Let's go to the Lord in prayer
before we look into this. Our Father, thank You for this
opportunity to gather here this morning to read Your Word, to
hear Your Word preached Father, thank you for your many mercies
you've shown to us over the years. You've kept us by your grace. You've preserved us in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Thank you. Bless us this morning
with your presence, Lord. Without your presence, this meeting
is useless. Lord, we need your presence and
we need you to help us to listen to be instructed and to worship. And our Father, we pray for your
children that are sick. We pray for them whose hearts
are heavy in this congregation and throughout this world. Lord,
we pray for thy family, our brothers and sisters. Help them to know
thy grace is sufficient. LORD HELP THEM TO KNOW AND TO
LOOK TO YOU AT ALL TIMES FOR ALL THINGS. THANK YOU FOR ALL
THE TEMPORAL BLESSINGS WE HAVE. LORD, YOU'VE GIVEN US EVERYTHING
WE HAVE. WHAT DO WE HAVE THAT WE DID NOT RECEIVE FROM THE HAND
OF OUR FATHER? THANK YOU. IN JESUS CHRIST'S
NAME WE PRAY, AND AMEN. I titled this, Job's Excellent
Knowledge. Job's Excellent Knowledge. There IS an excellent knowledge. You know, we go to school when
we're young, and we try to learn, and try to get an education,
and try to get a career, and we gain some knowledge. We have
young people in college, they are gaining some useful knowledge,
not all of it is, but some useful knowledge that they may be able
to get a job, make money, take care of family. But all knowledge,
all knowledge that we will acquire someday will be useless. I had a pretty good knowledge,
a pretty vast knowledge in machining and I did it for about 40 years.
That knowledge right now to me is useless. It's useless, I don't
need it. And one day God is going to lay
all knowledge in the ground except for that excellent knowledge
that Paul spoke of in Philippians 3. Paul speaks of it in Philippians
3. There is an excellent knowledge
and that excellent knowledge is a knowledge of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That knowledge will grow, it
will grow, it will grow, and it will grow. Christ being the wisdom of God WE CANNOT EXHAUST THAT, CAN WE?
CAN WE EXHAUST GOD'S WISDOM? NOTHING ABOUT GOD CAN BE EXHAUSTED
BECAUSE EVERYTHING ABOUT GOD IS INFINITE. GOD IS THE KNOWLEDGE
THAT WE WANT TO HAVE, ABOVE ALL OTHER KNOWLEDGE. THAT'S THE KNOWLEDGE
I WANT TO HAVE. THAT'S THE KNOWLEDGE I WANT TO
DIE WITH. I WANT TO DIE WITH THAT EXCELLENT
KNOWLEDGE. and Job gives us in this chapter here, the latter
part of it, this excellent knowledge that God gave him. It's evident
Job was taught of God. It says in the Scriptures, our
Lord said this, All thy children shall be taught of God. God shall take each one of his
children individually and teach them by his Spirit, out of his
Word, and by experience. HE'LL TEACH HIS CHILDREN. HE'S
OUR TEACHER. AND IF GOD'S OUR TEACHER, I ASSURE
YOU, YOU WILL LEARN THE LESSON. YOU WILL LEARN THE LESSON. GOD
IS NOT A DEFICIENT TEACHER. THERE'S SOME GOOD TEACHERS, THERE'S
A FEW GOOD TEACHERS OUT THERE, BUT THERE'S A LOT OF BAD ONES.
A LOT OF BAD ONES. BUT GOD IS NOT ONE OF THEM. AND
GOD TAKES YOU IN HAND TO TEACH YOU, YOU'RE GONNA LEARN. YOU'RE
GONNA LEARN THE LESSON. he taught Job. He taught Job and Job said
this in verse 23, OH THAT MY WORDS WERE NOW WRITTEN, OH THAT
THEY WERE PRINTED IN A BOOK. He didn't know what a prophecy
he gave, did he? here we have them and he said
that they were graven with an iron pin and laid in the rock
forever and this is what i would have engraven this is what i
would have written he's not talking about his complaints i know my
redeemer liveth I know I've said some things I shouldn't have
said. I've complained in a way I shouldn't have complained.
But I want everybody to know this and I want this written
and I want it written in lead and put it in a rock. I know
my Redeemer lives. Job, as I said, was a man taught
of God. He knew that man born of a woman
was a few days and full of trouble. He knew that His days were like
a vapor, as He said, like a weaver's shuttle. He also knew that His
Redeemer, His Redeemer would come and redeem Him, body and
spirit, and redeem Him out of all His trouble. God would not
abandon the work of His hands. He which hath begun a good work
in you. Put this on your refrigerator.
And when you have days of doubt, just look at this, He which hath
begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus
Christ. He will NOT, God will NOT give
up on the work of His hands. He won't do it. If He started
a work in you, He'll finish it. He'll finish it. And that's what
Job, he's totally convinced that God will do what He fully promised. Job knew his Redeemer would save
him and raise him from the grave in the latter days. He knew he
would live again. He did not believe at that time
that he was going to come out of this sickness, this trouble.
He's sitting there on the ground. He's scraping his sores and boils
with a pot shirt. He smells, he shrinks, he stinks,
he smells like putrefying flesh. But he says, I know, I know,
I don't look good. I don't look very good right
now, but one day I'm going to. I'm coming out of that grave.
I'm going to come out of the grave. He knew that his only
hope was in his Redeemer and that his Redeemer would vindicate
him from all the slander and all the false accusations that
his friends put upon him and his foes put upon him. He knew
his Redeemer would vindicate him. I tell you what, if you
and I are that sure that God will vindicate us, we don't need
to take vengeance in our hands, do we? Vengeance is of the Lord,
He'll repay. HE KNEW HIS VINDICATOR LIVED! There's something here you'll
notice. He doesn't say He will live in
the latter day. He LIVETH! He's alive right now.
That's thousands of years ago. Job said He's alive right now.
He LIVETH! My Redeemer LIVETH right now and He's going to set
the matter straight. My Vindicator is going to come
and He's going to set the matter straight. In verse 25, I know
that my Redeemer liveth. Job knew he had a near kinsman.
He knew what the near kinsman was all about. This is amazing
knowledge to me. This is thousands of years ago
and he's calling his Lord, his Redeemer, and he says, I know
He's living. I know He's going to stand on
this earth in the last days. God taught that man something.
And He's going to raise me from the grave and I'm going to see
Him with my eyes. I'm getting ahead of myself,
but that's what He's... I'm going to see Him with my eyes and not
another. You know, oftentimes the Lord
gives you sight through my preaching, doesn't He? You sit there and
you listen to preaching and you say, I see. But one day you're
going to see Him face to face. Face to face. You're not going
to have a preacher standing in the pulpit talking to you. You're
going to have Jesus Christ talking to you, just like He did His
disciples. I know my Redeemer liveth. He had a near kinsman
who had the right and the power to redeem him. Not just anybody
can do that. He had the right and the power
to do it and he knew that he was alive and he'd stand upon
the earth in the latter days in the flesh. Job had to know that his Redeemer
was none other than God Incarnate. He had to know that and the reason
I say that is because how else are you going to explain the
longevity of the Redeemer? He has to be God. He has to be
God. He KNEW that. He knew that God
Incarnate was His Redeemer. We know Him by Jesus Christ.
He knew Him by LORD Jehovah. He knew Him by LORD. We know
him by the Lord Jesus Christ, but it's the same one, the same
person, same Redeemer. Job knew his Redeemer would come
and redeem him from all his sins and set his affairs right at
the bar of justice. You see, it's one thing to be
set right from accusations, false accusations, even some that are
true accusations. But it's a WHOLE OTHER MATTER,
it's a WHOLE OTHER LEVEL to be set RIGHT at the BAR of God's
JUSTICE for a GUILTY SINNER to go before God's JUSTICE and NOTHING
ON THE BOOKS, JUSTIFIED, CLEARED OF ALL CHARGES. All charges. Job KNEW that. HE KNEW THAT HE
HAD A KINSMAN REDEEMER THAT WAS HIS FRIEND, AND WOULD NEVER LEAVE
HIM, AND NEVER FORSAKE HIM, NEVER TURN ON HIM LIKE HIS THREE FRIENDS
DID, AND HIS WIFE. She said, Why don't you just
curse God and die? Why don't you just curse God and go out and
commit suicide? That's what she's saying to him. Go kill yourself.
Yeah, that's bad. She turned to him. He said, My
breath is strange to my wife. Boy, that's trouble. But Job
knew this, he knew he had a friend among all friends. He had a friend
that wouldn't forsake him. He had a friend that sticketh
closer than a brother. He did. He believed that his
Redeemer was mighty to save. I tell you what, somebody raise
you out of the grave, they've got to be mighty. You go out
there and stand in a cemetery and see if you can call anybody
out of that grave. But all he does is speak and ALL of them
come out of the grave at one time. The dead, it says, well,
hear His voice and they'll come out just like He commanded the
demons to come out and they came out. That grave can't hold anybody. It can't hold anybody, well,
not when He speaks. Scripture says, Because He lives, we shall
live also. Our faith and hope in Christ
will be vindicated. It will be vindicated and we
will not be ashamed, we will not be put to shame. People can
think I'm a fool, that's all right, you can think of me whatever
you want but I'll be vindicated when this is over. I'll be vindicated
of my faith, hope, and love in the Lord Jesus Christ and everyone
will who believes. Job said, His Redeemer liveth,
He's eternal. He's alive at that time and He's
alive right now. He is the Eternal God. He has
no beginning of days or end of life. Now we know the humanity
of Christ, the human nature of Christ, had a beginning. The human nature of Christ was
created in the womb of the Virgin, but the Son of God was not created. He's the Eternal God. unto us
a son is given unto us a child is born the child is born but
the son's given because the son's eternal and my redeemer is life
and he gives life no man no sickness can take my life from me because
my life is hid with christ in god and there's no safer place
for my life to be than in the hands of god the hands of god
someone moved I was probably a year ago or
so so they could be closer to their doctor they had been coming
here for a while and uh they person told me he said we're
gonna move so we'll be closer to you to our doctors that's
a fool i'd rather the doctor be a thousand
miles away and it could be where the gospel and me be where the
gospel is Doctor ain't gonna save my life. He's not gonna
save my life. I'm gonna die the second God
has purposed me to die, and I'm gonna die the way God's purposed
me to die. And being close to my doctor?
Well, if you have a heart attack, die before you can get the phone.
You ever think of that? No, that's just an excuse not
to sit down with the gospel. My Redeemer, listen, my Redeemer
is my righteousness. Doesn't get any better than this,
does it? I may sit in sackcloth and ashes for a while, but in
my Redeemer I am righteous. I may not look like it, but I
am. I am completely holy. You're looking at a holy Son
of God. Full of sin I am, yes. In Christ I'm holy and righteous.
That's real. See, that's more real to me now
than it was when I was younger. When I was younger I was learning.
Now that I'm old, I've learned. I've learned that in Christ is
my acceptance, in Christ is my righteousness, not in my feelings. You know, one day you feel saved,
one day you feel lost, one day you feel up, one day you feel
down. But God's Word never changes and Jesus Christ, my Redeemer,
your Redeemer, never changes. He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. The same. You know, there's one constant
in this life and that's change. BUT THERE IS ONE CONSTANT ABOUT
JESUS CHRIST IS THAT HE NEVER CHANGES! He never changes. There will always be accusations
cast upon me, some true, some not, but in Christ I am righteous
and you are too. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect as God justifies them? If God justifies
me, you can't make anything stick. The devil can't make anything
stick. He's already taken care of that. See, the tension here is on my
Redeemer because without Him, I'm in trouble. Without Him,
I'm lost. Without Him, I'm nothing. Jesus
is my everything. Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus
Christ is my all in all. Isn't that what it says in Colossians?
He's my all in all. MY REDEEMER IS MY WISDOM, IT
IS THROUGH HIM I KNOW GOD. NO MAN KNOWS A FATHER SAVED A
SON, AND HE TO WHOMSOEVER THE SON WILL REVEAL HIM. HE'S MY
WISDOM, RIGHTEOUSNESS, SANCTIFICATION, AND REDEMPTION. Now, Job's assurance
of his interest in Christ. You see, we see his assurance
of the Redeemer, now we want to see his assurance of his interest
in Christ. I know my Redeemer liveth through
all the trials and losses He never lost His hope He never
lost His life and He never lost His hope He lost everything else
but He didn't lose that and this kind of assurance only comes
from knowing the Redeemer this is where this assurance comes
from it doesn't come from the preacher It doesn't come from
mom and dad, you've watched them over the years and it took you
to hear the gospel. It doesn't come until you know
Him. Until you know Him. Paul said, I KNOW WHOM I HAVE
BELIEVED. Can I say that? Can you with
a full assurance say, I KNOW WHOM I HAVE BELIEVED? Lack of faith is our fault. You know, we have everything
we need to have perfect faith. I have no reason to doubt anything.
You have any reason to doubt? Not a syllable in God's Word
I have a reason to doubt. Not a promise I have reason to
doubt. That's my fault. The problem
is this, we do not avail ourselves of the means. His Word, not just
here, but when you go home. PREACHING, PRAYER, FELLOWSHIP. Brethren, we don't realize how
important this fellowship is. You know if all the fellowship
you have is with the world and not with God's people, guess
who you're going to start acting like? Birds of a feather flock together. Verse 26, AND THOUGH AFTER MY
SKIN WORMS DESTROY THIS BODY, YET IN MY FLESH SHALL I SEEK
GOD. I tried to look up skin worms to see if we have skin
worms to eat us up when we die. And it said nine out of ten people
have some parasites and worms, and I thought, Well, I ain't
going to talk about that. Nobody wants to hear that. But Job knows something here.
How intelligent! How intelligent, how taught this
man is. After my skin worms, the body
has its own destruction built in. It has its own destruction
built right in. After my skin worms destroy this
body, yet in my flesh, I'm going to see God. This is thousands
of years ago and he had this knowledge. WHOM I SHALL SEE FOR
MYSELF, AND MINE EYES SHALL BE HOLD AND NOT ANOTHER, THOUGH
MY RAINS BE CONSUMED WITHIN ME." He knew His Redeemer redeemed,
not try to redeem Him, but He would redeem Him. That He would
be so victorious that He would come back from the grave, no
matter how long He lay in the grave. You know it says the sea
will give up the dead. People die and they're cast into
the sea and the fish eat them. You know that. The fish eat them. And yet he said the sea is going
to give up the dead. Let my skin worms have their
day. For soon I will have mine. Let them have their day. Let
them have their picnic. I'm going to have my day and
what a day it will be. What's that song we sing? What
a day it will be when my Jesus I shall see when I look upon
His face. My what a day, what a day. Our redemption is so complete
that God will raise our bodies from the grave incorruptible. This corruption, this corruption,
this mortal is going to be planted in the grave But one day this
mortal is going to become immortal, and this corruption is going
to become incorruptible, incorruptible, without sin. See, God with our
own eyes, not somebody else's, but ours. You know, if you take
sin out of this body, it's perfect, wouldn't it? We wouldn't die
if we took sin away. Try to cure cancer, try to cure
heart disease, Try to cure this, try to cure that. The only cure
for death is the removal of sin. That's it. We got the answers,
don't we? Billions of dollars spent on
how to make you live a day longer. And here we have how to live
eternally and have eternal life through the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's the cure for sin. He's the Balm of Gilead. He's
the Great Physician. He is. Job knew that with his own eyes
he'd see God. You know, the Lord said, I believe
it was to Moses, No man can look upon Me and live, but you know
we're going to. We're going to look upon God
and live in a little while. As we are, we can only preach
in part, know in part, but in that day all this which is in
part is going to be done away, and we will know even as we are
known. AND WE SHALL BEHOLD GOD IN HIS GLORIOUS PERFECTIONS."
I try, so pitifully, I try to talk about the perfections of
God, the glory of God, the greatness of God, and I mean, how do you describe someone like
God? But one day we'll say, THERE'S GOD IN ALL HIS GLORY. WE WILL KNOW WHAT TRUE HOLINESS
IS. WE WILL KNOW WHAT TRUE LIFE IS.
WE WILL KNOW WHAT TRUE LOVE IS. TRUE KINDNESS. TRUE JOY. WE WILL REALLY HAVE AN UNDERSTANDING
OF MERCY AND GRACE. WE HAVE A LITTLE UNDERSTANDING
OF IT NOW, BUT BOY WHEN WE Bridget Harding used to sing that song,
Not Till Then Shall I Know How Much I Owe. Not Till Then. Our Redeemer has stood upon this
Earth Job said, I know My Redeemer liveth and He'll stand upon the
earth. Well, He has already stood upon the earth and He's gone
back to glory and there He sits and makes intercession for us.
There He sits and brings to pass all the decrees and purpose of
God and in just a little while, and that was 2,000 years ago,
Job said in the last days, Hebrews said He came. The Father has
spoken to us in these last days. We're in the last days. Now my days are short, my days
are probably less than a second if you compare it to eternity.
We're in the last days and our Lord has already gone back and
now we're waiting for Him to what? RETURN! We are now waiting for the same
Redeemer Job was speaking of, we are now waiting for Him to
RETURN! Job was saying He's waiting for
Him to come, now we're waiting for Him to return. But I think
Job also was speaking of the day when He RETURNS because He
said, That's when He's going to raise me from the grave. He
wasn't just speaking about the day He came and was crucified,
though He said, He's my Redeemer. He bought me with the price of
His blood. But Job even saw beyond that. He saw that when He returns,
He's going to bring everybody up out of the grave. He saw the
end from way back then. And he saw the glory of Christ
and the power of Christ and the victory of Christ. He saw it. And it's written in a book for
us to read about. This is not a history lesson,
this is something for us to learn from, to learn. And our Redeemer is going to
come and He's going to take us back, body, soul, and spirit.
And He's going to take us home. For I know, verse 25, 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.
Mine eyes shall behold and not another, though my reins be consumed
within me. Do you know, do you know beyond
a shadow of a doubt that your Redeemer is living and He's coming
back to get us? Alright, that's excellent knowledge. That's excellent knowledge