Well, I'm delighted. Our first
speaker this evening, Pastor Don Bell, Pastor of Lantana Grace
Church in Crossville, Tennessee. Don has been a long, long time
friend of this congregation. I'm so glad you're back. You
get extra credit for bringing Shirley with you. We're glad you're here. So you
come preach to us. Open your Bibles with me, if
you will, to Job chapter 19. And I have looked so forward
to coming up here and seeing so many people I haven't seen
in so long. So many friends, so many folks
that I've known. I was looking at a schedule the
other day. Got out some old papers and looking through them. I preached
for you the first time, I believe it was in December, when you
had your conference over New Year's, in 83. And I knowed you before that.
And so that's how much, it's been a lot of water under the
bridge. Like somebody said today, and they still associate with
you after all these years. That's wonderful to see, and
I'm so glad to be here, so thankful. Pray the Lord to be pleased to
meet with us. I want to look here in verse 23 down through
verse 27. And my subject this evening is
Job's confession of faith. Job's confession of faith. He
said, Oh that my words were now written. Oh that they were printed
in a book. They have been. Right here they
are. Right here they are. He said, oh, that my words were
written, written in a book. And there they are, right for
us to read them. And then he says that they were engraven
with an iron pen and lead in the rock forever. Well, it's
better to be in the word of God than to have it written in a
rock, that's for sure. His name and all the things about
him is written in God's blessed word. And he said, for 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, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another,
though my reins be consumed within me. This is Job's confession
of faith, and I would say that it would be all of ours, and
I believe you'll agree with that by the time I get through with
this message. But let me give you God's testimony
of Job to begin with. You know, preachers have debated
a long time when Job got converted. But you know what God said about
him in verse 5, chapter 1? Have you ever considered my servant
Job? A perfect and an upright man
who feareth God and escheweth evil. That's what God said about
him. No matter what else he went through in our life. And that's
what God said about us from the very beginning. And we've been
through darkness, high, depth, lows. And that didn't change our standing
before God. And here's Job in an awful situation. Here's a man that God gave him
three miserable comforters. Three miserable comforters. And
that's what he called them. You miserable comforters, all
of you. He said, these ten times you've asked me questions and
you've vexed my soul. And he said up here in verse
9, and this is what he says. This is some testimonies that
he gave of God. He said, He hath stripped me
of my glory. And he's the only one that can
do that. He does that to us pretty often. He has to do that pretty
often. He has stripped me of my glory
and taken the crown from my head. God's got to do that. God's got
to do that. And that's what he says here.
Job has these three friends, these miserable, miserable comforters. And in one place he says, you
know, I abhor myself. I just absolutely abhor myself.
You ever abhorred yourself? I mean really abhorred yourself.
God's people are the only people that abhor themselves. I don't
care how low down you get as an unconverted person. Somebody
else is always in worse shape than you are because you're going
to make yourself self-righteous better than them. But Job said,
here I abhor myself. I don't care what anybody else
thinks about me. It's me that's the problem. And that's the thing
he talked about with. And he goes on to say here, I
call these miserable comforters. And he talked about them reproaching
him and vexing him and reproaching him. And he says, God Himself
has overthrown me. God did this to me. God hath
overthrown me. And he said, and all my kinfolks
have forsaken me. And Job's brought down like some
of us are going to have to be. And Job has this wonderful confession
of faith. No matter what's going on. Things
has happened to this man, but he has this wonderful confession
of faith. And look what he says in verse
25. This is what Job confesses here.
He said, I know that my Redeemer liveth. My Redeemer liveth. Now here's a man. Thousands of years before it
oldest book in the Bible is what they say. I don't know don't
have any idea But I do know that he says my Redeemer liveth He
knew he had a Redeemer. He didn't say he's gonna live.
I hope he lives he might live but he said he lives right now
and He said Christ is ever alive. He says my Redeemer is alive
right now. I And our Redeemer was alive before you and I ever
got to this earth. Our Redeemer was alive before
He ever created Adam in the Garden of Eden. Our Redeemer was alive. And He had one thing to do, and
God gave Him that work to do, and that's to redeem us. And
that's why Job said, My Redeemer lives. Right now He lives. And
oh, and Christ hadn't come yet. Christ hadn't died. But yet He
says, My Redeemer lives. Right now. Does your Redeemer
live? And I tell you what, look over
and keep Job here and look with me at Psalm 103. Though Christ
had not died, though Christ had not shed His blood, though the
Lord Jesus had not been on the cross yet, He says, My Redeemer,
My Redeemer lives. And you know that's what we tell
folks if we ever get an opportunity to talk about Him as a Redeemer
that lives. Lives now. Our Lord Jesus Christ,
He was which was, which is, and which is to come. He never changes. He's always
been what He was and always will be what He has been. He'll never
change. He's the same today, yesterday,
and forever. And that's what's so blessed
about our Savior. No matter what time and period in history you
talk about Christ, He lives. And He lives as a Redeemer. He
lives as one who pays off a sin debt and redeems a people, and
saves them from their sin, and rescues them from their depravity,
and sets them free to follow Him in the way that He prescribes
for them. And bless His holy name that
He does that. And look what He said here in Psalm 103. And oh,
bless the Lord, O my soul, Blessing and all that's within me. Bless
His holy name. Bless the Lord, oh my soul. And forget not all His benefits. Who forgiveth all thine iniquity. Who healeth all thy diseases.
And listen to it. Who redeemeth thy life from destruction. And crowns thee with loving kindness
and tender mercies. You know all that God had to
do to let us destroy ourselves, leave us alone. But when He redeemed
us, He redeemed us from destruction, from the destruction of sin,
from the destruction of justice, from the destruction of law,
everything that would have destroyed us, our Lord Jesus Christ. And
that's why Job said, my Redeemer lives. He's not going to live
2,000 years from now. He's not going to live 4,000
years from now. He lives now. His soul was redeemed. before
Christ ever died. My soul was redeemed before I
was ever born. Ain't that right? And his soul
was redeemed, his life was redeemed, his future was already paid for
by his Redeemer and he knew that. He knew that. And I'll tell you
what he said, you all say what you want to to me, do what you
will to me, vex my soul, lie on me and be miserable comforters.
That ain't gonna change the fact that my Redeemer lives. And Job knew something about
sacrifice that put away sin. You remember Job chapter 1 when
he says, my sons may have sinned against God. And he said, I'll
go and offer sacrifices for them. So he knew something about blood
that had to put away sin. And he says, I know my Redeemer
liveth. And his hope was in that one great sacrifice that would
put away sin. And then look at the knowledge
that he has of himself. He says, for I know. I know. In verse 25, I know. I know it. I'm not guessing about
it. I'm not wondering about it. I'm
not hoping that's going to happen. He said, I know. This is something
that I know. I have assurance about this.
And assurance gives you joy and comfort. And all of his earthly
friends had forsaken him. He said, My Redeemer won't forsake
me. His kinsmen in heaven would be good to him. His blessed Redeemer
would be good to him, be kind to him, be gracious to him, be
loving to him. And he would never forsake. And
as you know, the psalmist said this, He says, though my father
and my mother forsake me, the Lord will take me up. The Lord
will take me up. And there's a lot of things that
Job didn't know. A lot of things he didn't know. He didn't know
the reason of this great trial. He did not know the reason. He
got one bad news after another. Cattle gone, camels gone, children
gone, daughters gone, wealth gone. Everything's gone. Health is gone. He didn't know
what the reason for this great, great trial. He didn't know the
conversation between God and Satan. He didn't know that conversation. We wouldn't know it had not God
put that in a book. We wouldn't know that we had
an accuser of the brethren, that God would have a conversation
with them about Job's soul and Job's life and how God put a
hedge about him. Take it down and I'll destroy
him. I'll make him cuss you to your face. Instead of that happening,
you know what Job said? I know. I know. Well, Job, you've lost your wife.
I mean, you've lost your kids. You've lost your wealth. You've
lost all your property. And your wife's breath is strange
to you. Your own servants won't even
get up and wait on you now. So what in the world are you
talking about? I know. No. Oh, he didn't know why God
had took and stripped him down to nothing. He didn't know why
God brought him down right into the very dust where he would
scrape the balls off of his body with a potsherd, scrape and scrape
and scrape and scrape. He didn't know that was going
to happen. Don't know why it happened. He didn't know why
God took away every earthly comfort that he had. He didn't know why
he lost his health. He didn't know why he lost his
family. He didn't know why he lost his wealth or why he had
such miserable comforters. And he said, they're physicians
of no value. But he knew this. He said, I
know. I know. My Redeemer lives. And he lives. And you know what
he's saying here? I know that whatever happens
to me, God lives. My Redeemer lives. to make everything
work out for my good and to his glory. That's what he said. And
look, don't look good now. Things don't look good now. But
that don't change what I know. I don't change what I know. And
he knew his Redeemer lived, loved him, and was doing what he was
doing for his glory. He couldn't hardly talk about
my brethren. They all forsook Him. My kinsfolks,
my friends, my servants, they all forsook Him. But He could
say, I know, I know, my Redeemer, I know Him. And when my flesh
fails, when my hardened flesh fails, God will be my portion. Look what He said over here in
chapter 1 in verse 20. This is Job's confession of faith. None of us has been brought here,
but you know, trials are relative. Trials are relative. I've seen
folks that come into a service that was going to die just in
a few days. It was so weak that you know
they weren't going to make it. Going to be gone just a little
while. And then somebody come in and
know that's going to happen, They start talking about, oh,
how my head hurts and how my back hurts. Trials are relative. What's bothering you is real
to you. So don't ever feel guilty about, but always be conscious
of what somebody else is going through. Always be conscious
of that. And this is Job. None of us, oh my soul, what
Job went through. But look what he said here at
verse 20. Got all this news about everything gone. Then Job arose,
took his mantle, rented in two, shaved his head, and fell down
upon the ground and worshipped. And said, naked came I out of
my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave,
the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Everything that I have in my
hand and in my life and every one of us right now, I don't
care what it is, God gave it to us. Every relationship, every
house, every bit of money we have, every car we drive, every
job you have, everything you have, God gave it to you and
he can take it just like that if it pleases him to. But we'll
be able to say like Job did, The Lord gave. The Lord took
it away. Blessed be His name. I came into this world with nothing.
And I ain't taking nothing with me when I go. But He had something
that other people didn't have. He had something His miserable
comers didn't have. He had a Redeemer. And He said,
and I know Him. I know Him. I know Him. I know
Him. And oh the joy of knowing God. Knowing God. What a joy it is
to know God. Not know some things about Him,
but to know Him. I mean know Him, converse with
Him. Trust Him. Trust Him. Cast all your, put
all your weight on Him. Put your soul in His hands. Put
your life in His hands. Put your children in His hands.
And oh, what a joy it is to trust God and know God and have no
confidence in this flesh whatsoever. And oh, beloved, when we leave
here, we're going to leave all these earthly ties behind. And
one of the greatest joys a believer has is not only what they know
about God, but what God knows about them. The Lord knows them
that are His. And that's not what I know about
Him, but it's what He knows about me. I love that, don't you? I
love what He knows about me. All right. And that's why Job
said, he said, He knows the way that I take. He knows the way
that I take. Then look what else happens.
He talks about not only do I know Him and my Redeemer liveth, but
look what else he says. Verse 25, and that he shall stand
at the latter days upon the earth. He said he's going to appear.
I know him. I know he's my redeemer. And
he's going to appear one of these days. I know that he shall stand on
the earth. In the latter days, he knew about
the first coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. He knew that our
Lord Jesus would come. And you know what, the latter
days when they started, the last days started. Everybody talks,
you know, all these preachers and stuff talk about the last
days. But I'm telling you something, the last days started when Christ
started on this earth. That's the last days. And Isaiah
said He's going to stand on the ground and stand upon the earth. And He's coming in glory and
He's coming in power. And when our Lord Jesus Christ
came in glory and power, When He came to this earth the first
time, very, very, very, very few people knew who He was. And
you know why they didn't know Him? He had all the glory that
He had with His Father before the world was. He had all the
power. He was God manifest in the flesh. He had every attribute
that God had. And the only God that anybody
will ever see will be the Lord Jesus Christ. And He said, I
know He's going to stand upon the earth at the latter days.
That He's going to come here. And he's going to have something
to do. He's going to be a redeemer. He's going to put away sin. He's
going to save his people. And beloved, you know, and here's
the thing about why they couldn't see his glory, because it was
veiled in flesh. He made himself of no reputation,
but he emptied himself. And he came here and people would
look at him. And that's what they said. Well,
this is just Jesus. This is, we know his mama, Mary.
We know his dad, Joseph. So how in the world is he saying
he came down from heaven? He looks like anybody else except to those that he gave
eyes to see. When he gave an eye to see, you
could look past that flesh, you could look past that body, you
could look past that man and see the glory of God in that
blessed person. And that's what Job has said.
He said he's going to appear at the latter day and he's going
to stand on this earth. And he did appear. And what did
he appear to do? What did he appear to do? He
came into this world first and foremost to honor and glorify
and obey his father more than anything else. He had to do something
for his father. for God before He could do anything
in the world for us. And He came here to do His Father's
will. He said, I delight to do Thy
will. O God, Thy will I delight to
do. And He came here, and He come
to do His Father's will, and He came here to lay His life
down for sheep. For sheep. He don't take goats and turn
them into sheep. He came here to save sheep. And
he not only said that, but he says, I'm going to have a voice.
And when I speak to my sheep, said my sheep's going to hear
my voice. And when they hear my voice, you know what they're
going to do? They're going to follow me. My father-in-law was
75 years old before God ever saved him. He's 93 years old
today. Just bought a new car about seven
or eight months ago. Brand spanking new, 2017. So you know, he ain't expected
to leave here no more. He's like Job. He knows his Redeemer
lives. But I never will forget it. I never will forget it. He was
sitting about, or Holly's sitting there, I guess. And I got through
preaching. I was getting ready to step down
out of the pulpit. He stood up and he said, Don.
I said, yeah. He said, I heard his voice today. That's exactly how he said it.
I heard His voice today. And that old congregation just
went to pieces. Oh, it's just wonderful. Some folks even fell to their
knees. They're so overjoyed. Because He had been coming for
20 something years in the Lord's. But that's exactly how He said
it. I heard His voice today. And oh my! And He came to redeem
His people. He came to put away the sin of
his people. He was the seed of the woman
that bruised the head of the serpent. He stood on this earth
and paid the ransom price to put away all of our sins once
and for all, to sanctify us once and for all, to present us faultless
without blame and without blemish before God in love. And He did
all of that while He was on this earth. And here's the thing about
it. Look at the people He did it for. Just look at yourself
and look at me. That's the people He did it for.
God didn't do this for Job because Job was a poor man and had all
these great trials. No, no. He loved Job and He redeemed
Job before Job was ever born. And that's why He said, I know
my Redeemer lives. And He didn't need Job's faith
to approve of His redemption. He didn't need Job's repentance
to prove of his redemption. He didn't need anything from
Job to redeem him or put away his sins. He just willed to do
it. And Job gives him all the glory.
I know my Redeemer lives and He'll stand. He'll stand upon
the earth in the latter days. And you know He said He'll, yes,
stand. And I'll tell you what, our Lord Jesus Christ, I don't
know how long it's going to be. I'm not as young as I once was,
but it wouldn't surprise me if our Lord didn't return just any
time. And I know everybody said that. But I do know one thing,
if He don't come for everybody, He's gonna come for me. I do
know that. And He'll yet stand upon this
earth, and when He comes the second time, without sin, unto
salvation, every eye is gonna behold Him. Every single eye
that's ever been will look at the Lord Jesus Christ Them that
pierced Him is going to look upon Him. And on that day, every
knee is going to bow. Every tongue is going to confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
And I'll tell you something that we've already done. And we won't
do it that day. We've already done it here. And
we won't have to do it on that day. It's just His enemies that's
going to do it. We've already done it, ain't
we Bruce? We've already bowed the knee and confessed that He
is Lord. And may God get all the glory.
And I tell you what, never knees gonna bow, never tongue confess.
Then everybody's gonna know who's King of Kings. And we look for
that glorious appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. Then look
what else He said here. Not only did He have assurance
and know that His Redeemer lived, that he's going to stand at the
latter days. But look what he says in verse 26. And though
after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I
see God. His Redeemer and God's one and
the same. And oh, look what it says, look
at what it says in the margin about after skin worms destroyed
this body. It says, after I shall awake,
though this body be destroyed, this body be destroyed, yet out
of my flesh. Our Lord Jesus Christ, when he
rose from the dead, his disciples, first thing they thought when
we see the spirit, at least he said, here, here's my hand. He
didn't say I touch it. Flesh and bones don't have it.
Touch me, see? And then he ate something in
front of him. And that's what Job said, after
this body right here is gone. I'm going to have another body.
I'm going to have another body and it'll be a fleshly body.
It'll be a body that won't have no blood in it. Flesh and blood
don't inherit the kingdom of God. But I shall in my body,
after this body's went to the grave, after this body's disintegrated,
God's going to give me a new body and I'm going to see my
Redeemer in that new body. I'll see God Himself. That's
what He said. Bless His holy name. And that's
what's going to happen to every one of us. Oh, my. Look over in 1 Corinthians. You know to be absent from the
body is to be present with the Lord. I'll tell you, I know.
Look at 1 Corinthians 15. I know. I know it's hard, so
hard to give up people you love. I know it is. But for somebody
that knows Christ, somebody that has made Christ, that Christ
is their life, and that Christ has redeemed them, and their
whole life was spent trusting Christ, and talking about Christ,
and living to the glory of Christ, and talking about the free grace
of God, and having no worth, and no merit in themselves, no
abilities in themselves, nothing to commend themselves to God.
It hurts to let them go. But oh my, oh my, you know when
you get into eternity, once you start into eternity, that's all
you've ever known. You forget this world that quick.
I mean, they forget it quick and I snap my fingers. And when they get into eternity,
they never know anything else but eternity. Time is no more
for them. Flesh is no more for them. Heartaches
and tears, there's no more for them. Weakness of body and frailness
of spirit, there's no more for them. And that's what Job said, go
ahead worms, eat it up, eat it up, eat it up, eat it up. But I'm still going to see God.
I'm still going to see God. And what are you going to see
Him in? My body. Look what he said here at first
Corinthians 1550. Oh my. To be absent from the
body, oh to be present with the Lord. I'll tell you, I've had
this experience while you're looking. It is hard. It's hard. All you've ever known was the
flesh. All you've ever known is that relationship. And it's
hard to grasp them being somewhere else because they're such part
and parcel of you. It's hard to grasp them being
somewhere else because the memories are so strong, the heart is so
entwined, and it's hard. I'm not saying it ain't. But
oh my, you would not bring them back for not one split second
if you could. And this idea, you know, that
mama's looking down on me, that would not be heaven if they could
see anything that's going on in this world. That would be
hell to look down here and see what's going on. Mama's watching
over the babies. Mama's watching over the kids.
That would be hell on earth if they could look back down here
and see what's going on. Wouldn't it? But look what he said here. Verse
50. Now this I say, brethren, that
flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Flesh and
blood can't do it. Neither doeth corruption inherit
incorruption. I'm going to show you a mystery.
I'm going to show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep. Not all
of us have to go through the grave. And sleep in the scripture
just means going to rest. That's all it means. Did you
get a good night's sleep last night? Oh, I got a good night's
sleep. And this is what he's saying here. We go to sleep and go to
bed at night to rest. And that's what he says. These
folks have went to rest. And he said, look what he said.
But we shall all be changed. Now that's what Job's saying.
I'm going to be changed. And look what he says. In a moment,
in the twinkling of an eye, there's going to be a trumpet sound.
For the trumpet shall sound, And the dead shall be raised
incorruptible, and we shall be changed. But this corruptible
must put on incorruption. This mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall
have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on
immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written,
death is swallowed up in victory. Oh, death, where is thy sting? Oh grave, where is thy root?
And that's why Job said, I'm going to the grave. I'm going to see God myself in
my body, in my body. And beloved, he said, I see him
by faith now. But soon faith will turn to sight. And he knew that his Redeemer
was God, for only God can put sin away. And then look what
he says there again in verse 27. And after skin worms destroy
this body, whom I shall see for myself, my eyes shall behold,
and not another, not another, though my reins be consumed within
me. And what he's saying here is
I'll not see another. I'll see him for myself. My eyes
shall behold him, and not another. I won't see a stranger. I won't
be a stranger to my Redeemer. And my Redeemer won't be a stranger
to me. That's what he said. My Redeemer won't be a stranger
to me. And he said that there, when my reins are consumed, he
said, I earnestly desire that day. That's what he said, my
reins be consumed, I earnestly desire that day. And everything
about what's going on in Job's life, he said, everything's a
mystery. Everything's a mystery. I don't know what's going on,
why all this is happening, I don't know. Life is full of contradictions. Everything seems to be against
him. But he says, I won't see a stranger when I see him. I won't see a stranger. I'll
know him, and he won't be a stranger to me, and I won't be a stranger
to him. But I'll see my Redeemer. And beloved, here we see through
a glass darkly. Oh, how dark this glass is that
we look through. But one of these days, face to
face with Christ my Redeemer, face to face, I shall see. Boy, sometimes, sometimes, you
know, I don't know if you all do this, but sometimes, you know,
you get to want to go real bad, you know, and I, maybe we shouldn't
do that, but there are some days it comes, goes over my head,
maybe yours, and say, boy, Lord, it would be wonderful I sure
would love to go home if it be your will. And that's what it's called,
going home. Going home. Your brother went home and he
left me a letter on my desk. And he said, I'll see you in
the morning. I'll see you in the morning. You know what he
meant by that? I'll see you in the morning. It's a brand new
day. That's what Job said. Oh, I'll
see myself. I'll see myself. Oh, what a day
that'll be. But my eyes shall see. Well,
Lord bless you. Thank you so much for listening.