Job chapter 19. Now, I think about all of us are familiar
with what's taking place in the book of Job. The Lord has seen
fit to take away from him all of his wealth, all of his family, and pretty nearly all of his
health. And he's trying to figure out
why these things happen. And three of his longtime friends
come to see him. And rather than comforting him,
they make him all the more miserable. They tell him it's because of
some sin that he's committed. It is his wickedness that is
the problem. And of course, they're in good
health, and they say, you know, here's living proof of that.
Well, people get sicknesses and diseases from all kinds of places
and things, but we must not ever forget this. God controls everything
there is. There ain't no germs anywhere. that's not under his control.
No sickness, no sorrow, no sadness, no nothing. And these people come with their
pious platitudes and try to straighten Job out and all this kind of
stuff. Anyway, let me start reading
before I don't even have time to read the chapter. Job chapter
19, verse 1, Then Job answered and said, He's answering the remarks that
these three have brought to him, and later on a fourth one will
join the conversation. Then Job answered and said, How
long will you vex my soul and break me in pieces with words? These ten times have you reproached
me. You are not ashamed that you
make yourself strange to me. And be it indeed that I have
erred, my error remains with myself. If indeed you will magnify
yourselves against me and plead against me my reproach, know
now that God has overthrown me and has compassed me with his
net. Behold, I cry out of wrong. But I am not heard. I cry, but
there is no judgment. He has fenced up my way that
I cannot pass, and he set darkness in my paths. He has stripped
me of my glory, taken the crown from my head. He has destroyed
me on every side, and I am gone. And my hope has he removed like
a tree. He has also kindled his wrath
against me, and he counts me unto him as one of his enemies."
He's saying now that God is doing this. His troops come together
and raise up their way against me and encamp round about my
tabernacle. He has put my brethren far from
me and my acquaintance are very estranged from me. My kin's folk
have failed and my familiar friends have forgotten me. They that
dwell in my house and my maids count me for a stranger. I am
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 entreated for the children's
sake of my own body. Yea, young children despised
me. I arose and they spoke against
me. All my inward friends, my closest
friends, abhorred me. and they whom I loved are turned
against me. My bone cleaves to my skin and
to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin or by the skin
of my teeth. Have pity upon me, have pity
upon me, O you my friends, for the hand of God has touched me. Why do you persecute me? as if
you were God and are not satisfied with my flesh. Oh, that my words
were now written. Oh, that they were printed in
a book. Well, unknown to Job, here they
are in a book. Oh, that they were graven with
an iron pen and led in the rock forever. Better than that, they're
in God's book. And they will be forever. Verse
25. Listen carefully please. Here's
where that song originated. The last one that we sung. For I know, I don't think, I
know. I know that my Redeemer lives. 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 my eyes shall behold and
not another, though my reins be consumed within me." Then
turning to his friends, he says, "'But you should say, Why persecute
we him, seeing the root of the matter is found in me?' Now what
is the root of the matter? Well, in this passage of Scripture,
the root of the matter is my Redeemer, Job's Redeemer. Then he says in verse 29, Be
you afraid of the sword? For wrath brings the punishment
of the sword, that you may know there is a judgment. There is a judgment. Now, our
text this morning comes out of this same chapter of Scripture.
We begin with verse 25 and read through verse 27 one more time
before we start to look at some things having to do with this
blessed, blessed Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now in verse
25, where Job tells us with absolute certainty that he knows that
his Redeemer is alive, lives, But what our translation does
not give us is that the word redeemer is a particular kind
of redeemer. It is our kinsman redeemer. In one of the Christmas songs
in our chorus book that John Newton authored, I believe it's
the last one in that series of songs, he did about three and
then James Mountain did one, and I think that made up the
whole run in that book. He said, My next of kin, my brother
now. Christ is our next of kin, our
brother now. Why is this important? You remember
the book of Ruth in the Old Testament? that she came back from. She
and her husband and her two sons went to a foreign country to
escape drought or whatever, that the crops would not grow. So
they went to a foreign country and her husband died and subsequently
both of her sons died. And she was returning to Israel
and Ruth, she tried to get both of her daughters-in-law Not to
come with her, but Ruth made those famous statements, wherever
you reside, let's see, your God is my God is the part that I'm
looking for. And when Ruth went out to pick
grain, having already arrived back in Israel, She happened
to go to a particular farm that was owned by a close relative
of Ruth, which made it particularly beneficial. Now, I should have
said Naomi's relative, not Ruth's. I got them mixed up. That's not
hard to do for me. Naomi wants to know where this
girl picked up all this grain. She had more than one person
could have possibly done in that period of time. And she told
her. She said, that's my next of kin. And as it turned out, Boaz marries
Ruth. But before he can do so, and
before he can purchase and give back to Naomi the property that
they had abandoned before he can do that, there's one other
person that's closer kin than him. And he has to go before
the judges in the city gate and basically tells the man, you
know, if you want to redeem this, you have the right. But if you're
not going to do it, I will." And so the other man was not
able or not willing, I don't remember. So Boaz did, in fact,
marry Ruth, and her name is one of the few female names in the
genealogy of Christ in the Gospel of Matthew. Job says, I know. I know. Not just, I think, or
I hope. It has to be more than that.
You wouldn't risk the lives of your children on a maybe, would
you? Or your house, or whatever else.
We're not quite that foolish. But when it comes to religious
things, people have all kinds of reasons for believing what
they do, and most of them are wrong. I'm telling you that this Redeemer
can only be known by divine revelation, and He must make Himself known
to us. And if you think we can do something
special to court His favor, you don't know who He is or who you
are. Everything we do, everything
we are, is polluted by sin. There's another example in the
Scripture of one who knew something about the Redeemer. You remember
the Samaritan woman in John chapter 4? Now, our Lord Himself, you
know, is talking to her one-on-one. And she wants to tell Him how
much she knows about religion. And she finally gets around after
our Lord keeps pulling all the blocks out from under her that
she did not want to admit or to bring up. But anyway, she
got to the place where she told him, she said, I believe that
the Messiah is coming. The Christ is coming. And when
He comes, He'll tell us all things. And our Lord has throughout that
chapter been telling her all things, all things about Himself
and all things about Herself. And right then, as suddenly as
it could possibly appear in print, our Lord said, I that speak unto
you am He. I'm the Messiah. And the woman just sort of went
ballistic. She forgot about her water pot. She took off for town
to tell everybody that would listen she had found the Christ,
the Messiah. And that's how it is. Job says,
I know. Not, I hope so. I know. Secondly,
in verse 25 as well, Job uses that expression, my
kinsman redeemer. The third thing in these verses,
still in verse 25, this kinsman redeemer will stand, according
to Job, at the latter day on this earth. And the New Testament
confirms this fact, that our Lord Jesus is coming again. He's coming. No doubt about it. If y'all weren't so slow, I'd
get you to turn to a verse of Scripture. Oh, I take that back. I'm getting worse. I'm going
to read you something out of Hebrews chapter 9. Ah, here we
go. In reference to what I was just
trying to convince you of. Hebrews chapter 9, there are three appearances of
Christ in these final verses in Hebrews chapter 9. The first
one is that Christ has appeared on this earth to put away sin
by the sacrifice of himself. We do not get rid of sin by our
sacrifices. It is his one and only sacrifice. And then we're told in verse
27, it's appointed unto man once to die, but after this the judgment,
So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto
them that look for him shall he appear the second time without
sin unto salvation." When Christ comes back, the sin problem is
already taken care of, and he comes back for his own. What
a day indeed that will be. This same Redeemer of which Job
spoke is the Redeemer that will stand upon this earth in the
latter day. All right, in verse 26 of Job,
back to Job 19. Now, let's look at this with some degree of gravity and sincerity. Verse 26, Job 19. And though after my skin, after
worms, now you'll have to forgive the language, it's kind of abrupt.
After the skin has been eaten by worms, These worms then feed
on the remainder of our flesh. Though after my skin worms destroy
this body, now here it is, yet in my flesh shall I see God. Now that's a double meaning statement. In my flesh shall I see God. First of all, Job says this flesh
that was eaten up by worms is going to be his again when our
Lord returns. Even believers who are alive
in this world when Christ comes, they won't be the first to meet
him. It'll be those that are buried, that are raised, and
then those that are alive. So look how he says it, Yet in my flesh shall I see God. And the only place that we can
see God is in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only God you'll
ever see. The only one. This morning, right
now, there is a man in glory, and it is the God-man, Christ
Jesus. Now Job continues in verse 27, "...whom I shall see for myself,
and my eyes shall behold, and not another, though my reins
be consumed within me, And then he looks to his friends
and says, why persecute we him? Seeing the root of the matter
is found in me. Now let's look at some scriptures
that will further illustrate and declare this grand and glorious
truth that I know that my Redeemer lives. Alright, let's go to 1
Corinthians. Chapter 15, how important is
the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ? How important is
that? Here's the answer to it. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, we begin
at verse 12. Now, if Christ be preached that
he rose from the dead, if we preach that Christ is risen from
the dead, Paul said to the Corinthians, how say some among you that there
is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection
of the dead, then is Christ not risen. And if Christ be not risen, then
is our preaching vain, empty, worthless, and your faith is
also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses
of God. Because we've testified of God
that he raised up Christ from the dead, whom he raised not
up, if so be the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then
is not Christ raised. And if Christ be not raised,
your faith is vain. you are still in your sins, then
they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in
this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most
miserable." Alright, let's continue to the right to Hebrews chapter
13. Last chapter in Hebrews. Here's a wonderful statement
in the closing verses of Hebrews chapter 13, having to do with
this wonderful, glorious, everlasting covenant. Here are some of the details
recorded for us in our Bibles. We start with verse 20. Now the
God of peace, that name God of peace is God's
name in the covenant. Now the God of peace that brought
again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of
the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant. What blood is the blood of the
everlasting covenant? That's the blood that Christ
shed on the cross. It's not our blood. It's His. Look what this does. Look at
what it does. Verse 21. Make you perfect in every good work. Now in case
you're wondering if we have a stop between verse 20 and 21 in my
Bible, it's a comma. Make you perfect in every good
work. To do His will, now watch this, working in you that which is
well-pleasing in His sight. It's not my works that are well-pleasing,
it's the ones that God works in me by His grace. You know what the Scripture says
about us. We can't do anything to please God. That's the reason the Savior
came, was to render satisfaction to divine justice in God's holy
law and enable Him to have anything to do with sinners like you and
me. make you perfect in every good
work to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing
in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and
ever. Amen. Now, if you know anything about
the grace of God in Christ, then your heart is saying, Amen, Amen,
Amen. One more scripture and I'll be
finished. Romans 8. beginning at verse 5 in the 8th
chapter of the book of Romans. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh,
but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For
to be carnally or fleshly minded is enmity with God, For it, the
mind, is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then, they that are in the
flesh," and I take it everybody that's in here this morning is
in the flesh. We're physically alive. This
is the only body we've ever had. We hope by the grace of God that
within us is a new man in Christ. But let's read what this says
about the old man. This is in verse 8. They that
are in the flesh cannot please God. Cannot. That's also true that we will
not. But cannot is worse than will
not. We do not have the ability, the
capacity, or the desire to do so. They that are in the flesh
cannot please God. But you're not in the flesh,
but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now, if any man have not the
Spirit of Christ, he is none of Christ. He doesn't have Christ. And if Christ be in you, the
body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because
of righteousness. And I take the word spirit there
not to have the capital S talking about the spirit of the believer,
the spiritual part of us. A believer has an old nature and a new nature. One of them is holy and the other
is totally unholy. Alright, verse 10, And if Christ
be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life
because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that
raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised
up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies
by his Spirit that dwells in you. Therefore, brethren, we
are debtors not to the flesh to live after the flesh, for
if you live after the flesh, you shall die. I mean eternally
die. Unless Christ returns first,
we're all going to go by way of the graveyard. Everybody. If the Spirit of Him that raised
up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ
from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit
that dwells in you. Verse 12, Therefore, brethren,
we are debtors not to the flesh to live after the flesh. For
if we live after the flesh, we shall die, but if we Through
the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, we shall live."
Now here's two things in summary. One is to emulate Job and be
able to say, I know that my Redeemer lives. I either do or I don't. And that this Redeemer is my next of kin, my brother
now. He's not a stranger. He's wearing
the same flesh that we wear, sin accepted. And Job is saying that he knows
that this kinsman redeemer will stand at the latter day upon
the earth. Now please remember, the book
of Job is said to be the, what's the word for it, the oldest part
of our Bible. Now, you say, well, it can't
precede Genesis. Well, it can precede when Genesis
was written. We don't know when Moses wrote
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. But we know that
there were actual things transpiring before that time came. Although the events that are
suggested in the beginning of Genesis have to precede everything.
But Job was an early, I mean early, example of a believer.
And we know that he is a believer because the devil had to ask
God's permission to torment him. Now, what if the devil torments
people without God's permission? Then he's God. And he ain't God. You go back and read the first
chapter of the book of Job. I've left out a whole lot I know
because it's been some time since I've read that passage. Alright,
let's take our hymnals. I'm sorry, let's take our bulletins.
If you didn't get one, you'll have to have one. So Carl, you'll
help me out. Who needs one? Well, low down, how about that? Have you all reformed or something? All right, the tune for this
is, Majestic Sweetness Sits Enthroned Upon the Savior's Brow. And that
means the last line of each stanza has to be repeated. in all things ordered well."
That's the last line in every stanza, so we're going to sing
that part twice. All right? There's only one little
hitch. I think I can remember how it's
supposed to go. All right, Donna. Let's stand
as we sing. In all things ordered well, Come
saints that sing in sweet accord, With solemn pleasure tell, Of
the cup not made with our Lord. In all things ordered well, In
all things ordered well, This covenant's good, ere time began,
that God with men might dwell. Eternal wisdom through the fling,
in all things ordered well, in all things ordered well. This covenantal believer stands
by rising fears to dwell. Seen by the surety's leading
hands, in all things ordered well. In all things ordered well. Twas faith with Christ for His
own right. before the sinner fell. T'was signed and sealed and ratified,
in all things ordered well, in all things ordered well. When mounts and hills depart
and flee, And sink this world to hell, The stubborn shall all
saints admire, In all things ordered well, In all things ordered
well. In glory soon with Christ our
King His sheep shall surely dwell And of this blessed love not
sing In all things ordered well In all things ordered well Let
me remind you of one of the stanzas that just jumps out at you. I believe it's the fourth one.
This agreement, this covenant was made with Christ for His
own bride before the sinner fell, before Adam ever fell. For that
matter, before Adam was ever created. To assign and seal and
ratify in all things ordered well. You remember what David
said about that covenant? I think I've got something written
in my bulletin. Believe it or not, I can remember
what I'm fixing to tell you. David said in 2 Samuel 23, 5,
Although it be not so with my house, yet God has made with
me An everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure, this
is all my hope and all my salvation, though God make it not to grow.
David had many members of his family that were not believers,
and he suffered terribly as a result.