And let me just reiterate the welcome. It is good to be in the house of the Lord and on such a day. As many of the professing Church acknowledges this to be a commemoration of our Lord's resurrection, which indeed it is, But for us, every Lord's Day is a commemoration of that resurrection. Some of you remember when Antiochus Epiphanes was ruling over Israel in defiance of the Jewish religion offered a pig on the altar. Well, our president, our White House, has declared this not an Easter celebration, but what? Transgender Visibility Day. And I can't wonder what judgments await us when we're so blatant and bold in the way that we declare these things. The God who created us created them at the beginning, male and female, clear as can be. If you're there in Job chapter 18, Be patient. Let's pray and we'll have a few introductory remarks before we dive into chapter 19, I should say. Our Heavenly Father, we do bless and praise you. We do thank you that as Christ has risen, men shall rise in that last day. O blessed day, prepare us for it, every one of us, and glorify your name for it. And those who are gathering in your house, Lord God, to hear these things proclaimed, may they hear it afresh. May your people be built up in their most holy faith, and may sinners be quickened unto life. to hear for the first time, to have it come through, to seep through even where it is seemingly blocked. Christ is risen. What does this mean? What are the implications? Oh, Heavenly Father, we pray. May it be a blessed day of transformation. Help us to hear from Your Word. Help us to profit from these things. Bless our fellowship. Bless our time together. And hear us, we ask, in Jesus' name, amen. Well, if you would return in your mind's eye with me to Athens, Greece, when the Apostle Paul in Acts chapter 17 visited that city, and his spirit was troubled and stirred to see the idolatry all around him, and he began to teach in the synagogues, and it began to be rumored about what Paul was preaching. What was Paul preaching? He seems to be a setter forth of strange gods, plural. Gods, plural, because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection. So prominent in his preaching was the resurrection that those who heard of these things thought that the resurrection was some godlike entity in and of itself. not understanding what it was. And then they invited him to come to the Areopagus and there to explain these things. The Athenians, remember, they loved their philosophy. They loved to hear and talk about new things. and wrestle with them. Well, here Paul comes then, and he presents to them that you're worshiping a God you do not know, and he declares to them the true and the living God. And then he gets in his preaching, in his sermon, to preach to them of the resurrection. And at that point, they had had enough. Some said, we'll hear thee again of this matter, but most turned a deaf ear at that point onward. But that is a central feature of all apostolic preaching. In Acts chapter 1, after Judas Iscariot had betrayed the Son of God and then went out and hanged himself, took his own life, The gathered church sought to replace him in the apostolic number of 12, and they chose ultimately Matthias. But one of the qualifications needful for this apostle was that he had seen the Lord Jesus Christ, that he had witnessed, that he was going to be a witness of his resurrection. of his resurrection. This becomes a hallmark and a centerpiece of all apostolic preaching and teaching. We read over in 1 John, where John talks about the one we handled and touched and saw with our eyes. We declare unto you, we proclaim him unto you. Even as Thomas said, I won't believe unless I can put my finger in his wounds and put it in his side, And Jesus invited him to do that very thing. And there he made that good confession, my Lord and my God. In 2 Timothy 1, verse 10, we are reminded that Jesus Christ has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. Now think on that a moment. He has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. We really don't understand what life is except through the gospel. Speaking of that new vivacious spiritual life that he imparts to all true believers, that only comes to full light and enlightenment through the gospel. In the same way, immortality, only comes to true light." Now, it's an interesting word he uses here. There are two words translated immortality in the New Testament. One means deathlessness, but this is the other word that means kind of incorruptibility. It is often used by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 to talk about incorruption and incorruptibility, but coupled with that is an abiding, lasting, everlasting quality to it, so that it might well properly be translated Immortality. Immortality itself is brought to light through the gospel by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Now, whatever vagueness of the resurrection and the afterlife were present to the Jewish mind, they're brought to light and clarified through the gospel. Whatever pagan notion of these things existed are radically unsettled by the light of the gospel. For the Egyptians to believe that if they put all these things in the pyramids of the Pharaoh, that they're going to carry those things with them into an afterlife, was an erroneous understanding of what the afterlife was and what the resurrection would be. But what was the Jews' expectation regarding the resurrection before Jesus brought light and clarity to it? Turn with me quickly to two passages. The Gospel of John, chapter 11. The Gospel of John, chapter 11. And we'll break into the context. Lazarus had died. And Martha had come out to meet him, verse 23, and Jesus says to her, to Martha, your brother will rise again. Martha said to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection of the last day. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? So Jesus here is telling them, Martha already had an understanding that there was going to be a grand and glorious resurrection at the last day. And her hope and expectation, I know my brother Lazarus shall be raised up at the last day. That's true, but Jesus says, I am the embodiment. I am the resurrection of the life. The power for that resurrection is invested with me. I will keep all the true saints and raise them up at the last day. Turn with me also to Acts chapter 23. Just trying to emphasize and see here, what was the Jews' understanding of the resurrection? Acts chapter 23. beginning at verse 6. Paul here is brought on trial. In verse 6 we read, But when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. Concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead I am being judged. When he had said this, a dissension arose among the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. For Sadducees say there is no resurrection and no angel or spirit, but the Pharisees confess both." Oftentimes we see that the Pharisees had very orthodox views of God and of the Old Covenant, the Old Covenant in general. So here they had an understanding, an expectation that there would be a coming great resurrection. Turn with me over just one chapter, chapter 24, verse 14. Here the apostle Paul is also brought before Felix, and he says this, Verse 14, But this I confess to you, that according to the way which they call a sect, so I worship the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and the prophets, I hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust. Here he adds that qualify the just and the unjust. There will be a great resurrection, but there will be a division in that resurrection, both of the just and of the unjust. Well, this morning, I want us to notice that, as with Martha, there was a latent expectation among the Jews of the resurrection, that great final resurrection. And for some, it was a pent-up desire, a pent-up desire that was often associated with their expectation of the coming Messiah. They associated those things together. They didn't know how. It didn't become clear, as we saw, until Christ brought those things to light. through the gospel, but there was an expectation. So now turn with me to Job chapter 19, and we'll see something of his hope and his expectation. Many scholars say that Job is the oldest book written in the Scriptures, the oldest book written in the Scriptures. And when we consider that, these words are quite significant and profound. In the first book penned and given to us by the revelation of God, we read these words, jumping into verse 23 of Job chapter 19. He's responding to Bildad. Bildad had made all those accusations about the wicked and what would happen to the wicked that pastor read just a bit earlier, and now he's responding to all those things. And among the things he says is this, verse 23, "'Oh, that my words were written! Oh, that they were inscribed in a book, that they were engraved on a rock with an iron pen and lead forever!' For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth. And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another, how my heart yearns within me. If you should say, how shall we persecute him? Since the root of the matter is found in me, be afraid of the sword for yourselves, for wrath brings the punishment of the sword, that you may know there is a judgment. So I want us to consider and focus here for a moment on Job's words and in this passage, and observe two major divisions to this sermon. The first, the resurrection faith of Job, the resurrection faith of Job, and the vital lesson for us, and the vital lesson for us. The resurrection faith of Job and the vital lesson for us, And under that first heading, the resurrection faith of Job, I want us to observe six things. First of all, the fierceness of his sufferings. The fierceness of his sufferings. Second, the ferocity of his accusers. the ferocity of his accusers, thirdly, the forcefulness of his faith, the forcefulness of his faith, fourthly, the fraternity of his kinsmen, the fraternity of his kinsmen, fifthly, the firmness of his hope, and sixthly, the forewarning of judgment, the forewarning of judgment. So consider, you remember Job's case. Turning back just to chapter 1 briefly, just to read the opening words, so we get a sense of Job, who is this man, and where he's from. There was a man in the land of Uz. Remember that, whose name was Job. Remember that, children. Who is this man from the land of Uz? His name was Job. Where Uz was is a big debate, but somewhere in the Mideast, it is believed. There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil. And seven sons and three daughters were born to him. Also his possessions were 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and a very large household, so that this man was the greatest of all the people, or all the sons. of the East. Now what happens to Job? You'll remember the circumstances. Satan appears before the Lord and says, is Job serving you for no reason? You put a hedge about him, you protected him. That's the only reason Job serves you. You take away everything he has and he will curse you to his face. So the Lord says, he is in your hands, but don't touch his persons. Well, the Sabaeans came, raided, and took all the donkeys and all the oxen and killed all the servants that were with those animals, except one. who came back to report it to Job. And then the Chaldeans raided and took all the camels and killed all the servants who were with them except one who returned to bring the report to Job. Then his seven sons and three daughters were all together in one house, and the house fell on top of them and killed all of them. but one servant escaped and came back to tell Job what had happened." Well, Satan and the Lord have another engagement, and Satan says, well, okay, so he stood this test, but you touch his body, skin for skin, and he will curse you to your face. And the Lord said, he is in your hands, but do not kill him. So what does Satan do? Causes these boils to be all over his body, from the crown of his head to the sole of his foot, we read. So much so that he took pottery and scraped them off. There was no other way to find some kind of relief, and sat in ashes and mourned before the Lord. So he's struck with these boils. In addition to this, or joined with all these physical sufferings, all this physical loss and suffering was the mental anguish that comes with it, and the present pounding, perplexing question, that bothers him throughout much of this book. Why, O Lord? Why, O Lord, am I suffering all these things? What evil have I done? Show me what I have done. For this he had no encouragement from his wife. His wife said, Curse God and die, Job. And only a cacophony of moral platitudes and unsympathetic and accusatory suggestions come from the lips of his three friends, who piled it on, pile on the accusations and moral platitudes of why this has happened to you. Job. Job, it's because of your sin. Somehow it's because of your sin. Perhaps some secret sin that nobody knows about but you and the Lord. But the Lord has brought this on you because of your sin. And Job maintains his integrity. Says, it can't be. I've searched my heart. I've cleansed my hands in innocency. So notice secondly, though, the ferocity of these accusers, of the things that they accused Job of. And we'll confine ourselves here only to Bildad, Bildad's accusations that he brings against Job. In his first reply to Job, in Job chapter 8, Bildad says that God's justice is not twisted or perverted. Your sons have sinned, and they've got what they deserve. and got what they deserved, and if Job would but seek God in purity, he would restore his fortunes. Here would be the proof of God's favor. If he would repent, cry out to the Lord, God would restore all his fortunes. You see, there's sin in the camp, and Job needs to repent of it. Andy says that the hypocrite's hope will perish. The hypocrite's hope is like a spider's web in the corner. You can just wipe it away with your hand. If you think, Job, you can rest in this false hope that you have, that you are righteous in your conduct in this area, God has done that away like a spider's web. He's taken that away from you. Can't you see it, Job? Why do you continue to pile up words and argue against us? Can't you see the fault is with you? This is Bildad, and when we come to chapter 18, he doubles down. He's even more intense in his accusation against him. Bildad begins by rebuking Job for treating these, his friends, as beasts and stupid. Why do you treat us like we're dumb, stupid beasts? Why do you do that? And for the arrogance and hubris they think Job is displaying by claiming innocence, and that his sufferings are not a beeline direct result of his sin? Look with me at chapter 18 again, verse 4. You who tear yourself in anger, shall the earth be forsaken for you? Here's Bildad rebuking Job. Shall the earth be forsaken for you because you're righteous? Is God going to change His moral compass in the way that God conducts justice and judgment in the earth? Or shall the rock be removed out of its place? Is God going to set things all in a different orbit, in a different way, because of you, Joe? That's Bildad's rebuke of Job. But then he goes on in vivid detail to describe the fate of the wicked. Without mentioning Job specifically, he speaks of, well, this is what happens to the wicked. Now, if the shoe foots Job, you need to wear it. You need to own it. You need to realize you're the one who's conducted yourself in a wicked way and that all these things have come upon you. Look with me at verse 11. All these things come upon the wicked. Terror frightens him on every side and drives him to his feet." Or I like the Nazba version about hounding after him, biting at his heels, as it were. His strength is starved, and destruction is ready at his side. It devours patches of his skin. The firstborn of death devours his limbs. He is uprooted from the shelter of his tent, and they parade him before the king of terrors." The king of terrors is death himself. All these things lead for Job to look death right in the face, so that it terrifies him. Now, Bildad would say, it is the hope that having seen all this, Job, would lead you to repentance. But Job still maintains his innocence. He maintains his innocence. Look with me down at verse 21. Bildad concludes his argument. So, listen to the ferocity of the arguments of Bildad against him. But then notice Job's response. And Job responds to Bildad point by point, point by point. Look at verse 2 of chapter 18. Bildad says, how long till you put an end to words? Gain understanding, and afterward we will speak. And Job responds this way, verse 2 of chapter 19, "'How long will you torment my soul "'and break me in pieces with words? "'These ten times you have reproached me. "'You are not ashamed that you have wronged me.'" So Job responds to him, "'No, rather, how long do you tear me, "'break me in pieces with your words?' So all that suffering compiled, and on top of all his physical loss and suffering, his three friends tear him in pieces, break him in pieces with their words. This leads to such spiritual anguish of soul and mental angst in the life of Job. That's why God has given us this book, so filled with these arguments back and forth to instruct us in these ways. But then notice in the third place, the forcefulness of Job's faith, the forcefulness of his faith, verse 25 of chapter 19. For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth. For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last But what brings Job to this grand expression, this grand and glorious expression? Right? That would be the conclusion of Bildad and his friends in describing Job's condition. In the crucible of testing is when His faith shines forth the strongest. I know with certainty, with conviction, by faith, that my Redeemer lives, not only lives, but that He shall stand at last, at the hindermost, at the end of time, on the earth. Stand there to be my Redeemer, to answer for me in that great last day." Where does this faith come from? By the revelation of God. But notice what he went through. Back up with me to chapter 19, verse 9. Joab's responding, remember, to Bildad. Bildad had given this cacophony of things that happened to the wicked, all the ways in which they're in danger, all the ways they're going to be entrapped and ensnared, and he responds, verse 9, and taken the crown from my head. He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone. My hope He has uprooted like a tree. Yes, God has indeed done these things to me. He has also kindled His wrath against me, and He counts me as one of His enemies. His troops come together and build up their road against me. They encamp all around my tent. He has removed my brothers far from me. and my acquaintances are completely estranged from me. My relatives have failed, and my close friends have forgotten me. Those who dwell in my house and my maidservants count me as a stranger. I am an alien in their sight. I call my servant, but he gives no answer. I beg him with my mouth. My breath is offensive to my wife. and I am repulsive to the children of my own body." I don't think that's the best translation. His children were dead and gone. The idea here is that one of the translations says, I helped to bear these children, to care for them, before the eyes of my wife. I cared for these children. They are now gone, but my wife doesn't even regard my husbandly and fatherly care that I cared for my children when they were here." That's what he's saying. It's just gone, everything I've worked and done for, even young children, verse 18. despise me. I arise, and they speak against me. All my close friends abhor me, and those whom I love have turned against me. My bone clings to my skin and to my flesh, and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth." So Job's anguish is not simply the physical loss of all these things, or even the loss of his children, as grievous as all that was, But now he has nothing to comfort him. His wife doesn't prove a comfort to him. His friends aren't there to comfort him. Things around him, his honor and respect that he had just as a man is gone. Everyone despises him, mocks him, looks at him like Bilbad did, as one who is suffering just judgment at the hand of God. And Joab says, I indeed have suffered all these things. I acknowledge them. I acknowledge that's all true, but I don't acknowledge that there's some hidden secret sin that's the cause of this. My hope is in something else, something else altogether, a Redeemer, a Redeemer, my Redeemer. Is it not so when all else is taken away that true faith shines the brightest? If in this life only we have a Redeemer, if in this life only we have a Redeemer, if ours is but an earthly captain, a mere mortal like ourselves, our faith would be greatly misplaced, for the best that we could expect is some temporary material relief for our pilgrimage that will still end tragically on the rocky shore of this passing earth with no extension beyond. If that's the only hope, if that's the only hope of Job is that he has a Redeemer who's going to restore all his fortunes, he's going to get his camels back, his oxen back, his donkeys back, children again, he'll have children again, and he'll be happy and blessed on earth. If that's the extent of it, it's an empty thing, isn't it? I'm a miserable man." And perhaps all this was necessary for Job to come to recognize that. Why does God bring trials in our life? Why does he strip away things from us that we held so dear? Why do we lose so many things? God has a purpose in all of it. Go back to the book of Job and let's learn the lesson time and again. But Job's faith was in a Redeemer who does not merely restore his fortunes here on earth, but will redeem his life and redeem his very body from the grave, that he will see him with his own eyes in the flesh on that blessed day. Even Job, that's his hope, that's his expectation. The truth and the light of the gospel hasn't brought those things to the clear light that we enjoy, and yet Job, when pressed, when everything else was stripped away, that faith comes shining through. There's my hope. There's my expectation. I know that my Redeemer lives, and I shall stand before Him on that day. Notice how the welling up of full faith in the breast of Job directly counters the verbal belchings of Bildad directly counters what he said. Look with me. Chapter 18 and verse 12 of what Bildad said to him. His strength is starved and destruction is ready at his side. It devours patches of his skin. The firstborn of death devours his limbs. And notice how Job responds in verse 26 of chapter 19. After this, my skin is destroyed. This I know, that in my flesh I shall see God. Yes, perhaps patches on my skin, my limbs falling off, but I know this, that I shall in my flesh, in a restored, resurrected body, shall see God with my own eyes." That's his hope and expectation. So forceful are Job's convictions of faith, he wants them permanently inscribed. If we go back up to verse 23, I believe Job is saying this specifically about this declaration, I know that my Redeemer lives, and all that follows, that he says this, verse 23, oh, that my words were written, oh, that they were inscribed in a book, that they were engraved on a rock with an iron pen and lead forever. The picture here is often they would take an iron and carve into the rock, and then they would melt lead and pour that in, so it would luster out and have a greater permanency to those things. I want my words written in that way. because my convictions are so certain and sure that I am going to be redeemed from all this trouble that I'm going through and restored on that last day and see God with my own eyes in my own flesh. I want them written that they were engraved on a rock with a pen and lead forever, for I know that my Redeemer lives. These very words I want written down, and blessed be God, God has indeed preserved them for us to read. I know that my Redeemer lives. Well did the hymn writer opine upon these words and wrote, I know that my Redeemer lives. What comfort this sweet sentence gives. He lives, he lives who once was dead. He lives, my everlasting head. He lives triumphant from the grave. He lives eternally to save. He lives all glorious in the sky. He lives exalted. Now, there's many other verses to that hymn. It's a good one to look up and meditate upon, just a side application. Well, did A.W. Tozer write that young believers in the Lord, all of us for that matter, second to our Bible should have a good hymnal, a good hymnal that we can learn good words like that for our meditation to help our hearts to love the Lord and to worship them. Observe with me then in the fourth place, in the fourth place, the fraternity of his kinsmen, the fraternity of his kinsmen. There is a connection, a fellowship, a fraternity that Job expresses when he calls him, my Redeemer. Not just the Redeemer of men, not the Redeemer of mankind in a vague sense, but my Redeemer. Pronouns are important. We live in a day and age when that is being underscored time and again. Pronouns are important, aren't they? A little word separates experience from ideas. A little word like my separates the ideal and the idea of redemption and of having a Redeemer from actually having a Redeemer. It separates confession from possession. It separates a detached hope from a living faith, from a living faith. I know that my Redeemer lives, the one who's redeemed my soul and will redeem my body and restore it completely on that day, whatever I go through in this life. My hope is no longer in this world. My attachment to the things that once clung to so many physical things that I had has been done away by the hand of God, and I am looking for Hoping in, expecting that greater redemption. Do you know Him as your Redeemer? Can you say that He is my Redeemer? My Redeemer? Look with me back in chapter 9. It would seem that Job's convictions about this came to fruition through all this trying and testing. Job 9, look with me at verse 32. He's looking for help. Job's crying out for someone to help him. He's in despair over the things that have come upon him and he says, for he is not a man as I am that I may answer him. How can I speak to God? How can I have an audience in his presence? He's not a man like I am that I can talk to him and that we should go to court together, nor is there any mediator between us who may lay his hand on us both. Such was Job's confession. He was looking for that daisman, that mediator who would come between him and the living God, but he didn't find him as of yet. He didn't confess him as of yet. He had to be one like him who he could speak to, who could understand his condition, and yet have the ear of the eternal Father. Who could be such a one? Where is such a one? Job is longing for such a one. I believe Job came to recognize there is such a one. God showed it to him so that he could say, by the time we get to the 19th chapter, I know that my Redeemer lives. I know that my Redeemer lives. I've been looking for Him. Now I know the certainty that I have a Redeemer. In the fifth place, then, look at the firmness of his hope, the firmness of his hope. Back to Job chapter 19, picking up at verse 26. And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another, how my heart yearns within me. May I suggest that the certainty of faith and the firmness of hope that Job here expresses were produced in part at least because of and under this crucible of testing. What began as a lump of coal was now only after all the intensity of the pressures of testing begin to show its diamond-like qualities. Now it begins to express itself in this greater hope, this hope of the resurrection. This became for him a certainty, that bore out of all the testing that Job went through, that God put him through. There he was, but a lump of coal, and God put him in the pressure cooker and pressed and pressed and pressed until he came forth as gold, or in this case, as diamond, pure and lustrous." Look with me, two other passages in Job. Look with me back at chapter 14. Chapter 14 and verse 10. Oh, and I'd like to refer to a few more verses, but we'll break in here. Verse 10, but man dies and is laid away. Indeed, he breathes his last, and where is he? As water disappears from the sea and a river becomes parched and dries up, so man lies down and does not rise. Till the heavens are no more, they will not awake, nor be roused from their sleep." Now, here it would seem Job has a sense of faith. He knows that there is a last day coming. He knows in the depth of his soul there must be something beyond the pale of this suffering and tears. There must be something beyond it. I know it's a conviction, something God has written on his heart. But it seems far off. It seems pretty vague at this point in Job's thinking. All he can see now is that man lies down, and then, yes, then till the heavens are no more, they will not awake nor be aroused from their sleep. Turn with me back to chapter 13 and verse 13. Job's faith perhaps wasn't as strong here. His hope and expectation weren't as developed and expressed, but it was still there. It was there in seed. It began to grow. It began to sprout. We heard recently of how the kingdom of God comes, right? First the bud, then the full year in the bud. We see that in the life of Job. It comes out over time. Notice verse 13 of Job 13. hold your peace with me, and let me speak. Then let come on me what may." Why do I take my flesh in my teeth and put my life in my hands? But what Job is saying is, by me defending myself, that this judgment, these things that I'm suffering are not a direct result of the judgment of God of some secret or open sin in my life. He says, I know I'm taking my life in my hand to say that openly and to say it before God and you, these witnesses, I know that. But let me do it, and then let come what may. Though he slay me, verse 15, yet will I trust in him. Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him. Even so, I will defend my own ways before him. He also shall be my salvation, for a hypocrite could not come before him. I know I have a sense of audience before him. I'm yearning for it. It seems imperfect at times, but I know that in some sense God is hearing me, and I'm hopeful of that. And he's hopeful of that, and so he defends his own ways. And even though he continues to be slayed alive by the Lord, He will trust in Him. He will trust that God is all wise in what He is doing, all just in His actions. He trusts in the Lord. His faith is imperfect, but it's there in seed form, and it's beginning to express itself more and more in His life, more and more in His life. So having seen something of this, what have we seen in the life of Job? That firmness of faith, that forcefulness of his faith. I know that my Redeemer lives, firm in his hope, firm in his hope of a resurrection, his own resurrection. I myself shall see God with my eyes, in my flesh. on that last and blessed day. What was only vague before, was only hoped for, had grown into a firm and living faith in the life of Job." Well, that leads us in the sixth place to this forewarning of judgment, this forewarning of judgment. Turn with me back to Job chapter 19. in verse 28. Remember, he's still answering Bildad. He's still answering Bildad point by point, point by point. He's expressed himself in the greatest of terms, the strongest of terms. My faith is in a Redeemer, a Redeemer who is gonna redeem me, who I shall see at the last day, who I shall see in my own flesh when I'm raised up. That's his answer. That's his answer, ultimately, to build that. But then he answers this, verse 28. If you should say, how shall we persecute him? How are we gonna get it across to Job? that he's in error. We've tried these many arguments time and again. And what were we doing? We were presenting to Job the theology of our fathers and our forefathers for millennium, that the wicked are punished. And when punishments like this come upon a man, it's proved positive that that is a wicked man. Job, apply that to yourself. Why aren't you applying that to yourself? Why do you continue to multiply these words back to us and not accept our rebuke and our instruction? We're not just expressing our own mind. This is the theology of ages. This is the wise theology of our forefathers. And if you take much of what they said out of the context of the book of Job, we would say amen. and can agree with much of the theology of Job's three friends, but their application here was greatly in error. But they still want to persecute him, as it were. So he says, if you should say, how are we going to get to him? How shall we persecute him? How shall we persuade him? Since the root of the matter is found in me, and I believe this is Job answering, since the root of the matter is found in me, He's expressed the root of the matter in those words, I know that my Redeemer lives. Be afraid of the sword for yourselves. Be afraid of the sword for yourselves. When we read those words, when Paul writes to the Colossians, Christ in you, the hope of glory, right? When you know that Christ is in you, that is what gives you the hope of glory hereafter, of inheriting eternal life hereafter, which is a tremendous comfort to you as a Christian believer, but is a what? is a witness and a rebuke to the unbelieving world. So Job is saying in similar manner, the root of the matter is in me. I can say that by faith. I can say that in firmness of hope, that the root of the matter is in me. So you need to be afraid of the sword for yourselves, for yourselves. For wrath brings the punishment of the sword that you may know there is a judgment. You need to take stock rather. You're the ones who need to pause and think about what you're doing. You need to witness these things for what they are and not your preconceived prepackaged theology imposed on me. Perceive these things for what they are and consider that it's a rebuke and a warning to you that there is coming a day of judgment. There's coming a day of judgment and you might skate through all this life in prosperity and happiness and wealth and go on your way singing and rejoicing and not suffer the things that I have suffered, but there's still coming a final judgment day. That's the one that matters. That's the one you ought to be concerned with. Look at my life and look what it has brought forth out of my heart and my life and my expression. Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him. I know that my Redeemer lives. That's the effect this has had on me. You should witness my life. and soberly consider that there is a day of judgment coming for yourselves as well." A day of judgment is coming for yourselves as well. Well, what do we say in the second place? Just what is the vital lesson for us to take away from this? I hope we've picked up on it already. What is it? That our hope is in a better resurrection by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Today, of all days, we can embrace this fact that I know that my Redeemer lives, that I will be raised up because life and immortality has been brought to light through the gospel. Jesus Christ did not remain in the grave. He's been raised up. The apostles bear witness to it. The whole New Testament bears witness to who He is, what He has accomplished. And if in this life only we have hope in Christ, We're of all men, most miserable, most to be pitied. But what is it? If Christ be not raised, you are yet in your sins. So let us be reminded, this is the vital lesson. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, in totality the gospel. Believe that he will raise the dead, incorruptible on that blessed day. Oh, may we be able to say, my Redeemer, my Redeemer, my Savior, my resurrected, glorious, exalted to the right hand of the Father's Savior, who shall stand for me on that last day, and who stands and cares for me even now until that last day. Let me conclude with this. We don't know what awaits us in this life. We might go through Job-like experiences, for good or for ill. May it be for our good. And may we in the end come away sane and expressing ourselves stronger than ever, like Job did. There was a martyr in the 5th century in Persia whose name was James Intersicus. And they gave him that name because it means cut up. He's also called James the Mutilated. He died in martyrdom in 420. He was a Persian soldier who outwardly embraced Christ and began to express his faith, began to express his faith, and that led ultimately to his martyrdom. They mutilated him, they cut off his limbs, and he was still there alive. So they finally killed him. Outright. He said this near the end of his life. This death, which seems so terrible, is little enough to gain eternal life. Savior, receive a branch of the tree. It will decay and flower again. It will be clothed with glory. The vine dies in winter, yet revives in spring. Shall not this life, which is cut down, rise again? My heart rejoices in the Lord, and my soul is exalted in your salvation." We may never come to a martyr's death, or we may, but may God prepare us through all of it to stand fast in the faith like Job in that day. Let's pray. Father, we bless you and thank you for your word. We thank you for this great, great salvation. What shall we render unto the Lord for all these benefits? What shall we say in response for this grace and mercy? What shall we say? Blessed be the name of the Lord. All glory and praise and honor to you. Thank you, Lord God, for such mercy. May, by your grace, may we all taste your grace so that we confess with Job, My Redeemer, my Redeemer lives, and we shall stand with Him on that last day and shall see Him in our flesh. Lord God, our eyes shall behold Him. What we now believe by faith, not having seen Him, oh, that blessed day we shall see Him. Prepare us to stand unto that day and keep us this hour. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Brethren, we're dismissed.