Sermon Series: The Nobility of God's Nobodies
Job-An example of Assurance
Job 19:23-27
PSBC 9/17/00
In a nutshell: Job's greatest desire was for people to know that he had a
Redeemer who would vindicate him in the end. We have that same Redeemer--Jesus
Christ. We should have the same desire as Job, but our desire should not be for
a memorial cut in stone, but for a memorial cut into our lives, today!
I. Introduction
A. Epitaphs
Have you ever gone to a cemetery and read the epitaphs on the head stones?
Some of them are quite funny...
-Here lies my darling husband, Walter. May he rest in peace until we meet again.
-Sacred to the memory of Anthony Drake, Who died for peace and quietness sake;
His wife was constantly scolding and scoffin', So he sought for repose in a
twelve dollar coffin.
-Beneath this stone, this lump of clay, Lies Uncle Peter Daniels. Who too early
in the month of May, took off his winter flannels.
-On the tombstone of a novice farmer: Here lies Clyde Whose life was full ,Until
he tried to milk a bull.
-Here lies the body Of Jonathan Blake. Stepped on the gas pedal, instead of the
brake
-At rest beneath this slab of stone, lies stingy Jimmy Wyatt. He died one
morning, just at ten, and saved a dinner by it.
-Here lies the body of our Anna. Done to death by a banana. It wasn't the fruit
that laid her low, but the skin of the thing that made her go.
-She lived with her husband for 50 years, and died in the confident hope of a
better life.
-Here lies the body of Ephraim Wise. Safely tucked between his two wives. One
was Tillie and the other Sue. Both were faithful, loyal, and true. By his
request, in ground that's hilly, his coffin is set tilted toward Tillie.
and my favorite...
-Here lies a man named Zeke. Second fastest draw in Cripple Creek.
Have you ever thought what you'd like to put on your tombstone, as a piece of
parting wisdom to the generations that follow, or a description of your life on
earth and your hope for the future?
B. Job
A long time before Jesus Christ walked this earth–before the great
prophets, Isaiah and Jeremiah; before King David and King Solomon; before Gideon
and Samson; before Moses and Joshua; even before Abraham, there lived a man
who's name was Job. God described Job in the first chapter of the Old Testament
book called Job, like this...
Job 1:8
8 Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There
is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God
and shuns evil."
The events that happened to Job, after this introduction, are probably
familiar to most of you. If not, let me recap the events. Satan wanted to try
and prove to God that Job was blameless and upright, only because he was
wealthy. So, he challenged Job's faith before God.
God gave permission to Satan to cause all kinds of problems and severe
hardships to come into Job's life, designed to try and cause him to dishonor and
renounce God. But Job never did dishonor God, or curse God, or renounce his
faith in God. Instead he stayed true to God, and in the end, God vindicated him
and restored to him all that had been lost because of Satan's work.
C. Transition to text
Henry Blackaby coins an interesting phrase in his book, Experiencing God. He
talks about a crisis of belief. Blackaby's statement is on the front of your
bulletins, "When God asks you to do something that you cannot do, you will
face a crisis of belief. You will have to decide what you really believe about
God." Friends, this was the point Job was brought to in the chapter we're
going to be looking at this morning–Chapter 19. He had to answer the question
involved in the crisis of belief he faced, "Do I trust God in the middle of
these trials that I'm going through–things like: LOSING MY CROPS, MY
LIVELIHOOD, MY HOME, MY CHILDREN, AND MY HEALTH–Or do I curse GOD and end it
all?"
Well, the Bible tells us that in the midst of this crisis of belief, Job
chose to trust God. In fact, His faith in God was so strong from this point on,
that he could have been a model to our church for doing Great Commission work.
He wanted to tell everyone he came in contact with, about the relationship he
had with God. Turn in your Bibles with me to Job 19 and look at...
Job 19:23-24
23 "Oh, that my words were recorded, that they were written on a scroll,
24 that they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead, or engraved in rock
forever!
This s Job's epitaph. Job wants to inscribe these words as a memorial to what
he believed about God. What was that belief? What did he want to inscribe? Look
at the next verses...
Job 19:25-27
25 I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the
earth.
26 And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God;
27 I myself will see him with my own eyes-- I, and not another. How my heart
yearns within me!
II. The 4 Assurances of Job's epitaph
The Holy Spirit of God put these thoughts into Job's head, and the words into
his mouth, to give us a clear picture of what God wants to do in every
believer's life.
Job fits into this sermon series on the Nobility of God's Nobodies, very
well. Because Job teaches us about a tool each of us personally needs so we can
effectively ...do Great Commission work in the Coachella Valley and the world.
The tool he teaches us about is the tool called, ASSURANCE. And he demonstrates
it in four distinct ways in this epitaph. And that's what I want to look at with
you this morning.
A. Kinsman-Redeemer
The first area of assurance I want you to see about Job's declaration, is the
in the meaning of the word, "Redeemer". In Hebrew, it is the word
GO-EEL, which literally means Kinsman-Redeemer. It is a word that describes a
relative who performs the office of a redeemer for his kin. Let me explain...
Illustration: Imagine you are a Hebrew who has experienced three years of
failed crops on the family farm. There is nothing to even feed your family, let
alone sell at the local market. You have used up all your savings, you have no
money in the bank. In order to get enough money to support your family, you go
to the local banker, and you arrange for a loan. The collateral you use for the
loan is the family farm.
However, things don't get better. In fact, they get worse. Your next year's
crops start to come out of the ground, and a swarm of locusts come and eat the
plants before you can harvest them.
You hope the following year is better, because you don't have enough to pay
back the loan if you don't get a crop off of your land. But the next year, a
drought hits, and the seed you planted never even pokes its green shoots out of
the ground.
With the farm mortgaged to the max, you have nothing with which to pay off
your debt. And to top it all off, when the banker comes and demands the family
farm, and starts to evict you and your family for not paying your mortgage, you
drop dead of a heart attack.
What will happen to your family and the land, which was their inheritance?
That's where the GO-EEL, the Kinsman-Redeemer comes in.
There were three things the Kinsman-Redeemer would do in this situation...
1. First, as next of kin, the Kinsman-Redeemer was obligated to pay off the
mortgage, and restore the land to his relatives.
If you read the story of Ruth and Naomi in the book of Ruth in the Old
Testament, that's exactly what happened to them. They once owned land, and they
had become impoverished. Their husbands had died, and Boaz became the
Kinsman-Redeemer for Ruth and Naomi. He bought back the land of their husbands,
and rescued them.
That's the first thing that Job is saying in his statement. He looks into the
future. And He sees God doing a Kinsman-Redeemer act. We know that what Job was
looking forward to was Jesus' work of salvation on our behalf. Jesus Christ died
on the cross to pay off our sin-mortgage. And by taking care of our sin-debt, He
gives us back the inheritance that is ours–life forever with God in heaven.
2. The second thing the Kinsman-Redeemer did was to redeem in power.
Illustration: There is a story in Genesis about Abraham doing this for his
nephew, Lot. At one time, Lot had been captured by four evil kings. So, Abraham
came to his rescue. Abraham armed his entire household and pursued the four
kings and their captives. He caught up with them, confronted the evil kings,
attacked them, and rescued Lot.
And when you think of it, that's exactly what Jesus did for us. He confronted
Satan. He stared Satan square in the eyes, and He broke Satan's power of sin and
death with the power of His death and resurrection.
3. The third thing the Kinsman-Redeemer did was to avenge any death that may
have occurred in this situation.
Remember in my earlier illustration, I said, "the banker caused you to
have a heart attack." If this had happened in Old Testament times, the
Kinsman-Redeemer would have snatched up his sword and dashed off to avenge your
death.
Well, think about it. Jesus is also our avenger. We were a dead race of
people. In fact, the Bible says that very thing– we were dead in our sins.
That means we were headed for eternal death in Hell because our sin kept us from
being in the presence of a Holy God. But Jesus came as our Kinsman-Redeemer–and
He put to death, death. Paul sums it up this way...
1 Cor. 15:25-26; 55-57
25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
55 "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?"
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Job looked forward to what God would do regarding sin and death...And God did
it when Jesus Christ conquered death and the grave!
B. Living Redeemer
The second area of assurance in Job's testimony is that this Redeemer was a
LIVING Redeemer. That's important, because a Redeemer can't perform his duties
if he's dead.
Joke: There is a story about a five-year-old girl who rode home from the
funeral of one of her grandmothers. She was riding in the car with her other
grandmother. The little girl asked, "Where did Grandma go?" Her other
grandma answered, "We believe God took her home to live with Him."
"How old was she?" the little girl asked. "She was 80 years
old," answered the grandma in the car. "How old are you?" Asked
the little girl. Her grandma replied, "83." The little girl thought a
bit, then said, "Gee, I hope God hasn't forgotten you!"
Well, the cruel fact of life is, when it comes to death, no one is forgotten.
We all are going to die. And once you're dead, you're dead. Now here's where the
grammar of the text tells us something very important.
Illustration: If somewhere in Job's past, he had need of a Redeemer, and
someone actually did the Kinsman-Redeemer duties for Job, Job could have said,
"I once had a kinsman-redeemer, and when I had him in my life, things sure
were wonderful. But my Kinsman-Redeemer is dead now. So, he isn't in my life
today, when I really need him."
You see there is an obvious fact that we can't miss. A Kinsman-Redeemer must
be living if he is to buy back the estate, recover the prisoners, and defeat the
enemy.
But notice that Job doesn't say he HAD a Redeemer. He says, I HAVE a Redeemer–that
means Job's Redeemer is alive.
Friends, that's the central message of our faith and the Great Commission
that we talk about in our purpose statement. Jesus isn't just a person from the
past–He is alive today! He lives right now! And right this very moment, He is
interceding at the right hand of God the Father, for us! So, not only was He
Job's Redeemer–He is your Redeemer, and mine!
C. A Personal Redeemer
There is a third area of assurance in Job's statement. Not only does Job
declare that he HAS a Kinsman-Redeemer, and not only does he affirm that the
Kinsman-Redeemer is a Living Redeemer–but the third thing he says is that the
Redeemer is his, personally–I say that because Job uses the word MY. "I
know that MY Redeemer lives."
Illustration: This story appeared in Guideposts magazine a few years back.
"A father and son worked for months to build a toy sailboat. Every night
when the dad came home from work he and his boy would disappear into the garage
for hours. It was a labor of love--love for each other and for the thing they
were creating.
The wooden hull was painted bright red and it was trimmed with gleaming white
sails. When it was finished, they traveled to a nearby lake for the boat's trial
run. Before launching it the father tied a string to its stern to keep it from
sailing too far. The boat performed beautifully, but before long a motorboat
crossing the lake cut the string, and the sailboat drifted out of sight on the
large lake. Attempts to find it were fruitless, and both father and son wept
over its loss.
A few weeks later as the boy was walking home from school he passed his
favorite toy store and was amazed to see a toy sailboat in the window--his
sailboat! He ran inside to claim the boat, telling the proprietor about his
experience on the lake.
The store owner explained that he had found the boat while on a fishing trip.
"You may be its maker," he said, "but as its finder I am its
legal owner. You may have it back--for fifty dollars." The boy was stunned
at how much it would cost him to regain his boat, but since it was so precious
to him he quickly set about earning the money to buy it back.
Months later he joyfully walked into the toy store and handed the owner fifty
dollars in exchange for his sailboat. It was the happiest day of his life. As he
left the store he held the boat up to the sunlight. Its colors gleamed as though
newly painted. "I made you, but I lost you," he said. "Now I've
bought you back. That makes you twice mine, and twice mine is mine
forever."
There is nothing abstract about our Christian faith. It is personal, concrete
and forever. God made us and He bought us back. He redeemed us. You become His
redeemed, and He becomes your Redeemer, when you ask Him to be the forgiver of
your sins and decide to follow Him as the leader of your life.
D. Sure Redeemer
The fourth point of assurance in Job's declaration is that, he is sure about
his redeemer. Not only does Job acknowledge that he has a Redeemer, and declares
that this Redeemer is both living and personal, but he also says he KNOWS these
things about his Redeemer: "I KNOW that my Redeemer lives, and that in the
end he will stand upon the earth."
Let me tell you something, if you're a Christian, you have this same
assurance, as long as you are humble before God.
In yesterday's paper, William Edelen, in his religious commentary, tried to
humble and shame some of the liberal pastors in this area by belittling them for
not teaching liberal theology from their pulpits. He accused them of sinning by
not being true to their liberal theological roots...
–they aren't teaching that the entire Bible is saturated with mythology
–they aren't teaching that the stories of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the
Bible are legends
–they aren't teaching that the Gospels are also legends
–they aren't teaching the Jesus Christ is a myth
And Edelen accuses these more liberal pastors of not teaching this liberal
rhetoric because they are afraid of losing the financial backing of the people
in their churches.
But let me tell you why many of the more liberal pastors in this area are not
teaching this liberal rhetoric from their pulpits. Its because they are
encountering the personal God of the Bible. And they are humbling themselves
before that personal God and saying, "If you said it, then I believe it,
because you're God and I'm not!"
You see, it's really the proud person who thinks he or she knows something so
well that they can doubt God. Besides, God says that having doubt about what He
says is the same thing as calling Him a liar...
1 John 5:10b
10b Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he
has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son.
The revolution that William Edelen and others like him are so afraid of is
that thinking people are humbling themselves before Almighty God and are saying
with Job, "I know that my Redeemer lives."...and are experiencing the
benefits that come from that humble assurance. What are those benefits? Job
lists three...
1. We shall live
Job 19:26
26 And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God;
Because our Redeemer lives, we shall live. Jesus Christ's resurrection is a
guarantee of our own resurrection. That's the first benefit!
2. We shall see God
Job 19:27
27 I myself will see him with my own eyes-- I, and not another.
Not only will we live again, but in that living form we will see God. That
means we won't be in some altered state of consciousness. We won't be
"Casper the friendly Ghosts" in a heavenly existence with sheets over
our heads. But we will be alive with bodies that will not deteriorate or fall
apart. And in that hope, we can say with Job, "With my own eyes, I will see
God!"
3. Excitement
The third benefit is one of excitement.
Job 19:27b
27b How my heart yearns within me!
That's Hebrew for "Yee Haw!!! I can't wait!" Paul said in
Philippians 1:21...
Philippians 1:21
21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
"Yee Haw!"
Illustration: When a man in the church I pastored in Upland, California, by
the name of Able Tapia, found out he had inoperable cancer, and was going to die
very soon, he went in to the local mortuary to make arrangements for his
funeral. His demeanor left a lasting impression on the people who worked at that
establishment. Two different employees of the funeral home told me that in Able
they saw and felt a "quiet excitement" about going to be with his
Lord."
That's what Job is talking about. People who have Jesus as their Redeemer
have something exciting to look forward to!
III. Conclusion
And that leads me to this challenge...
Thousands of years before the events surrounding Jesus Christ's life, death
and resurrection, a man named Job found assurance in his relationship with God.
He believed that there was far more to living than just this earthly
existence...
-He believed God for a Kinsman-Redeemer, who was living and personal,
-and he believed it with an excitement that said, "Yee Haw!! I can't wait
to see Him face to face! Write it on my grave as a testimony to what I
believe!"
Friends, we live on the other side of the events that Job was looking toward.
We have the eyewitness testimony of people who saw the resurrection, we have the
testimony of the Word of God, and we have the personal testimonies of millions
upon millions of people over the past 2000 years that we really do have a
Kinsman-Redeemer, who is living; and who is personal–and His name is Jesus!!!
So why wait to write it on your grave as a testimony? Our challenge is to
make it a testimony while we are still living and breathing.
-Your friends need to hear about your sure Redeemer, Jesus Christ.
-Your kids and grand kids need to hear of your assurance and hope of eternal
life with God.
-The generations below you need to hear from your lips now, not when you're
gone, of your sure faith and testimony in your Redeemer, Jesus Christ.
-Palm Springs Baptist Church needs to speak to the Coachella Valley about the
greatest truth ever revealed to the human race...
Job 19:25-27
25 I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the
earth.
26 And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God;
27 I myself will see him with my own eyes-- I, and not another. YEE HAW!!!
Amen. | 
