you do this? Do
you know how this works? Do you know how that works? And
Job gets smaller and smaller. And Job, as it were, realizes
He's no match for God. He's no reason to be able to
speak against God in any way. He comes back to God and in chapter 40, after God had
been speaking to Job for some time, then Job answered and said,
behold, I am vile. What shall I answer thee? I will lay my hand upon my mouth.
Here's an indication, you see, Job was, although he was a perfect
man, he had that sin still, I believe. He was a man of like passions
of us in some ways. Now here in his, he needed to
be humbled before God. Because we read before honor is humility. And Job was
going to be humbled to be absolutely nothing. And you see, we, if
we're going to know something of the blessings of God, we have
got to be nothing. John the Baptist said that he
must increase, but I must decrease. He had to get smaller and smaller
as God showed his mighty power and that Job was no match to
him whatsoever. But I wonder, in this book of
Job, is there something of this pictured on the cross of Calvary? You see we have those times when
his friends were, so-called friends of Job, were able to attack him
mercilessly, but then there came a time when they stopped, and
then it was as if God took over. But you see we have that at Calvary
too, there was The time up till midday when there was light,
normal lightness, and all those things were said against Christ.
He saved others himself he cannot save. But at midday there was
that change. Now it was as if God was taking
over. God was now dealing with his
beloved son. The sword of divine justice was
now going to be unsheathed, that had been kept dormant for thousands
of years. All the sins of all the church
that had died already, had yet to be atoned for, had yet to
be put upon their saviour. Job's sins had yet to be paid
for. And that time came, the fullness
of time came, and the Father was involved. You see, it wasn't
just wicked men. It wasn't just Satan that was
involved at Calvary. It was also God the Father was
involved. Of his sufferings, so intense,
angels have no perfect sense. But you see, as Job then went
through this time of God dealing directly with him, and him becoming
smaller and smaller, and you see, Then he was brought through
and how our Lord and Saviour endured the cross. He cried out, didn't he? My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? The dereliction. But you see, God ultimately vindicated
Job and he will vindicate all his people. all that those at
times know something of walking in darkness and knowing no light.
Now, that doesn't mean that we can continually walk in darkness
and never have any light and then claim those scriptures.
The Bible has a balance. There is those times when we
know the blessings of God in our lives, but there is those
times when we come into darkness. But if we never know anything
other than darkness, we need to really question. Because Job
did know the light of God's countenance at times, but he came into those
places where he knew the darkness. And you see, we need to be balanced. We need to have that biblical
balance between the shinings of God's face, but those also
will know something at times of the darkness. The biblical
balance. Well, Job, you see, after God
speaks to him the first time, he says, I'm vile, and then God
speaks to him again. And then in chapter 42, then
Job answered the Lord and said, I know that thou canst do everything
and that no thought can be withholden from thee. You see, Job is in
his right place. Who is he that hideth counsel
without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that
I understood not things too wonderful for me which I knew not. You
see, and if we know something of the greatness of God, you
see, it will be a tremendous wonder. Here I beseech thee and
I will speak, I will demand of thee and declare thou unto me.
I have heard of thee, this is Job 42 verse five, I have heard
of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself and
repent in dust and ashes. Job truly comes with true repentance
before his God. And then the whole captivity
of Job by God's grace is turned. And it was so after the Lord
had spoken these words unto Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the
Temanite, my wrath, is kindled against thee and against thy
two friends, for ye have not spoken of me, the thing that
is right, as my servant Job hath. So your theology, what you've
said about me, what I would and wouldn't do, you're wrong. You
thought you knew me. You thought you knew the way
of salvation. You had this idea that God only blesses those outwardly,
that if there's outward trouble it's an indication that God is
against us. But he said, you've not spoken of what is right because
actually I'm going to do this to my beloved son. I'm going
to put one that's totally innocent to death. I'm going to make him
suffer, bleed and die out of love to his church. You've said
I won't do that, but I will. This is my great plan of salvation.
The way Jobar, they question this, how can a man be right
with God? Well, God was going to do in
reality, to his beloved son, who was truly the perfect one. He was going to cause him to
pass this path, that I believe is pictured in the sufferings
of Job. These 42 chapters given over
to the sufferings of one man. Well, we're to the whole word
of God, you see, speaks of Christ, who came to suffer, to bleed
and to die, that we might have life. But you see another aspect
of the work of Christ here is what these three friends were
told to do. Therefore take you now seven
bullocks and seven rams and go to my servant Job. What a wonderful word that he
was able to claim that Job was his servant. You see, he wasn't
sure. There had been this, well, the
three friends had basically said that Job wasn't God's servant
and that God was against him to destroy him and had no part
nor lot in the matter. But they were wrong. Therefore
take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my
servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering,
and my servant Job shall pray for you." So here was Job still
with his lack of health, still with his lack of children, still
in his poverty, in his lowest state, he was going to pray for
his three friends. that had been so cruel to him,
so cruel. What the grace of Job here, to
pray for them that had said such hard speeches against him. Is
there not something of what Christ did? Father, forgive them, for
they know not what they do. They didn't know what they were
doing. They didn't realize. They thought they were helping,
I think. They thought they were trying to convince Job of this
sin so that he would repent, so that things would get better,
but they were wrong. They had not spoken that which
was right. And you see, Job interceded for
them in his poverty, that he was still in this state of ill health and poverty. And you
see Christ interceded for the transgressors on the cross. Isaiah 53 picks that up and he
made intercession for the transgressors. But you see the wonder is that
that intercession was granted. That intercession
was hearkened to. We're told, my servant Job shall
pray for you, for him will I accept. You see, we're safe because of
the prayers of Christ for his church. And those prayers will
be accepted. That's what we pray, isn't it?
Generally, as we finish our prayers, we say, for Jesus Christ's sake,
his prayers. On behalf of him, there is acceptance. It's accepted because he, has
satisfied all the claims that were against us, he will be accepted. Lest I deal with you after your
folly, in that ye have not spoken of me, the thing which is right,
like my servant Job. So then we have these three friends,
Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shurite, and Zophar the Nahamathite,
went and did according as the Lord had commanded them. And
the Lord also accepted Job. And he accepted Job, so I'm sure
he accepted his prayer for his three friends. And they were
forgiven. Yes, they'd said them hard speeches.
They had a lot to learn, didn't they? And so did we. Because
we have our thoughts, like Peter had his thoughts about how salvation
would take place. And it certainly didn't involve
a crucifixion. But he was wrong. He was wrong. And he needed to come to realise
that this is the way. The way to be saved is the way
of the cross. The way of suffering. The cross
before the crown. And you see, Satan would always
say, well, we want the crown, not the cross. And that's what
Satan was tempting Christ to do in those 40 days of temptation
in the wilderness, to have the crown before the cross. He was trying to, as it were,
give the crown to Christ, bow down and worship them, that you'd
have all the kingdoms of this world without a cross. You see,
God has appointed that there needs to be the cross before
the crown. And you see Christ, Christ in
the Garden of Gethsemane said, if it be possible, let this cross
from me. But it was clear that the answer
was it was not possible. There was no way that the church
could be set free and Christ would not have to endure Calvary.
Well, we're told then in chapter 42, verse 10, and the Lord turned
the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends. You see,
he was vindicated. He was delivered. And all these
trials It was gloriously shown, not that he would be proud because
he'd been humbled greatly by it, but he would be able to say,
God is faithful. God is faithful. And my trust
and my hope in this Redeemer has only been deepened. It's
only been deepened by the things that have come into our pathway. It's like that you see often
if you have a tree, and the wind keeps blowing in one direction
at that tree, and long and hard, the roots in that direction go
deeper into the ground. So that tree becomes stronger
to resist that wind that keeps blowing over it. And you see,
as we have the trial of our faith, which is much more precious than
gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, I quoted
from Peter this morning, but if I just look at 1 Peter and
chapter 2 this time, 1 Peter chapter 2, it's speaking of the
difficulties that we're passing through. This is when we're falsely
accused. by those over us. Servants, be
subject to your masters, 1 Peter 2 verse 18. Servants, be subject
to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle,
but also to the froward. And then he goes on in verse
22, for even here unto were ye called. We're called to this
pathway because Christ also suffered for us, not so that we can have
it easy. Christ also suffered for us,
leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps. Who did no sin. The ultimate. Job was, yes, a type, but Christ
the anti-type. No sin. You see, we think of
that, there was, they hated him without a cause. who did no sin,
neither was guile found his mouth, who when he was reviled, reviled
not again. When he suffered, he threatened
not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously. That God the Son committed his
way to his Father on the cross, through Calvary, and he was not
disappointed. He went through death, but God
raised him again. You see, we have the captain
of our salvation that has actually been to the greatest depths.
Not one that's just on a throne and never known what it is to
be in the dungeon. No, we have a great high priest
that has stooped to depths that we never will touch so that there
is Therefore, now, no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus,
who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree,
that we being dead to sins should live unto righteousness by whose
stripes you're healed. For ye were a sheep going astray,
so much the language of Isaiah 53, but now are returned unto
the shepherd and bishop of your souls. Well, this character,
Job, And may it be then a comfort to us as we pass through difficulties,
as we pass through trials that we can't understand. And Satan
would be quick to tell us that it's, God is against us, God
has forsaken us. Curse God and die, as his wife
gave him advice. But you see, Job hung on to God. Though he slay me, yet will I
trust in him. He was able to say this, for
I know that my Redeemer liveth. He lives. He ever lives. And
therefore, I shall live. I shall be raised again. I shall
see God. And God shall wipe away all tears
from our eyes. Well, may we be given this faith
that Job had in difficulties, to be able to lay hold upon the
hope set before us in the Gospel, a certain hope, a tried hope,
a precious cornerstone, even the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.