Now, would you turn with me, please, this evening to that portion of God's Word that we read, the book of Job and chapter 19. And with our minds upon the nature of this day, a day of preparation to come around the table of the Lord, We wish to consider something, and we hope a precious thing from this passage this evening. And it's found in the words that we have, the well-known words that we have in verse 25. So Job chapter 19 and verse 25. For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. Now just for a moment this evening, let us orientate ourselves where this text comes in, where this thought as it has been planted by the Lord in the mind of Job is. We know the great difficulties that have fallen upon this servant of the Lord. We know that he has suffered pain in the body. We know that he has indeed gone through the trials in the family. We know that all of his substance has been removed out of his experience. We can say that almost bit by bit, he is losing every hope that he has. And he comes into a state, and we believe that there is an argument that it is so here, he's come into a state of almost despondency. He has come, and his friends have come to him to bring solace and to bring comfort, and they bring nothing at all of comfort. They bring salt to rub in his wounds. Indeed, the interesting thing is this, and this should be an encouragement to us. Instead of coming to deal in circumstances like that with the outward things that we might take as the comfort of the Lord, he comes and he looks onto the justice of God. He falls upon the justice of God. to be his encouragement and to be his vindication at this time. Because you see, he knew that God would be the one who would vindicate him. His friends were not going to vindicate him. There was nothing that he could look out even in the hope of his hands and see that there was support. And so he comes. and he looks onto the justice of God, even so contenting himself. And this is an amazing thing. If we have gone through trials at all ourselves, if we have had something of the situation perhaps here that Job has where he has friends who are no comforters at all, If we have come to the point where perhaps those that we thought close to us betray us, we might come and say, well, I want vindication now. But Job is content with vindication after his death. Because he says, I know that my Redeemer lives. Either in this life, vindication, or afterwards, vindication. He has an assurance here. And friends, you know, isn't it an easy thing for us, relatively speaking, to have assurance when things seem to go well? But what happens when the dark cloud comes? What happens when it casts a shadow over our brightness? What happens when it punctures the joy of the Christian life? Ah, he says, I know that my Redeemer liveth. Friends, that is it this evening. When we come to prepare ourselves to come around the table of the Lord, There might be many things that you are bringing in your heart this evening. You will have had self-examination brought to you over these days. You will have examined yourselves over these days. That is right and proper to come around the table of the Lord. But you might be carrying something in your heart, a heaviness. And that somehow that heaviness this evening is casting a shadow. It's taking away the joy. You're to look to the Redeemer. You're to look to him. Because you see here, Job had this assurance that he had an advocate that was going to plead his cause. and he was going to vindicate him. That's what I wish us to consider this evening as we come to prepare ourselves to remember. And perhaps I'll remind us again of this tomorrow. What are we doing tomorrow? We are coming, first and foremost, tomorrow, not to remember the death of the Lord, but we are coming to remember the Lord in his death. And there is a distinction. There is an emphasis that is not just a play on words. Because Christ himself said, do this in remembrance of me. So when we come tomorrow, we do it in remembrance of him, the one who is our Redeemer. Let me consider this evening four things. about this Redeemer that Job had, and I believe when we have, it is a preparation for tomorrow. He says, for I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. What was it that this Redeemer was going to bring to Job in his straits? Well, the first thing that he brings to Job, and he brings to us, and we remind ourselves of it as we prepare for tomorrow, is that he brings friendship. Our Redeemer brings friendship. You see that word there, Redeemer, it has behind it three strands of thought. It's the word goel. The first thing that it reminds us of is that it reminds us that our Redeemer is our friend. Indeed, he is our nearest friend. He is the one who is our kinsman. Now, that will immediately remind us, I'm sure, of the book of Ruth. What was Boaz? Boaz was the king's man redeemer. He was the one who was near in kinship onto Ruth. And as he was near in kinship onto Ruth, he was the one that could redeem her. You see, friends, when Job comes and he says, I know that my redeemer liveth, when he was losing all that was close to him. And he speaks about that here in this chapter. He says, all my inward friends abhorred me, and they whom I loved are turned against me. Ah, I know that my kinsman liveth. I know that my kinsman liveth. Here we have the affinity. And friends, this evening, there is none closer to us, none closer to us spiritually as the Lord's people than Christ himself. He's closer than your wife. He's closer than your husband. because you have been taken out of his side. None so close, none so close. Here was a man that was cast down spiritually, and yet there was enough left, enough of hope that was left that he could cry out these words. Isn't it like the man in the parable of the Good Samaritan? It's a beautiful account. Here was this poor man. And the robbers had come. They had battered him. They had robbed him. They had taken away everything from him. He was left at the roadside to die. His breath was barely coming from his lungs. But you know, there was one thing that they could not take from him, and that was the hope that he had in his heart. Friends, you might lose everything this evening, but there is one thing that cannot be taken from you, and that is the Redeemer in your heart. Some of you will be acquainted with the man who is brought up in Lewis and then went to make his home in Skye, Angus of the Hills. And you will remember that Angus was somebody who was challenged in many ways, mentally, but he knew the Lord. He loved the Lord. He knew that his Redeemer lived. And he was, on a Saturday of a communion, he was given a token. And the poor man on the Sabbath morning, he had lost his token when he went to the elder. I suppose it's everyone's fear in a way. And when the elder challenged him about losing the token, what sort of a Christian he was, ah, he said, that is only, that's only a piece of metal. There is the token, the one who was residing in his heart. And no man could pluck that out of his heart. He couldn't lose his redeemer. Because you see, friends, he is the one who is of our kindred. And what is it when we are brought into union with Christ? We are adopted into the family of the Lord. We have one who is our father, but we have one who is our elder brother. He was a kinsman. because there was an infinity there. But remember Christ is our kinsman and he is our kinsman voluntarily. The counsel of eternity as a people were given as a token of love from the Father to the Son. He took us. He took Job. He took you and he took me and Christ. And he took us seeing our sin, seeing that sin that is within your heart this evening. You see the doubts that you have, the lack of the graces in your heart, the marks of grace that you have. We remember that all of those things are filled onto us in Jesus Christ, the one who is Our elder brother, he's the one who is our surety. You know, there is a sense of security here. As we come on to the end of this chapter, you'll see there is a recounting of all that has taken place, of all of the trials he had to face. And here is a man who faced trials that we have not faced. and yet into comfort. You can feel the comfort here, for I know that my Redeemer liveth. He was looking to the one who was assured. You know, friends, I suppose it is the same with us over every communion season. We come and we have been bruised over these days. Of course we will have been. Because this is a time when we do particularly engage in self-examination. And we feel the arrows of Scripture. We feel the cuts that come to us from the Word. And you might, even as you come this evening, to contemplate coming around the table tomorrow, you might have many doubts. You might even be here this evening and you're not a member, and it is because you have many doubts. Well, let me tell you what I heard my old elder in Skye saying one evening. He said, we might tremble standing on the rock. But remember, the rock never trembles. Christ is the one, there are no doubts in him. There is the one that we can find as our redeemer with all of the sense of strength that he gives to us. Don't come to the table of the Lord tomorrow, friends, in your own strength. You will come sorrowful, be looking on to the one who is the Redeemer, because he is the strength." So we see the affinity here. He's our kinsman. We see the willingness. We see that he is the covenant head, but we know something else. He's the one that delightfully engages in this. Hebrews chapter 2, he is not ashamed. to call us brethren. You have heard from Hebrews last evening. You have heard how it needs to have that faith. And that is how we come. We just don't think about faith on a Friday evening. We think about it on a Saturday, we think about it on a Sabbath, we think about it on a Monday, but we live it on a Tuesday. You need faith every day. And here was a man who came, and he will have gone through many of the things that you're going through this evening. Because friends, the questions that you ask, the doubts that you have, the feelings that you have, they're not peculiar to you. You come back into the Scriptures, you see that there with the Apostle Paul. When he cries out at the end of Romans 7, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? That's what you feel like on the Saturday of a communion. You felt it yesterday, you felt it on Saturday, you will feel it tomorrow morning. But you will be able to thank the Lord. for that new principle that he has put in your life, that you know that your Redeemer liveth, and he is the one who is your strength. So we see that there is friendship here because he is a kinsman, but secondly, and here is another aspect of this word goel, it means kinsman, but it has the idea of advocate behind it. an advocate behind it. And oh, how important that is in the life of Job. This is the whole issue that he has. He feels that there is no vindication of his cause, no vindication of what he is going through. Ah, but he has a redeemer. He is the advocate. He is the advocate. He is the advocate from every false charge. What do the friends come and say? He's got the boils. He's got the sores. He's got the wounds. Oh, he must be a great sinner. Have you got the sores? Have you got the wounds? Have you got the pains of being a Christian? You know what the devil is saying to you? You must be a great sinner. And the table of the Lord is not for great sinners. You have no place at this table of the Lord. That's what he's saying to you. What do you say to him? I know that my Redeemer liveth. I know that he liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And I know that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin. That is a statement. That is a principle. That is a belief. That is a faith that the evil one cannot counter. Christian this evening, are you going to say that because you're justified, because you have that work of sanctification going on in your life, because you were adopted, and that work of sanctification will be completed when you are glorified, that you are innocent? No. We are not innocent. We are declared just, but we are not innocent. but the blood of Jesus Christ covers us from all sin. He's the one who is the advocate who will clear from the true charges as well. Let me say this to us this evening, and I say it to myself as well as to you. Very often, we do lack assurance. And that can be for many reasons. But one of the reasons is this, that we do not always hold the promises of God. We know them. We believe them. but we don't always apply them. One of the old Scottish writers, Fraser of Alnus, he said this, what we must do is to apply the blood of Christ to the conscience, to the conscience. believing what it means to have that application to the conscience. You take, for instance, that text, the blood of Jesus Christ cleansed us from all sin. Well, is there any exception to that? It's all sin, all of it. You know, it can be in our lives that perhaps There is something in our life in the past, even maybe what might be regarded as not a huge issue, not a major issue, when it's placed in relationship to other types of sin. And of course, all sin is sin. But we do know from our catechism that some are more heinous than others. There might be something relatively small, and yet that's something that we have not forgiven ourselves for. And somehow at the back of our minds we believe that Christ has not forgiven us. And so that takes away our assurance, it robs us of that Christian joy, and it leaves us perhaps questioning, as Job says, is the root of the matter within us. Friends, we look to the Redeemer. We look to the Redeemer. Is the Redeemer capable of redeeming? Is the blood of Jesus Christ indeed applicable in that it cleanses from all sin? And if the answer is yes, then why do you disbelieve the word of the Lord? So goel means kinsman. Goel also means advocate, but it does indeed mean redeemer. It means redeemer, and we see that in the case of Boaz. He was the kinsman redeemer. He was the goel. He was the one who was able to redeem Ruth. And how does he redeem us? He redeems us body and soul. He redeems us body and soul. Isn't that what we read over in Romans chapter eight? And there you will remember that in Romans chapter eight, that chapter that is known as the great chapter of the spirit, this is what the apostle tells us. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves, grown within ourselves, waiting for the adoption to wit, the redemption of our body." Oh, he speaks here about the worms of the latter day. You know, friends, even the body of the Christian is redeemed. even when we're laid in the grave, and that body returns into dust, it is superintended to be reunited one day with the soul. That's what our Catechism reminds us. Because He is our Redeemer, the one who is the Redeemer of body and of soul. And He redeems both. by the price of his blood, and by the power of his endless life. So when he comes and he says, I know that my Redeemer liveth, he was a friend. This Redeemer was a friend. And so he is to you and to me this evening. That's how we approach the table of the Lord. He is our friend. But the second thing you'll notice here, implied in this, is that having this Redeemer, there are riches. There are riches. He speaks of my Redeemer, as much as we have said already, as everything else is gone in the world, I have Him. He goes through the catalogue here. He goes through the friends that had betrayed him, to those that had gone. And he says, ah, but I know that my Redeemer liveth. See, he could see the unsearchable riches of Christ. And friends, this evening, whether you are going to be those who go to the table or those and the Lord has been working with you in your heart over these days, over these weeks, over these months, perhaps even years. Could we say that even decades? And as you have approached this, perhaps you have been looking in to find signs or to find marks or to find treasures to show that you're a Christian. Ultimately, we are in poverty. We are in poverty. And if we do not see our poverty, then friends, we will never see the riches of Christ. We will never see that there are unsearchable riches in heaven. We will never see that there is indeed that one who is there in all of his offices. Maybe there's somebody here this evening, and this is something we've all faced, maybe before we came to know the Lord. And our great concern was this. Our concern was, well, if I were to make a profession and to go to the table of the Lord, What happens if I slipped away? You see, I couldn't keep that profession. I don't believe I could walk that Christian walk. I don't believe that I could do what is demanded of a member. You're right. You're absolutely right, you couldn't. Remember who Christ is. He's the one who is a king. And he enters in and he subdues, he subdues the sin. He conquers it bit by bit so that we can say what the apostle, maybe we don't say it too often, Sin now has no more dominion over me. Why is that? Because of the one who is the king. Do you have sin in your life? Of course you do. But it doesn't control, it doesn't rule, it doesn't conquer, because you have one who is King Jesus. the one who is the Redeemer, the one who has riches to deal with your poverty. And that is the one that we come to remember tomorrow, and indeed in preparation for tomorrow. Riches. Do we leave ourselves in his hands? Remember how he is, he's the Lord. He's the Lord. I've been always taken by how easy it is to recognize and to say he is Lord and then to live to ourselves. And wasn't that so with Peter? You remember when the white cloth was laid out before Peter? And you will remember that he could see the pictures, the animals that were displayed upon that cloth, and they were unclean animals, and he was told to eat. Paul's response, not so, Lord. Now, how can you have a response like that? Not so, Lord. If he is my Lord, then I follow him. If he is my king, then I follow him. So often, we can be like that. You know how it is that we bring to the Lord, perhaps, our supplications and our prayers, there is some trial in our lives, we bring it to the Lord. And then we take it back and we continue to be anxious about it. No, in him, there are riches. And so Job could see that. Friendship, riches. You know, thirdly, what it was, there was life. There was life. I know that my Redeemer liveth. That is how we have that life, because we live in Christ. We don't have a life if we're not in Christ. We have an existence, but we do not live. See, he's the one who is life itself. Remember, he's the one that reminds us that we have an everlasting Father. Job knew this, that there was one who was a never-lasting father. Though all around him would crumble, he knew that there was this that would remain a true. He's the Redeemer. How does Paul put it in Hebrews? You remember how we have it in Hebrews about Moses. You heard of Moses last evening? Moses, oh, Moses. Paul says, he's faithful Moses. He was faithful. He was faithful, of course, in giving the law. He was faithful in leading his people. He was faithful. Ah, but he says, he was a servant. He was a servant. This one that we have is master, he's head of the house. Because he brings life. And in this house, in this family of God, there is life. That's the wonderful truth that there is life. Because he lives, we shall live also. Why are we meeting tomorrow? If tomorrow were not a communion Sabbath, why would we meet tomorrow? Because Christ rose again from the dead. But you know, there is more to the resurrection than that. Because you remember Jesus said, he says, I am the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord. I am the resurrection. Now, was he speaking about the resurrection of his body? Well, yes he was. Of course he was. But there is more to it than that. When he says, I am the resurrection of the life, it means he gives resurrection from the dead. every child of God, every Christian this evening, you know that that is so in your life. He brought resurrection into your life. He took you out of the deadness of sin, out of bondage itself, and he brought you into the family of God. And as we said, there is life because he's still living. and he's interceding for us, even this evening. So often you come in prayer, and maybe because of the weight of the burden that you have, you find it so difficult to pray. You find it hard, you find that the heavens are as brass unto you. You find that the words are too painful to come from your lips. Even those groanings that cannot be uttered, they are brought even to heaven itself. Our time is gone, we've finished with this. And he said, I know that my Redeemer liveth. He was speaking of his friendship He was speaking of his riches, he was speaking of life itself, but we'll just touch on this. And I know that perhaps I'm transgressing into yesterday, but while there are different days, they all come together. You cannot separate one from the other. There is assurance. He says, I know. I know that my Redeemer liveth. He didn't doubt it. He didn't doubt it. And friends, as you have come here, as I say, you might have, much by way of weight, you might have questions in your mind, whether, you know, this evening, as the call will no doubt go out, Any who wish to profess faith in the Lord Jesus Christ for the first time within the bounds of the congregation, you will have a sense in your heart that you know not only that Christ is the Redeemer, but that he is my Redeemer. He is my Redeemer. And what does this take? What was it that Job had that at this point he could say this? Well, the first thing was, of course, he had faith. He had faith that this was so, and faith made it certain. There is nothing stronger in life than faith, even weak faith. Weak faith is the strongest thing of all. What is faith? Faith is the substance of things not seen. That is a wonderful verse. The substance of things not seen. That's how strong faith is. It lays hold on the unseen and it sees substance. That is what saving faith does. See, faith reaches out of the self and it's onto Christ. And here is where Job finds all of his comfort, for he says, I know that my Redeemer liveth. He was able to lift his eyes beyond the trials. He was able to lift his eyes beyond himself and look to the one who is. the Redeemer, and he was the one who looked to the promises, and we just leave that there. Tomorrow, as we come around the table of the Lord, if it be his will, we're to look to the one, not who was in the elements, The elements are there for our senses to point us in faith to the one that we feed upon spiritually. That tomorrow, as we come and we approach and as we continue to prepare, let us look to him as the one who is our kinsman. The one who is here, the living one. The one who shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. Looking to Christ. May the Lord bless his word to us. Let us pray.