You can tell by my age, I've
been there a while. Boy, have you raised your poop
at all? Man, get me a stool or something. I've done that for all of you. Man, I'm going to have to get
me a stool stand on back here. You know, as you get older, you
shrink. I get much older, I'll be dragging my knuckles. Oh, boy. It's wonderful to see
you. And I'm glad ain't nobody here
but me and you and the kids. But turn with me to Job 19. Job
19. It's always, absolutely always
wonderful to be here and see so many People that I love
so much and love so well and been with so many times. And a lot of folks we don't get
to see except in a meeting like this. I'm very thankful, very
thankful. Look with me here in verse 19.
Job 19, verse 21, excuse me, Job 19, verse 21. Have pity upon me, have pity
upon me, O ye my friends, for the hand of God hath touched
me. The hand of God hath touched
me. Why do you persecute me as God while you stand in God's
place and treat me like your God? and you're not satisfied
with my flesh, I'm not satisfied with my flesh either, that's
what he said. Oh, that my words were now written, oh, that they
were printed in a book, that they were graven in an iron pen
and laid in the rock forever. 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, although my reins be consumed within me. You find my subject there in
verse one, 21, excuse me. For the hand of God hath touched
me. Have pity on me. Have pity on me. The hand of
God has touched me. When everything's well, when
all is well, it's easy to say, God's hand has touched me. It's
easy to say that. But go with me, if you will.
Let's go to a fine home in the suburbs, very nice home, wonderful
home. And you pull up in front of it,
beautifully, beautifully landscaped, flowers, bushes, beautifully
landscaped. You go in and mama's in there,
she's fixing supper. She's got supper on the stove.
She's cooking. Go outside and there's healthy
children out there playing. Good, strong, healthy children
out there playing. Daddy comes home and he walks
in the door and said, oh, I got the best news. Oh, I got such
good news today from where I work. He said, I got a big promotion
and I got a big raise. Got a big promotion and got a
big raise. Mama put supper on the table,
they all sat down. And the father bowed his head
and he began to give thanks. And he says, the hand of God
hath touched me. And everybody would agree with
that. Everybody would agree with that. But here's a man. Here's a man who's a true believer,
and he said, the hand of God has touched me. Oh, it's touched
me. God, do you know what God said
about Job? And this is what happens outside of our scope. What happened
to Job, he had no idea that God had done behind the scenes to
do this. We don't know what God's doing behind the scenes. He's
gonna do to any of us. But God said this about Job.
He said he's the most wealthy man in the East. Said he's a perfect and an upright
man. And there's not a greater man
on the earth. That's what God said about him.
Verse 9 of chapter 1. Not a greater man on the earth.
And not only that, but he fears me and he shuns evil. Shuns evil. And here he comes. And he says,
the hand of God has touched me. Look what he says here in verse
9. I can identify with this. He has stripped me of my glory
and taken the crown from my head. Here is a man that was once wealthy. Oh, he was exceptional. God said
he was the best wealthiest man in the East. Nobody like Job. Oh my, he was so wealthy. Now
he was poor. He didn't have anything. Lost
it all. He had 10 children. Lost all
10 of them. All 10 of them at one time. All 10 of them at one time. Once
he was healthy. Oh, he was so healthy. And now
he sits in a dung heap, scraping himself with balls, with parchments
of the earth. Once he was powerful and he was
influential, but now he's alone and he's deserted. He said, my
own familiar friends have forgotten me. My own familiar friends have
forgotten, my wife, I'm a stranger to my wife. I call for my service
to come do something for me. And they say, ah, listen, we
don't even have to pay attention to him anymore. But here he was in this tough,
tough situation. He says, the hand of God has
touched me. Tell you what he didn't say.
He didn't say the Satan has touched me. He didn't say bad luck has
come my way. He didn't say, I was dealt a
hand of cards and I'm going to have to play them. No, he said, God, God took his
hand and touched me, touched me. And I'll tell you what, you're
talking about a mystery. To the natural man, this is utterly
and absolutely mysterious. But if you've ever been touched,
those of you that's been touched by the power of God, and God
has gave you a new heart, a new will, and a new mind, and regenerated
you, you can identify. You know what I'm talking about.
But the natural man don't understand this. He does not get it. Unless
God gives us an understanding. That's why Paul said, we speak
the wisdom of God in a mystery. Even the hidden wisdom of God.
And he says, I have not seen, ear has not heard, neither has
it entered into the heart of man that what God has prepared
for them that love him. But you know what the next verse
says? But God hath revealed them unto us. Yea, even the deep things
of God. And you know, God, the fact that
he taught us that Christ was a lamb slain before the foundation
of the world. that grace was given us in Christ
before they ever began. And everything God does, He does
on purpose. God taught us those things. And we understand that
the Lord Jesus Christ, He came here to do something for a particular
people. We understand that man's got
no power, no innate ability, no inherent righteousness. He's
got nothing to commend himself to God at any time in his life.
Those are things that God's taught us. That's that wisdom of God. And in the natural world, the
way up is up. Used to call them yuppies. Now
they call them upward mobility. Everybody wants to go up, up,
up, up, up, up. Want to go to the top. But in
the spiritual world, in God's world, the way up You gotta go
down. You gotta go down. Our Lord said
it like this. He that humbleth himself, that's
the man that'll be exalted. He resists the proud, gives grace
to the humble. In the natural world is to live
it up. Live it up. Oh, go and have a wonderful time. Go, go, go, go, go, go. And in
the spiritual world, it's a way to live. is to die. Die. Paul said, I die daily. He said, I've got the sentence
of death in myself. Sentence of death in this flesh.
Sentence of death in any hope that I have. Sentence of death
in anything that ever commend me to God. Got the sentence of
death in me. And in the natural world, men
find great, great satisfaction in their own strength. Oh, you
just wouldn't believe what I've accomplished. Oh, I've just done
so well. I just, you know, I've got this
great strength and I pull myself up by my bootstraps and I accomplish
so much. But you know what the scripture
says? My strength, Christ's strength
set is made perfect in weakness. In weakness. When I'm weak, that's when you're
strong. And I'll say this without any
fear of contradiction. The greatest thing that God can
do for a soul on this earth, whatever the cost of that soul,
is for God to show him in his heart, show him in his soul,
the vanity of this world and all that's in it. It's really
vain. And I tell you what, and show
you not only that, but to turn your heart, turn your affection,
turn your mind, to turn your will, to turn everything about
you to the Lord Jesus Christ and trust Him and Him alone.
Huh? Oh, blessed is the poor in spirit.
The world says blessed is those who are rich. The world says
blessed are they that rejoice. Christ says blessed are they
that mourn. And I tell you, to be full, if
you're going to be full in the kingdom of God, you've got to
be emptied of self. To be wise in the kingdom of
God, you've got to become a fool for Christ's sake. To be clothed
in the righteousness of Christ, you have to be stripped of everything
that's not like Him. And if you're going to ever,
ever receive anything from God, you've got to give. What do you give? Yourself away.
Give yourself to Him. And oh beloved, if you want to
reign, if you want to be somebody in this world, and you want to
be somebody even in the kingdom of God, you know what our Lord
Jesus said? You want to be chief? You want to be chief among all
these people here? He said, I'll tell you what you're
going to have to do. You're going to have to serve. You're going
to have to get down and serve. That's why everybody wants to
be somebody, but nobody wants to be nobody. And our Lord Jesus
Christ said, if you wanna, you wanna, if those fellas was debating,
which one, who do you think's gonna be the chief among us?
Paul Peter said, it's gotta be me. John said, it's gotta be
me. And our Lord said, what in the
world are you fellas talking about? What are you talking about? You think you're something? And
our Lord got Himself down and took a towel and wrapped it around
His waist and got down and washed His disciples' feet. And then
we want to think we're somebody when Christ came down so far
to do so much for such little, miserable wretches like ourselves?
You want to be somebody? Then get down, get down! That's what our Master said.
And oh my, when this was Job's experience, He knew what it was
to have everything. Everything. Then he lost it all. He lost it all. He watched it
all just fade away like a bubble. Everything gone. He's in the
dust. He's at the bottom. He's at the
bottom. He ain't got no place to hide.
He's got no arm to lean upon. And he comes down to rejoice
in the only hope. that a sinner has in this world,
and that's in his blessed Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. Look what
he says here now in verse 25. Let me tell you a few things
about Job. See if this ain't your experience. Oh, he says
this in verse 25. For I know that my Redeemer liveth. And you know what he said? This
is what I'm saying. He had this man Though he lost
everything, lost everything. Sitting there with miserable,
miserable comforters. That's why I said, have pity
on me, my friends. You're sitting in judgment like
you're God. You're telling me that I've done
something wrong. But God's put his hand on me,
not you. And he had absolute certainty
in an uncertain world. In all this condition, he said,
absolute certainty in an uncertain world. He said, I know. He said,
I know. I know. That's pretty good, ain't
it? To know. I know. How did he know? He believed God's word. That's
how he knew. He was like Abraham. When God
said, Abraham, go out. And Abraham believed God and
he went out. He believed God's word. You keep
Job 19 and then look over here in Isaiah 40 with me. Let's look
in Isaiah 40 for a minute. You know, there's absolutely
nothing certain in this world, but it's destruction. It's destruction. You know, how many times have
you got up and before the day was over, something happened
that you didn't have no idea that was going to happen. This world is so uncertain. But
he had absolute certainty in a very uncertain world. He said,
I know. That's why the scripture says,
you know, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible,
by the Word of God. And how long does that Word of
God live and abide? Forever. forever. And look what
it said here in Isaiah verse 6, a voice cried. Starts out telling the country's
people. They said, well, he said, cry. What do you want me to holler?
What do you want me to say? What do you want me to tell these
people? All flesh is grass. All flesh is grass. And all the
flesh is goodly like the goodnesses of the flower of the field. The
grass withers and the flower fadeth. I'm withering and I'm
fading. I really am. Look, I started
coming up here. We knew it was at American Avenue. I faded out and faded away. I am withering. You know why? I'm like grass. Couldn't even see grass this
morning because of the snow. What's grass worth? What's it
worth? And the grass withers and the
flower fades away because the Spirit of the Lord blows on it.
And surely the people is grass. The grass withers, the flower
fadeth. But oh, listen to this, the Word
of God. It'll stand, it'll stand forever.
And there's nothing certain in this world, but it's destruction.
God says that he's going to burn this world up. It's going to
melt with a fervent heat. And all that's going to be left
is a new heaven and a new earth. And you know the only people
that's going to live in it? Peoples made righteous by Christ. And
that's what he said. I know. I know. He had absolute
certainty. I know. Joe, boy, you're down
in the bottom. I know. I know. We know that
God is in Christ. We know that God is reconciling
us to Himself in the Lord Jesus Christ. John said it this way,
We know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding,
that we may know Him that is true, and we're in Him that is
true, even in Jesus Christ. That's the true God. And here's
another thing about Job, when he was at the very bottom. And
I tell you, we got an absolute certainty in this world that
has no certainty in it. Job had a true friend among all
the false friends he had. Look down here in verse 13, back
over in Job 19. He had a true, true friend among
all of his false friends. He said in verse 13, he hath
put my brethren far from me. Oh my, you mean God put your
brethren far? Yep, he put my brethren far from
me. And my acquaintance are barely estranged from me. My kinfolks,
my brothers, my sisters, my cousins, all my kinsfolk have failed me. and my fear friends have forgotten
me, just forgot all about me. But he said, I know, not only
do I know, but I know my Redeemer, my Redeemer liveth. He called
him a Redeemer. And I tell you this word that
stands out among all the rest of these words here that Job
talks about. This is the one that stands out the most. This
is the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, of all the names that
He has, the two most precious to us is Savior and Redeemer.
You know, when you talk about Christ being the Redeemer, she
sang that song, you know, I know His wounds paid all my ransom,
paid all my redemption. There's no name of our Lord Jesus
Christ that's more significant, more comprehensive, more endearing
than this word, Redeemer. When we talk about Redeemer,
Y'all remember the story of Ruth. Naomi came back, she went out
full and come back empty. Ruth came back with her. She
went out to glean in the field one day. Poor, poor is the church
mouth. Went out to gather up some food. Got home that evening
and Naomi said, where'd you go today, daughter? Said, I was
in the field of a man named Boaz. Oh my, Naomi said, whoop, her
eyes lit up. She said, oh my, that's, oh,
listen, whatever you do, go back there tomorrow. Why? Because
that fella, that fella can redeem us. He can pay all our debts.
He can save us from our poverty. He can save us from the miserable
condition we're in. You won't have to go gleaning
any more fields again. And oh my, he's a kinsman, he's
a redeemer. And oh my, and I tell you what,
we got a kinsman redeemer. We got one extremely close to
us as our redeemer. And there's five qualifications
for a kinsman redeemer. And for a man of kinsmen to redeem.
The first is he gotta be near. He gotta be near. And you know
what our Lord said about us? He said, I'm not ashamed to call
them brethren. I'm not ashamed to call them
brethren. Boy, I tell you what, I'm ashamed about a lot of things
I've done, but Christ said, I'm not ashamed to call Donny Bell
my brother. I'm not ashamed to call him brother. He said, he
that sanctifies and they who are sanctified, they're just
one person. He's got to be a near kinsman. And he's near. Who can be nearer to us than
the Lord Jesus Christ? Bone of his bone, flesh of his
flesh. We was in His loins before He
ever come into this world. We was His seed. And not only that, here's the
second thing for a man to be qualified to redeeming. He got
to be free himself. He can't be in any bondage. If
He's going to redeem you from your bondage, from your poverty,
He's going to be poor and He can't be in bondage. He got to
be free himself. Well, our Lord Jesus Christ said
He's holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, higher
than the heavens. And He asked His disciples one
day, He said, which of you, which of you convinces me of sin? Which of you? Oh my, our Lord
Jesus Christ, free. And then third thing, yes, not
only He's got to be near and free, but He's got to have the
power. He's got to have the power. He's
got to have the might. He's got to have the wealth.
He's got to have the power. Has anybody got more power than
our Lord Jesus Christ? He said all power is given unto
me in heaven and earth. He said thou hast given him all
power that he is able to give eternal life to who? As many
as thou hast given him. And here's the fourth thing.
Not only has he got to be near, got to be free, got to have the
power, but he's got to be willing. What if he's not willing? What
if he's not willing? You know what our Lord said? They looked at him one time,
said, O Pilate said, you know, I've got the power to crucify
you and I've got the power to let you go. You know what our
Lord said to him? He said, you ain't got no power. You ain't got no power at all. He said, I've got the power to
lay down my life, and I've got the power to take it up again.
And I lay down my life, watch this now, for my sheep. Not for
everybody, for my sheep. And here's another thing that
he said about that. He said, my sheep hear my voice. And when they hear my voice,
you know what they do? They go to follow Him. Ain't
that right? They go to follow Him. And you
know how long they'll follow Him? Till they stand in His holy
presence. And they'll still follow Him
in glory. The only reason they want to
go is because they heard His voice. And can you hear what
it's going to be like when we get to glory and hear His blessed
voice? And we'll hear it without sin?
We hear it without this flesh? When we hear it without any hindrance
whatsoever to hear the voice of Christ with a perfect body,
a sinless soul? It's wonderful to hear His voice
now, but what will it be like then? You've got to be willing. That's why Paul said, He loved
me. He loved me. And he gave himself for me. Is he willing? No man takes it,
he said. And here's the next thing. Kinsmen,
freemen, power, willing. And then he's got to have the
prize. He got to have the prize. He
got to have the prize. You reckon he's got it? Oh, we were redeemed, not with
such corruptible things as silver and gold like they put in the
tabernacle, but with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without
spot and without blemish. Huh? Oh. He told, took that cup
and he handed it to his disciples and he said, take this cup and
drink. This is my blood. This is my blood in the New Testament
which is given for many. Huh? Oh my. What Job is saying
here, he's saying about our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh my. Oh my. Here's the third thing
that Job knew. Here he was, lost everything.
Lost everything. We've all lost a few things.
But Job lost it all. He had certainty in an uncertain
world. He had a Redeemer, my Redeemer. And he had the promise of eternal
life even while he dwelt in that land of death. Look what he said.
Verse 25 again, I know that my Redeemer, listen to this, liveth. My Redeemer's living. My Redeemer's alive. Now this
is thousands of years before Christ came. And he says, my Redeemer lives.
Who do you think, let me ask you this, who do you think talked
to Adam and Eve in the cool of the garden and walked down there
and spoke to them? Who do you think that was? How's
God ever spoke? How did God ever speak? So it was the Lord Jesus Christ
that walked down in the cool of the garden and talked to those
folks. Who do you think it was that made Abraham at the tent
door? Who do you think it was that
was that cloud by day and that fire by night? Who do you think
it was that went and avenged all of God's elect when He went
through Egypt and said, I see the blood and He slew all the
firstborn? Who do you think it was? He said,
I know my Redeemer is living, living, living. Our Redeemer
was living then, Jesus Christ the same today, yesterday. How long do you reckon he'll
be like he was today and yesterday? You reckon he'll be that way
forever? Oh, our Redeemer lives. You know why? Because he is life. It's life. He is life itself. We have no life except what He
gives us, even in the natural realm. But when we come to have
an eternal life, only Christ can give that. Let me say something
about eternal life. Eternal life's not how long it's
gonna last. I got eternal life now. I had
eternal life since Christ made me a believer. And that's been
40-something years. I've had eternal life for 40-something
years. And I'm still here. So eternal life is not how long
it is, it's the quality of it. It's the quality of the life.
Now let me ask you this, when you became a believer, how much
did the quality of life in you change? It was a dramatic change,
wasn't it? You never even lived until Christ
gave you life. And when he gave you that new
life, and he gave you that new spirit, and he gave you that
new mind, he gave you that new understanding, he gave you that
new will, then your life became dramatically changed. And the
quality of your life now is better than it's ever been. Is that
not right? And that's why, you know, when
we leave this world, God can't do nothing but eternal. But that's
what we're talking about. It's the quality, it's the life
of God in a soul. It's the Spirit of God in a man.
It's the quality of it. Everybody's going to live eternally
somewhere. That man in hell in Luke 16, he was still alive and
he went to hell for a while. But oh, our Redeemer lives because
He is life. And our Redeemer lives. Yes,
He died. Yes, He did. He has delivered
for our offenses. He has raised again for our justification. And when He went to that grave,
He come back out and He had two keys on His girdle. Death and
hell. And He conquered both of them.
Death for our sins and hell save us from that awful place. And
I tell you what, now He lives forever. Our Lord Jesus. I am He that was dead and I'm
alive. and I live forevermore. Oh, he
had the promise of life eternal in this awful, awful land of
death. That's why Paul said, oh, for
me to die is gain. For me to depart and be with
Christ is gain. To be absent from the body is
to be present with the Lord. And here's the last thing. I'll
close with this. Look what he said here in verse
25, again. He had promised, he had promised
that he was going to stay in the ground. He wasn't going to
stay at the ground. He said, for I know that after my redeemer
liveth and that he shall stand in the earth upon the latter
day, that he'll stand in the earth. Oh my. And I tell you, beloved, I preached
here recently on 2 Corinthians 5.10 on standing before the judgment
seat of Christ. Now I don't know about you, but
I don't fear standing before the judgment seat of Christ.
Why don't you fear standing before the judgment seat? Because my
Redeemer lives. And here's the thing about it,
it's the judgment seat of Christ. He's already been to the judgment
seat for us. Right? And Paul just got through saying
to be absent from the body to be present with the Lord and
we live by faith so we shall all stand before the judgment
seat of Christ and give an account of the things we've done in this
body. You know what, listen. This body
has nothing to do with my eternal life. God don't look at this flesh.
He looks at the man inside. He looks at the new creature
that He made. And when we stand before the judgment seat of Christ,
every one of us is going to stand there and say, what have you
done in your body? Absolutely nothing worth anything. When our Lord asked them, he
asked those fellows on the right hand, on the left hand, the goats,
he said, oh listen, oh everything you said we was gonna do, we
did it, we did it, we did it. And they was condemned and cursed
because they said we did it. And he asked his sheep, he said,
did you do this, that, that? And they said, when did we do
those things? When did we ever do those things? Anybody here,
let me ask you, has anybody here ever felt like that you've ever
done anything to please God in any way in your flesh? Have you
ever earned a blessing from God? Have you ever had a pure thought
that God could look on and say, I'm gonna bless him for that
thought? So I'll go ahead and stand there
in my body to give an account of things done in my body. And you know what I'm gonna hear?
Christ bore our sins in his own body on the tree. So I'll tell you what, we'll
just step up to the judgment and you know what? Last two words
we'll hear. Enter thou into the kingdom of
heaven Prepared for you from where from the foundation of
the world and Come listen to this come Come Come on You that
believe come on you that trusted Christ come on you've been redeemed
by his blood come on you that Understand you got no strength
of yourself come on you that ain't got no ability come on
you that know that you ain't got a righteous come on You blessed
of my father Did you hear that? Blessed of my father. Only why we say come, because
we've been blessed of the father. That's the only reason we can
come. Ain't that right? And he said, we stand upon the
earth. He once walked this earth as our representative and as
our sin offering. And he's going to come again.
And he's going to stand on that new earth and every one of us
will stand there with him. Stand there with him. Our Lord
said, let not your heart be troubled. Oh, don't let it be troubled.
Don't let your heart be troubled. You know what he said? He said,
I'm going away, but I'm coming again. and I'm gonna bring you. I'm
gonna bring you. This is what I love. I'm gonna
come and get you. And I'm gonna take you to be
with me. With me. With me. Where I am. Be with me. Oh, I tell you, I've been to
people say, I wanna go see mom, I wanna go see, listen. I've
got a mother-in-law, I've got a father-in-law, and I've got
a wife. And I've gotten lots and lots of brothers and sisters
going all done going to glory. And I ain't a bit interested
in going back to see any of them. Not interested in going to see
any of them. Did I tell you who I am interested in going to see?
It's the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what I'm interested in
going to see. Yeah. I don't care about seeing my
father-in-law ever again. or my mother-in-law, I mean I
don't mean that in a facetious way, that's not what I'm trying
to say. But what I'm saying is, is that they, they're gonna see
what we see. And you know, and that's what
he goes on to say. Look what he says down here now,
he said in verse 26, and though after skin worms destroy this
body. He said I'm gonna rot, I'm gonna,
I come from the dust, I'm gonna go back to the dust. He said
the worms gonna eat me alive. and destroy this body, but listen
to what he says. Yet in my flesh. What flesh he
talking about? That new body. Behold, I show
you a mystery. We said not all sleep, but we
all gonna be changed. This corruption's gonna put on
incorruption. This mortal's gonna put on immortality. And he said, in my flesh. Listen
to this. I'm gonna see I'm going to see God. I'm going
to see God. I'm going to die. I'm going to
die. Yes, this body is going to go to the grave. But oh my,
I'm going to see him. I'm going to see him in his glory,
the one who loved me and gave himself for me. I shall see God.
And look what he says. In verse 27, whom I shall see
for myself. I see myself. and mine eyes shall behold. My
eyes will see him, and I'll behold him. And he said, not another. That means a stranger. I won't
see a stranger, and he won't see me as a stranger. I won't
be strange to him, and he won't be strange to me. Oh, listen. Job expected to be
raised from the grave and stand with the Lord Jesus Christ. One
of these days. So it don't matter how the hand
of God touches you. Absolutely doesn't matter. But
I do know this, if his hand don't touch you and put you down, you
got no hope whatsoever. But he's got to reach out and
put his hand on you. Did he ever do that? He did me
that way. And I'll tell you something else, he keeps me that way. He
won't, ah, me and Bruce Crabtree talk about it all the time. And
I'll quit, I'll quit. I'm gonna say one more thing.
One more thing. Scott Richardson said this. He
said a believer's in one of three places all the time. He's either
in trouble, coming out of trouble, or going into trouble. And if
it's not himself, it's somebody they love very dearly that's
going through it. Ain't that right? Thank you all very much
for your attention. David, God bless you, buddy.