I mean, hell is not with you
really. Can you sing without music? Okay. I'm sure she can. Job chapter 19. And we're just delighted that
Kathleen's back with us. She's been gone for months. And
she was an extremely, extremely sick woman. And the Lord's had
mercy and raised her back up. Had mercy on her, her family,
and us. And we're so grateful to see
her back. So thankful. Oh, what a blessing. What a blessing. One of Eleanor's, he's a nephew. He died of a heart attack last
night up in Ohio. His daughter was taken to the
hospital and wanted to get there quick. He died in the car on
his way. So he had what, seven kids? Is
that what you said, seven kids and lots of grandkids? It's a
tough time of the year on his family, they wanted him to be.
Well, any time like that something happens, so sad, so sad. The Lord is indeed gracious and
after the service I'll read this. Thank you all for it. Job 19. 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, mine error remains with me. If indeed ye will magnify
yourself against me, plead against me my reproach. Know now that
God hath overthrown me, and hath compassed me with his net. Behold,
I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard. I cry aloud, but there
is no judgment. He hath fenced up my way that
I cannot pass, and he hath set my darkness in my path. He has
stripped me of my glory and taken the crown from my head. Now,
there's a lot of people in this building today that he's done
the same thing to them. Yep, he's taken the crown. You
know, Job, do you know who he's attributing all the things that
happened to him? He said, he has stripped me of my glory and
taken the crown from my head. That's one thing God will do
to a human being in saving him. He hath destroyed me on every
side, and I am gone, and my hope hath he removed like a tree.
He hath also kindled his wrath against me, and he counted me
unto him as one of his enemies. His troops came together and
raised up their way against me, and camped round about my tabernacle.
He hath put my brethren far from me, but of mine acquaintance
are easily estranged from me. Verily estranged from me. My
kin's folk have failed and my familiar friends have forgotten
me. They that dwell in mine 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 mine own body. Yea, young
children despise me. I arose and they spake against
me. all my inward friends that whore 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. Have
pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends, for the
hand of God hath touched me. Why do you persecute me as God,
and are not satisfied with my flesh? O that my words were now
written, Oh, that they were printed in a book, that they were graven
with an iron pen and lead in the rock forever. For I know
my Redeemer liveth, and he shall stand at the latter day upon
the earth. And though after 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 reigns
be consumed within me. Let's bow our hearts together. Our gracious Father. Our blessed
Father. Our great God. And our Father. The God of all grace. God of
all comfort. The Father of mercies. The God
who loved us with an everlasting love. Who separated us from our
mother's womb. Called us by his grace. It's
to you whom we come. There's not another God. There's
not another Savior. There's not another Redeemer.
There's not another one to whom we can look. Lord, we come to
you. and all your glory and power
and majesty. And we come with hearts full
of thanksgiving and joy, peace and comfort, knowing that you
are everlasting savior, that you are great God and king, that
you're the very lover of our souls, and you'll never leave
us, never forsake us, and that you'll bear us down even in our
old age. and you'll gather the sheep and
you'll gather your lambs and carry them in your arms and in
your bosom. Oh, blessed, blessed Savior, how we praise and honor
and magnify your blessed name. Who's like unto thee in glory?
Who's like unto thee in power? Who's like unto thee in wisdom?
Who's like unto thee in grace? Who's like unto thee in righteousness? Who's like unto thee, oh Lord,
God in love? and so Lord we come most of all
to magnify and praise your name and to thank you for the abundance
of mercy that you show to this body of believers for the great
love were with you loved us and caused us to love one another
and our father we thank you that you and bless the saints together
this morning, especially thank you for Kathleen. Oh God, how
you've raised her up and you've heard us pray and you've heard
us cry and you've heard us call her name. And Lord, you've raised
her up and we bless you for that. Oh, how kind, how gracious, how
pitiful you are. And Lord, we ask that the gospel
run well here today and that you would call out your sheep,
call them by their name, call them to yourself, For if they're
your sheep, they'll hear your voice. And Lord, in hearing your
voice, they'll live. And we bless your holy name.
Amen. Look back in Job 19 with me. I want you to look with me in
verse 23. And my subject this morning is
Job's Confession of Faith. Job's Confession of Faith. Oh,
that my words were now written. Excuse me. Oh, that my words
were now written. Oh, that they were printed in
a book. Well, they are, and we're reading
them. Oh, that my words were now written. You know who wrote them? God
did. They were printed in a book and
we're standing here reading. Job didn't have an idea that
it was what was going to be written about him. And that they were
graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock forever. And what
he's saying is, I want this put on my tombstone. Leaden in a
rock. When they put up my tombstone,
When they put up my tombstone, this is what I want to put on
it. And it would be like lead in
the rock, scribed with an iron pen and lead in the rock forever. So it would be in my tombstone.
And this is what I want written in a book and this is what I
want put on my tombstone. For I know my Redeemer lives. that he shall stand at the latter
day upon the earth. And though after skin worms destroy
this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God, God. And whom I shall see for myself
and mine eyes shall behold and not another, though my reigns
be consumed within me. You know, people debate all the
time whether Job was converted at the beginning of the book,
through the book or not. Well, look in chapter 1, in verse
8, and let's see what God says about Job. This is God's testimony
of Job. God witnesses for Job. They can
argue about it and debate about it. I know that Job's like us. He had his ups and he had his
downs, but he really, really had a lot. He was tried more
than anybody in the scriptures as far as just a man goes. But
he says the Lord hath done it. God put his hand on me. God did
this to me. But look what he said here in
verse 7. The Lord said unto Satan, Whence
comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord,
And from going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up
and down in it. And the Lord said unto Satan,
Now listen to what God says now. Hast thou considered My servant
Job is first of all is my servant. Belongs to me. My servant. And there's none like him in
the earth. There's nobody like Job in this earth. This is what
God is saying about him. Nobody like him. An upright man. Perfect man. Mature man. God honoring man. God fearing
man. An upright man. One that fears
God. and absolutely a whore's evil.
Now that's what God said about him. And that started out at
the beginning. That's what he starts out in
the beginning talking about. And look over here in Job 16
and look what happens here in Job 16 verses 1 and 2. Oh, Job
has three comforters, but they weren't any comfort at all to
Job. All they said was, Job, you're
in trouble because of your sin, because of your wickedness, because
of your hypocrisy. Then Job answered and said, I've
heard many such things. Miserable comforters are you
all. I tell you what, that happens
sometimes. You'll get in a situation and
a miserable comforter will come along and start telling you why
you're in such a shape that you're in. but Job didn't care what
they said about him didn't care about what was going on in his
life he says the Lord hath put his hand upon me the Lord hath
taken the crown off my head the Lord has took my glory off of
myself and he knew that whatever happens in this world he had
a hope beyond this world here's a man who had lost everything
he had and yet he said Oh, that my words were now written. Now
written. We all got our wills and testaments
made. I got my will made. Made out. Got my signature on it. Written
out. Somebody's gonna read it one
of these days. But not gonna be written in this book. But
it's written. And look what he goes. Oh, that
they were printed in a book. Oh, and it was when Job experienced
the weakness and deceitfulness of all earthly kinsmen that he
says this. Look at Job's confession of faith.
Look what he says about it. In verse 25, I know my Redeemer
liveth. My Redeemer liveth. Now here
he is. This is supposed to be the oldest
book as the historians tell us and scholars tell us that this
is the oldest book in the Bible. This book was written before
any other books were written. And it says here, now this is
centuries, millennia before Christ would ever appear. Before the
Lord Jesus Christ would ever come into flesh. And Job said
here, I KNOW MY REDEEMER LIVES! HE LIVES! NOT ONLY DOES HE LIVE,
BUT HE LIVETH! And I tell you, Beloved, He says
Christ had not yet even come, Christ had not died, Christ had
not yet suffered, but He KNEW that His Redeemer was ALIVE,
that His Redeemer was LIVING, that His Redeemer would always
live, liveth, and had he ever lived to make intercession for
him. And look over here at Psalm 103 with me. Psalm 103. Job confesses this, this is my
confession of faith. Is this your confession of faith?
My Redeemer lives. Now there this morning and all
weekend people are going around and they're singing songs about
Jesus in a manger and Jesus, you know, the little baby and
they're doing all kinds of things and doing it in the name of the
Lord. But Job here has nothing to talk about Christmas trees,
giving gifts, dressing right and doing all these things and
talking about a baby in a manger. You know what he says? My Redeemer
lives. He lived before I got here, He's
living while I'm here, and He'll be living when I'm gone. And because He lives, I shall
live with Him. I shall live with Him. Look what
He said here in Psalm 103 in verse 1. And no wonder we say,
Bless the Lord, O my soul, all that is within me, bless His
holy name. Bless the Lord, oh my soul, in
all and forget not all of his benefits. Can you imagine the
benefits that we have? And I said don't forget them.
And here's some of them who forgiveth all thine iniquities. All of
them. Who healeth all thy diseases.
The worst disease we have is sin, blood disease, leprosy. Corruption, death, and our Lord
Jesus Christ heals all of those, and listen to this, who redeemeth
thy life from destruction. Set for destruction, worthy of
destruction, would destroy ourselves, who redeemeth thy life from destruction. Then he turns around, who crowneth
thee with loving kindness, and tender mercies, crowns you, takes
the crown off over here and crowns you with tender mercies and love
and kindness. Oh, my. And he says, I know my
Redeemer liveth. And, oh, listen, I tell you what,
his soul was redeemed. His life was redeemed. His future
was already paid for by his Redeemer. And y'all can say what you want
to. That's what he says. He said here, y'all say what
you want to. Your miserable comforts all of you, your positions of
no value. Y'all say what you want to say.
Do what you will with me. Accuse me of anything you want
to. But my Redeemer liveth. and he'll
vindicate me at that last day when I shall see him for myself.
He'll vindicate me because in him I trust. I trusted him back
in the beginning, I trust him now and I'll trust him all the
way through eternity. That's what he's saying. And
that's what he says, you were redeemed not with silver and
gold but with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. So I tell you, that's his first
confession. My Redeemer lives. My Redeemer lives. And look what
else he says down here in this verse. And all this, and look, he says,
my Redeemer lives. And then he says this, I know. I know it. People talk about no soul salvation,
but here's a man who knew. He said, I know. You know, first
John and all the little Johns, I don't know how many times in
there he says, and we know, or we do know, and we know, and
we do know, and we know, and we do know. And all Paul says,
knowing brethren, your election of God. There are some things
that we know. And Job said here, I know. That's
something that I know. He knew this. He knew that sacrifice. He knew. That God was come to
put away sacrifice by the sin of his self. His hope was in
that great sacrifice. I know. Though all his friends
had forsaken him. His wife said curse God and die. He said here that his children
and he was an alien in his own house. And that's what happens
when God saves you. That's what happens when God
redeems you. That's what happens when you have this assurance
that you know Christ. You'll feel like an alien among
your own kinfolk. You'll feel like a stranger among
the people that you've known and been raised with. You'll
feel like a stranger among your brothers and sisters, your mother
and your father. You'll feel like a stranger,
like an alien, because you've got a different place. You've
got a different thought. You've got a different nature.
You've got a different heart. You've got a different will.
You've got a different understanding. You've got life that they don't
have. You've got eyes that they don't have. You've got ears they
don't have. And that's why Job said, listen,
I'm an alien. I'm a stranger. And oh, but I
know this. All of his earthly friends can
forsake him. He knew that his Redeemer wouldn't
forsake him. David said this, he says, though
my father and my mother forsake me, the Lord will take me up. The Lord will take me up. Huh? And I tell you, his Redeemer
wouldn't forsake him. His kinsmen in heaven, the Lord
Jesus Christ wouldn't forsake him and be faithful to him and
be good to him and be gracious to him. Now there were some things
Job didn't know. And there are some things we
don't know and thank God we don't. He didn't know the reason of
his great trial. He did not have a clue why he
was being tried the way he was. He did not know. But I do know
what he knew this. He says the Lord gave and the
Lord take it away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
And he worshipped. Fell on his face and worshipped.
And his wife said, Job in all the shape you in, why don't you
just go ahead and cuss God and die? He said, woman, you speak
like a fool. I'm not a fool. You speak like
one, but I ain't fixing to curse God. My Redeemer, my Savior,
the one who loved me with an everlasting love. Oh, listen. He didn't know the reason of
his great trial. He didn't know what took place
between God and Satan. In fact, he was over-worshipping. He had offered a sacrifice for
his sons, for perhaps he thought that they had sinned against
God, and he went and offered sacrifices for them. And then
Satan come around and start having a conversation. And God says,
there's my servant Job. There's nobody like him in the
earth. A perfect man, a mature man, a God-fearing man. And he
hates evil, despises evil. He didn't know that God and Satan
had these conversations. He didn't know that God and Satan
had these conversations. He didn't know what took place
between God and Satan. He didn't know why he had been
stripped. He didn't know why God stripped
him. He didn't know why God stripped him of his glory and took the
crown off of his head. He didn't know why all these
miserable comforters came and accused him of being a wicked
man, a sinful man, a hypocrite of a man. And he didn't know why all of
his earthly comforts had been taken away from him. All of his
earthly comforts. Got down to the place where he
was so skinny and so emaciated that he said, my bones and my
skin cleaves to me. He just looked like death. And
he didn't know why he'd lost his health, didn't know why he
lost his family, or why he had all these miserable comforters
and physicians of no value. But he said, this is one thing
I know. I know. And you know what he knows? He
knew that God, that his Redeemer was making all of this work out
to his good. Making it all come out to his
good. And that God was going to bring
glory to himself through him. And he knew that. He said, I
know. I know. You fellas don't know anything,
but I know. I know. He couldn't hardly talk about
my brethren, my kinfolk, my friends, or my servants for they had all
forsaken Him. But He could talk about His Redeemer.
He could talk about His Savior. And oh, look over here in Psalm
73. I tell you, He couldn't hardly talk about my brethren. He couldn't
talk about His kinfolks. He couldn't talk about His friends. And I tell you, the Lord will
put you in these situations sometimes. And He'll pull the rug out from
under you. And I tell you what, when He
pulls it out from under you, there ain't nobody who can put
it back but Him. But I tell you this, if you can't trust God
in the dark, you certainly can't trust Him in the light. If you
can't trust Him when you can't feel Him, then you can't trust
Him when you do. If you can't trust Him when you
can't see, feel, or experience anything spiritual, if you can't
trust Him then you can't trust Him any other time. You know,
that's why it says we walk by faith and not by sight. We're
walking, beloved, we're walking by faith. We're living by faith.
I mean, if we walk by sight, if Job walked by sight, you know
what he would have done? He'd have done like a lot of
us thought one time. Boy, I'd like to find me a hole, crawl
in it and pull it in after me. And that's probably what he'd
have done. But oh no, that's not what he did. Look what he
said here in Psalm 73 and verse 25. Who have I in heaven but thee? Everybody wants to go and see
mama and daddy and their wives and their brothers and sisters
grannies and grandpas. But David said, whom have I in
heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth
that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart fails. That's what's going on with Job.
My flesh and my heart fails. But listen, but God is the strength
of my heart. and my portion, my portion. You know what my portion is?
That's what Job said. He said, boy, everything's against
me. I mean, this world's turned upside down. But he said, I know
this, that my flesh and heart faileth, but God is the strength
of my heart, and he is my portion. He's my, everybody gets a portion,
but he said, God, he said, God's my portion. That's the one I
want. That's my portion in this life.
You all have what you want. And that's what Job says. He
said, you have what you want. God's going to be my portion.
God's going to be my portion. You have your portion in this
world. He said, I want God. Who? I ain't got nobody in heaven
but you. And he said, oh, back over in
Job 19 again. Look at it with me. Oh, listen. I know my Redeemer. I know My Redeemer. I know Him. I know Him. Oh, the
joy of knowing God. Knowing God. Knowing Him. To actually know God. To talk
with Him. Speak with Him. To know Him. Trust Him. Trust in God. Oh, the joy of trusting God. Oh, the blessedness of having
no confidence in this flesh. And when we leave here, and we
will, we're going to leave all of these earthly ties behind,
every single one of them. There's not nobody taking anything
with them. And oh, what a joy. What a blessedness,
blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory
divine. And you know, and one of the
joys of this is knowing that God knows me. He said, I know
him, but he said he knows me. I know my Redeemer, but he knows
me. We're known of God. When it pleased
God, Paul said, who separated me from my mother's womb and
called me by His grace. And that's why he says, my Redeemer,
I know this. I'm not guessing. I'm not speculating. I'm not just got my fingers crossed,
hoping that everything will come right in the end. I got my finger in the wind
to see, you know, which way the wind's blowing. I know. My Redeemer
lives. And look what else he says about
it over here. And look what else he says. I
know my Redeemer liveth, and listen to this, and I know that
He shall stand at the latter day on the earth. He knew the Lord Jesus Christ
was going to come. His Redeemer was going to come
and live on this earth. He said He's going to stand on
the earth. You know when they talk about
the last days, the last days, the last days. You know when
the last days started? When our Lord Jesus came into
this world. That's when the last days start. That's when the last days, everybody's
talking about, well, we're in the last days, we're in the last
days. Well, every one of us is in our last days. Our life is
but a vapor. It appears for a little and then
it's gone. David says, my life is like a shadow. What's a shadow? There's nothing to a shadow.
And the only time you can see a shadow is if there's light
behind you. And beloved, I'll tell you what, we're shadows.
He said that's what our life is, just like a shadow. Whenever
the sun goes over us, the shadow disappears. And that's why he
says, but I know this, that my Redeemer shall stand. And I, Lord Jesus Christ, came
to this earth, and stood on this earth, and lived on this earth,
and unveiled His self in flesh, and He came in glory and power,
but nobody saw it, except whom He made Himself to know. And
oh, listen, no wonder Isaiah said it like this. said
he's like a rug out of the dry ground. There's no beauty, there's
no comeliness about him that we should desire him. But then
along he comes, and Joe said, listen, he gonna stand at the
latter day. Oh, he made himself of no reputation. He emptied
himself of all that veiled his self in this old body and nobody
could see him unless they, God blessed him to see. And this
is the thing about it is, right now, nobody can see Christ unless
God gives you eyes to see. There's, you don't see no, do
you, how many here sees glory in Christ? How many here sees
power in Christ? How many here sees all they need
in Christ? How many sees all power in Christ? How many sees all the beauty
that's in Christ? And that's what we see. Do you
know how you see that? God's got to give you eyes. And
Job had never saw Him. But yet he saw Him with the same
eyes we see Him with. I know my Redeemer shall stand. In the latter day, where's he
gonna stand at? He's gonna stand on this earth. And what did he come to do? He came upon this earth in the
last days and they began when he came. He came to do his father's
will. I came down from heaven not to
do my will but the will of him that sent me. He came, he says,
Father, you gave me a people. And I lay down my life for those
sheep, for those people. Everyone you give to me, Father,
when they come to me, I'll receive them, I'll take them, and there's
nothing that they'll ever do make me cast them out. My Father, I said, I came down
here to do your will. I came down here to save the
people you gave me. I came into this world. to buy
the sacrifice of myself to put their sin away once and for all. Once and for all. Put sin away. Huh? Oh my. He came to be that seed of the
woman who came and bruised the serpent's head. He stood on this
earth and paid the ransom price for Job, for Noah, for Abraham,
for Isaac and Jacob, for Noah and his sons, for Enoch, and for me. I'm going to throw
myself in that bunch. I'm going to just jump right
in amongst that bunch and say, he did it for me. I'm going to
jump in there with Abraham and say, I believe God. I'm going
to jump in there with Isaac and Jacob and says, the Lord is my
redeemer. I'm going to jump in there with
Simon, Peter and the apostle Paul and John and James. And
I'm going to say, Christ is my savior. I'm going to number myself right
along with him because he stood for me on this earth. He stood
for me against justice. He stood for me against wrath.
He stood for me against my sin. He stood for me against the devil.
He stood for me against my own flesh. He stood for me against the heart
so hard and he took it out and gave me a heart of flesh. Oh,
he stood for me too. And I'll tell you something else
he's gonna do. He's gonna come again, and he's
gonna stand, and when he comes again, every eye's
gonna see him, every knee's gonna bow, and every tongue's gonna
confess, and then everybody'll know that he's the King of Kings
and Lord of Lords. Oh, yes, everybody's gonna know
that one, ain't they? I look forward to that. I look forward
to when Christ comes in every knee. Every single knee. I've done bowed the knee. I'll
bow the knee right now in the face of Jesus Christ in this
company. I'll bow my knees before him. I'll bow before Him. I'll
prostrate myself before Him. I don't want no crowns but His.
I don't want no righteousness but His. I don't want no hope
but His. I don't want nothing but Him. And I'll bow my knees
before Him. I'll lay prostrate before Him. In front of the world,
in front of my children, in front of my grandchildren, in front
of anybody, anytime. But one of these days, God is
going to put His hand on somebody's neck. You didn't want to bow, but you're
going to. Oh, listen, he'll say, get out. And I want nobody to jump up
and say no, because every one of them is going to get out.
And you know what we're going to do? We're going to start to
shout, hallelujah. That's what we're going to do. And look what he says again.
Oh, he knows that his Redeemer is going to stand on the earth
at the latter days. Look what else he says. And no,
he saw the Redeemer and then he says this, and though after
skin worms destroy this body, after the skin worms, look what
it says in the margin. After I shall awake, though this
body be destroyed out of my flesh, after this body be destroyed."
Oh, listen. He said, this flesh, you know
something about this flesh, this body, this flesh, this body we
live in, and this flesh is the veil that keeps us from seeing
God as we want to, that keeps us from loving God as we want
to, that keeps us from worshiping God as we would. But this flesh
is going to the grave And a body like our master will be ours
one of these days. Oh, listen. Look over in Luke
24 with me. Look in Luke 24 with me. I want
you to see these things. In verse 36, you know, he said,
after the skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh I
shall see God. In my flesh. Now, it's going
to be a different kind of flesh. He said, I'm going to see God.
But look what he says, this flesh is the veil, this flesh is a
tent, this flesh is something. Now, look what our Lord Jesus
Christ said here, verse 36. He's appeared among his disciples. And as they thus spake, Jesus
himself stood in the midst of them and saith unto them, Peace
be unto you. But now look how they reacted
to him. But they were terrified and frightened and supposed that
they had seen a spirit. Oh my. And he said unto them,
he spoke to them again, why are you troubled? And why do thoughts
arise in your hearts? And look what he did now. Look
what he did. He says, behold my hands and
feet that it is I myself. Why did he show him his hands?
Why did he show him his feet? To show him the evidence that
this is me. I was the one on that cross.
Look at my hands. Look at my feet. Look at them. That it is I myself. Go ahead
and touch me. Touch me. Feel me. See. Handle me. Go ahead and
touch me. Feel me. See. For a spirit hath
not flesh and bones. Now you notice he said flesh
and bones as you see me have. You're looking at me, you're
handling me, you're looking at me. And when he had thus spoken
he showed him his hands and his feet. And oh beloved, whatever
our Lord Jesus Christ, whatever body he came out of the grave
with, that's the flesh we're going to see him in. That's the
flesh we're going to see him in. Look over in 1 Corinthians
15. 1 Corinthians 15. Me and Duke went out to the grave
the other day. And it was emotional, very emotional. But I said, son, I said, you
know she's not there. I said, there's a body in there.
And when I buried her, when we buried her, she didn't have any
hair on her head. She had a wig. And her spirit, her spirit, when
it left her, went into glory. Our Lord says, today you're going
to be with me in paradise. The Lazarus, where was he carried?
He was carried down there where there was nothing but peace and
joy and happiness. But that body that's in that
grave out there, God's gonna raise that up. And
there'll be hair on her head. And he'll raise her up. And it'll
be a body of flesh and bones. And that's why Job said, in my
flesh shall I see God. We'll just be there with him
in spirit. We'll rejoice with him, but one
of these days, and this is what he says here, and first, let
me, I'm getting ahead of myself. Now look what it says here in
verse 50, 1 Corinthians 15. Now this I say, brethren, 1 Corinthians
15, 50. Now this I say, brethren, that
flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Not flesh
and blood. But flesh and bone can. And now
look what he says here. Neither doeth corruption inherit
corruption. Behold, I'm going to show you
a mystery. We shall not all sleep. We're
not going to all go to the grave. We're not all going to go rest.
But we shall all be changed. Every one of us. In a moment,
in the twinkling of an eye, when that trumpet sounds, For the
trumpet shall sound, now listen to this, and the dead shall be
raised up incorruptible. That body that he said after
the skin worms destroyed this body, after this body is rotted,
after this body is corrupt, after this body has been emptied of
life, he says, listen to this, and the dead shall be raised
up incorruptible, and listen to it, shall be changed. What's it going to be changed
like? A body like our Lord had, flesh and bone. We won't need blood. Blood, beloved,
that's the sins in the blood. We inherited it from Adam. And
look what he goes on to say, for this corruptible must put
on incorruption. This man that's corruptible,
this man that's rotten, this man that's dying, this man that
has to brush his teeth and comb his hair and put on all kinds
of smell them so we can go out in public and people not smell
us. This corruption, corruptible must put on incorruption. This
mortal must put on immortality. So, so when this corruptible
shall have put on incorruption and this mortal shall have put
on immortality. Then shall be brought to pass
what God said. Death is swallowed up in victory. Oh, death, where is thy sting? Oh, grave, where is thy victory? You know what he said? He said,
to be absent from the body, to be present with the Lord. We couldn't, we can't, we can't
worship God the way we want to because of this body. No wonder
he's going to have to give us a new one. All right, back over here in
our text again. Oh, we see by faith now, after skin and worms
destroy my body, I shall see God. I shall see him. And in my flesh, in my flesh,
in that body that Christ, I'm almost seen by faith now, but
soon faith will turn into sight. And he knew his Redeemer was
God, for only God could put sin away. And then look what he said
in verse 27. Listen to this now. Whom, oh,
what a confession of faith. Oh, my. That's a good name to
Ruby. It's your confession of faith.
This was Ed's, wasn't it? 18th, Friday, going 12 years,
six, oh no. Boy, he just, he just, man, he
ain't been there that long. He ain't been there that long.
He ain't been there long enough to snap your finger. Woo! my. Oh, listen. Ain't nothing
like it. That's what a blessed hope we
have. Oh. And look what he says. And he
says in verse twenty-seven, whom I shall see for myself, my eyes
shall behold, and not another, though my reins be consumed within
me. And when he said whom I shall
see for myself and behold not another, I'll not see a stranger.
I'm not a stranger to my Redeemer. I'm not a stranger to my Savior.
That's what he said. I shall see him and not another.
I won't be a stranger and he won't be a stranger. That's what
he said. And oh, and then he says there,
you know, though my reigns be consumed within me in the margin,
it says my reigns within me are consumed with earnest desire. He said, I desire this day. I earnestly desire that day when
I shall behold him for myself. My eyes shall behold him and
not another. He said, I'm going to see him.
I'm going to see him. I'm not going to be a stranger
to him, and he ain't going to be a stranger to me. And I have my reigns in me was
consumed, my reigns that reaches out after something like my soul.
He says my reigns within me earnestly, earnestly, earnestly desires
this day. And oh, he's saying everything
is a mystery to me now. Life's full of contradictions
for Job as God deals with him. And I tell you, life is full
of contradictions. Life's full of ups and downs.
Life, you may get up one morning, feel just like you could fly
away, and before the day gets out, you feel like a devil. That's
how you can change in just a blink of an eye. And Job said everything,
he don't know what's going on in his life. Life's full of contradictions. Everything seems to be against
him. But he says, I won't see a stranger. I won't see a stranger. That's what our Lord said. He
said a stranger they will not follow. Is that what He said
about His sheep? A stranger they will not follow. He said they won't do it. But
He says you know who I'll see? I'll see my Redeemer. Here I'll
see Him with my eyes. With eyes. It's the ink from a sip. Can
you imagine what it's going to be like? You know, Ephesians 2, 7 says
that in the ages to come, He shall show forth the riches of
His grace given to us after His exceeding
kindness through Jesus Christ. We're gonna learn and learn and
learn and learn and grow and grow and grow and learn and grow
and grow and learn. But he said I'm gonna see. Oh Paul said here we see through
a glass darkly. Seeing through a glass darkly.
You know that's not a dark glass but if I hold that thing up there
right in front of both my eyes I can't see nothing. But take
that away and I can see good. And you take away that veil.
Take away that darkness. And you know what he said? Then
we'll be face to face. Face to face with Christ my Savior. Face to face with my Lord. Huh? Oh my. Davis said it like this, I'll
be satisfied, I will be satisfied when I awake in thy likeness. Whatever else happens to us in
this world, whatever else happens to us and whatever happens as
we go from here till we get there and whatever's happened to us
till we got to here, whatever else happens as long as we know
Our Redeemer lives. It'll be alright now. And it'll
especially be alright hereafter. Job's confession of faith. What
a confession. All that my words were now written
in a book. Job, God heard you. And if you could find these tombstones,
in Heaven Row, it'd be written in there. You know, they're going to put
our names on there, but oh, I tell you what. He said, put this on my tombstone. I know my Redeemer living. I'm
going to see. I'm not going to be a stranger
to Him. He's not going to be a stranger to me. Oh, what a wonderful confession
of faith. Our Father in the blessed, blessed,
blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, what a wonderful Savior is
Jesus, my Lord. What a wonderful Savior to us. Oh, Lord, we just get overwhelmed
sometimes with your goodness and your grace and rejoicing
of the fact that this is not the only life we live in and
that as time goes by We're getting weaker and weaker in this body.
Frailer and frailer and frailer. Lord, this is not the only flesh
we're going to have. We're going to have that new
body, that new flesh. And we'll see our Lord Jesus
Christ face to face. See Him with our own eyes. Touch
Him with our own hands. Oh, blessed be Your name. Blessed
be your name. Amen. Amen.