Amen. Well, we have our eighth sermon from the book of Job, and today it is entitled, I Know That My Redeemer Lives. Job, one of our earliest forefathers in the faith, has endured an immense series of trials. While we have many biblical patriarchs, and they are men who we appreciate for their God-ordained role, Job is the only one of whom God said he was blameless, upright, fearing God, and turning away from evil. In all of scripture, Job is a unique individual of whom God also said there is no one like him on the earth. We would think, or perhaps want to think, that such a man would be so blessed of God that he would be kept from hardship, or at least from every severe trial and tragedy. To realize that Job suffered so much, and in as many immediate and successive ways as he did, and that he suffered all at the will of God, it is difficult sometimes for us to take that in and to understand it, to reason through it. But that's what this book is about. to teach us of God and his will and workings. Having Job's entire story in our hands, we find that while God fulfills his divine purposes and the sufferings of the righteous, he always, every time, has their redemption in view and he will bring redemption about, amen? While his people do not always escape suffering in this life, he saves and redeems them and they do escape all suffering in the life to come. God glorifies all his people with everlasting life where it is said, God himself shall be among them and he shall wipe away every tear from their eyes and there shall be no more death, no longer any mourning or crying or pain. The first things have passed away, amen. Come quickly, Lord Jesus, come quickly. Well, having said that, If you have not believed upon Jesus as Savior and Lord, then today is the day of salvation. Believe upon Him. Jesus is the Christ of God, the Messiah, the Savior. He lived and He died to rescue you from your sin and lives to give you everlasting life. Trust Him for His saving grace, Romans 10. 11 and 13 says, whoever believes in him will not be disappointed, and whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. In John chapter three, Jesus said to Nicodemus, you must be born again. That puzzled Nicodemus, so Jesus began to explain what he meant by that. One must come into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ to enter into heaven. Romans 10, nine says, if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved, amen. Whoever is born the second time, as Jesus described to Nicodemus, will not face the second death forever in hell, but will rise to life everlasting. Well, back to Job. We learn from Job that though God's people may suffer, it is all within God's redemptive plan. He redeems. For Job, As his trials came upon us so suddenly, we are humbled and give God praise as he stood so faithfully in the fear and worship of God. But as it was, the loss of his vast herds and servants and the loss of his children and the loss of his health was just the beginning. Since that sudden and devastating loss, he has come to have to endure the pains and trials brought on him by his wife and now by his friends. As his friends relentlessly torment him, there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel. Now he must endure the more and that for a prolonged, undefined period of time. Will it be for Job, as it has been for many, that they survived the initial injury, but not the prolonged infection. Put in other words, they survived the original loss, but then succumbed to the following despair. Job valiantly survived the great initial tragedy, but as the days and months drag on, and his friends ruthlessly badger him, will he finally be drained of all hope? It is said a man can live three minutes without air, three days without water, and three weeks without food, but not a moment without hope. As we enter the text at chapter 15, we will read as Job's friends pour more hurtful and arrogant contempt upon him, causing him more emotional and mental torment. Then we will read as Job responds, understandably so, with contempt for his friends, and with alternating despair and hope toward God. Let us this morning humble ourselves to learn of God through the account of Job. Please open your Bibles to the book of Job, where we will read short portions from chapters 15, 16, and 19. And with Bibles open to Job 15, please stand for the reading of the word. This is God's holy word, pure and true, a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. Hear now the word of the Lord. Job chapter 15, verse one. Then Eliphaz the Temanite responded, should a wise man answer with windy knowledge and fill himself with the east wind? Should he argue with useless talk or with words which are not profitable? Indeed, you do away with reverence and hinder meditation before God. "'For your guilt teaches your mouth, "'and you choose the language of the crafty. "'Your own mouth condemns you and not I, "'and your own lips testify against you.'" Chapter 16, verse one. Then Job answered, "'I have heard many such things. "'Sorry comforters are you all, "'as there are no limit to windy words.'" Chapter 19, verse 25. And as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives. Amen. Let's bow in prayer. Oh Lord, my God, I ask that you help this poor preacher to rightly divide your word. Open our hearts now that we might hear with understanding what the Spirit says to the church. Lord, may we learn of you, trust in you, fearing and faithfully worshiping you as did Job. We ask these things in Jesus' name, amen. God bless you, you may be seated. The outline for this morning's teaching is number one, Eliphaz preaches again, that's from chapter 15. Second, Job again responds, chapters 16 and 17. Number three, Bildad preaches again, chapter 18. And fourthly, Job again responds, chapter 19. The unspeakable pain of Job's trial lingers on and on. Adding to his suffering, his friends increase his misery by emotionally, mentally, and spiritually tormenting him. Yet as Job laments his friends and life, and even complains to God still, he hopes in God his Redeemer. Though God slays Job, still Job trusts in him for redemption. Beloved Eliphaz preaches again. Each of Job's friends has taken a turn at advising him, counseling him. Each has accused him of sin, being in sin, and for his sin accused God of pouring retribution upon him. Each called Job to repent of sin he did commit and to turn back to the God whom he hasn't turned away from. As Job did not agree with them, they are highly offended and take it upon themselves to recycle their error once more time. Here they regurgitate the cud they've already chewed. Eliphaz begins by berating Job. He does so by insinuating that Job is not a wise man, but one who is full of blustery, empty, useless, and unprofitable words. Job, you are full of hot air. You say a lot, but you don't say anything of value. In fact, Job verse four, this is 15, four. Indeed, you do away with reverence and hinder meditation before God. Now, can you imagine him saying that to Job? But he does. This is a severe charge. Eliphaz accuses Job of irreverence, of being one who undermines devotion to God. The church, as we've already read twice, the scripture says that Job feared God. In true and humble devotion to God, he worshiped faithfully in word and deed. So Elphaz is wrong about Job. Yet he continues to falsely accuse Job, saying that he speaks from guilt. Job speaks from one who crafts his words in self-defense. Verse six, your own mouth condemns you and not I, and your own lips testify against you. Eliphaz is saying that what Job has said against them really relates back to him. Eliphaz maintains that Job is condemned by his own words. Then with several rhetorical questions, Eliphaz seeks to humble Job, putting him in his place by telling him that he does not have a corner on wisdom nor on the counsel of God. As before, Eliphaz upholds his position as being consistent with the wisdom traditions of those who have gone before them. Eliphaz says, the elders support what I'm saying. Verse 11. Eliphaz then asked Job, are the consolations of God too small for you, even the words spoken gently to you? Maintaining that their counsel, the friend's counsel is from God, Eliphaz rebukes Job for rejecting it. Further, he stresses that what they have spoken has been in gentleness. And oh my, we roll our eyes at that. If that's gentleness, we'd hate to see harshness. And yet we will see harshness. Thinking the truth has been spoken to Job in gentleness, Eliphaz wonders why Job has become angry. He just doesn't get it. Verses 12 and 13. Why does your heart carry you away? And why do your eyes flash, flashing with anger? That you should turn your spirit against God and allow such words to go out of your mouth. Eliphaz, who thinks he speaks for God, but is himself in error. can't understand Job's negative response to his godly advice. So he accuses Job of turning his spirit against God. Job, he is saying, you are in sin. By claiming you are righteous and undeserving of this calamity, and by rejecting us and complaining to God, you have turned your spirit against God. Not only do you reject us, Job, but by rejecting us, you are rejecting God. God. Then as if Job doesn't know it, Eliphaz tells him that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. I'm paraphrasing with the scripture. Explaining that not even the holy angels are perfect, Eliphaz reasons then that fallen men are particularly sinful. His point, Job suffers because of some sin of his. For Job to say he's innocent and not deserving what has come upon him, he's saying, no, Job, everybody's sinned. Because of your sin, Job, you suffer just retribution by the hand of God. In the verses 17 through 35, as more than a warning, but as a full frontal assault, Eliphaz rightly describes the possible terrible fate of the wicked But while he describes rightly the terrible fate of the wicked, he wrongly applies it toward Job, throwing it in his face. He says, chapter 15, verse 20, the wicked man writhes in pain all his days. Verse 24, distress and anguish terrify him. They overpower him like a king ready for the attack because he has stretched out his hand against God and conducts himself arrogantly against the Almighty. Verse 29, he will not become rich nor will his wealth endure. Verse 30, he will not escape from darkness. The flame will wither his shoots. We know that as he is saying these things, he's applying them to Job, he's insinuating that Job is guilty of all these things, and so when he says the flame will wither his shoots, that's a flat out cruel and sinister reference to Job's children dying. And Eliphaz concludes with verse 35, shooting his words at Job as an arrow through the heart, they, that is the wicked, conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity, and their mind prepares deception. Eliphaz's indictment against Job goes full circle. As he said in verse 5, For your guilt teaches your mouth, and you choose the language of the crafty. He ends up here saying, in reference to Job, verse 35, Their minds prepare deception. To paraphrase, Eliphaz harshly and erroneously rebukes Job by saying, Job, you are a wicked, conniving, treacherous fool. Your wickedness has been revealed to all by God's dealing with you, and rather than accepting the kind instruction of those in the know, you instead are angry at God. Rather than repenting, you think of ways to deceptively cover over your sin while blaming God. Take that, Job, in your face, you unrepentant sinner. Church, as it will be confirmed when we get to the latter part of the book, it is not Job who is in sin here and deserving God's retribution, but actually Eliphaz. Job again responds, we're talking about chapters 16 and 17. While Eliphaz accused Job of being a hot windbag, here Job throws that back into space saying verses two and three of chapter 16, I have heard many such things. Sorry comforters, are you all? Is there no limit to windy words? Then Job tells them, that if the situation were reversed, he could treat them as they have treated him, that is badly, or he could choose the right path and honestly sympathize with them, offering true comfort. In this sense, Job is asking them, why do you beat me when you could embrace me? Why are you piling on me when you could carry me? but they will not comfort him. And I wanna talk about this for a minute. They will not comfort him. Let me say that it is important and according to the plan of God that Job's friends don't help him. Now I have to explain that, don't I? Moreover, It is important that they are a very vexing part of his trial. Remember what has gone on before between God and the accuser. Satan accused Job of worshiping God only for the blessings God gave him, true? That's what Satan accused him of. This then is an indictment to say Job only worships you for the blessings you have given him. This then is an indictment against God as one receiving impure, bribed or enticed, bought and paid for worship. Job isn't really serving you God because you're God, but only because you've given him good things. Take those blessings away and he will curse you to your face. In this particular event, to prove the point that Job fears God because God is God, Job must endure without the least bit of help, without any blessing. Otherwise, what would the accuser come back and say? The accuser would come back and say, well, of course Job fears and worships you, God, but that's only because you gave him a strong wife and faithful friends to cheer him along, to help him, to sympathize with him, to comfort him. If you will, Job must bear his cross alone to finally and fully prove the accuser a false accuser while showing God to be true and worship with pure worship. God is employing Job, his servant, to show that there is nothing pure in himself. And what I mean by that, God is employing his servant, Job, to show that there is nothing impure in himself. That God receives pure worship, not bought and paid for worship. So no, Job's friends will not comfort him. Job is right, they are sorry comforters. And at the same time, Job finds no comfort in his own efforts. He said, verse six, if I speak, my pain is not lessened. And if I hold back, what has left me? What has left me? Nothing. I'm still in the same spot I've been in all the time. Job tries, but he finds no relief. his friends cannot comfort him, he cannot comfort himself, and in the moment he is not finding comfort in God, so he laments. Chapter 16, verses seven through 17. But now he, Job is speaking of God, has exhausted me. Thou has laid waste all my company, and thou has shriveled me up. It has become a witness, and my leanness rises up against me. It testifies to my face. His anger has torn me and hunted me down. He has gnashed at me with his teeth. My adversaries glare at me. They have gaped at me with their mouth. They have slapped me on the cheek with contempt. They have masked themselves against me. God hands me over to ruffians and tosses me into the hands of the wicked. I was at ease, but he shattered me, and he has grasped me by the neck and shaken me to pieces. He has also set me up as his target. His arrows surround me. Without mercy, he splits my kidneys open. He pours out my gall on the ground. He breaks through me with breach after breach. He runs at me like a warrior. I have sewed sackcloth over my skin and thrust my head into the dust. My face is flushed from weeping and deep darkness is on my eyelids, although there is no violence in my hands and my prayer is pure. Once again, we note, and it's important to note these things, that Job does not blame the devil, does he? Nor does he try to take authority over his situation, does he? But he rightly recognizes that in all of this, he is in the hands of God. And he doesn't like it. And it's understandable. Again, this is very important to the test. We have to understand this is important to the trial. If Job blames the devil and worships God, then the accuser can come back and say, well, yes, God, Job worships you because he blames me. This is why the accuser looked to God to remove his blessings from Job. If God didn't give permission, could Satan have done any of this? And the answer is no, he couldn't have. Satan's not the sovereign, is he? No, he's not. God is the sovereign. Sovereign over all things. Yes and amen. Blessed be the name of the Lord, amen. So we understand that this is necessary to the test. This is why, again, the accuser looks to God to remove his blessings from Job, so Job would have to wrestle with God. And this is what's happening. Job is not wrestling with Satan. He's not wrestling with his wife. He's not wrestling with his friends per se, but with the God he faithfully worships. This is why it is so important that Job said, though he, God slay me, yet will I trust him. Satan is not the issue. Job's wife is not the issue. Job's friends cannot be the issue. This is an issue between Job and God. And we can allow nothing else to cloud the issue. God is the sovereign over this and over all things. I ask you, will you worship the Almighty? That's the question. Will you worship this God? Because he alone is God. At verse 16, Job states that he has responded rightly in a mode of humble worship, talking about the sackcloth. I've responded in humble worship. And he says he's cried out to God. And then in verse 17, while not claiming sinless perfection, he states that this calamity has not come upon him as revenge from God, for there is no violence in my hands, he says, and my prayer is pure. In verses 18 through 22, we find Job pleading for vindication. David Allen comments, Job comes to the brink of despair, but at the last moment holds out hope that a witness and an advocate who is in heaven will step in to plead his case. But the help does not come soon, Job knows he will go the way of no return. Job says in chapter 17, verse one, my spirit is broken, my days are extinguished, the grave is ready for me. Oh, deep despair has fallen on Job, so he pleads to God, who brought him to this place, saying, verse three, lay down now a pledge for me with thyself, who is there that will be my guarantor. Job knows that if he is going to be vindicated, it will be God alone who vindicates him. No one but God can declare him right. No one but God can correct the blind error of his friends. Only God can provide for Job what is needed for his redemption. And listen to this, this is interesting. Job comprehends that his friends culpable as they are, do not understand his situation rightly because God has kept it from them. They can't be a part of the solution. If they were a part of the solution, it would void the test. So God prevents them But Job reasons that if it's God who has kept them from understanding, then it must be God who at the right time will reveal the truth to him, who will vindicate him. Thus Job believes God will not allow their error to prevail at last. In fact, as verse five indicates, Job is suspicious that his friends have evil motives and they're just there to divide the spoils after he's gone. He knows only God can vindicate him. At the same time, Job also knows that it is God who has him where he is. O'Donnell writes, God, he says, has made him a byword of the peoples, the laughingstock of us, and the object of degrading physical scorn. Men spit on him, chapter 17, verse six. Due to Job's suffering, he can no longer see well or stand up straight. All his body parts are as a shadow. Yet he believes that his vindication is soon to come, for he knows that anyone who is truly blameless is appalled about what is happening to him." End quote. Being bolstered a bit in his faith, Job declares that, verse nine, the righteous shall hold to his way, and he who has clean hands shall grow stronger and stronger. The righteous will hold to their ways, to his ways, and he who has clean hands will grow stronger and stronger. Yet, as for his errant friends, he finds that there isn't a wise one among them. We see as Job goes back and forth and back and forth, and isn't that true to our life as we struggle? The righteous will prevail, Oh, I have a miserable lot of friends. God will see me through. God, why have you done this to me? That's the way trials are. We waver in our suffering. We get a grip on it and look toward God and then pain wracks our body and takes our attention away. I appreciate the truth of this book and the reality and the honesty of what Job went through. In despair with life ebbing away, Job says, chapter 17, verses 11 through 16, my days are past, my plans are torn apart. Even the wishes of my heart, they make night into day, saying the light is near in the presence of darkness. If I look for Sheol as my home, I make my bed in the darkness. If I call to the pit, you are my father, to the worm, my mother and my sister, where now is my hope? And who regards my hope? Will it go down to me with Sheol? Shall we gather together down into the dust? Our hearts are saddened and break for Job. Who cannot read this and be torn? Our heart pulled upon, compassion coming to us. His state of being is very sad. But thanks to God, though God has him there, God will not keep him there. God has a plan to vindicate him mightily, to redeem him and to give him joy and peace. We'll get there, amen. Well, number three, Bildad preaches again, or I have a second little title for this, second verse, same as the first. These guys are repeating themselves. Bildad redicts Job, chapter 18, verses two through four. How long will you hunt for words? Show understanding and then we can talk. Why are we regarded as beasts, as stupid in your eyes? Oh, you tear yourself in your anger. For your sake is the earth to be abandoned or the rocks to be moved from its place. Come on, Job, Bildad is saying. We're not stupid, you are. In your arrogance, do you think because you are upset, because you are under a trial, and because you are angry that the entire world order should be adjusted to accommodate you, Job? You are sinful and senseless. And then, like Eliphaz, Bildad goes into the discourse by which he describes the terrible death of the wicked. He means this as a warning to Job whom he thinks is not far from perishing on account of his sinful wickedness. But what do we know about Job? He's not wicked. God himself has said what? Do you have it memorized? He's blameless, upright, fearing God, and turning away from evil. We're not saying he's sinless, but God says he's upright, blameless, fearing God, turning away from evil. But Bildad won't accept that. What does Bildad believe in? What theology? Retribution theology. The only reason someone suffers is because they are in sin and God is pouring out his wrath on them. Bildad says such things to Job, verse 5. Indeed, the light of the wicked goes out, and the flame of his fire gives no light. Verses 7 through 10. His vigorous stride is shortened, and his own scheme brings him down, and he is thrown into the net of his own feet, and he steps on the webbing. 9. A snare seizes him by the heel, and a trap shuts on him. 10. A noose for him is hidden in the ground, and a trap for him on the path. Job goes on to, excuse me, Bildad goes on to tell Job that the wicked have no peace, they have no rest, they have no safety, but that their strength is famished and their end is near. He goes on to say, now think about, listen to what he's saying. He goes on to say, the skin of the wicked is devoured by disease. What's happening to Job right now? His skin is being devoured by disease. He goes on to say that the wicked is torn from the security of his tent. What has happened to Job? He goes on to say, nothing of his is left. What's happened to Job? Beloved, is there any doubt that Bildad is trying to describe Job making him out to be the simple wicked one? Job, there you are with your skin disease. It's the wicked who have skin diseases. Job, wake up. God has brought this on you because of your sin. While continuing, Bildad says verses 17 through 21, memory of him, memory of the wicked perishes from the earth and has no name abroad. He is driven from light into darkness and chased from the inhabited world. He has no offspring or posterity among his people, nor any survivors where he sojourned. Is he not slapping Job in the face? Verse 20, those in the West are appalled at his fate, and those in the East are seized with horror. Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him who does not know God. Listen, while Bildad may be right in describing the plight of the wicked, it is pure wickedness for Bildad to apply this to Job. Bildad here tells Job that he is wicked and does not know God, and that's why he suffers. But Bildad is wrong. It is Bildad who is acting wickedly, and he will answer to God for it. Yes, this is the plight of the wicked who do not know God, amen, but this is not Job's plight, for Job knows God. Well, Job responds. This is chapter 19. In Job's complaint against Bildad and friends as found in verses one through six, Job asked how long they're going to go on tormenting him, crushing him with their words. They are brutal in their accusations and abusive in their applications. 10 times, that is over and over, Job says, you have insulted me, and you have no shame in sinning against me. Look here, friends, even if I had sinned, that would be between me and God, not between God, you, and me. You say that I, being wicked, have been caught in my own net? No, you're wrong. It is God who has come against me and enclosed his net around me, and he has done this for no cause due to me. Is Job right? Job's right. It was God who said to the accuser, chapter two, verse three, you incited me, God's saying this to the accuser, you incited me to ruin him, Job, without cause. So Job voices his complaints concerning God, verses seven through 12. Behold, I cried violence, But I get no answer. I shout for help but there is no justice. He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass and he has put darkness on my paths. He has stripped my honor from me and removed the crown from my head. He breaks me down on every side and I am gone and he has uprooted my hope like a tree. He has also kindled his anger against me and considered me as his enemy. His troops come together and build up their ways against me and camp around my tent. Well, we may not like what Job has to say here, and we may even feel like that's a bit dangerous, like it's walking the tightrope. But again, Job rightly sees the matter between him and God. He does not blaspheme God. He does not curse God. But he has a disagreement with God, and he voices it. Again, this is not between him and his friends and God. It's not between God, Satan, and himself. This is a matter to be settled, and it will be settled, by the way, but it will be settled between Job and God. Satan was a tool in God's toolbox, but it's God's toolbox to work what he wills. Like it or not, perceived rightly or not, Job correctly identifies his situation as from the hand of God, so he rightly takes up the matter with God whom he fears and worships. Having complained concerning God's dealing with him, Job goes on to lament the loss of human companionship. Verses 13 through 22, I'll read it. He has removed my brothers far from me. and my acquaintances are completely estranged from me. My relatives have failed, and my intimate friends have forgotten me. Those who live in my house and my maids consider me a stranger. I am a foreigner in their sight. I call to my servant, but he does not answer. I have to implore him with my mouth. My breath is offensive to my wife, and I am loathsome to my own brothers. Even young children despise me. I rise up and they speak against me. All my associates abhor me, and those I love have turned against me. My bone clings to my skin and my flesh, and I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth. Pity me, pity me, oh you my friends, for the hand of God has struck me. Why do you persecute me as God does and are not satisfied with my flesh? Job may have friends around him, but he's alone. Ever been alone in a crowd? He feels forsaken by man and God. He bears his cross alone, and he must bear this cross alone. Wife can't comfort him, friends can't deliver him. Again, this is between Job and God and no other. Job must rely on the God who slays him. It's a picture of Jesus. Jesus goes to the cross at the will of the Father, and Jesus will cross the line of the Father, who sacrifices him on the cross. Well, crying out for vindication, Job says, verses 23 and 24, oh, that my words were written, oh, that they were inscribed in a book, that with an iron stylus and lead, they were engraved in the rock forever. Job wishes for the truth of his innocence to be forever inscribed in the annals of time, and beloved, this is a cry that God has honored, for even today we read of the righteous man, Job, whom God vindicated. And then with a sudden outburst, a vocalization of his trust in God, the God he fears, Job, for the eternal record emphatically declares, verses 25 through 27, and as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives. and at the last he will take his stand on the earth, even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God, whom I myself shall behold, and whom my eyes shall see, and not another, my heart faints or yearns within me. With all the injustice Joel feels he has suffered at the hand of God, still he believes that God is just God. and that the God of justice will ultimately prevail on his behalf. If you will, he trusts that in all this God will raise him up again. Steve Lawson writes, Joe believed that God, his redeemer, would eventually vindicate him After his death, God would stand up on the earth and show him to be right in this matter. Job believed that no matter how others saw his life presently, God would have the last word and finally vindicate him. This reveals a confident trust in God who would vindicate and reward him on the last day. Lawson rightly says it three times, God will vindicate, vindicate, vindicate. God is just. and he redeems his people. Job believed that even if he died, still being resurrected to life again, he would behold the God he feared in worship. He knew that he would personally behold God as his redeemer and be vindicated as we would put it, perhaps, hearing those cherished words, well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of the Lord. Talk about vindication, that's vindication. The thought of this caused Job's heart to yearn within him, for he longed for the day when he would see his Redeemer. With his faith squarely anchored in Yahweh, Job turns to warn his friends. If God is to vindicate Job that his friends who have falsely accused him and spoken what is wrong about God are in danger, Job warns them, saying, verses 28 and 29, if you say, how shall we persecute him? And what pretext for a case against him can we find? Then be afraid of the sword for yourselves. For wrath brings the punishment of the sword, so that you may know there is judgment. Job is telling his friends, friends, I know my Redeemer lives and He will indeed vindicate me, so you'd better get right with God. You'd better bow before my Redeemer or you will find yourselves under His judgment, being judged with the same judgment with which you have judged me. Well, finally then. When Job announced those cherished words, I know that my Redeemer lives, we are very safe and sure to say that he did not envision Christ Jesus on the cross dying for his sins. Not even Jesus' disciples envisioned that when they were with him. In Job's pre-Christ, pre-cross context, he speaks of God as his living Redeemer. But since then, Christ and the cross and the resurrection. Since then, we have Christ, the cross, and the resurrection. And since then, Christians from as early as origin in the second century, in every sense, have read this text and can't help but see Jesus. Jesus is the only Redeemer provided by God for us. Jesus is the Son of God come in the flesh, who in our stead lived a life perfect in righteousness, and in our place died to pay the penalty for our sin. God vindicated His holy sinless Son by raising Him from the dead. God provided redemption or salvation, if you will, for us through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus. John Hartley writes, Job is working with the same logic of redemption that stands as the premise of the New Testament doctrine of the resurrection. Both hold to the dogma that God is just even though he permits unrequited injustices and the suffering of the innocent. God himself identified with Job's suffering and the sufferings of his son, Jesus Christ, who suffered unto death even though he was innocent. Jesus overcame his death by raising from the grave. In his victory, he, as God's son and mankind's kinsman redeemer, secured redemption for all who believe on him. While his followers may suffer in this life, he is their redeemer, their advocate before the Father. Beloved, our redeemer lives. Christ Jesus suffered the cross to provide redemption from the suffering of sin and death for all who believe in him. As Job is pictured, a picture of someone in need of God to vindicate them, God has provided this son as the one and only Redeemer who can and will save all who believe in him. If you will believe upon Jesus as Savior and Lord, then you can say with Job, as for me, I know my Redeemer lives. Beloved, there is a Savior Redeemer. There is one Savior Redeemer. Jesus is his name. Trust in him. Would you bow your heads in prayer with me? Our Lord and God, we thank you for the account of Joe. and we thank you for what it teaches us of you and your plan for the redemption of mankind. We thank you that in Job you provided for us an early foreshadow of Christ who would come, the innocent, perfect, pure one who would come and suffer the cross to save us from our sins. So Lord, we thank you for this story. We pray that it will take root in our heart And Lord, that as we go our way, that each one of us will go believing and trusting in Jesus as Savior and Lord, that we will order our life in obedience to him, having been saved, that we will obey Christ. And Lord, that we will glorify you. We thank you, our Heavenly Father, that you have provided the Redeemer. Thank you, Jesus, that you are that Redeemer. And we say, come quickly, Lord Jesus. Come quickly. We want to behold you with our eyes. Blessed is your name forevermore in the name of Christ Jesus, I pray. And the church said, amen. God bless you. Please stand to your feet and let's sing before we go our way.