Two Journeys

Though Job mourns the prosperity and comfort of the wicked, their blessings are only on earth and they will be addressed in eternity.

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In Thessalonians 2, Paul writes the Thessalonians Christians to refute slanderous accusations made by his Jewish enemies. He reminds them of his loving ministry and holy life among them as proof of his pure motives. He does this to strengthen their commitment to the gospel since they are being attacked by the same Jewish enemies.

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In 1 Thessalonians 1, Paul begins his letter with a warm greeting, assurance of prayer, and a joyful recounting of the amazing work of grace and conversion God has worked in their hearts and lives.

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The class series works through Paul Tripp's book on marriage "What Did You Expect?". This class focuses on making a daily commitment to build a relationship of love within your marriage.

The post Strengthening Your Marriage: Building a Relationship of Love appeared first on Two Journeys.

Pastor Andy Davis preaches a sermon on Job 18-19. In this passage, we see Job at his worst and then at his best and show us how we can likewise be double-minded.

Turn in your Bible. We'll be looking this morning briefly at chapter 18, but then mostly in chapter 19 of Job. I mentioned this a few weeks ago, but I want to give you a little more details, concerning one of the greatest pieces of music ever written, Handel's Messiah 260-page oratorio. Handel, George Frederick Handel, German composer living in England, very much down on his fortunes financially, things had not gone well for him. He got a set of Old Testament prophecies, scriptures that had been set together by a writer, and he was being asked... The project was to set them to music, and how Christ had been the fulfillment of these Old Testament prophecies. So he set to work 1741, August 22nd, 1741. Twenty-four days later, he finished—24 days later, 260-page oratorio.

It's probably a musical miracle, especially given the quality of music that came out, and as he completed the hallelujah chorus, the most famous part of that oratorio, his servant came in, and there was just sheet music everywhere, just all over, there's just total mess, and the composer was down on his knees with tears streaming down his face, and he said this to his servant, "I think I did see all heaven open before me, and the great God himself seated on his throne with his company of angels."

Wow. Like, oh God, do that for me. Give me a vision of heaven that would cause tears to come down my face, that I would be able to see the infinite majesty of God seated on his throne, and a company of angels surrounding a hundred million angels worshiping. I could get through anything in my life if I could just have a vision of that, the hallelujah chorus, but then, as I mentioned a few weeks ago, he followed it with this sweet little aria, "I Know That My Redeemer Liveth." Just peaceful, majestic and exactly what needs to follow that vision of the greatness, the infinite majesty of God. Has to do with individual, personal salvation, flowing from the sovereignty of that majestic God seated on his throne, that God can reach down to us in our misery and our brokenness and save us.

Now that scripture that he wrote that incredible aria on, "I Know That My Redeemer Liveth," we just heard read for us, represents, I consider, as I've said this before, but especially in chapter 19, Job at his absolute best. I think that the vision of heaven and all that, it seems to be like you're up on a mountain and there's spectacular valley scenery below you, but there are just clouds, and then a break in the cloud comes, and you can see this incredible scenery, and then the clouds come over again. That's what it's like for Job, and so he comes in and out of a clear vision of the future, the eternal future of resurrection, even. It's Job at his best, but sadly in this chapter, we also see, I believe, Job at his worst. In this chapter, he is going to accuse God of wronging him and say, "There is no justice," or directly accusing God of injustice.

How can there be this kind of range in one chapter from one man? How can we humans be so wildly inconsistent? How can we be so full of doubts concerning God? As James wrote in his epistle, concerning people who go through extreme sufferings, who should count at pure joy when they do, who in the midst of those sufferings, should ask God for wisdom. Home base of that is concerning the affliction, concerning the sorrow. What is going on? What are you doing? They should ask God, but, "When he asks," James says, "he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind." James calls that man, that doubting man, “a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”

Well, sadly, that characterizes us at some times, especially in times of sorrow, times of affliction—double-minded, unstable, doubting—we go through these things. That is how we are. We who live in a state of grace, who have been born again, who have received forgiveness of sins, who are in the process of being sanctified, who don't understand how much we need pain and adversity to be sanctified—we have to have it, but we don't understand that we would avoid it all, all of it—and yet born again in the midst of all that, still capable of great corruption that comes up out of our hearts and then out of our mouths, saying things that we ought not to say.

So we see, in the space of just a few lines of holy text, Job saying things that should never have been said, questioning the essence of the character of God, his justice, accusing him of gross injustice, in his case, and then a few lines later, giving one of the most sublime, one of the clearest confessions of faith imaginable, the ultimate, even resurrection of God's people into eternal glory and seeing the face of God with our own eyes. Incredible.

"Out of the same mouth come praise and cursings," said James. "My brothers, this should not be." No, it shouldn't, but it often is, and I think we are helped by the fact that Job went through these things, and it's not okay. I'm not saying it's fine to say things vertically up to God that are wrong and disrespectful and all that. Not saying that, but do you not see how kind God is and how patient with us as we say these things? Job shows us—the account shows us the grace of God in covering our wicked, faithless statements, while at the same time, teaching us and coaxing us to a higher level of confidence in him. A stronger faith that will not vacillate, will not yield to doubts, be blown and tossed by the waves. No, that will be strong and steadfast, knowing God never changes, and he's bringing these trials into our lives for a sweet purpose.

So today, we're going to walk through both sides of this equation. We're going to spend time on Job's stunning statement of faith. We're going to walk through it word by word, really, Job, 19:25-27, "I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end, he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh, I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!" Well, before we get Job at his worst and then at his best, we first need to go a little bit through Job 18, what I would say is Bildad the Shuhite at his worst.

This is bad. Job 18 is bad. Bildad the Shuhite's wretched second speech, “wretched” is kind. Bildad was not kind. This is just the same song, a different verse, only much more vicious. There's a viciousness to Bildad in chapter 18.

Remember, fundamental to the consistent position of Job's three friends is the law of sewing and reaping. You reap what you sow. God is active, he's energetic, he's involved on planet earth, he's not sitting back letting things happen. He's involved, and what he does is he gives you what you deserve. You reap what you sow. So a just, active, energetic, involved God would never do such terrible things to a righteous man. It's impossible. Not only that, but the proportion of the misery is equal to the proportion of the sin. Even if the friends hadn't seen any of it, this is just all logical to them, it's all theological. They've got it worked out. So Job must be a great sinner, because he is suffering greatly.

So that's been the consistent pattern, but now, as I said, Bildad just gets nasty. His friend, and not just him, but all three of them, as they go on, they begin to be irritated with Job. They get impatient with him. They're prideful about their own reputations and their own arguments, and so they just take the gloves off, and they become increasingly devoid of all compassion. No compassion at all. Absolutely trusting in their theology, which is faulty on both sides of the equation. No compassion and no humility. They don't realize they stand under the same judgment, the same God's looking at them. They don't think about that.

So what does Bildad say? Well, he rehearses the savage curses that come on the wicked, what God does. Let's just walk through them. It's chapter 18 and verse five, "His lamp, [the wicked] his lamp is snuffed out in total darkness." Verses 7-10, "The wicked is snared by his own wicked schemes." Verse 11-12, "The wicked is terrorized on every side." Verse 13, "His flesh is destroyed in great agony." Verses 14-16, "He perishes utterly from the earth," and verses 17-19, "No one ever thinks of him again." Then in verse 21, Job 18:21, Bildad says, "Surely such is the dwelling of an evil man; such is the place of one who knows not God.” A godless man.

Well, given the context, he is saying these things about Job. This is his explanation for what Job is going through. "You are a wicked, godless man. You don't know God." This is the one about whom God boasted to Satan, "Have you considered my servant, Job? He is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil." So they're about as far from Job as they possibly could be. So Job could easily ask “Bildad, why, my friend, are you saying these things to me?"

So in chapter 19, he responds, verse one through three, “Job replied, ‘How long will you torment me and crush me with words? Ten times now you have reproached me; shamelessly you attack me.’" It's evident that these things hurt him. It's hurtful to him to hear this. They have added to his misery and his torture. They're part of the entire experience of suffering he's going through. All right, so much for Bildad. With your consent, we'll move on from Bildad. What do you say? Let's go ahead.

Now, let's look at Job at his worst, accusing God of injustice. Look at verses 6-7, chapter 19, "Know that God has wronged me and drawn his net around me. Though I cry, 'I've been wronged!' I get no response; though I call for help, there is no justice." Now that is staggering, but it's essential for us to hear, for it is quickly on the lips of all people who stare into the terrifying blackness of the problem of evil in this world and try to reconcile the problem of evil in this world with the concept of a sovereign, wise, loving God who created all things and rules over all things. They think it is just not possible for both those things to occur. Everyone who feels the weight of human suffering is soon tempted to hurl this same accusation up to the heavenly throne to accuse Almighty God of injustice.

Now that is why the whole topic of theology that we're addressing here week after week, addressing the problem of evil and suffering is called theodicy. The word literally means the justification of God, or perhaps the vindication of God, or the establishment of God's righteousness or justice in all of this. That's what theodicy means. The idea that we are defending a just God in the face of the problem of evil and suffering and pain, theodicy. So God is just, he is righteous, even in the face of such evils that happen to people on earth.

So Job, by venting this wicked thought toward God, he is serving the whole human race, because it's what we are thinking. It's what enemies of Christianity are thinking as they look at the problem of evil and say, “There can't be a good God. The one you celebrate, look at the problem of evil.” So he's serving us by venting that, because we all have the exact same temptation when we begin to suffer. Let's not worry so much about apologetics and sharing the gospel with others. When you go through suffering, these thoughts come in your mind. You begin to wonder, you use language of fairness, perhaps. "It's not fair," that kind of thing, but it's the issue of justice, questioning the justice of God.

Now this will be the very thing that God will convict Job of when he appears in the whirlwind. Second phase after Job says something then in Job 40:6-8, "The Lord spoke to Job out of the storm," verse seven, 40:7, "‘Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’" This is Job 40:8. "‘Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself?’" So this is the first thing he brings up in terms of Job's specific statements. "It is wrong for you to question my justice so you can justify yourself."

So he brings this issue up. Here we see the frailty of all human beings, even the most virtuous man on the planet, the amazing Job. He is amazing. Certainly Job began the trial well, as you remember in Job 1:22, says, "In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing." So he started well, and then again, in chapter two, verse 10, after he was afflicted, his body was afflicted with disease, it says, "In all this, Job did not sin in what he said." But, listen, once he accuses God of injustice, all of that virtue is gone. This is a sin. We should not say, "Oh, Job never sinned against God in what he said." He didn't at the beginning, that's true, but this is sin to say this, and this is exactly why Job felt the need to repent.

If you want to be very loyal to Job and say, "No, no, no, he never," then why did he repent and God accepted it? He says in Job 42:4-6, "[‘Listen,’] you said, ‘Now listen, and I will speak; I will question you and you shall answer me.’ My ears have heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore, I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.” “I should not have said, God, what I said to you."

Isn't it ironic, if you really think about this, how ironic it is that atheists accuse God of injustice, but in so doing, they're actually proving the existence of a God of justice? Where did they get the sense of justice in their hearts? Where did that come from? A sense of justice burning in their hearts, and then they're willing to accuse God of injustice. They do not realize, as we do, the reason why is they're created in the image of God, and some of that image remains, and they do have a sense of justice inside their hearts. Our sense of justice is part of being created in the image of God, but let me tell you, the scope and dimensions of our justice compared to God's justice cannot even be compared. It's as though our justice is like, you know, those little paper books of matches, and you rip off one of those little cardboard matches and you light it on a bright sunny day and hold it up and look at the sun and the match. So the flickering match is just about to go out, because it's a breezy day. That flickering match is your sense of justice, and the sun, 93 million miles away, blazing in glory, is less than God's commitment to justice.

"What do you mean by saying that, pastor?" Well, we go right to the greatest display of God's justice there ever has been and ever will be, the cross of Jesus Christ. You want to know how committed God is to justice? Look to the cross. Look to what God did to his only begotten son, whom he loves. Romans 3:25-26, "God presented [Christ] as a propitiation, a sacrifice of atonement through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he left the sins committed beforehand unpunished." What does that mean, “the sins committed beforehand”? Old Testament saints. You mean like this one by Job? Yes, exactly like this one by Job. Unpunished, and yet Job's in heaven.

So he did it to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance, he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished. He did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time so as to be both just and the justifier of those who have faith in Christ. How can he be both just and also justify us, forgive us, welcome us into heaven? That's a problem for God. We don't think of it as a problem, but it's a problem for him, and he solved it by crushing his own Son under his just wrath as our substitute, our guilt, our sins transferred to the substitute, and he dies in our place. That's the display of justice. That is God's commitment to justice. So in other words, Christ's death on the cross as our substitute under the searing, infinite wrath of God is his eternal and best, highest display of the justice of God.

God was saying effectively to all the universe for all time, "I would rather crush, I would rather slaughter my Son, my only Son, Jesus, whom I love, in ways you can't even imagine how much I love him. I would rather crush him than allow a single sinner into heaven with his sins unatoned for, with my righteous laws crying out for that sinner's condemnation. I would rather slaughter my son than give any sinner a free pass into heaven without his lawless deeds having been atoned for, and I'm willing to do that to my Son," and don't think it was easy for the father. There was darkness, a dreadful darkness over the whole land, from the sixth hour to the ninth hour, and at the ninth hour, Jesus cried out, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani," which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?", and then when he died, there was a massive earthquake and the ground shook and the rocks split open.

"So in other words, Christ's death on the cross as our substitute under the searing, infinite wrath of God is his eternal and best, highest display of the justice of God."

That's the cost of that display, but that's God's commitment to justice. So that's the raging, brilliant sun of God's commitment to justice. What about yours? How committed to justice are you? Are you up there with that paper match? "Oh, but at least my match is burning." Yes, you have a commitment to justice because you're created in the image of God, and you should develop that commitment to justice, but God's is greater, infinitely greater, and for all of that, Job accused God of injustice. He didn't know what he was saying. He didn't understand what he was talking about. He says he's been wronged. He says though he cries out for justice, he gets no answer from God at all. Furthermore, it seems he's accusing God of using his overpowering strength to be his enemy. He's using his terrifying power to destroy him, as though God were not only unjust, but a tyrant, a bully, his enemy. "God is acting like my enemy."

Look at Job, 19:8-12, just paraphrasing, he says, "God has blocked me in; I cannot get past God. God covers my path in darkness; I cannot find my way. God has stripped me of all of my honors; I'm humiliated before everyone. God tears me down; he uproots all my hopes like a tree. God is like a mighty army advancing against me in force. God's already defeated me out in the plain of battle, and then when I fled to my fortress city, God has besieged me and is destroying my walls, and will conquer this city too. That's what God is to me."

Now, note how terrifying it would be to have Almighty God as your personal enemy. Nothing could be more terrifying than that. Hebrews 10:31 says, "It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." So that's what he feels vertically, "And God is my enemy," but then horizontally, he feels complete societal rejection, social rejection. Verses 13-19, Job runs through the depths and dimensions of the rejection and humiliation he's felt from every person he knows in his life, even his wife. Verse 17, his wife cannot stand being near him. She can't stand the smell of his breath. It's offensive to her, verse 17.

John Calvin, in his sermon on this section of Job, singles her out for this level of betrayal. We know that earlier, she's the one that said to her husband, "Curse God and die," but here, it's the indication that she also turned away from him in every respect at his time of need and gave him no comfort at all, probably believing that same theology that we've been talking about, "You're the reason for all of this."

Calvin said this, "His wife showed herself like a savage beast in this situation." For better or worse, richer or poor, sickness and health, that's what we promised to do. I don't know what their vows were, but that's what marriage is, and she turned away from him, turned her back on him. But it wasn't just her. His closest relatives shunned him, his brothers, his kinsman, all his friends, including these three so-called friends sitting with him, his servants, cannot stand him. They won't come when he summons them. They have no respect for him at all. His acquaintances, as well, want nothing to do with him. Even little boys show him disrespect, because undoubtedly, they heard the slanderous reports about this secretly corrupt man who, it turns out, evidently was the greatest hypocrite in the world. No respect, even from little boys.

Now, these days in the world of social media, we have a phenomenon known as “cancel culture,” you've heard of that. Someone says or does something deemed reprehensible and everyone cancels that person, cuts them out entirely. Well, let me tell you something: that was not invented recently in the smartphone and social media and digital age—it's been going on in every generation, and it was going on in Job's time as well, but you know what? It especially happened with Jesus. They all canceled him.

Isaiah 53:3, speaking of Christ, "He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not." Everyone ran away from him, his closest friends, one of them betrayed him, another one denied him. Everyone hated him and cried for Barabbas instead of him. So that was Christ.

So Job begs for pity from his friends, verse 21, 19:21, he says, "Have pity on me, my friends, have pity, for the hand of God has struck me." So we've seen Job at his worst and the context for it, accusing God of injustice. Now let's see Job at his best, testifying of his Redeemer and of his own personal resurrection glory.

Look at verse 23-24, interesting verse, did you notice it? "Oh, that my words were recorded, that they were written on a scroll, that they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead or engraved in rock forever!" Isn't it amazing he would say that? "I wish someone would write down my words so that people in future generations could read them." Wish granted, Job.

Here we are, literally millennia later, reading his words. Now I think in heaven, he might wish some of them hadn't been recorded for us to study, but there they are. God had a purpose. It was why he brought Job through this, so that he could bring consolation to God's people in every generation for thousands of years. So he yearns for that, and so God crafted a way that these words would be written down for us in the Scriptures, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit coming on the author, writing down these words, and then God, in his sovereignty, protecting them from every satanic attack for centuries so that we can read.

As Jesus said in Matthew 24:35, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away,” and neither will Job's. So this is the doctrine of the inspiration and permanence of Scripture, a very human book written by very ordinary people going through specific circumstances, and the words that they wrote on the page were inspired by the Holy Spirit, preserved through all time for us to read and study. 2 Peter 1:21, "Prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." So Job's words are more permanent than heaven and earth. They will go on into eternity.

Now Job is about to say some things that soar beyond his immediate circumstances. They have far greater meaning for us as Christians than they did for Job when he said them. Given that we are beyond, in history, the death and resurrection of Jesus, our Redeemer, and we can put far more detail to these words than Job could, Job spoke these words, but as I've already told you a few times before, the Old Testament prophets didn't fully understand the import of all the words they said. So he says this, and then he is right back in the same mentality in the next chapter, that's just how it went for him. So he didn't fully understand everything he said.

Let's look at it again. Verse 25-27, "I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!" So let's just walk through these words as Job might have understood them, and then, in a moment, expand them to see how more powerfully clear and impactful they are for us as Christians.

First, how does he understand it? He says, "I know that my Redeemer lives." Now, the word redeemer, the Hebrew word is often translated in the Old Testament, kinsman redeemer, kinsman redeemer. The idea is of a near relative who can step in and save the day for a family member who is in deep trouble. So in a larger sense, the kinsman redeemer is one who is defending the family honor as a whole from shame or trouble, that's what a kinsman redeemer does. The kinsman redeemer might avenge the death of a murdered relative, or pay a price to redeem someone out of slavery, or redeem some property that has fallen into debt.

The clearest picture of the activities of a kinsman redeemer in the Bible is the book of Ruth, that sweet little four chapter book of Ruth, where, you remember, Ruth was a widow, husband had died, and Boaz was a kinsman redeemer, and Boaz steps in, saves the day for Ruth and for Naomi, her mother-in-law, and by his qualities, as I just think he's one of the great pictures of a godly husband, Ruth one of the great pictures of a godly wife. There's just a lot of quality in them as a couple, but he's acting as a kinsman redeemer. She's in trouble, she's a widow, she needs protection, she was poor, and so Boaz steps in and acts as a kinsman redeemer. God is sometimes called by this title, but generally just Redeemer. We don't usually say kinsman redeemer with God, but he redeems Israel out of all of her troubles.

All right, so the problem is, as we read it, who does Job have in mind? Who's in his mind as his kinsman redeemer? It's the same thing we've already seen before in Job 9:33-34, he said, "If only there was someone to arbitrate between us, to lay his hand upon us both, [me and God], someone to remove God's rod from me, so that his terror would frighten me no more." A mediator—he's yearning for a mediator. Job 9:33-34, and then as we saw last week, Job 16:19-21, he says, "Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high. My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God; on behalf of a man he pleads with God as a man pleads for his friend.” Same thing, yearning for an individual who stands before God on his behalf and begs and pleads and intercedes. You know, a witness, an advocate, an intercessor, a friend.

And he uses the same language in Job 16, "I know I have that. I've got that." So in the end, this redeemer must have been, to some degree, a mystery to Job. Who could do that? Who could be a kinsman redeemer when my problem is God, or who could ever do that? But somehow God has given Job the faith to see through all his tears and all his pain and his sorrows to see a redeemer, a kinsman redeemer. "I know that my redeemer lives." He's a living redeemer, and that redeemer will, in the end, be fully successful in vindicating Job. Verse 25, "And that in the end he will stand upon the earth." “In the end” means final act of the drama, and the final analysis, getting the final word, he will vindicate me. Job's advocate, Job's witness, Job's mediator, Job's redeemer, Job's friend, his intercessor is now alive, he says, and he will win the case on Job's behalf.

Now, how Job understood that person must remain a mystery, but he knows him now. He knows him now, and so do we, because we're further along in redemptive history. Job's faith soars beyond his Redeemer standing in victory on his behalf. His language soars up to the issue of resurrection. Look at verse 26-27, "After my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh, I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another."

Now, I've already said in a sermon two weeks ago, Job's understanding of the resurrection is unclear. It's hard to know exactly what Job really believed, even with these words, we don't know. Remember how I preached in Job 14:14, the question he asked, "If a man dies, will he live again?", and in that context, in that chapter, it seemed like he was saying no, but now we've got this great statement here.

So I believe that the Old Testament saints had some shadowy vision of life after death, some sense of a better country to which we're going, a better life. Hebrews 11:16, "They were longing for a better country—a heavenly one." They had that. I don't think that Job's words could be merely reduced here to his own physical healing. “I know that I'll get healed from this disease, and that in my flesh, I will see God.” It just goes beyond that. I don't think he's just talking about healing.

The KJV, interestingly, adds worms. It's not in the Hebrew text, I don't know how or where that came about, but KJV, Job 19:26 says, "And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh, I shall see God." So the idea of worms there kind of points to the grave, points to the corruption that comes when a corpse is buried, and then the worms have at the corpse, although there are worms on Job even in his life.

Final destination, "I will see God, I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another.” “I will be in the presence of God. I will stand before him." Now he does experience this to some degree at the end, when God appears to him out of the whirlwind, a theophany, appears to him, it says in Job 42:5, "My ears have heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you," but these words in Job 19 seem to go even beyond that experience, and the final statement, "How my heart yearns or burns within me."

Well, that's Job. I don't fully know what he was thinking as he said that. What about us? How can we hear these exact same words a little better than Job might have said them at the time? Basic conviction I have here, as I said a couple weeks ago, is we just know more than Job. We're further along, we have more information than Job had, much better, and so we've already seen in Hebrews 8:6 that we have better promises. God has given us through Christ, our mediator, better promise, better promises. Hebrews 8:6, "The ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises." So better promises lead what? To a better hope.

We have that in Hebrew 7:19, "A better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God." The word better in the book of Hebrews means better than the Old Testament folks had. That's what he means by better. Better ministry, better promises, better hope than Job had. John Calvin says this, “Job spoke these words from the time when there was not yet great doctrine, when possibly even the law (of Moses) was not yet written… So, then, having only a little spark of light, he was so strengthened in his afflictions… What excuse will there be today [for us Christians] when God declares the resurrection to us so exactly and so explicitly, and he gives us such beautiful promises of it? And even considered that we see the mirror and substance of it in our Lord Jesus Christ, that he was raised in order to show us that we must not doubt that we are at once partakers of his immortal glory?”

In other words, we have so much more information and more glorious doctrine, we Christians should suffer better, we should do better. That's what he's saying. So we have a clear history of Christ's bodily resurrection recorded in the four gospels, plus we have clear promises that we ourselves shall be raised from the grave by Christ's voice. We have clear doctrine from Paul as to what our resurrection bodies will be like. We have better promises than Job did. We, therefore, should have a more vigorous, three-dimensional hope than he did, but Job's amazing words in particular can come alive for us. So what I like to do is just use them as a springboard from the Old Testament into some beautiful New Testament landing spots. Just a gateway, just going phrase by phrase and say, "Do you see what we have now?" Whatever Job meant when he said those words, what does it mean for us?

So let's start with the beginning. "I know, I know." Well, our knowledge is better than his. Whatever it was the ground of his knowledge that his Redeemer lives, ours is better. Why? Because we have this, dear friends, we have the new Testament. We have the completed perfect word of God, and we have this account. You remember this? Luke 24:39, Jesus, to his own disciples in the upper room, after his crucifixion, after his resurrection from the dead, Jesus said this, "Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have." You can touch the resurrected body of Jesus by faith, not physically, but not having seen him, you can believe in him, and you can understand the physicality of his resurrection by this text.

He also said this beautiful promise. He said, "I know that my Redeemer." What about us? What do we know? How about this? This promise, John 11:25-26, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die." That's a great promise. Don't you think that qualifies as a better promise? That is a sweet, detailed, better promise. We can take that to the grave. Job, at the end of Job 14, said, "Will hope and I go down to the grave?" This promise, John 11, will go with you down to the grave and beyond, but then he asked, "[Martha,] do you believe this?" Do you? Do you believe that Jesus is the resurrection and the life? Do you believe that he will raise you from the dead? Do you believe, like 2 Corinthians 5:1, Paul uses knowing language? No. “Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.” He's talking about the resurrection body. “We know this,” that's what Paul says, and then Jesus said in John 5:28-29, "Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out." You're going to hear the voice of Jesus and come out in a resurrection body.

Then he says, "I know that my redeemer lives." Jesus is the perfect kinsman and the perfect redeemer. How is he kinsman? How is he kin to us? Hebrews 2:11 says of Jesus, "Both the one who makes men holy," that's Jesus, "and those who are made holy are," listen to this, "of the same family." We're kin, of the same family. "So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.” He is our kinsman, and he's redeemer, 1 Peter 1:18-19 says, "For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed [from your sins,] the empty way of life handed down to you, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect."

Kinsman redeemer, that's what Jesus is, and I know that my redeemer lives, Jesus is alive. Do you know that? Do you know that he lives? He's been raised from the dead and he cannot die again. He's still alive. Romans 6:9-10, "For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once and for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God." Indestructible life, the author of Hebrews calls it, indestructible life. “I know that my redeemer lives, and [that at the last or] in the end, he's going to take his stand.” In the end of what? The end of all things. “I am the alpha and the omega,” said Jesus. “The first and last, the beginning and the end.” At the end, there is an end day.

So the final drama, the second coming of Christ, the end of the age, 1 Corinthians 15:51-52, "Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed." That's the end, that's where we're going. Second coming of Christ, instantaneous change, in the flash, in the twinkling of an eye, and he will stand. He's going to take his stand with those resurrected, glorified feet. He's going to come back to earth and he's going to take his stand on the ground.

You say, "Well, where?" I'll tell you where. The Mount of Olives. "Are you sure about that, pastor?" Well, I'm surer of other things in theology than that, but listen to the text, Zechariah 14:4, "On that day, his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives east of Jerusalem." Read Zechariah 14, context, we're talking about the second coming. So wouldn't it make perfect sense for the exact place where he took off and ascended and the clouds hid him from their sight that he would come back to the same place? He's going to take his stand. He's coming back to Earth, and he's going to stand on the earth, the Hebrew word could refer to dust, kind of refers to “dust you are, and to dust you shall return,” but Christ, our redeemer, will, on that final day, stand triumphant over the dust and raise us up.

Daniel 12:2 says, "Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake; some to everlasting life." So we went back to dust, and he's going to raise us up from the dust. You think, "How could he do that?" He can do it, he's powerful. He's going to take his stand. "And even though my body is destroyed," old age will destroy your body, disease will destroy your body, then death will destroy your corpse; worms, bacteria will finish the corruption, but our resurrected bodies will so show Christ's powerful victory over the plagues of the grave. Hosea 13:14, "I will ransom them from the power of the grave. I will redeem them from death." Now listen to this. "Where, O death, are your plagues?" That's what Hosea says, "Where, O death, are your plagues? Where, O grave, is your destruction?"

The plagues of death in the grave will have been conquered by resurrection, and he says, "Yet, in my flesh, I will see God." We believe in a bodily resurrection, just like Jesus. "Touch me and see, I'm not a ghost." He eats broiled fish. 1 Corinthians 15 says, "The body that sown is perishable, is raised imperishable; it's sown in dishonor, raised in glory; sown in weakness, raised in power; sown a natural body, raised a spiritual body." So you're going to get an imperishable, glorious, powerful, spiritual body. "In my flesh." In my flesh what? "I will see God."

You're going to see God. Job didn't see God, he saw theophany. I know what the language says in the Old Testament, but John 1 says, "No man has ever seen God at any time." That waits for the resurrection, for the glorification, for resurrected eyes and minds and hearts that can handle a full view of the face of Almighty God. God said to Moses, "No one can see me and live." So it says in 1 Corinthians 13:12, "Now we see but a poor reflection as a mirror, then we shall see face to face." Also, 1 John 3:2, "Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, [Why?] for we shall see him as he is." Then Revelations 22:3-4, "The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city. His servants will serve him, and they will see his face." That's your future, if you're a child of God, you will see the face of God, and his name will be on your foreheads.

So final statement, "How my heart yearns [or burns] within me." Remember the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, and Jesus sat down and went through scriptures with them? I hope that it's been a little bit like that with you, that the spirit of Christ has been in me, unfolding scriptures, and when Jesus broke the bread and their eyes were open, they realized who he was, and he disappeared from them, they said, "Were not our hearts burning within us when he opened the scriptures to us?"

What about you, dear friend? Is your heart yearning and burning within you for this? Do you know that Jesus is your Lord and Savior? Have you trusted in him? There is a day of salvation, and that day is now. We don't know how many more days you individually will have, how many more days you individually be alive. We don't know how many more days this history will continue, but today is the day of salvation. Would it not be sweet for your heart to yearn and burn within you, knowing that Christ is your redeemer, your kinsman redeemer, and that you are going to, in resurrection body, see the face of God? Close with me in prayer.

Lord, thank you for the truth of the Word of God. It's infinitely deep, infinitely deep, beyond anything we can comprehend, and Lord, we know that in heaven, we'll have an eternity to be educated in your glory. We will be continually learning how glorious and how powerful you are, but Lord, give us as many foretastes now as you will. Help us to meditate on scripture, help us to put it into practice. Help us when we are going through afflictions and sorrows and trials and it hurts, and we don't know why you're not answering our prayers, we don't know why you're not bringing healing or bringing a resolution, we don't know, and it hurts, it's so hurtful. Help us not to question your justice or your love or your power or your wisdom. Help us to just draw close to you and to trust in you and to find solace in your infinite majesty. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

In this passage, we see Job being double-minded at his worst--claiming God is unjust--and his best--declaring that his redeemer lives.

The post I Know That My Redeemer Lives! (Job Sermon 12) appeared first on Two Journeys.

Peter prepares us for the coming of the Lord Jesus, explaining the reason for the long delay and how best to spend our lives until then: holiness and missions.

The post Peter Episode 14 – Preparing for the Day of the Lord appeared first on Two Journeys.

Pastor Andy Davis preaches a sermon on Job 15-17, where we can see the parallels between the things Job longed for and the fulfillment those longings ultimate found in the person of Christ and His work for us.

Well, turn in your Bibles. We're looking this morning at three chapters in the book of Job, Job 15-17. Before the foundation of the world, the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, planned our salvation. God planned that his children would be saved from their rebellion and their misery by the intervention of Jesus Christ, their Savior. This plan was in God's mind when God created the heavens and the earth. When God said, "Let there be light," this plan was also fully formed in God's mind. When Adam and Eve fell into sin and doomed their children to sorrow and suffering through the relentlessness of evil, even then, God knew that his chosen people in every generation and in every nation on earth would be saved through Jesus Christ.

However, despite the fact that plan was fully formed in the mind of God, before anything was created, fully formed in the mind of God, down to the smallest detail, yet God revealed it only a little at a time over the centuries, through his holy prophets. Their limited knowledge of the coming Savior was dim and distant, as this light grew brighter and brighter across the centuries. Numbers 24:17, the prophet said, "I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel." So dim and distant to the prophetic eye at that point. As the time drew nearer, the light grew clearer. The prophets were given bigger and bigger pieces of the mystery to write down and ponder.

Now we don't know exactly when Job came in and where he fits into this unfolding story, don't know for sure. It seems to many scholars, he came in at a very early stage in all of this. His knowledge of the coming Savior and of the life and light he would bring was very limited. Paul speaks in Ephesians 3:9 of “this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God who created all things.” So this mystery is Christ, kept hidden in God for ages past. So Job went through his suffering, yearning for things that we now know much more clearly about by the open assertions of scripture that we have in the New Testament, in light of the past accomplishments and achievements of Jesus Christ, our Savior. For us they're past, and they're perfectly recorded in the pages of the New Testament, but Job didn't have any of that.

And one of those things that we now know much, much more clearly than Job did is Jesus' role as our heavenly witness, our heavenly advocate, our heavenly intercessor, and our heavenly friend. Job didn't understand that. Job yearned for that, but he really didn't know him. Jesus came to fulfill those roles for all of us, for all eternity. And in the text we're going to look at today, as he says, “I know that I have that,” but his knowledge is limited and dim. We get to look now at Jesus as a perfect fulfillment of that yearning and how beautiful it is.

Now, whenever individuals go to buy a high-quality diamond from a jeweler, often the jeweler will spread out a black velvet cloth and sprinkle out the various diamonds that are an option to buy. And the glitter, the blinding light (because the lighting is just right to make the diamond sparkle) just shines radiantly against the backdrop of that black cloth. And that's the way I think we should look at Job 15-17. There's a glittering diamond of a statement that we just heard read in Job 16:19-21, which talks about Jesus as our intercessor, advocate, and friend. But the rest of it is a lot of blackness. A lot of blackness.

Now we should not think that God the Holy Spirit only means for us to look at the glittering diamonds. He wants us to understand the black cloth as well, because we're going to go through it. I don't know what it's going to be like, but we're going to go through our black times. And it's good for us to see how Job spoke in the midst of that blackness. But it's also good, isn't it, to see the glittering diamond of Christ in the midst of all of it.

And I think that God in his infinite wisdom has chosen to let us get this education in evil that we sought at the tree through Adam. From the very beginning, we sought to know good and evil, and we're getting this education in evil, and it is the black backdrop against which the glittering diamonds of the grace of God through Christ will shine for all eternity. So we're going to walk through these three chapters, and I'm going to dive right into chapter 16, go back to 15, and then move on from there.

And so I begin by standing alongside Job, as he said, "When will these windy words end?" Job at this point has become utterly disgusted with his friends. Look at Job 16:2-3. He says, "I have heard many things like these; miserable comforters are you all! Will your long-winded speeches never end? What ails you, that you keep on arguing?" What an incredible statement. Miserable counselors or miserable comforters are you all. Their comfort, so to speak, their counsel to him is actually shredding him. It's not healing him. And he wonders when their long winded speeches will ever come to an end. Their words to him are wind. They are chaff. They're empty of truth and nourishment for his soul. And he chides them directly for their demeanor, for the simple reason that they have not suffered as he has, so they cannot possibly understand what he is going through. Look at 16:4. He said, "I could also speak like you, if you were in my place; I could make fine speeches against you and shake my head at you." And if the roles were reversed, he actually is saying, “I would do a much better job than you're doing. I would be a better friend and a counselor to you than you are being to me.”

Verse five, 16:5, he says, "But my mouth would encourage you; comfort from my lips would bring you relief." Now this is just one of the basic principles. Sometimes God brings us through specific patterns of misery so that we can bring comfort to others who go through that same misery later. This is openly taught in 2 Corinthians 1, that we can give to others the same comfort we ourselves have received from God. So Job is already in that place, saying, “if I were to go, I would be much more compassionate than you're being with me.”

All right, well what brought all that on? Well, Eliphaz's second speech brought all that on, chapter 15. Remember this section of Job, this long middle section is made up of three cycles of dialogue between Job and his three friends Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. All three have spoken once. Job has answered each of them. Now Eliphaz speaks for a second time, as recorded in chapter 15, Job 15. Remember the first time that Eliphaz spoke, his basic proposition was you reap what you sow. Job's grievous afflictions have come upon him from a just and energetic and active God, who is intervening and dealing with Job in his sin.

Now Eliphaz has a second crack at Job. And what did Eliphaz say? Well, look back at chapter 15. Eliphaz said that Job's words are nothing but wind. Look at 15:2-3, "Would a wise man answer with empty notions or fill his belly with hot east wind? Would he argue with useless words, with speeches that have no value?" So this is in chapter 15 and 16, this is the dueling bickering between these two. “Your words are wind.” “No, no, your words are wind. They're empty.” Eliphaz basically rebukes Job, saying his sinfulness is prompting his speech. He says in verses 2-6, “It's ungodly to attack God. He's seeking to humble Job and lay him low.”

Look at verse 7-10, chapter 15. "Are you the first man ever born? Were you brought forth before the hills? Do you listen in on God's council? Do you limit wisdom to yourself? What do you know that we don't know? What insights do you have that we do not have? The gray-haired and the aged are on our side, men even older than your father." So basically, “Job, who do you think you are to talk like this?” Go to 15:14-16. Eliphaz says, "What is man, that he could be pure, or one born of woman that he could be righteous? If God places no trust in his holy ones, if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes, how much less a man who is vile and corrupt, who drinks up evil like water!" So this is a recurring theme, and we will address it more fully, God willing, in a later sermon. But the idea of “How can a corrupt human being ever be righteous in the sight of God?” Eliphaz is saying that.

And then Eliphaz traces out in great detail the doom that the godless can expect, the godless evildoer in verses 20-35. He traces all that out and implicitly applies it to Job. Job, the wicked man, who's getting what he truly deserves. Look at 20-25. He says, "All his days the wicked man suffers torment, the ruthless through all the years stored up for him. Terrifying sounds fill his ears; when all seems well, marauders attack him. He despairs of escaping the darkness; he's marked for the sword. He wanders about—food for vultures; he knows the day of darkness is at hand. Distress and anguish fill him with terror; they overwhelm him like a king poised to attack, because he shakes his fist at God and vaunts himself against the Almighty." He's saying this to Job, when many of these things have happened to Job, and says, “The reason why is you shake your fist at God. That's who you are.”

Look down at 30-32, "He will not escape the darkness; a flame will wither his shoots, and the breath of God's mouth will carry him away. Let him not deceive himself by trusting what is worthless, for he will get nothing in return. Before his time he will be paid in full, and his branches will not flourish." This is the law of sowing and reaping. “You, Job, are clearly reaping what you have sown. You've sown evil, and now you're reaping judgment.”

So Eliphaz, as you can see, is getting more aggressive, much more aggressive than he was in his first speech. He's calling Job a massive sinner, a wicked evildoer. And just as Eliphaz called Job's words wind, Job returns the favor and calls Eliphaz's words wind as well, empty of truth.

But then Job, in chapter 16, after having addressed his friends, again turns up to God. And that's the real issue—it's his complaint toward God in chapter 16:7-17. God has devastated Job's household. Look at verse seven, "Surely, oh God, you have worn me out; you have devastated my entire household." All 10 children are dead. His wife has been, in some ways, just destroyed by this. His family life has been destroyed.

God has assaulted Job's body through disease. Look at verse eight, "You have bound me—it has become my witness; my gauntness rises up and testifies against me." His friends couldn't recognize him when they came to see him. He didn't look like the same man. It’s what disease can do to somebody. And he says, "God has attacked him violently like an enemy." Verse nine, "God assails me and tears me in his anger. He gnashes his teeth at me; my opponent, my enemy fastens on me his piercing eyes." This is speaking of God here. Looks on God as an opponent. And it's not just vertical—it's horizontal. “People are being mean to me as well.” Verse 10, "Men open their mouths to jeer at me; they strike my cheek and scorn and unite together against me.”

“God has assaulted me in wave upon wave." Remember how it was? Messenger would come. And while that one was still speaking, the next messenger would come. You remember, wave upon wave. That was all part one. And then part two came and the next wave, that was his disease. So he lost all of his material possessions, he lost all of his children. And then part two, he lost his health. Wave upon wave. Look at verses 12-14. "All was well with me, but he shattered me; he seized me by the neck and crushed me. He has made me his target; his archers surround me. Without pity, he pierces my kidneys and spills my gall on the ground. Again and again, he bursts upon me; he rushes at me like a warrior." This is Job speaking of God. Job says, "My body is repulsive." Verse 15 and 16, "I've sewed sackcloth over my skin and buried my brow in the dust. My face is red with weeping, deep shadows ring my eyes."

And all of this, all of this has happened to an innocent man. Look at verse 17 and 18, "Yet my hands have been free of violence and my prayer is pure." Then he cries for vindication, verse 18, "O earth, do not cover my blood; may my cry never be laid to rest!" So this is the basic accusation he has toward God is injustice. It's the very first thing God's going to bring back to him when he speaks out of the whirlwind. So it comes again and again. “This is unjust. What is happening to me is unjust.”

So in chapter 17, Job continues his bitter lament. So friends, I'm just tracing out the black velvet cloth against which this beautiful diamond is going to glitter, and it's very tough. It's difficult with his friends, horizontally. It's difficult vertically toward God. And he continues in chapter 17 with a bitter lament. “Death is my only hope.” None of these words are bringing Job any comfort at all. So he goes into a deep and bitter lament. Look at 17:1. He says, "My spirit is broken, my days are cut short, the grave awaits me." Think about those words. “My spirit is broken. I'm completely shattered by what's happened to me.” And then again, in verse 11, "My days have passed, my plans are shattered, and so are the desires of my heart."

So Job has reached the point where he sees nothing good left in his future. Everything he has ever set his heart on in this world has been taken from him, violently ripped from him. Well, what else is there left to hope for? More camels and donkeys and sheep and oxen come back? They could just be taken away again. More children? We've already been through that. They could just be taken away again. “There's actually just nothing I want left in this world.” He has lost all taste for life.

Now, his friends may try to give him hope by minimizing his trial. Look at verse 12, 17:12. He says, "These men turn night into day; in the face of darkness, they say ‘Light is near.’" Happy days are coming. But he says, “Honestly, the only hope I have left is the grave.” Look at 17:13-16. He says, "If the only home I hope for is the grave, if I spread out my bed in darkness, if I say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother’ or ‘My sister,’ where then is my hope? Who can see any hope for me? Will it go down to the gates of death?" Meaning hope, “will hope go down with me? Will we go down hand in hand to the gates of death, hope and I?” “Will we descend together into the dust?” Can any of you give me any hope that will last from now until the day I die?

We looked at this passage last time when we talked about Job's view of the grave. Remember? In 14:14, "If a man dies, will he live again?" And what did Job think about that? So this was some evidence that shows he has this very dark view of the grave. Doesn't think much beyond it. Whatever there is beyond it isn't bringing him much joy. He does not have, it seems here in this text, a developed hope in resurrection. For him, the grave is a place of darkness, of cessation of all sensory input, all pleasure and all pain become obsolete. And for Job, that's an improvement because he's in pain.

At least it would mean an end to his suffering. But he says, “That's what I'm down to now. The only thing I have to hope for is to die and have the worms eat my corpse.” That's not much of a hope. “Can such a hope sustain me from now until the day I actually do die? Will such a hope hold my hand through all of my miseries, until I finally go down to the dark river and cross over into darkness? What kind of existence is really left for me here on earth? And I'm not really thinking about much beyond the grave.”

All right, friends, that is the black velvet cloth. Very dark. It's very sad. It's very depressing. It's good to have these words. The Holy Spirit wants us to have these words because someday, you're going to go through sorrow and afflictions, and this is what it sounds like to go through it.

But in the midst of all of that comes a beautiful, glittering, pure diamond. Look at verses 19-21 of chapter 16, "Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high. My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God on behalf of a man." He pleads with God as a man pleads for his friend. Again and again, Job, in this book, speaks words with prophetic insight that I believe he doesn't even fully understand himself, because he then lapses back immediately into black depression, discouragement, yearning for death.

So God the Spirit moved in Job to say some things that didn't bring him much comfort at the time, it seems, but bring us a lot of understanding concerning Christ, who Christ is for us now. And this is a very important principle of the inspiration authority of the Bible. It has to do with how we have our scriptures, how God the Holy Spirit moved in prophets to speak and then write words that they did not understand, get them down, so that future generations could read and understand who Christ is.

This is openly taught in 1 Peter 1:10-12. Peter writes there in 1 Peter 1:10-12, "Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things."

Powerful words from Peter. What's he talking about? In simple words, the Old Testament prophets who lived before Jesus were moved by the Holy Spirit. Peter teaches that in 2 Peter 1:21, “Men spoke from God as they were carried along by Holy Spirit.” So the Old Testament prophets said things about Christ, his sufferings, and his glory that they didn't understand. And it was revealed to them at that time that they were not supposed to understand it. Clearest example of this is Daniel 12, where Daniel writes a whole bunch of visionary thing down and says to God, "I don't get it." And he's told to seal up the scroll because it's for a later generation. Plain in Daniel 12.

And so it is here, I think. Job says some amazing things about Jesus he doesn't fully understand. But we, with the fuller teaching of the New Testament, we're able to look and say, “What a diamond of glory this is, that we have this kind of an intercessor and advocate and friend on high in Jesus.” That's what these beautiful words are all about.

So this happens, I think, often in the book of Job. Job says things that will later be fulfilled in Christ, and he doesn't fully understand his own words. For example, earlier in chapter nine, you can turn there and look there if you'd like, or just listen, Job 9:33-34. There Job had said, and we went through it at the time, "If only there were someone to arbitrate between us, to lay his hand on us both, someone to remove God's rod from me, so that his terror would frighten me no more." As a Christian, you read those words. Aren't those beautiful words about Jesus? Job is yearning for a mediator to stand between God and man, who will represent him, and that's what we have in Jesus. Isn't that beautiful?

I Timothy 2:5-6 says, "There is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time." That's amazing. Notice that Paul says that Jesus' mediating role is a testimony that would be spoken at the proper time, in the fullness of time. At the right time, we will understand Jesus as our mediator. He is the God-Man, conceived in the virgin's womb by the power of the Holy Spirit, fully God, fully man. And he's able to be a mediator between God and man. He's able to speak on behalf of God to man. And he's able to speak perfectly on behalf of man to God. And so he's able to represent sinners like you and me and like Job. And he does it perfectly well.

So in Romans 5:1, it says, "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." And also Romans 8:1, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." So that is God's rod removed and his terror is frightening us no more. Fulfilled. Did Job understand that? No, he did not. But he receives the benefit of it because he's absent from the body, present with the Lord now. He's forever in heaven, based on the mediating work of Jesus. He was saved by Jesus, just like all the Old Testament saints were, but he didn't understand, not fully. And now here in our chapter today, we have this other example. So look at it again. Job 16:19-21.

I'm thinking a recently engaged woman doesn't look at her diamond ring just once. Just thinking, what do you think? She looks at it a lot, and she shows it off to her friends, and she looks at it some more. So tell you what, let's look at this diamond a lot. You get to look at this when you go home today. You get to keep looking at it and looking at it and realize what you have in Jesus. Look at these words, "Even now, my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high. My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God; on behalf of a man, he pleads with God as a man pleads for his friend."

So let's extend this now beyond any comprehension Job could have had about this ministry of Jesus Christ. Now Job says, "Even now, I have this." So that might be just the sweet foretasting ministry of the spirit to give him enough comfort to get him through. He says, "I have this now. I've got someone." But he didn't fully understand Christ's activity on our behalf as we do now.

Now what did Job want? He wanted a witness for him in heaven. He wanted someone to testify in heaven that the things that his friends were saying about him were just not true. That at the heavenly courtroom, at the heavenly trial, he'll be a witness on Job's behalf that he was actually, truly innocent of all these charges. Someone to present the truth, the evidence on his behalf, so he could be vindicated. He wanted an advocate on high, someone to speak on his behalf. He wanted an intercessor. He says someone who would plead for him with great passion, as he himself is weeping tears. Someone who would weep with him and care that much about his case. Who would actually care for him and his vindication as much as he did. Someone who could plead for him as a man pleads for his friend.

Now I know verse 20 has different translations. Verse 20 either speaks more of the same that he says plainly in verse 21. “I want a friend, if only I could have a friend.” Or verse 20 may be speaking about his present earthly friends who are terrible. With friends like that, who needs enemies? Doesn't matter. The point ends up the same and even strengthened, no matter what you do with verse 20. And so the fact of the matter is he doesn't want friends like this. He wants someone who will be a real friend to him in heaven. That's what he's yearning for. So now we turn, with our hearts full, to understand the ministry of Jesus as our great high priest.

And this we get again from the book of Hebrews. It's hard for me to even state how indispensable Hebrews is in the canon. The things that Hebrews tells us about Jesus are not so clearly told us anywhere else in the Bible. And we have taught us in the book of Hebrews that Jesus is our great high priest. It's clearly asserted, Hebrews 2:17. It says, "For this reason [Jesus] had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God." Think about those words, merciful and faithful high priest. "And that he might make atonement for the sins of the people." So Jesus is our great high priest. Again, Hebrews 4:14. It says, "Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess." And then again, Hebrews 5:5-6, “God said to him…‘You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.’”

So according to the book of Hebrews, what are Jesus' credentials as our great high priest? Well, first of all, he is perfect in holiness. He's perfect in holiness. He does not need to offer sacrifices for his own sins and then for the people. He never committed any sin. He's pure and holy. He also has an eternal, unchanging priesthood because those priests died, and when they died, the next priest would come along. But Jesus, having died, can never die again. And so he has an eternal, permanent priesthood. He will be our priest forever, a priest forever. And he has perfect access to God. He sits at the right hand of Almighty God over all the universe and can speak to the Father at any time. I'm going to develop all these a little more fully in a moment. And he offers a perfect sacrifice, his own blood. These aspects of his perfect ministry, as I said, we're going to walk through a little bit more in a moment, but I want to start and zero in with Jesus' perfect compassion. Perfect compassion.

Job wanted someone to plead for him as a man pleads for his friend. We could imagine an advocate who is detached, aloof, uncaring, professional, in it for the money, like a public defender with an overwhelming caseload, and you're one of his cases. Right? He barely knows your name. He barely knows your case. The only reason he cares about you is his track record of success in court, so he can get a better job. We could imagine a person like that. He has no vested interest in your vindication.

Friends, Jesus is nothing like that. He is nothing like that. He has staked his life blood that every one of his sheep will be saved. Now in the Old Testament, the Aaronic priest would wear a breastplate over their heart. And on that were 12 stones with the names of the 12 tribes of Israel inscribed, one on each stone and set in a matrix at three by four. And it was over his heart as he ministered, the names of the people he was ministering for.

We see an even more beautiful sense of that commitment. Your name's engraved in stone. Well, how much better than the image that we have in Isaiah 49:15-16? By the way, this is a beautiful Mother's Day verse, Isaiah 49:15-16. It says there, "Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has born? Though she may forget, I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands." Now that's a step up, isn't it? The Aaronic priest had engraved this on this breastplate, the names of Israel on stones. Jesus says in a beautiful metaphor, "I've engraved your name in my hands."

I think about John 20, his resurrection, he showed them his hands and his feet. But you think about that. “These wounds, I've engraved your name in my hands.” And I love that Mother's Day verse, so to speak, Isaiah 49:15-16, because Christ, God chooses mothers with their nursing infants as the pinnacle of compassionate, committed love on earth. Say, “is it even possible for her to forget her babies? But it is possible. There are some bad mothers who would. But even if she would forget, I am at a higher level.” The Lord is saying that. “I'm at a higher level even than a mother with her nursing infant.” That's his committed love for us. And so we have his compassion and his commitment to us.

And Jesus is our friend. He is our compassionate, committed friend. He says in John 15:13-14, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. So I no longer call you slaves. I call you friends."  Hebrews tells us of his perfect compassion to our weakness. Hebrews 4:15, "We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin." We see this in the gospel accounts, don't we? Jesus is again and again moved with compassion for people. It's the number one emotion that he displays in the gospel accounts.

For example, in Mark 1:40-42, “A man with leprosy came and begged him on his knees. ‘If you were willing,’ he said, ‘you can make me clean.’ Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing,’ he said. “Be clean!’ And immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.” Moved with compassion. Or again, in Mark 8:1-3, it says, "During those days another large crowd gathered. And since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said, 'I have compassion for these people; they've already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them home hungry, they'll collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.'" That's compassion. “I know their situation. I know what's going on in their stomachs. I want to feed them.” Or again, in Luke 7:12-13, "As he approached the town gate, [a place called Nain,] a dead person was being carried out. He was the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. And when the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her. [And he went over to her] and said, 'Don't cry.'" That's Jesus. That's who he is. He poured out tears and blood for us. Job poured out tears for his own sorrows. Jesus pours out tears and blood for ours. That's who he is. That's his compassion.

So Jesus is our witness in heaven. Now, how is Jesus our witness in heaven? Well, he's not going to do what Job wants done. He's not going to do that. He will not stand up in heaven at your heavenly court trial, if you could imagine that, and testify, “You are all innocent of all charges. You didn't do it.” He's not going to do that. He knows very well that you couldn't answer once in a thousand times what God would accuse you of. He knows very well.

Well then, how is he our witness in heaven? He's going to witness that he knows you as his own sheep. He's going to claim you as his own by name. As it says in John 10:3, "He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out." John 10:14, "I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me." Or again, Isaiah 43:1, "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine." That's how he will witness. He will witness that he knows you. And he will witness that you are righteous through the imputed righteousness that was given you as a gift the moment you were born again, through faith. That's what he's going to witness to in heaven. So he will say of you, "He's one of mine, or she's one of my sheep." And he will know you by name.

And he will advocate for you. He is your intercessor. It is very good for you to get Christian brothers and sisters to pray for you, whatever you're going through. That is a good thing, but just know this—you're already completely covered in prayer. We're told in the New Testament that both the second and the third persons of the Trinity are constantly interceding for you. You are covered in prayer.

And so it says in Hebrews 7:24-25, “because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them." So he's constantly alive and praying for each of us. He never stops. His energy in prayer is limitless. Have you ever gotten tired in prayer? “Pastor, when do I not get tired in prayer?” Jesus' energy is limitless in intercession. Says in Romans 8:34, "Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us."

Now, where does he intercede? Well, I just said it a moment ago. Job said he wanted an advocate on high, somebody up there for him. This makes me think of this amazing verse, Isaiah 57:15, "But this is what the high and lofty One says—he who lives forever, and whose name is holy." This is God describing his living place. I live in a high and holy place. But also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit.

So Jesus does his intercession in the highest place. Says in Hebrews 1:3, "After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty in heaven." Ephesians 1:20-21 says, "[God] raised [Christ] from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms," listen to this, "far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given." Infinite gap between Jesus and every other power and principality that there is.

Again, Ephesians 4:10, "He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe." So Jesus just passes through the heavenly realms up above them all. He's above all created realms. He's above the heavens. That's how high it is. And so it says in Hebrew 7:26, "Such a high priest meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners," listen to these words, "exalted above the heavens." That's where he does his advocacy work, his intercession work. So he's in a perfect place to do his intercession.

He also is at the right hand of God. He's at the right hand of God. So I had a conversation this very morning with someone dear to me, that I won't mention. All right, and she asked me, she said, "Wait a minute, James and John wanted to sit at Jesus' right or left. Isn't Jesus at the right hand of God, so he doesn't have…. Like one of those places is taken, maybe the left." So whatever. I said, "Look, don't do that calculation. We're talking about infinite dimensions up in heaven. So don't worry about the right hand, left hand thing, OK?" Some of you like, what are you even talking about, others know exactly what I'm talking about.

But Jesus is at the right hand of God. He has access to the Father, intimate access. And to what basis does Jesus intercede for us sinners? On the merits of his own shed blood, shed once for all, for their sins. Hebrews 7:27, "He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself." He offered himself. Hebrews 10:19, "We have confidence to enter the most holy place by the blood of Jesus."

I love the hymn, “Come Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy.” One of the stands as says this: "Lo, the incarnate God ascended, pleads the merits of his blood." Pleads the merits of his blood. "Venture on him, venture holy, let no other trust intrude." There's a lot of theology in that. So Jesus, the incarnate God, is ascended and pleading on your behalf the merits of his once for all blood sacrifice for you.

Now, what does he pray for? What is Jesus praying for as he's constantly interceding for you? Well, limitless things, tiny details and big things—all of it pertaining to your final salvation. He's very active in this. You're underestimating all kinds of stuff. Jesus doesn't underestimate anything. Little things matter, big things matter. Everything is worthy of his intercessory prayer for you. He's filtering your temptation so that nothing will come on you more than you can bear. He is praying for protection. He's putting walls around you, hedges around you. He's doing all kinds of things.

But I think the focus, most especially, has to do with what he said to Simon Peter when he predicted that Simon Peter would deny him. The night before Jesus was crucified, he said in Luke 22:31-32, "Simon, Simon, Satan has demanded to sift you," plural, "like wheat," all of you, "but I've prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail." It's one of the most important statements you can ever find concerning the intercessory ministry of Jesus. He's praying for you, that your faith in Jesus will not fail.

And if you're going to say, "But it won't, pastor. I'm reformed in my theology. I believe once saved, always saved." Are you going to keep saying that I don't need Jesus intercessory ministry for me at the right hand of God? You know you do. Your faith would fail in an instant if he stopped praying for you and the Father stopped sustaining your faith. If Satan could just have at you, you would deny him within minutes. He's that powerful. But it won't happen. And he's praying that your faith will not fail.

And he's praying that you will not be lost, that none of us will be lost. John 17:11-12, "I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world and I'm coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be won as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost." So that none of us would be lost. He also prays for the unconverted elect, who haven't come to faith yet, that they will believe in the gospel. John 17:20-21, "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you."

Now, how successful would you say Jesus' intercessory ministry is? What do you think his batting average is? Well, I'm telling you he bats a 1,000. Or in other terminology, he's 100% effective in his prayer. Everything he prays for, he gets. Everything. Why? Because the Father is delighted in him.

In Matthew 3:17, the Father said, "This is my Son whom I love, with him I am well pleased." The Father reveals to the Son every aspect of the Father's plan. The Son knows everything the Father knows about his plan. John 5:20, "The Father loves the Son and shows him all he does." The Son always does what pleases the Father. John 8:29, "He has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him."

Now we know from 1 John 5, whenever we pray according to God's will, we get what we ask for, right? 1 John 5, "If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we ask of him." So Jesus only prays according to the will of the Father and is perfectly pleasing the Father and gets everything he asks for, all the time, on your behalf.

So all of the sheep that have been converted will continue to believe in Jesus, despite the constant assault of the world, the flesh, and the devil on their faith. They're going to make it through. You're going to make it through. You're going to survive. You're still going to believe in Jesus on your deathbed. He's going to pray for you to that end. And all of the unconverted elect will come to faith. Missionaries are going to get there. Evangelists are going to get there. They're going to hear in time, and they're going to repent and believe. This is the nature of his prayer ministry. We are not going to be tempted beyond what we can bear. Do you see how beautiful this is?

And so Job said in Job 16:19-21, "Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high. My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God; on behalf of a man, he pleads with God as a man pleads for his friend."

Applications. Just thank God you have Jesus as your intercessor. Thank God that you have him as your advocate. Thank God that he is witnessing on your behalf and he is your friend. Thank God for Christ's compassion for you. Praise God that you're where you're at in redemptive history, and you have all of these wonderful texts that support your faith and give you confidence concerning Jesus. And rely on Jesus as your great high priest. Rely on him.

You may be going through afflictions now. You may be fearful about what afflictions will come in the future. Don't be fearful. No matter what you're going through right now or what God in his wisdom may cause to bring into your lives, no matter what happens, your witness and advocate and intercessor and great high priest will pray you through that and get you through to the other side.

And my only final question to you who are listening to me today is do you know him? Is Jesus Christ your Savior? Is he your Lord? Have you trusted in Christ for the forgiveness of your sins? And if not, I would just plead with you, cross over today. Cross over today from death to life. All you have to do is repent of your sins. Just acknowledge that you're a sinner. Don't think that Jesus is going to get up there and say, "Oh, he, she is perfect. They never did anything wrong." It's not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. Jesus came to call sinners to repentance. So repent and find in Jesus this intercessory ministry. Close with me in prayer.

Lord, thank you for the time we've had to study these three chapters, how rich they are. Lord, it's hard to read. Some of it's hard. Some of it's dark and depressing. But Lord, we thank you, that you have given us light in the midst of darkness. You've given us radiant truth that we can look at and admire the glistening, sparkling beauty of Jesus as our advocate and our intercessor and our friend on high. And we thank you for the things we learned and pray that you would press them to our hearts. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Job feels that death is his only hope, but in a moment of clarity knows that his witness, advocate, and intercessor is found in Christ.

The post Our Heavenly Witness, Advocate, and Intercessor (Job Sermon 11) appeared first on Two Journeys.

In this thirteenth episode of the Peter Podcast Series, Andy and Wes talk about 2 Peter 2:1-22. They discuss the danger of false teachers, and what will happen to them as a result.

The post Peter Episode 13 – The Danger and Final Judgment of False Teachers appeared first on Two Journeys.