Title:  Job 19

By:  Dan Pancake

Job 19:25  For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:

Job 19:26  And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:

Job 19:27  Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.

Intro

That is a wonderful old passage of scripture from the Old Testament that we do not read very much.  We do not preach very much from the book of Job.  We do not want to because the book of Job reminds us of all the troubles that you can have in life.  Because if you can have that kind of trouble, Job had it.  Did he not? 

When we come to the point that we have in chapter 19 of Job; we have come to a turning point, if you will, in the life of Job.  Before this, he is down.  Of course, he is down.  He has lost all his cattle, all his camels, all his sheep, and worst of all; he has lost all his children—all of them.  He is about as low as anybody can get. 

You can imagine how low you would be if you lost all your wealth and then on top of that lost family members as well.  That would be a terrible place to be.  You could not be much lower than Job was.  The good thing is when you get down so low that you could not go any lower; you are going to find God waiting on you.  He is going to give you something to hope for and something to cling to. 

That is what happened to Job.  When he got to that low point in his life he came to the realization of something that was important.  I am as low as I can go.  I cannot go any lower.  However, I found something out while I was here.  I found out that I know my redeemer liveth.  I know that one day He will stand upon this earth and in my flesh, I will see God.  Even though I believe, he said honestly; he knew he was going to die.  He was going to go to the grave.  Yet in my flesh, he said, I will see God.  With mine own eyes he said, and not another.  What a wonderful truth to come to in a time when you need it the worst. 

What We Know

There are some things in life that we know and I am glad we know those things.  It is important to know them.  Would you say, “amen!” to that?  As we go through the Bible and live for Christ, and study the Bible; there are some things we come across in the Bible that he tells us that we know.  What?

Romans 8:28  28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

We know that—there are some things that we know.  We also, a lot of times; we come to the cemetery or we come to the funeral home—I preach on this text all the time—Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:

2 Corinthians 5:1  For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

We know that!  We know that for sure.  We also know in 1 John 3:2:

1 John 3:2  Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

How do you know we are sons of God?  It is because we love the brethren!  Do you love the brethren?  You are a child of God.  Wonderful!  It is wonderful how God blesses us and keeps us in the hallow of His hand.  Now we are called the children of God.  We are living for Christ. 

Job in his time of trouble, came to this point of realization that God was with him no matter what.  It might have seemed like God was no where near.  However, God was with him.

Sometimes, we go through difficulties and troubles in life.  Other people come along and say, “I know what you are going through.”  The truth of the matter is that they might know what they went through when they went through it, but they do not know what you are going through while you are going through it.  Your life is different than their life.  Your experiences are different than their experiences.  We all are different, whether we like it or not.  We are the same in many ways but we are very different in some ways.  We approach things differently.  We receive things differently.  We deal with things differently.  We respond to things in a different way. 

God knew what Job was going through.  God knew what Job needed.  He needed some reassurance that at the bottom of it all there are still some good things to be said.  Job said there are some things that I found out that have helped me.  I believe this is a turning point in the rest of his life.  From this point on, you will not find Job lamenting about the things he lost.  What he does in the rest of this book is it installs the glory and the wonder of the living God.  The God of heaven, who is sovereign; He is above all. 

In God’s Care

That is one thing by the way, the book of Job teaches us.  God is always in control of everything.  There is nothing that is not under the control of the living God.  Job said, I am under His control and He is taking care of me.  It might not have seemed like it, but God is taking care of Job.  

I have good news for you.  God is still taking care of you.  I know that you are going through some different things.  I know that you have been through some different things.  If you have not been, hang on, you are going to go.  Life is filled with difficulty and trial.  We think sometimes, life was made for pleasure.  We live in a pleasure-seeking society.  Would you say amen to that?  Everything just seems to come to people today and in America we have about everything you can name or imagine.  I am telling you something.  With all the stuff we have around us, there are still a great vacuum in the hearts of those that do not know Christ.  The greatest need of every human is to know God and to know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who can save you from your sins.

Job enumerates some things here that I think are good for all of us.  I think we will just remind ourselves of these as we go. 

I have wanted to preach these messages since the first of the year.  I have had all kinds of sermons that I had backed up here because we did not get to come to church hardly this month.  I imagine Todd did the same thing.  There are all kinds of things that I have wanted to tell you about.  This is one of them.

In this coming year there are some things you can know.  You can know without any doubt.  Nobody can tell you anything any differently. 

My Redeemer Lives

Job enumerates these things that all of us know.  First of all, he says, I know my redeemer my lives.  I want to shorten that just a little bit.  I know my redeemer.  I know who He is. 

We sang that song this morning.  It took Sherry and I a long time to find the book that it was in this morning.  My redeemer lives.  I wanted to sing that today because it goes along with this message.  However, it is really the truth.  Our redeemer is alive and well.  My hope is not in the government.  My hope is not in my own personal ability to do things.  My hope is not certainly in what little bit of wealth that I have.  My hope, my hope is in the living God who loved me and saved me from sin.  He is always with us no matter what. 

First of all, he says, I know my redeemer lives.  Jesus Christ is the answer to the eternal question about your life. 

Patty mentioned a funeral that we were at this past week.  Most funerals will have a good number of Christians and then there will be a few unsaved.  This particular funeral was a few Christians and most everyone there were clearly unsaved.  I tell you, those are usually very difficult to preach.  I told her when I left.  I usually feel the presence of the Lord, or sense the presence of the Lord while I am speaking.  However, I did not sense the presence of the Lord while I was speaking there.  Even so, I still try to share the truth.  I tell you a lot of people have never settled the question in their life about where they are going to go when this life is over.  Until you have settled that question, I am telling you right now the greatest question in your life still needs an answer.  It needs an answer.  It must have an answer.  How do you know where you are gong to go when you leave this world unprepared to meet the Lord?  You say, the Bible says that if you do not know Jesus you are going to die and go to this place called hell.  We do not even know.  We cannot even begin the fathom in our mind what that would be like, for someone to die and go to this place called hell. 

Young people today, do not even joke about this place called hell because it is such a place.  Jesus called it a place of outer darkness.  There is complete darkness.  There is no light in this place.  There is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.  I do not want to go anywhere like that.  I don’t want you to go there.  Therefore, I say to everybody in this room today.  Be sure you answer this question today.  Where are you going to go through eternity?  You must know Jesus Christ.  You must know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. 

That is how Job settled the question in his own heart.  I know my redeemer.  I know who He is. 

I am glad I know who He is.  I am glad I also know Him personally.  No.  We do not share everything day in and day out.  No.  He is not sitting beside me talking to me.  He talks to me through His Word.  I will tell you how I do know Him.  I know Him in the forgiveness of my sins.  From time to time along the journey I sense His presence with me.  I tell you what I do know.  I was there the moment when I asked Him to be my Savior.  I know my sins were forgiven.  I know Him.  I know who He is.  I know Him personally, and what He has done for me.  Jesus tells us that He is the eternal Savior of all human beings.  He has been here before the world ever was.  Furthermore, He will be here when the world is over.  That is what Job came to know.  Our God is God Almighty.  He was here before it all.  He will be here when it all is said and done. 

I Am

Jesus said in John 8:58:

John 8:58  Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.

That really upset those Jews.  They knew He was saying that He is God.  He is using that eternal name that God gave himself to Moses back in Exodus 3.  He does it several times in John 14:6:

John 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

I am glad that you can find the way today, if you want to find the way.  He makes it available to you.  In John 11:25:

John 11:25  Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:

He said that just before He raised Lazarus from the dead.  What an amazing Savior you and I have!  I know Him.  Do you know Him today?  (congregation: Amen!)  If you do not know Him, you need to know Him.  Amen!  You can know Him.  This is not an exclusive club.  This is an inclusive club.  The Lord is not trying to ward people off.  He is trying to bring people in.  He is not trying to keep people out of the family.  He wants to bring people into the family. 

I have been in some churches along the way.  I have met a few Christian people along the way who was trying to run people off.  I am not trying to run anybody off.  I am trying to run everybody in, Amen, to know our Savior, to know Him. 

This is a personal title that He gave himself.  I will tell you our Lord is God Almighty in human flesh.  He is God Almighty.  He has power over death.  Are you glad of that?  When you go to that point where someone is about ready to leave this world, I am always glad that I can stand there and tell them that Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life.  Jesus Christ is the one that will go with you right through the doorway.  We cannot go any further.  Jesus goes with that individual right through the doorway of death. 

I will tell you something else the Lord is.  He is the Lord of dirt.  It all belongs to Him.  Amen!  One day the dirt is going to fly when the Lord returns and the church rises to meet Him.  I always said I would like to be in the cemetery when that happens.  However, I do not care where I am.  I am just going to go to be with the Lord wherever I am.  Amen!  He has power over dirt.  He is the Lord and God over all the doubters.  There are a lot of doubters in the world.  They say, “I do not know if what you say is true or not.”  I will tell you, if you come to know Jesus as your personal Savior you will know that not only can He save your soul, but He can change your life and set you on a course that is going to bring you to heaven.  Bless His holy name. 

Job said, “I know Him.”  That is powerful knowledge.  That is privileged knowledge too.  I know Him. 

Love

Jesus said in John 10, He said, “I know my sheep and am known of mine.”  He knows me.  The Bible tells us:

John 10:10  The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

John 10:11  I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

John 10:12  But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.

John 10:13  The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.

John 10:14  I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.

Are you glad that He loves the sheep?  I have good news for you today.  He knows everything there is to know about you.  He knows every secret.  He knows every dark hidden thing and He loves you anyway.  He said that.  When the Lord loves, He loves perfectly. 

We talked about that in Sunday School Class, this morning; agape love that means a sacrificial love.  It is a love that is beyond any other kind of love.  The Lord Jesus loves everybody with all His heart.  We say that and sometimes we mean it.  We try to mean it, but there are always some dark places in our hearts. 

I will tell you that in His heart it is all light.  When He says He loves you—He loves you!  You say the Lord cannot forgive me.  The Lord can forgive anything.  There is only one sin that is unforgiveable—blasphemy of the holy spirit.  I am not even sure when you study it that it can be done today.  I will tell you what sin cannot be forgiven today.  That is the sin of unbelief.  That is when people will not come to Jesus.  It is a privileged knowledge that the Lord gives us.

Jesus will Return

Secondly, Job said, I know my redeemer lives.  I know He lives, but I also know He will return to this earth someday.  I am looking forward to that.  I am trying to be an optimist.  I am generally a pessimist.  I am trying to be an optimist and I want to be an optimist.  I am looking forward to the next years of our lives here.  I want to say, as Karl talked about this morning, the body is not getting any better.  Amen!  Anybody over 60 can say Amen to that.  The body is not getting any better.  I will tell you what is getting better and that is our hope of heaven is right there before us. 

Karl, you said your body will never be any better.  That body will not be any better, but when the Lord changes it—it is will be so good you cannot stand it.  Amen!  I want some of that now.  Do you?  I would like to have a little bit of that right now.  LOL.  This is the promise of the Lord.

John 14:1  Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

John 14:2  In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

John 14:3  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

What is going to make heaven—heaven?  Will it be the beauties of the glories of heaven?  I believe heaven is going to be the most beautiful thing your eyes could even begin to imagine.  Streets of gold, walls of pearl, everything you could imagine that would be things of beauty; white, glistening and pure.  What is going to make heaven—heaven is that Jesus is going to be there.  The Bible teaches us that He is going to be the light of that glorious city.  He coming to get you and me from this earth.  Now we might have to go by way of the grave.  Good news!  He is still coming to get you.  You are going to get up and you are going to get a new body.  You are going to go to heaven to be with Him for all eternity. 

He will stand upon this earth again someday.  I will return to this earth with the Lord Jesus Christ in what we call the millennial reign of Jesus Christ.  What a marvelous time!  I will tell you, we do not study much about the millennial reign.  To be honest about it, it is the most prophesied event in all the Bible.  I know you would never believe that, but it is.  If you go back and read about the prophecies, about the millennial kingdom; it is prophesied over and over again and what is going to happen there.  He said in the millennial kingdom, the lion and the lamb will lay down together.  I would like to see that!  Amen!  The child can play on the hole of a poisonous snake (an asp, it says) and it will not bite the child.  That means the death adder.  It can play with that death adder and it will not bother them.  They can play like it is a little fish worm.  Amen!  Why?  Because the Lord reigns in Zion.  One day the deserts on the earth will all be done away and there will be no more sea.  The earth will bring forth an abundance because the Lord will reign in Zion.  He is the Lord of all.  He is our Lord.  He promises He will come back.  He has the power to come back.  Amen! 

We are not going to leave this world in weakness.  You and I are going to be raised in power He said, in 1 Corinthians 15:

1 Corinthians 15:43  It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:

I would like to have some of that too.  Amen!  We are going to go up to glory.  The Bible says the Lord is going to step out on the clouds.  The Lord himself is going to descend from heaven with the voice of the arch angel and the trumpet of God.  The dead shall rise then those of us who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord.  (congregation, Amen!)

1 Thessalonians 4:17  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

He is coming to get us.  We are going to reign with Him on this earth.  He is the only one that can make promises like that and carry them out.  Why?  It is because He is God Almighty in human flesh. 

Philippians 3:21  Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.

2 Timothy 1:12  For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

The Lord, our Savior, our God, our Lord is coming to get us some day.  We will be with Him.  If you do die, you will be raised from death.  Isn’t that good news? 

I Shall See God

Job 19:26 And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:

I do not know if they like embalming fluid.  So, we do not have that problem so much anymore.  What is the importance of the body anyway?  I will tell you the body is important.  I think you ought to be careful about how you treat your body even in death.  I want you to think about this for a few moments.  The Lord gave you that body.  It was a gift that He gave you.  Treat it kindly.  Do the best you can with it.  We try to keep it alive.  Some of you folks try to keep it healthy.  Amen!  I am trying to eat my way to heaven.  LOL.  When I die, if the worms want to eat they are going to have plenty.  Amen! 

Old Job talks about that he is going to leave this body.  His body is going to go back, even though the worms of the earth might destroy the body that is there.  He says:

Job 19:26  And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:

Job 19:27  Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.

Raised from Death

He has this hope.  I am going to be raised from death.  I have gone with hundreds of people in my lifetime to the cemetery.  I have stood beside the cemetery and I always read “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble.  Therefore, will not we fear though the earth be removed, though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.”  I think about that beautiful old song that reminds us that God is our refuge.  He is the place we run to when we do not know where to go or what to do.  In a time of death, we do not know what to do.  We do not have any way to know how to handle death.  We can handle almost everything except success and death.  America cannot handle success.  Look what she has done with it.  I will tell you, the Lord Almighty knows how to handle death.  He says, do not you worry about it.  You place yourself in my trust and I will take care of you.  Is that good news?  That is one thing we do not have worry about.  Amen!  We don’t have to give it a thought.  The Lord is going to take care of it. 

Paul

I will tell you when we think about the Apostle Paul of the promise he gave us about his own life in 2 Timothy 4:6-8:

2 Timothy 4:6  For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.

2 Timothy 4:7  I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:

2 Timothy 4:8  Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

This is his testimony before he left the world.  That is a good testimony.  “I fought hard for the Lord.  I did what He told me to do.  I kept the faith.”  If we cannot do all the others, do that last one.  Keep the faith. 

Do you want some preacher like me to have to stand over your casket and say, “I hope they made it to heaven?”  I always go to somebody’s funeral.  I love to know Christians are ready to go.  I love it when they leave a great testimony and say they are ready to go.  I really dislike having to do funerals of people who I am not sure where they went when they left this world.  It is difficult.  It is hard to give family any promise when you do not give them any hope.  I will tell you what is good.  The Lord tells everyone who puts their faith and trust in Him, you can go to heaven. 

2 Timothy 4:6  For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.

2 Timothy 4:7  I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:

2 Timothy 4:8  Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

I am looking forward for Him to come back.  Are you?  Amen!  I am getting to the end of this thing.

Job said there are some things I know.  These things I know really helped me through this dark time.  What do you know, Job?  I know my redeemer. 

We use to sing a song around the church that said, I was There When it Happened, and I guess I ought to know.  Do you remember that?  I think that is a pretty good song.  How do you know you are saved?  I was there when it happened and I guess I ought to know.  I am not going to go to heaven on an if or a maybe.  I am going to heaven on a yes, I was there.  I know. 

So, old job said, I have come to the conclusion that I know some things.  I know my redeemer.  He is alive.  He is well.  He is in control of everything.  I also know that one day He will return to this earth and I will be with Him when He returns.  If I do have to go to the grave, I am going to be raised again. 

All our loved ones that we have taken to the graveside and put them down in the ground; one day the Lord is going to raise them up.  Wouldn’t you like to be right there?  Mom, Dad, brother, sister, husband, wife come up out of that grave.  I tell you, what a glorious moment that will be.  That will come in power, as I said before.  I will tell you something else. 

Reunion Day

There is going to be a great reunion day.  I am going to see Him for myself, he says.

There is the idea and there has always been the idea of a lot of people around that when we get to heaven that we will be just floating spirits with no body.  We will just float everywhere.  That is not what the Bible teaches.  The Bible teaches that you are going to have a body.  That is what Job says here.  If you search it out through the Bible that is exactly what the Bible teaches.  You are going to be raised again.  You are going to have a physical body.  You will see the Lord with your own eyes.  That is what Job says.  When he gets to the end of this thing, the last statement that he makes:

Job 19:27  Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.

What that means is—that blows my mind.  I cannot even begin to imagine how that is going to be.  It is going to be.  It is going to be a great reunion day. 

Years ago, I went to a meeting in Gallipolis.  They had a bunch of people there singing when we walked up to the place.  They were singing about heaven.  While we were in that little meeting, they sang this wonderful old song.  There will be a happy meeting in heaven I know.  When we see the many loved ones, we’ve known here below.  Gathered on that blessed hilltop with hearts all aglow.  That will be a great reunion day.  (singing the song)

I have not seen my dad since 1968.  I would like to see him again.  Bob and I have laid aside three of our brothers.  I would like to see them again.  There have been hundred of people in the churches, through the years, that have been so sweet and kind to my family, to me, to my children.  Oh, I want to see them again.  I want to see Jesus first of all.  What a glad reunion day when we get to see Him.  (singing a song)

I will be there.  I read things in the book Revelation.  I see this hoards of groups of people like in Revelation 4, gathered around the throne.  You will be in that group right there.  You just read your future right there.  You will be in that group around the throne.  I will be there.  How do you know?  Jesus saved my soul.  It is not what I did.  It is what He did.  It is not that I was good enough to be saved.  He found me when I was filthy in sin.  He saved my soul.  He will do the same for you. 

Closing

Let me ask you something today.  If you leave this world as you are right now are you going to have a glad reunion in heaven?  Or is there some doubt about where you are going to go when this life is over.  You can settle that today.  Come to Jesus.  I am gong to invite you to come to the altar here in a moment.  Sherry is going to come right and play Just as I am without one plea.  I am going to invite you to the altar to come and settle this matter right now here in this church.  I want you to come.  I do not want you to walk out these doors today, facing a black eternity without any hope of being at home with Jesus forever. 

Job said there are some things I know.  I know my redeemer lives.  I know He will stand on the earth.  I know I will be raised again.  I know I will be with Him for all eternity. 

(singing)

Come to Jesus.  Come and be saved.