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I Know My Redeemer Liveth Part 6 By Andrew Davies

can we turn please to Job chapter 19. I won't read the chapter now, but we will look at it as a whole, and so read through it as we proceed. It's a familiar chapter, particularly the closing verses from 25 onwards, 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 eye shall behold and not another. I suppose if you wanted a commentary on the book of Job, it would be a verse from Isaiah chapter 50 verse 10. Who among you fears the Lord, who obeys the voice of his servant, who walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord and rely upon his God. Job was a man who feared the Lord and obeyed the voice of his servant, but he walked in darkness and had no light, but he trusted in the name of the Lord and relied upon his God. That's a clear description of what Job did in his darkness. There are days of darkness in the experience of true believers. There are what the Apostle Paul calls evil days. Job's darkness was very deep, not only the sufferings themselves, but the grieving that followed the sufferings, and we know that these things happen to a true believer.
Life sometimes is very difficult, and faith may be tested severely. The
struggle that Job had was a struggle of faith. If our faith is worth anything at
all, it must be able to face all the facts. If it can't do that, it isn't worth
a dime. Faith must be able to face all the facts, and particularly the fact of
suffering. The question is, can faith survive all the facts? When friends
provide wrong explanations, as Job's friends did, when there is no light from
God upon the scene which Job certainly didn't have. That was Job's struggle. His
friends were giving him the wrong explanations, and he didn't have a divine
explanation. So could he go on trusting God, leaning on God as he walked in the
darkness and had no light? Can we? Can we? The answer of the book is a wonderful,
yes, we can. Our minds may be assailed by terrible doubts, and our hearts may be at
the edge of despair. We may be in great anguish of soul. Like Job, we can be
bewildered, depressed, angry, even desperate. We may feel, as he did,
worthless, useless, and helpless. Yet, the true believer will go on trusting the
Lord. That is the pilgrimage of faith. Faith will not die. It cannot be
extinguished. It continues. The child of light walks in the darkness. He doesn't
lie down and give up. He doesn't give in. He walks in the darkness, and it's a
marvelous thing that this should happen to the most ordinary and insignificant
and weak people in the world. And Job was such a man. He was able to continue to
walk in the darkness and trust in the name of his God. We've already seen him
doing that, though not in the clarity with which he does it here in chapter 19.
Last week, we looked at his great cry, his great question in chapter 14, verse 14.
If a man dies, shall he live again? That's not a question that expects the answer,
no. If a man dies, shall he live again? It's a question that expects the answer,
yes. If a man dies, shall he live again? Yes. Yes, he will. There's faith
beginning to rise in Job's heart and in his soul there. He also says in that
same section, my transgression is sealed up in a bag, and you cover my iniquity. So
he's conscious of the fact that there is something beyond death, that God is a
pardoning and a gracious God. In chapter 16, he speaks about his witness in
heaven and his evidence being on high. Even though his friends scorn him, he can
pour out his tears to God. So his confidence, though it's not the full
confidence of chapter 19, his confidence was nevertheless still in God. But here
in chapter 19, faith rises up into a glorious cry of confidence, and it does
so at the very darkest moment of his crisis. He's thinking. His cries are
unanswered. His friends are taunting him. Heavens are like brass. So he sinks
beneath the weight of the words of his friends. The first six verses of chapter
19 tell us that. How long will you torment my soul? He's speaking to his
friends. And break me in pieces with words. These ten times you have
reproached me. You are not ashamed that you have wronged me. And if indeed I have
erred, my error remains with me. If indeed you magnify yourselves against me and
plead my disgrace against me, know then that God has wronged me and has
surrounded me with his net. You can see him sinking here beneath the weight of
these unhelpful words which his friends are throwing at him. And then he also
sinks beneath the sense of divine desertion. Verses 7 to 12. If I cry out
concerning wrong, I am not heard. If I cry aloud, there is no justice. He that is God
has fenced up my way so that I cannot pass. And he has said darkness in my
paths. He has stripped me of my glory 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. 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. His friends are not helping him with their words and he feels that God
has deserted him. And so he appeals for pity. In verses 13 and following, 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. Even young children 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. Have pity on me. Have pity on 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? He wants pity. He wants some compassion and he now
reaches rock bottom. Verse 6, God has wronged me and surrounded me with his net. You
can't get much lower than that. Verse 7, if I cry out concerning wrong I am not
heard. God isn't answering my prayers. Verse 11, he has kindled his wrath against
me. He accounts me as one of his enemies. I'm an enemy of God it seems. Verse 13, my
friends and my family are against me. Pity is what I need and there isn't any.
God is persecuting me it seems and my friends are persecuting me. He's at rock
bottom and then at rock bottom he finds his feet and as he finds his feet he's
able to look up. There's only one direction now that he can look. He cannot
fall any farther and at that moment he looks up and he catches a new vision of
the Lord. At the darkest coldest moment of his long night dawn begins to break
upon his soul and he can see again and this is his cry I know I know that my
Redeemer lives. It's a most remarkable cry from a man who is at rock bottom. He
knows all about trouble but he also knows this my Redeemer lives. He knows
that it's something that is certain secure in his experience. Here is Job's
bedrock. What is our faith grounded upon? The charge against Job or the charge
really against God through Job is that God has blessed Job so that his faith is
grounded upon God's blessings. God's possessions which he has loaned his
servant Job. The family that he has given him as a trust. The health that he's
provided him with. The charges that Job's face is grounded on God's blessings. His
possessions, his family, his health and his wealth. That's the charge. Does Job
fear God for nothing? Look at the way you've blessed him. But what if all of
those things should be taken away from him? What then? What happens to a man when
that kind of situation overwhelms him? At this point it might be interesting for
us to think of a hymn that comes into my mind. It it's a magnificent hymn in the
hymn book. If you have your hymn book you might like to just open the hymn book
with me for a moment and there's a hymn 587 it is written by a man by the name
of Johann Andreas Roth. Now this man was a very great preacher who was the
preacher of the parish in Bertelsdorf in Saxony in the mid 18th century where the
Moravian refugees settled in 1722 and where a revival occurred in 1727 and
this man Johann Roth was the pastor of the Bertelsdorf community in Germany
where these Moravian refugees settled and he wrote what is I think one of the
greatest hymns in the hymn book. He's talking about the ground, bedrock and he
says now I have found the ground wherein sure my soul's anchor may remain the
wounds of Jesus for my sin before the world's foundation slain whose mercy
shall unshaken stay when heaven and earth are fled away and then he speaks
about the greatness of God's love the immensity of the work of Christ his
blood and pleading for mercy and then he plunges into the sea of God's love and
finds his hope and joy and rest but this is the verse that is interesting though
there's five though waves and storms go all my head though strength and health
and friends be gone though joys be withered all and dead though every
comfort be withdrawn on this my steadfast soul relies father thy mercy
never dies fixed on this ground will I remain though my heart fail and flesh
decay this anchor shall my soul sustain when earth's foundations melt away
mercy's full power I then shall prove loved with an everlasting love what
happens when waves and storms go all your head when strength and health and
friends are gone when joys are withered all and dead and every comfort is
withdrawn what happens then what happens then I know I know that my
Redeemer lives faith rises up here in confidence faith survives the shock the
house is on the rock it's on the rock the storm has come and the wind is
blowing and it's beating on the house but it's standing because it's on the
rock now what is this rock what is it that we must be sure of well we must be
sure of the fact that we have a Redeemer I know that my Redeemer lives this term
Redeemer is a very familiar term within the Old Testament the Hebrew term is go
L and it means a kinsman it means somebody who is close to you who is part
of you who is one with you in the book of Leviticus we have a passage which
perhaps sheds more light upon the meaning of the term Redeemer than any
other in the Old Testament at the end of of Leviticus 25 we have we have this
this law concerning slavery this prescription verse 47 of Leviticus
chapter 25 says this now if a sojourner or a stranger close to you becomes rich
and one of your brethren who dwells by him becomes poor and sells himself to
the stranger or sojourner close to you or to a member of the strangers family
after he is sold he may be redeemed again one of his brothers may redeem him
or his uncle or his uncle son may redeem him or anyone who is near of kin to him
in his family may redeem him or if he is able he may redeem himself so a goel
a redeemer was somebody who was a kinsman of another person somebody close
to that person and then you'll notice that there's a second thought beside the
one of kinship there's also in verse 50 of Leviticus 25 the thought of a ransom
price thus he shall reckon with him who bought him the price of his release
should be according to the number of years from the year that he was sold to
him until the year of Jubilee it should be according to the time of the hired
servant for him so there was a price to be paid for his redemption from his
being bought back from slavery member of his family could buy him back so there's
the thought of kinship and a member of his family could buy him back so the one
who buys a member of the family out of slavery does so at a price it's
unmistakable in the Old Testament I know there are liberal theologians who tried
to tell us that the concept of ransom in the Bible has nothing to do with price
but they just don't believe their Bibles price paid is written into the whole
ideal of redemption in the Old Testament so a price has to be paid for the
redemption of this man who has been sold into slavery now the two thoughts in the
idea of a redeemer therefore our kinship and a price paid for the buying back of
the person from slavery and you see what job is therefore saying I know that my
Redeemer I have a Redeemer he means by that that human beings are slaves they're
not free in ancient times you became a slave either by birth you were born a
slave or by conquest if your country and the people you belong to were taken
captive or by debt if you couldn't pay your creditor so you became a slave in
those three ways by birth by conquest or by debt and you see what the Bible is
saying about our spiritual condition we are slaves slaves to our sin slaves to
our passions to the lusts that dominate our living to greed to envy to vanity
to pride to self-centeredness to selfishness we are slaves to our sin to
our rebellion against God our wickedness and we've been born like that it's our
condition by birth we were born in sin and shapen in iniquity we've become this
by conquest we've been overwhelmed as it were and taken possession of by sin
which is a great enemy and we've become slaves by debt the wages of sin is death
and this is the way we become slaves and we are all slaves to sin we can't
help it it's our birth it's our condition as those who've been conquered
by sin and it's our it's our helpless position as debtors but we have a
Redeemer and our Redeemer is the Lord Jesus Christ and he's one with us he
became man for us as we sang in that hymn of Charles Wesley's he became man
for us he he was born to raise the sons of earth he was born to give them second
birth Jesus became a man he came into our world and stood with us he is our
kinsman Redeemer he's one with us as a human being but perfect and more than
that he paid the price for our redemption so he shed his blood he gave
his life as a ransom that we might be redeemed that we might be bought back
from our slavery to sin and selfishness and ungodliness and unrighteousness
that's what Jesus came to do he's our Redeemer that's the way the Bible thinks
about his coming Jesus himself spoke about it didn't he the Son of Man came
not to be ministered unto but to minister and to give his life a ransom
and the ransom that was paid was his own life his own blood shed for us it was
the price that was paid in order to release us from our slavery so we have a
Redeemer and our Redeemer is the one who sets us free free from the guilt of sin
free from the power of sin he sets the prisoner free says Charles Wesley his
blood can make the foulest clean the Apostle Paul glories in this freedom
that the Christian has from guilt and from the power of sin stand fast he says
to the Galatians in the Liberty with which Christ has made you free you're
free from your selfishness from your envy from your greed from your
covetousness you're free from your self-centeredness from your rebellion
your wickedness you're free you've been liberated I mean liberated by a kinsman
Redeemer who's become one with you and who's actually become human and born
your sin and has paid the price for your redemption so he comes to you in the
prison and he says now then you're free it's almost as if there you are in the
prison awaiting execution and you hear feet coming down the corridor and the
gate is suddenly thrown open and you expect to be led out of execution but
instead it's the Lord Jesus Christ saying to you the prison gates are open
you're free you can leave the prison you're not guilty anymore you're no
longer under the power of sin anymore he sets the prisoner free this is the
wonderful birthright of every child of God and we are free to serve him free to
love him free to honor him free to obey him not free to do what we like not free
as it were to go on sinning willy-nilly but free now to love and honor and obey
our great Redeemer so Joe begins to realize and to appreciate the fact that
he has a redeemer that's the first thing that he became aware of and it's
it's where our faith rests this is the great rock upon which our faith must be
built I know that my Redeemer he's speaking about the Lord Jesus Christ of
course but then there's something else here isn't there the Redeemer is a
personal Redeemer I know that my my Redeemer lives not just the Redeemer my
Redeemer not just Abraham's Redeemer my Redeemer the Lord Jesus Christ is Job's
Redeemer Abraham's Redeemer he's my Redeemer who loved me wrote the Apostle
Paul and gave himself for me over a thousand times to sing my great
Redeemer's praise says Wesley and he's talking there about the fact that he's
one of the Redeemer's children the Redeemer has come for him he's my
Redeemer dear Savior thou art mine this is the personal element in salvation
it's possible isn't it to look at the Redeemer to admire the Redeemer's work
to talk about it to theologize about it to be able to express it in accurate
theological and orthodox language without ever knowing that he's your
Redeemer he's my Redeemer hail Abrams God and mine I know that my Redeemer
lives this is a very personal cry of faith the job is expressing here and
this Redeemer who is a personal Redeemer is a living Redeemer I know that my
Redeemer live he lives we know what that means from the standpoint of New
Testament truths and New Testament reality there is a Redeemer who who
lives remember how in the book of the Revelation this is put for us so
beautifully it's actually the fact that he is alive that is picked out for
special mention it's Christ who is the risen Lord that is the object of the
faith of every New Testament believer it's like this in Revelation 1 18 I am
he who lives and was dead and behold I am alive forevermore the Lord is
speaking to us I am he who lives and was dead but I'm the living one I was dead I
am alive forevermore and I have the keys of Hades and death it's the living
element here the gospel which job has grasped and our Lord Jesus Christ is the
risen the living Redeemer and see what that means it means that when he clothes
you with his righteousness he's not just as it were informing you about a
theological concept we don't simply believe in justification by faith we
believe in the one who is our justification he's living righteousness
you see it's possible to believe in the doctrine of justification by faith
without being justified by faith obviously the devil believes in
justification by faith but to believe in to trust in the living righteousness of
Jesus that's a different matter altogether because he is alive then his
righteousness is living righteousness it means that you're clothed with living
righteousness because you're in a living Redeemer in a living Savior the whole
thing is alive the whole Christian gospel is about life before even it's
about truth because God is the living God he's the God who speaks and who acts
but he's the living God he's the God who has life within himself and Jesus is
life he is life he's the living one and therefore he's the one who has conquered
death he cannot but conquer death there was no way in which death could hold him
it's one thing do you see to believe in the doctrine it's another thing to put
your trust in the Savior and it's not enough to believe the doctrine it really
isn't enough as I say the devil believes the doctrine it is not enough
to believe the doctrine you have to believe in Jesus Christ you have to come
to him you have to put all your trust in him I know that my Redeemer lives lives
he's alive and I'm alive in him this is Christianity it's about life it's not
just about theology it is thank God but it's about life spiritual I know that my
Redeemer is living Lord he's the living Savior is the living Redeemer that means
I have living righteousness to cover me it means that his help is available for
me in the terrible storms and trials of life it means that he can deliver me
from the wrath to come it means that he's my comfort and my help in every
time of distress he ever lives to make intercession for us I will not leave you
nor forsake you I will come to you here is our Lord Jesus Christ as it were
saying to us afresh I'm with you and I'm with you as the one who is alive so we
have a Redeemer and he's a personal Redeemer and he's a living Redeemer and
the other thing final thing that we're told about here is that the last word is
with Jesus the last word I know that my Redeemer lives and he shall stand at
last on the earth who has the last word
Jesus has the final word he will stand at the last on the earth the last word
is not with Satan who attacks us the last word is not with suffering which
may overwhelm us the last word is not with sin which may trap us last word is
with Jesus he shall stand at last on the earth so that vindication is certain
jobs vindication even though he can't see this happening there and then he
knows that it's going to happen it's certain he may well have to wait for it
indeed he will have to wait for it it will not happen until after his death 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 but it won't be
until then in my flesh I will see God my skin will be destroyed he's talking
about the dissolution of his body the destruction of his body but he's saying
I will see God for myself in my flesh cure is a glorious as it were prediction
of the resurrection of the body I shall see for myself in my flesh my eyes will
behold and not another I'm going to see I'm going to see my Redeemer he's going
to take me he's going to vindicate me it may not happen yet but it will happen I
know that I'm looking forward to it my future is secure so he will vindicate
his elect he will vindicate those who cry to him day and night and he will
judge righteously so that in the end the last word is with Jesus how my heart
yearns within me says job 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 he
runs on his friends be afraid of the sword for yourselves for Ross brings the
punishment of the sword that you may know there is a judgment there is a
judgment God is going to bring a judgment he's going to sort things out
he's going to settle things he's going to display the meaning behind the
apparent meaninglessness there is a judgment rich men poor men great men
ordinary men all men they're all going to come to the judgment so he will
indicate me I can't see him vindicating me at the moment but he will indicate me
he's my Redeemer he's alive he's a living Redeemer the last word is with
him curious Joe you see crying and confidence as he reaches rock bottom he
looks up and he can see his Redeemer who is personal and who is alive and who has
the last word now job didn't have the full alight of the New Testament
revelation as we do but he believed and he trusted in this quite remarkable and
astonishing way so how much more can you and I believe and trust when we have the
light of Calvary when we know that our Lord Jesus Christ has suffered for us
and died to take away our iniquity and our sins how much more can we trust the
Lord because we've the evidence for the resurrection we know that he's alive and
we know that he's coming again our confidence must be even greater and more
secure and more certain than Job's was so we are to let faith triumph as
Vernon Haim puts it in that lovely hymn of his I saw a new vision of Jesus a
view I'd not seen here before that's it that's it he's got it perfectly I saw a
new vision of Jesus Jesus Jesus he's the only one he's the one who is going to
explain the conundrums he's the one who is going to roll back to canvas he's the
one who is the divine artist he's the one who is the weaver and not till the
loom is silent or the shuttle cease to fly will God unroll the canvas or
explain the reason why the dark threads are as needful in the Weaver skillful
hands as the threads of gold and silver in the pattern he has planned but he's
the Weaver we see the docks and the Browns and we can't understand it all
because we're underneath it but he's the great Weaver weaving this glorious
majestic tapestry which we call life one day he's going to take us there
alongside him and we shall see we shall see the whole canvas unfolded and what a
blessed day it would be I may have told the story before forgive me if I have
its old age story of the little boy who went away to a Bible camp it's one of my
favorite stories because it was it was conveyed to us on our honeymoon Pam and
I spent our honeymoon in a little place called Balater in Scotland which isn't
very far from Balmoral along D side it's a beautiful spot and there was a
delightful couple staying in the same little guest house that we were staying
in a brethren couple from Aberdeen and they told us we were playing pitch and
putt that's the kind of miniature golf game one afternoon and they told us a
story and I've never gotten it story about this little boy went away to a
Bible camp and he came from a very rich family very wealthy home and he had lots
of money but within two days he'd spent a lot and of course he said to his
friends I'll write a note to my father it's alright he'll send me some more so
he wrote a note a cryptic note on a postcard and the note read it doesn't
make sense to the young people today but I'll explain it SOS well we all
understand that SOS LSD which used to be pound shillings and pence LSD means
something quite different today but it used to be a currency pound shillings
and pence before an extrication SOS was the postcard LSD in other words help me
dad I need money and off the postcard went no reply well said his friends
thought your father was rich thought you said he loved you thought you said you
came from a wealthy home no reply well he said it'll come don't worry it'll
come bound to come my father's rich he loves me and maybe he'll send the money
it's all right but he didn't last morning arrived no money well said his
friends where's the proof where's the evidence of your father being rich and
caring for you hasn't sent us a cent well said the young boy I don't quite
understand what's been happening here but when I get home I will it's very
simple isn't it I don't understand what's happening here but when I get
home I will that's so true we don't know what's happening here we don't
understand some of the bewildering circumstances of life but when we get
home we'll understand God will unfold the canvas and explain the reason why
the dark threads are as needful in the weaver's skillful hands as the threads
of gold and silver in the pattern he has planned I think one of my favorite
Welsh hymns is another him in the him book here if you'd like to turn to a
having a survey of the him book this evening have you ever noticed I wonder
number 87 number 87 in the him book so him about Providence and it's a
beautiful him number 87 great Providence of heaven what wonders shine in its
profound display of God's design it guards the dust of earth commands the
hosts above fulfills the mighty plan of his great love the kingdoms of this
world lie in its hand see how they rise or fall at its command through sorrow
and distress tempestuous storms that rage God's kingdom yet endures from age
to age this is the verse that I find so beautiful its darkness dense is but a
radiant light its oft perplexing ways are ordered right soon all its winding
paths will end and then the tale of wonder shall be told beyond the veil now
the hymn writer is talking there about being in a maze you ever been in a maze
there's a famous maze at Hampton Court in in London and you may have seen
there's an old film that was produced some years ago about people in the maze
and they couldn't get out of it the comedies I remember and if you've ever
been into that maze in Hampton Court and you know how tricky it is to get out
there is a way out but it's not easy to find and the hymn writer is saying that
sometimes it seems to us as if we're in a maze we're trying to find our way out
of this labyrinth actually we could translate that third line of the last
verse it's labyrinthine ways it's off perplexing ways we're in a maze we're in
a labyrinth how do we get out well to us it's a labyrinth but to God it's a
straight road we don't see our way out but God knows the way God is in control
God is in charge its darkness dense is but a radiant light it's off perplexing
ways are ordered right soon all its winding paths will end and then the tale
of wonder will be told beyond the veil the tale of wonder will be amazed will
be astonished at the grace and mercy and love and compassion and tenderness of
God and the greatest wonder of all will be redemption will be the cross will be
Jesus Christ himself he's the wonder he's the wonder he's the amazing one who
loved me and gave himself to me job is really saying that I know that my
redeemer live so let faith rise up in confidence let it look up there's only
one direction to look when you're down and as we look up we see the power and
the grace and the mercy of our everlasting Savior who will never leave
us or forsake us and will bring us safely home to glory where we shall see
him and understand and know things that at the moment we don't well we've got
two hymns that we could close with I I don't know which one do we actually know
number 87 have we ever sung that it's to the Welsh tune built so if it's not
familiar we won't sing it but perhaps we'll learn it at some point well let's
sing dear Savior thou art mine five seven two five seven two I'm not
suggesting that we should but somebody has has said that after we've sung the
last verse of this hymn instead of singing the chorus mine mine mine I know
thou art mine we ought really to sing thine thine thine I know I am thine
Savior dear Savior I know I am thine that's rather sweet it's not the way the
hymn writer wrote it so we'll have seen it as he wrote it but let's stand and
sing five seven two dear Savior thou art mine father we thank you that you
enable poor helpless sinners like us to say I know that my Redeemer lives we
thank you that faith is your gift just as Christ is your gift we pray that we
may rise up as job did in faith and in confidence and put all our trust in our
blessed and eternal and living Savior so may the grace of our Savior the Lord
Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us
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