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My Redeemer Lives !!!
Contributed by Vinnie Cappetta on Jun 12, 2006 (message contributor)
Summary: In times of great pain, we often lose confidence that God is really there or we lose confidence in His ability to “work things out for our good” (Romans 8:28). What’s the difference between someone who experiences the redeeming power of Christ during
My RedeemerLives Job 19:1-26
Give background info on the passage
Scripture Reading of first 22 verses
In times of great pain, we often lose confidence that God is really there or we lose confidence in His ability to “work things out for our good”(Romans 8:28).
What’s the difference between someone who experiences the Redeeming power of Christ during their time of pain, and someone who doesn’t experience that Redeeming power until much later or not at all?
I believe that the secrets can be found in Job 19:25
Look at what Job said in v.23, “oh that my words could be written. Oh that they could be inscribed on a monument, carved with an iron chisel and filled with lead, engraved forever in the rock."
Guess what, Job. They were engraved and we are reading them thousands of years later.
Job said, "I KNOW"
Instead of bringing uncertainty, suffering can actually bring greater clarity and certainty about the existence of God.
ILLUSTRATE: I didn’t know much about God before suffering. Suffering drove me to God’s love letter, the Bible. From this book, I learned that God could use the horrific death of my mother and stepfather to bring me life through the gospel. I learned that Romans 8:28 is true. I know there is a God b/c He turned a confused, crying, suicidal preteen into a teenager who had enough hope for the future to volunteer for God’s service full-time.
But he knows where I am going. And when he has tested me like gold in a fire, he will pronounce me innocent.
To some degree, Job knew he was being tested. He didn’t know about the conversation between God and Satan.
From this account, we can be certain of one thing: Satan has no authority over you and me except what authority is given to him by God.
Two kinds of suffering/trials
1)Chastening of the Lord (Job 36:15, “gets our attention”)
2)Temptation from Satan (like Job experienced)
While we may not understand everything about our suffering, we can KNOW as Job knew that God has a purpose for everything…
Job said "MY"
The certainty of which we just spoke goes beyond some theological knowledge about God to the experience of having God there for us during our suffering.
If only I had someone who would listen to me and try to see my side!
That is exactly what we need. We need something personal-someone right there with us in our pain. Someone who understands what we are going through.
Hebrews 4:15 announces, This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same temptations we do, yet he did not sin.
He is ours!
A famous actor was once the guest of honor at a social gathering where he received many requests to recite favorite excerpts from various literary works. An old preacher who happened to be there asked the actor to recite the twenty-third Psalm. The actor agreed on the condition that the preacher would also recite it. The actor’s recitation was beautifully intoned with great dramatic emphasis for which he received lengthy applause. The preacher’s voice was rough and broken from many years of preaching, and his diction was anything but polished. But when he finished there was not a dry eye in the room. When someone asked the actor what made the difference, he replied, "I know the psalm, but he knows the Shepherd."
I believe that through suffering we learn to become closer with our Lord. Paul said in Philippians 3:10, “I can really know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I can learn what it means to suffer with him, sharing in his death.”
I had heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes.
It seems odd that Job was perfect before his temptation and that he only sinned after spending hours listening to his friends. It almost seems wrong of God to allow this until we understand this verse.
There is nothing to compare with seeing the Lord during your times of trial.
Job met God personally through his pain and he identified most with God’s redeeming power…
Job said "REDEEMER"
Since the Garden of Eden, we have needed redemption.
ILLUSTRATION: SODA CAN
We buy the can and pay a deposit fee of $.05. We take the can, drink the liquid in it, and often feel like throwing it away. Sometimes we bring it back to the store and they buy it back from us.
God doesn’t waste pain. B/c of our sin, suffering is a necessary part of our world, but God is so powerful and wise that he is able to redeem our suffering and make something useful our of it much like the store does with our soda bottles.
