with me please to Job the 19th
chapter, the book of Job chapter 19. William Cowper wrote these words,
trials make the promise sweet, trials give new life to prayer. Trials bring me to his feet. Lay me low and keep me there."
In our text, we see a man who had been sorely tried. The Lord
had wisely and graciously allowed Satan to afflict his faithful
servant Job until at last Job cursed the day of his birth. Then Job's three friends came
to him. You remember how they came. They
were astonished. They had seen Job the last time,
a mighty man, a man of great influence, a man who sat at the
gates of the city and gave instruction to all who gathered around him.
a man who was revered by children and respected by his fellow men,
a man of power, prestige, and influence, a man with a large,
flourishing family, a man with a large, flourishing estate.
But when they came, they saw Job empty, broken, and alone,
covered with boils from head to toe. They saw Job dejected
and And these three friends had come to comfort Job, but miserable
comforters they were. They sat for a week, astonished,
and said not a word. And then they began to speak.
And when they began to speak, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar spoke
with haughtiness of spirit, self-righteous pride, arrogance. And with great
cruelty, they cast charges of evil against this man Job. The
implications of all their charges was that Job was really a very
wicked man, a man who did not know God, a hypocrite whom now
God had finally exposed, and they wanted to find the source
of his hypocrisy. They endeavored it by every means
to destroy Job's faith, to rob him of his hope, to remove from
him the only comfort of his soul. And at last, when we come down
in this 19th chapter, toward the middle of the chapter, toward
the end of the chapter really, Job has had enough. I imagine
that he was boiling over with indignation, and I don't suppose
that it was altogether righteous indignation. Even the patience
of Job has its limits. His heart was heavy. His soul
was cast down. under the afflictions of his
father's rod, he simply could not bear the insults of these
pretentious friends any longer. Now, hear what he says in verse
23. Oh, that my words were now written. Oh, that they were printed
in a book, that they were graven with an iron pen and led in the
rock forever. Now, what Job is saying is this.
What I'm about to tell you is a matter of absolute certainty. What I'm about to say to you
is something of which I am so sure that I wish it could be
preserved written in granite for all future generations to
see, to read, and to hear. Hear me, my friends. I have something
to tell you. Hear me. I have something to
declare to you which I am absolutely certain is so. Of this one thing
I'm sure, verse 25, I know that my Redeemer liveth. I know that my Redeemer liveth
and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. Now God had taken from Job every
comfort of life. He had taken away from Job every
earthly joy. and every form of temporal good. His poverty was evident now,
but once Job was a wealthy man. Now his property was all gone. Now his children were all gone. His riches were all gone. His
health was gone. His reputation was gone. His
influence was gone. His friends were gone. And virtually
his wife was gone as well. For his wife had finally joined
the company of his miserable friends. And she said to Job,
why don't you cuss God and die? She had forsaken him as well.
She didn't understand him. She didn't understand what was
happening with Job or what was happening within Job. Job was
completely alone in this world. Alone with his boils, alone with
his pain, alone with his tormenting heart. But in the midst of his
great troubles, Job found an argument for peace, and he found
a source of sweet comfort for his soul. He said, I know that
my Redeemer liveth. You see, his trials in God's
good providence had served their intended purpose. Job's trials
by God's providence had driven him into the arms of his precious
Savior. to look to his God and his Redeemer
alone for comfort. His trials had driven him away
from every earthly good and driven him into the arms of his Redeemer.
In the midst of darkness, he discovered great light. In the
midst of sorrow, he found great joy. In the midst of trouble,
he found great peace. In the midst of uncertainty,
Job possessed a sure knowledge by which his soul was now possessed
with peace. In fact, Job possessed such knowledge
and he described such knowledge for us in our text as no other
man up to that time had ever known. This man, Job, was one
of the early patriarchs. He lived most likely in the days
of Abraham, and he expresses to us truths of the gospel of
Christ, which he had learned by the Spirit of God, by the
direct teaching of God's Spirit, apparently right in the middle
of his trials. And I'm telling you, children
of God, there are things about God and things about Christ and
things about the ways and truths of God that you and I cannot
learn except we pass through the dark valley of hard, heavy
trial. And it's good for us that we
be afflicted, that we may learn to know the Lord our God and
to know Him aright. Tonight I want to speak to you,
if God will enable me, about Job's sure knowledge. In our
times of most severe trial, Faith possesses a sure knowledge, a
knowledge which gives comfort, hope, and peace to our hearts.
I know that my Redeemer liveth. Driven to desperation, Job fell
back upon the knowledge he had of his God and his Redeemer.
Knowing the truth and justice of God, he was confident that
he would be vindicated of all charges that had been laid against
him. Though his friends had maligned
him, though his friends had spoken evil of him, and though his friends
had marred his reputation and his character, apparently in
their private discussions one with another and in their public
speeches to Job as well. Yet Job was fully confident that
his great God in the last day would vindicate him of their
charges. Even if he died under a cloud of reproach, he was sure
that vindication would certainly come even after his death in
the day of his resurrection and judgment. In that day, Job was
certain that God will set crooked things straight. In this knowledge,
he found comfort. Thomas Matten said, it is a great
comfort to the saints in all their afflictions to know that
they have a Redeemer living in heaven. And here, in the midst
of his afflictions, is Job's comfort. I know that my Redeemer
liveth. Now, let me show you five things
in this verse of Scripture. First, Job had a true friend
in the presence of many cruel friends. Now, I thank God that
I have many friends in this world. Friends scattered all across
this country and in other parts of the world. friends with whom
I hold sweet converse and communion. But I am fully aware that the
best of friends in this world are conditional friends. My friends
are my friends upon certain conditions. And that's sad, but that's inevitably
the truth because we are frail, fickle men. Our relationships
with one another depend upon certain conditions, certain conditions
that we must meet, certain conditions that we must maintain. Even your
loving relationship with your wife, with your husband, depends
upon certain conditions that they must continually meet. That's
the kind of creatures we are. The friends of this world, the
very best of them, will sooner or later bring pain, disappointment,
and sorrow. All friends in this world are
a pain sooner or later. All friends in this world are
a disappointment sooner or later. All friends in this world bring
sorrow sooner or later, one form or another. But there is a friend,
a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. There is a true
friend whose friendship is unconditional. whose friendship is constant,
whose friendship can be trusted, whose friendship is always good. And that great friend is our
Lord Jesus Christ, our Redeemer and our Savior. Job looked away
from his three cruel friends. He looked away with sorrow and
disappointment, and he looked up to Jesus Christ, his one true
friend, and he said, I know that my Redeemer lives. I know that
my Redeemer liveth. I found a friend, oh, such a
friend. He loved me ere I knew him. He drew me with the cords of
love and thus he bound me to him. And round my heart still
closely twine those ties which none can sever. For I am his
and he is mine forever and forever. Do you know this friend? Job
uses the word Redeemer to describe him. I know that my Redeemer
liveth. And this particular word for
Redeemer could be translated accurately three ways. It could
be read, I know that my kinsman liveth. Or I know that my vindicator
liveth. Or as in our translation, I know
that my Redeemer liveth. First, the Lord Jesus Christ
is indeed our kinsman. So that Job says, I know that
my kinsman liveth. Now think of the Lord Jesus Christ
as your kinsman. Think of him as your near kinsman
and rejoice. He who lives in heaven, he who
rules the universe, he who made all things, rules all things,
and disposes of all things is your near kinsman. The Lord Jesus
Christ, in fact, is your nearest kinsman. We read in the scriptures
that he is bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. We are one
with the Son of God. He is near kinsman to us. Spurgeon
said, no kinsman is so near as Jesus, none so kind and none
so kind. He is the near kinsman to our
souls. More than that, he is a voluntary
kinsman. You see, our Lord was not forced
to be our brother. He was not forced to be our kinsman.
He's our brother, our kinsman, by His own voluntary choice,
by His own decree, by His own will. And therefore, there's
no brother like Him. Our Lord Jesus chose us to be
His brethren. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the
sons of God." And our Lord, looking at His disciples, said, I had
part in that choice. He said, you have not chosen
Me, but I have chosen you. He chose us. Such things as He's
found in the fallen dung heap of humanity, He's chosen us to
be His brethren, to be His kinsmen, to be the sons of God, His fellow
heirs. And our Lord Jesus, chose to
become a brother to us. He said, Lo, I come. In the volume
of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will,
O God. What was it he was speaking of?
He was speaking of his incarnation, his coming into this world as
our kinsman in a body of flesh to redeem us. The Lord Jesus
is our unashamed kinsman. I like that. I recall when I
was a boy, I went to school behind two of
my sisters and before one, and I had a reputation. There
weren't many Fortners around, and when my sisters would meet
someone, oh, are you akin to Don Fortner? And they never told
me this, but I can picture them hanging their heads and blushing
with shame and saying, yes, he's my brother, and justly so, justly
so. But our Lord Jesus Christ is
never ashamed to own us as his brethren and to declare himself
to be our brother. The scripture says he is not
ashamed to call them brethren. David Coleman, he's not ashamed
to call you brother right now. Right now. Or at any time. Imagine
that. Imagine that. There are times
when you'd be ashamed for anyone to know and identify you with
your own family, but he's never ashamed to own his brethren as
his brethren. In fact, we read in the scriptures
that even when they had all forsaken him, when every one of his disciples
had forsaken him, they had turned their backs on him, they had
left him, they left him in his time of greatest trial, in his
time of greatest agony, even when he was redeeming them, they
left him, everyone. And yet he turned and called
them, my brethren, my brethren. Go tell my brethren, I'll meet
them like I said I would. Go tell my brethren, I'll show
them myself again, just as I said I would. And our Lord Jesus is
our eternal kinsman. He was our kinsman before all
time. Before time was, he is that one
who was set up in the mind and purpose of God, that one who
had a body prepared for him in God's eternal decree, and he
was our brother, even back there in the covenant of grace before
the world was made. He came in time to live and die
as our kinsman, as our brother, and now, right now, today, he's
our brother. He's our near kinsman, and he
shall be our kinsman when time is no more. Who shall separate
us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress?
Oh, none of these things can separate us from his love. None
of these things can separate us from his heart. None of these
things can divide this family. He's our brother and we are his
kinsmen. He's our kinsmen and we are his
brethren. Secondly, the Son of God, not
only our kinsmen, but he is also our vindicator. This seems to
be particularly the emphasis of our text. When Job says, I
know that my Redeemer liveth, I'm quite certain the principal
implication is, I know that my Vindicator liveth. Now, children
of God, be assured of this. Your God and Savior will, in
His time, vindicate you. At the time appointed, He will
set the crooked straight. Don't ever try to vindicate yourself.
Leave it to your Lord to vindicate you. I can't stress that enough.
Don't ever try to vindicate your reputation. Don't ever try to
vindicate your actions. Don't ever try to vindicate your
words. Don't ever try to vindicate your character. Leave it to God
to do that. He will vindicate His own. If we walk before Him with uprightness,
with sincerity, with truth, He will vindicate His own in His
time. Maybe in this world, maybe not. That doesn't matter. In His time,
He will set the crooked straight. The saddest, most lamentable
passages in the life of this man Job, as it's recorded in
this book, are those passages in this book in which Job endeavored
to vindicate himself. As a matter of fact, all of the
controversy and all the criticism that arises about Job and about
the book of Job among people who believe the word of God,
all of the controversy arises Because we go to those passages
where Job endeavored to vindicate himself, and those things are
out of character for God's saints. Those self-vindications, those
self-defenses, those defenses of self are totally out of character
for God's saints. Job ought never to have endeavored
to vindicate himself, but then again, we ought never to do many
of the things we do. Now Job, after vindicating himself
and finding it futile, after vindicating himself before his
friends and finding they would not hear, after vindicating himself
with his own words and finding that his friends paid no attention,
he said, I know that my vindicator lives. He lives. So that he declares
the Lord Jesus Christ will vindicate his own elect. He will vindicate
you, child of God, from every false charge laid against you. He will plead your cause in the
rule of his providence. How many times, how many times
has God's children seen their enemies hung upon the gallows
designed for them? Have they seen the enemy fall
into the ditches that were dug for them? God vindicates his
own in providence. All God's saints in this world
are often charged with evil of which they are not guilty. They're
often charged with being cunning men of which they're not guilty.
They're often charged like Ahithophel charged David with being wicked
men. The charges are not so. But don't vindicate yourself.
God will vindicate you. He'll take care of your reputation
if you belong to Him. He'll take care of your character.
God will stand by you and vindicate you of all false charges. And
then Christ Jesus will vindicate us from the mocking laughter
and reproach of our enemies. For he that believeth on him,
the scripture says, shall not be ashamed and shall not be confounded. Sometimes our enemies laugh and
mock. You believe that? Come on. Come on. You don't really believe
that. I recall when I was just a young
man One of our teachers in school, he said, he said, you don't really
believe that myth about Adam and Eve, do you? You don't. Come
on. Nobody with any sense believes
that. Nobody with any education believes that. Nobody with any
learning believes that. That's unscientific. You don't
really believe that. Kind of snickered and laughed.
And I said, yes, I believe that. I really do. I believe it. And God will vindicate it. God
will vindicate it. I don't have any question about
that. You don't really believe in a literal resurrection. Sure
I do. Sure I do. You don't really believe
that God totally rules everything. Now come on, nobody believes
that. I do. I do. And God will vindicate
it. In His time, in His way, God
will vindicate it. Go ahead and laugh. Go ahead
and mock. Go ahead and jeer. Go ahead and poke fun. It doesn't
matter. Tell your jokes. Tell your silly stories. Laugh
all you want to. God will vindicate His own. I've seen Him do it and I fully
expect to see Him do it in the time to come. More than that,
Christ Jesus will vindicate us from all the accusations of Satan.
For it is written, the accuser of our brethren is cast down. The Lord will rebuke our accuser. But there's something even more
comforting than all of this. Not only will He vindicate us
of all false charges, and vindicate us of all the laughter and jeers
of our enemies, and vindicate us of the accusations of Satan,
our Lord will vindicate us, Bob, He'll even vindicate us of all
just charges against us. He'll vindicate us of all true
legitimate charges. He'll vindicate us of all crimes
of which we are guilty. He, you see, will vindicate us
of those charges that are properly laid against us, for He took
our sin upon Himself and He put it away. He paid our debt. He
has established righteousness for us, and He pleads our cause
in heaven, and therefore we can boldly say, Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justified, it
is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again. And we rejoice
to know that our Lord Jesus Christ is our Redeemer. I'm happy to
know that the Son of God is my kinsman, my brother, my vindicator,
my friend. But above all else, I'm thankful
that he's my Redeemer. He has redeemed me by his blood
from the curse of the law, for he satisfied the justice of God
for me. He has redeemed me from all that
I lost, redeemed for me all that I lost in my father Adam. He
has redeemed my lost estate. In Adam we were kings. In Adam
we were princes. In Adam we ruled over the earth.
In Adam we had possession of all God's creation. But we lost
it all. Christ has come and restored
our lost estate. He's redeemed us. More than that,
He has redeemed me from the bondage of sin. by the power of his irresistible
grace. I was bound in the iron shackles
of my own depraved nature. And Jesus Christ came in time
and he said, you're free. And he set me free from the bondage
of sin. And he shall yet redeem my body
from the grave. This is my beloved. This is my
friend. He's our kinsman, our vindicator,
and our redeemer. Job declares, I know that my
redeemer liveth. Now secondly, Job found real
property in the midst of absolute poverty. It's a great comfort
to know that there is a Redeemer. That's comforting. That's comforting. Oh sinner, there is a Redeemer.
Oh transgressor, there is a Redeemer. Oh, rebel, there is a Redeemer.
That's comforting, for that gives some hope. But here's the sweet
of it. I know that my Redeemer liveth. I love that possessive pronoun,
my, my Redeemer, my Redeemer. All around me is perishing, but
my Redeemer liveth. All around me is vanishing away,
but my Redeemer liveth. I have nothing but I have Christ
and having Christ I have all and that's enough. The Apostle
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 3 verse 21, all things are yours for
ye are Christ and Christ is God's. Everything is yours if you belong
to Christ. Everything in time, everything
in eternity, everything temporal, everything eternal, everything
is yours if you're in Christ Jesus for everything is his.
And Christ Jesus is ours by God's decree and by faith in Him. The
Lord Jesus Christ, you see, is my Redeemer. My Redeemer. I wonder if you can. I wonder if you can. Every man,
every woman here. I wonder if you can, in honesty,
with confidence, take your pen and underscore that word. My.
My. My Redeemer. my Redeemer. Is it true? Can I properly, honestly
call the Son of God mine? Is it possible for men and women
upon the earth to truly know that they have a personal interest
in, a personal property in, a personal possession in the Lord Jesus
Christ? I wonder if that's really possible.
For man, what have I got that's mine?
For man to possess Jesus Christ, to possess Him. I wonder if it's
possible really to possess Him, to have Him for my Redeemer,
to possess Him. Indeed it is. I know that Christ
is my Redeemer. Now one of two things, that statement
is either the height of presumption or it's the confidence of faith,
one of the two. Either it is the height of hypocrisy
or it's the confidence of faith. Either it is the height of arrogance
or it's the confidence of faith. I'm saying that Jesus Christ
is my Redeemer. I know that he's my Redeemer
because God my Father gave him to me. In Isaiah chapter 49,
turn over there, let me show it to you. Isaiah 49 and verse
8. Thus saith the Lord in an acceptable
time have I heard thee. In the day of salvation have
I helped thee. And I will preserve thee and
give thee for a covenant of the people to establish the earth
to cause to inherit the desolate heritages. The Lord God says,
I will give thee. The Lord God in the covenant
of grace gave me his son. In the time of his mercy, he
gave me his son. That makes him mine. More than
that, I know that Christ is my Redeemer because He laid down
His life for me and gave Himself for me. Hereby perceive we the
love of God because He laid down His life for us. Greater love
hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Our Lord Jesus gives Himself to His people. He gives Himself
to us. We come and take our vows of
marriage And when we do, we betroth ourselves to one another. The
man betroths himself to his wife. The woman betroths herself to
her husband. And in doing so, they give tokens
of love. They give the ring. They exchange
the vows. Tokens of love. But the tokens
of love are but a token of what they're saying. I give myself. And being united to Christ in
the blessed union of faith, he has given himself to us. Christ
Jesus is mine, I have him, and I know that he's mine for I have
received him by a personal faith. Look over in 1 John 5, 1 John
chapter 5, verse 10. He that believeth on the Son,
he that believeth, believeth on the Son of God, That is, the
man, the woman who trusts the Son of God hath the witness in
himself. There's somebody inside giving
witness. He that believeth not God has
made him a liar because he believeth not the record that God gave
of his Son. This is the record that God has given to us, eternal
life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son. What's John saying? He's telling
us that to believe Christ is to have Christ. He's telling
us that to have Christ is to believe Christ. He says, He that
hath. That's a possessive verb. He
that possesses the Son, possesses life. He that does not possess
the Son of God does not possess life. Lord Jesus Christ is my
Redeemer. I know that He is. Because he
lives in me, and I live in him. He lives in me, and I live in
him. In him I live and move and have
my being. I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless
I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me and gave himself for me. I know that Christ is my Redeemer
and I know that my Redeemer liveth. When everything else is gone,
my Redeemer is still mine. Mine to possess, mine to trust,
mine to love, mine to worship, mine forever and ever and ever. He lives and he lives in me. Trusting Christ as my living
Redeemer, I leave myself in his hands. Because my Redeemer liveth,
I'm confident that all is well with my soul. When I have nothing
else to which to cling, I will yet have Christ and cling only
to him." It's the reason the hymn writer Spafford, after he
had lost his wife and children at sea, could stand on the bow
of the ship and pen those words, when peace like a river attendeth
my way. sorrows like sea billows roll. It is well, it is well with my
soul. I may lose everything else. I
may and shall lose wife and child. I may lose livelihood, reputation. I may lose health and influence.
I may lose all usefulness. I may even lose my mind. I haven't yet, but I might. I
might even lose my mind, but I'll never lose my redeemer.
Never. I read a story a couple of weeks
ago. I've forgotten where I read it now, but I read a story about
an old woman. She was bed fast and she had
a text of scripture that was her favorite. Everyone who came
to visit her before they left would hear her quote the scripture
numerous times. She said, I know whom I have
believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which
I've committed unto him against that day. As time went on, her memory began to fail and
she couldn't remember much. And she couldn't even remember
her favorite scripture, but she could always remember a part.
And she said, I know whom I have believed. And he's able to keep
that which I've committed unto him. After a while, she couldn't
even remember that. All she could remember was that
which I've committed unto him. And after a while, she couldn't
remember that. All she could remember was him. But that's
still enough. Him. Him. I know that my Redeemer
liveth. Thirdly, Job had a living kinsman
in the midst of a dying family. I talked this afternoon to our
dear friend, Brother Russ Warner. His wife, Charlotte, is still
hanging on, and that's about all. Job had lost everything. It's bad enough to lose a wife
or to lose a son or to lose a daughter. It's hard to lose them one at
a time. But Job lost all of his sons and all of his daughters
like that. Just imagine, Jay, you come home
from work and those three kids are gone. They're gone. Tough
to lose that baby you're holding, much less lose them all at one
time. It is gone. That's a hard, indescribably
painful experience. We talk about Job's troubles,
but my soul, who can enter in Job's troubles? He had lost everything. What grief, what bereavement,
what anguish. He learned quickly, suddenly,
and painfully. that everything in this world
is vanity and vexation of spirit. And it is. It is. Everything in this world. Yet
in the presence of so many graves, Job had a living kinsman. As
he dried his tears, he said, I know that my Redeemer lives. He owned his great Lord as his
ever-living kinsman. Christ Jesus, our kinsman, lives. He lives as the everlasting Father
to sustain and comfort us. He lives as the head of his house
to rule for and protect us. He rules as the elder brother
to provide for and represent us. He rules as our great prophet
to teach us. He lives as our great high priest
to plead for us He lives as our king to govern us. He lives as
our defender to preserve us. He lives as our righteousness
to clear us at the last of every charge laid against us. Our Redeemer
lives for us in heaven. He lives with us on the earth
and he lives in us. He lives in us forever. Christ
in you. Christ in you. That's the hope
of glory. Fourthly, Job had an absolute
knowledge in the presence of great uncertainty. Look at these
words. I know. I know. What do you know? Everything else was questionable,
but this was certain. I know. Beyond all possibility
of doubt, I know. Beyond all question, I know.
With absolute certainty, I know that my Redeemer liveth. You
see, his faith made him certain of these things. Faith causes
us to know. To know. Faith is the evidence
of things not seen. It's the substance of things
that are not yet known. Faith is that which gives us
certain absolute knowledge. Faith knows. We believe and are
sure that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. We
know that all things work together for good to them that love God.
We know that our labor is not in vain in the Lord. We know
that our Redeemer lives. Job does not say, I think, or
I suppose, or my opinion is. He does not say, I hope, or I
imagine that this is the case, or the way that strikes me is
this. I get so sick and tired of hearing
people talk about the Word of God. And the truths of God, they
say, well, my opinion is. I'm not interested in your opinion.
I'm not interested in giving you my opinion. I don't even
want you to know my opinion. We know certain things. We know that our Redeemer lives. We know these things. Faith is
not a supposition. Faith is a knowledge. Faith is
not an opinion. Faith is a certain knowledge.
invisible things when revealed by God in our hearts are certainly
known to those who believe. Every now and then I'll have
preachers call me up and they'll ask me, you know,
they're preparing sermons. They'll be preparing sermons
on the fall of angels or on the coming of Christ or Or they'll
be preparing sermons on the problem of evil in the world. Or they'll
be preparing sermons on the blasphemy of the Holy Ghost. Or preparing
sermons on casting out demons. All kinds of things. And they'll
call me up and they'll say, now, what do you think about this?
And I say, I think you ought to preach it. Do what? Well, I believe I've got a message.
I said, if you had a message, you'd know. You wouldn't be asking
me what I think. You'd know. Don't preach what
you don't know. Don't declare your opinion or
your conjecture. We're not up here toying with
the Word of God. Well, let's investigate the book
and let's see what we can find that's profound and deep and
mysterious and tickle our brains and tickle our brains as we roll
to sleep in this world and through this world on our way to hell.
No, declare what you know! I know that my Redeemer lives.
I know it. It says you preach with such
dogmatism. I don't know what other way is
there. If I know it, I know it. If I
know it, there's no question about it. If I know it, it's
certain. If I know it, there's not a second guessing. If I know
it, there's not an opinion. It's the word of the living God.
I know that my Redeemer lives. No. We speak with certainty because
we have certainty. I don't know many things, but
I do know that my Redeemer lives. I know that he lives eternally
as God. I know that he lived in time
as a man upon this earth. I know that he who lives forever
in time died as a man upon the cursed tree. I know that he who
lives forever lay in a tomb dead for three days and three nights.
I know that he arose from the dead and ever lives to make intercession
for us. I know that he lives in heaven
today as the sovereign God-man, our mediator, ruling over all
things. I know that my Redeemer lives. Job's trials could not make him
doubt his Redeemer's life. His trials didn't have anything
to do with it. His trials didn't have anything to do with what
he knew. Not a thing on this earth. Why should his trials
give him reason to be suspicious? Trials have nothing to do with
our relationship with God. Trials have no effect on our
Redeemer's love. Trials don't touch our Redeemer's
life. The trials we experience in this
world, they don't tell us a thing on earth except that our Father
rules this world and is teaching us something. The trials don't
determine our faith. Our faith was determined before
the trial comes. The trials don't determine what we believe. The
trials prove what we believe. The trials don't determine our
relationship with Christ. The trials reveal our relationship
with Christ. Job's trials never made him doubt
his Redeemer's life. And his many difficulties didn't
cause him to question his relationship with Christ or to fear that he
was a lost man. Job was full of sorrow. He was
full of pain. He was full of trouble. He had
a warfare in his soul and he had a warfare daily in his experience. And yet Job did not cry as many
fellows would want him to cry. He did not say, I fear that I'm
a lost man. I fear that I'm all undone. He
didn't say, Bill, Dad, you were right. Zophar, Eliphaz, you were
right. You knew me better than I knew
myself. I know myself now. I know that I'm not a child of
God. I know that I was just a hypocrite. I know that it was all a pretense.
Far from it. You'll search this book in vain
to find Job even indicating such a thing. In the midst of his
greatest, most severe trial, he knew one thing. He said, I
know that my Redeemer liveth. And his trial didn't affect that.
His trial didn't change that. His trial didn't make him suspicious
of that. You see, though everything In
everything, it appeared that God was against him. Job's knowledge
was not the knowledge of appearance, but the knowledge of faith. And
he said, I know that my Redeemer liveth. Is your knowledge of
Christ the knowledge of appearance? Then it fluctuates. Is your knowledge
of Christ the knowledge of what you see? Then it fluctuates.
It's up and down. Or is your knowledge the sure
knowledge of faith based upon the Word of God experienced in
your soul? If it is, then there's no questioning
it. I know that my Redeemer lives. Job's accusing friends tried
but could not move him from his assured confidence. His friends
had made up their minds about Job. And they determined that
they had to show their love. They had to show their love to
Job. You ever have some friends come along and want to show you
their love like Job's friends? Best thing you can do is get
away from them. Just get away from them. You don't need any
friends like this. They wanted to show their love to Job by
exposing his sin, by getting him to acknowledge his evil heart,
and persuading him that he was without hope, without life, without
God, and without Christ. But Job would not be moved. He
said, I know. I know that my Redeemer liveth.
One last thing. Job had a sure hope in the face
of utter hopelessness. Look here in these verses 25,
6, and 7. Like Jeremiah, after him, Job
knew something about bitterness, wormwood and gall. He knew something
about pain and poverty and desolation. He knew something about hope,
too. He said, I know that my redeemer liveth and that he shall
stand at the latter day upon the earth. I don't know what
all Job understood about what he wrote, but I'll tell you this,
those words express a hope in Christ's glorious appearance.
Job anticipated not only that a Redeemer would come to redeem,
but that that Redeemer who redeemed would come again in glory and
stand at the last day upon the earth in a body. Job had hope
of an eternal acceptance with God. He said in verse 26, And
though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall
I see God. That is, I'm going to see God
so as to be accepted of God, so as to be pleasing to God,
so as to be the object of God's delight. I'm going to see God
and He'll vindicate me then. I'm going to see God with my
own eyes and God will vindicate me then. And Job had a hope of
the resurrection. He said, Whom I shall see for
myself, and mine eyes shall behold and not another, though my reins
be consumed within me. And the basis of his hope was
the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The whole basis
of his hope, his confidence, his knowledge, his assurance
was my Redeemer, my Redeemer, my Redeemer. Happy are those
in this world who can say in truth, I know that my Redeemer
lives. Now, it's one thing for the pastor
to know. It's another thing for me to
know. It's one thing for my husband
to know, another thing for me to know. One thing for my wife
to know, another thing for me to know. One thing for my mom
to know, another thing for me to know. I know. Do you? I know. I know by faith. I know by the word of God. I
know by personal experience. I know. Know what? I know that my Redeemer, my Redeemer,
the Son of God incarnate, dying as my substitute has put away
my sins, accomplishing redemption for me. I know that my Redeemer,
I know that my Redeemer, my Redeemer. Oh, what a word. My Redeemer,
my Redeemer. He's my Redeemer. He's my Redeemer. He's more really and truly my
Redeemer than Faith is my daughter. She's just my daughter for a
few years, just a few years. One of these days, that'll be
over with. Either I'll die or she will, one of the two. He's
my Redeemer forever. He's my Redeemer. My Redeemer. I know that my Redeemer lives. He lives. He lives. He lives. He lives here. But more importantly, he lives
there. the right hand of the throne
of the majesty on high, and there he makes intercession for me.
I know that my Redeemer lives. Amen.