A Christian Response to Suffering II - Part 2 of 2

The Baptist Bible Hour now comes to you under the direction of Elder Lacerre Bradley, Jr. O for a thousand tongues to sing, my great Redeemer's praise, the praise of my God and King, the triumphs of his grace.

This is Lacerre Bradley, Jr. inviting you to stay tuned for another message of God's sovereign grace. Now in my praise, eternal King, be all my thoughts employed. While of this precious truth I sing, cast down, but not destroy. Cast down, but not destroy. Cast down, but not destroy. While of this precious truth I sing, cast down, but not destroy.

Off the united powers upheld, my soul has sore annoyed. And yet I live this truth to tell, cast down, but not destroy. Cast down, but not destroy. Cast down, but not destroy. And yet I live this truth to tell, cast down, but not destroy.

In all the past through which I've passed, one mercy I've enjoyed. And this shall be my song at last, cast down but not destroy. Cast down, but not destroy. Cast down, but not destroy. And this shall be my song at last, cast down but not destroy.

When I with God in heaven appear, there shall I him adore. Destroyed shall be my sin and fear, and I cast down no more. And I cast down no more. And I cast down no more. Destroyed shall be my sin and fear, and I cast down no more. I hope you will take time to write us and let us know that you've listened to our broadcast.

Our address is Baptist Bible Hour, Box 17037, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. God moves in a mysterious way, his wonders to perform. He plants his first steps in the sea, he rides upon the storm. Deep in unfathomable minds of ever-failing skin, he treasures up his bright designs and works his sovereign will. Ye fearful saints, fresh-courage'd stay, the crowd did so much dread, are bid with mercy and shall break in blessings on your head. Just not the Lord, my feeble saint, but trust him for his grace.

Behind a frowning proper dance, he hides a smiling face. His firm passes will ripen fast, unfolding every hour. The blood may have a bitter taste, but sweet will be the fire. Mind a belief, it sure to air, and stand his work in vain. God is his own interpreter, and he will make it plain. We continue today with the message by Brian Hedges, pastor of Redeemer Church in Niles, Michigan. Now if you would like to hear additional messages from this series on the book of Job, messages that were delivered at Cincinnati Promotive Baptist Church at the annual meeting, you can find them on our website at BaptistBibleHour.org.

D.A. Carson says, Despite his agony, Job is still thinking from within the framework of a committed believer his suffering is not driving him to agnosticism or naturalism. And this is what so often happens when people suffer. They begin not only to ask the questions, why, but they jettison faith altogether. People withdraw. They withdraw from worship. They withdraw from church. They quit praying. That's not Job.

Job does not do that. He continues to pray and express these emotions to the Lord. He does not lose his faith. We also have to remember that Job's words really are expressing the anguish of his soul. Carson, again, calls this the rhetoric of anguish and despair.

The most remarkable thing of all is just that Job keeps on believing. He expresses his lament to the Lord. He expresses his complaint to the Lord. But then he also expresses his request, his request.

And there really are three parts to the request. He wants to be vindicated. He wants to have his day in court with God. And he recognizes his need for a mediator, someone to stand between him and God.

Again, I'll just give you a couple of examples. Job 23, verses three through seven. Oh, that I knew where I might find him. That I might come even to his seat. I would order my cause before him and fill my mouth with arguments. I would know the words which he would answer me and understand what he would say to me. Will he plead against me with his great power? No, but he would put strength in me. There the righteous might dispute with him, so should I be delivered forever from my judge.

You see what he's saying? He's saying, I want my day in court with God. I want to be vindicated. He wants to be vindicated because his friends, as we're going to see this afternoon, his friends are accusing him of some secret sin. They're accusing him of not being a righteous man after all.

Job, what is it that you've done? How is it that you have sinned against God? Or maybe it's your children that have sinned against God and that's why all this is happening to you. And Job is refusing to confess a sin that he's not committed. But he feels that he needs to be vindicated. And so he's longing for this. He's longing for his innocence, his blamelessness to be established. And he longs for a day in court before God. But he does recognize his need for a mediator. And again, I'll just give you some brief examples.

I hope it's not too wearsome turning back and forth in this book. Job chapter 9 verses 32 and 33. For he is not a man as I am that I should answer him and we should come together in judgment. Neither is there any daysman betwixt us. A daysman would be a mediator, an arbiter.

Neither is there any daysman or mediator betwixt us that might lay his hand upon us both. So you see what Job is saying he needs. He needs someone to be a mediator between him and God. Someone who can lay his hand on God.

Someone who can lay his hand on Job. And Job chapter 16 verses 19 through 21. He says, also now behold my witnesses in heaven and my record is on high.

My friends scorn me but mine eye poureth out tears unto God. Oh that one might plead for a man with God as a man pleadeth for his neighbor. He needs someone to plead his case.

He wants an advocate, an attorney, a mediator. And then the strongest words of all and these are words that really express great hope on the part of Job in Job chapter 19 verses 25 through 27. He says, for I know that my redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth and though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for myself and mine eyes shall behold and not another though my reigns be consumed within me. I know that my redeemer liveth. Now we need to understand that word redeemer.

There's a couple of shades of meaning to that word. A redeemer referred to a relative, a kinsman who would then have the legal right in certain cases to help someone out of their difficulty. The greatest example of this is in the book of Ruth. You remember that Boaz is a kinsman redeemer for Naomi and for Ruth and is able to help them out of their plight.

You have the law for this given in Leviticus chapter 25. This word redeemer also carries the idea of a champion, a defender or an avenger. The redeemer would be someone who would avenge a murdered relative. So justice would be placed in the hands of a redeemer and it's a word that's often used of God himself. God as the redeemer of his people, the redeemer of Israel, the one who rescued them from Egypt.

I love the way Stephen Lawson puts it. He says a redeemer was a vindicator of what? Redeemer was a vindicator of one who was unjustly wronged.

He was a defender of the oppressed, a champion of the suffering, an advocate of one unjustly accused. If you were ever wronged, a redeemer would come and stand beside you as your champion and advocate. He was on your team to pull you through to see that you were done right.

He was the cavalry riding to your rescue. And that's what Job says he needs. Now we don't know how much Job understood of all the biblical nuances of this word, but it does seem here that Job has a glimmer of hope. I know that my redeemer liveth. And he's looking to someone to be his mediator, his redeemer, his champion. And brothers and sisters, we can say without any shadow of a doubt that what Job needed is what Jesus Christ is. He is our redeemer.

He is our mediator, the mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus who gave himself as a ransom for our sins. So we've seen three things now about Job's prayers. We've seen his lament as he prays his emotions and brings them to the Lord. We've seen his complaint as he expresses honestly to God the things that he thinks and the things that he feels.

And we've seen his great request to be vindicated, to have his day in court with God and to have a redeemer, a mediator at his side. I think in light of this, we can draw out three lessons for our own lives in our suffering. The first lesson is about emotions.

And we could just say this about emotions that while emotions are normal, they are not defining and they are not permanent. There are tensions in Job's words and emotions. They're expressions of both deep doubts and substantial faith. He says, though he slay me, I will trust in him.

And yet in another passage, he will say, God has become my enemy. He grapples with the hiddenness of God, but even as he grapples, he's holding on to hope, even if it's just by the fingernails. And what we see in Job is kind of a growth pattern in the course of this book as shock gives way to reflection, anger to acceptance, as he eventually moves from a place of grief to one of comfort. And this is so encouraging for us, brothers and sisters, because it means also in our lives that our emotions, though they are very real and though we should be honest with them in the moment of suffering, those emotions don't last forever. Those emotions will change. Those emotions are not the defining thing about us. And those emotions can coexist with deep abiding trust and faith in God. We need to not be stoics in our approach to our suffering.

We don't just keep a stiff upper lip and refuse to ever express what we feel. On the other hand, we shouldn't just let our emotions control us, fly about unhindered. The right way to handle our emotions is to take this raging river of feeling within us and channel it in the riverbanks of prayer. And by prayer, control those emotions, take them to the Lord, express them to him, and let him comfort us. So a lesson about emotions.

While they are normal, they are not defining and they are not permanent. Also a lesson about God. Though he is sometimes hidden, he is never indifferent. We know what Job did not know. We know that God was testing Job. We know that God regarded Job as my servant Job.

There's no one like him. And we will see tomorrow morning that God revealed himself to Job. That God restored Job. And so while it is true that there is a time when God seemed to be hidden from him, God was not indifferent to his pain or his suffering. And though God may sometimes seem hidden from you, he is also not indifferent to you in your pain and in your suffering. Many of us, I know, have taken comfort from the words of that old hymn by William Cooper, a man who experienced much suffering.

Chronic depression throughout his life, often despairing that he was even a child of God. And yet he was able to write these wonderful words. God moves in a mysterious way, his wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm.

Deep and unfathomable minds of never failing skill. He treasures up his bright designs and works his sovereign will. And then listen to this exhortation. Ye fearful saints, the fresh courage take, the clouds you so much dread are big with mercy and will break in blessing on your head. Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust him for his grace behind a frowning providence. He hides a smiling face. His purposes will ripen fast, unfolding every hour.

The bud may have a bitter taste, but sweet will be the flower. Blind unbelief is sure to err and scan his work in vain. God is his own interpreter, and he will make it plain. Sometimes his ways are hidden from us, but he is never, ever indifferent to us. And the final lesson this morning is one about the Lord Jesus.

And it is this, that we do have a mediator. We have a redeemer. We have a champion who has suffered for us and with us, who sympathizes with us, who intercedes for us, and who someday will raise us from all of our suffering, even the suffering of death. You remember when we started in Job chapter 3, we saw that he used the language of roaring to describe the affliction that he felt. There's another place in Scripture where that word is used in an emotional context. It's in Psalm 22 verse 1, where the psalmist David says, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And why art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring? And those are the very words that the Lord Jesus quoted as he hung on the cross, suffering for us and for our sins. And I want to end by reading to you the words of Romans chapter 8 that tell us what this suffering, sympathetic Savior does for us. I know these words are precious to your heart.

What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather that is risen again, and listen to this, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

We do have a mediator. We have one who prays for us, who lays his hand upon us, who is our champion, who is our advocate, our advocate with the Father. This gives us great hope, great hope in the security of God's love. We will never be separated from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, so that each one of us can say even more truly than Job said, I know that my Redeemer lives, and on the last day he will stand upon the earth, and after my skin has been destroyed in my flesh, I will see God. I began this message this morning with the story of Joni Eareckson Tada, and there's another account that she gives of a time when she was in a conference where she's in her wheelchair, and there comes a point in the meeting, a time of worship where the leader asks everyone to drop to their knees in prayer, and everyone across the whole auditorium is going to their knees, and here's Joni in her wheelchair unable to kneel, and she began to weep, but she said that she wasn't weeping because she couldn't kneel, she was weeping because she was struck with the beauty of so many people on bended knees before the Lord.

She said it was a picture of heaven, and then she says this, she says, sitting there I was reminded that in heaven I will be free to jump up, dance, kick, and do aerobics, but the first thing I plan to do on resurrected legs is to drop down on grateful glorified knees. I will quietly kneel at the feet of Jesus, I with shriveled bent fingers, atrophied muscles, gnarled knees, and no feeling from the shoulders down will one day have a new body, light, bright, and clothed in righteousness. Brothers and sisters, that's our hope in suffering. It's the hope that Christ who died for us has been raised again. He intercedes for us now, and someday he will raise us up in glory. We know our Redeemer lives, and we will see him with our own eyes. We also will be glorified, and this means that cancer does not get the last word. It means that ALS does not get the last word, that Alzheimer's does not have the final word because Christ is risen. It means that someday every tear will be wiped away from our eyes. Every moment of suffering that we have experienced will be more than recompensed with the glory of heaven.

Brothers and sisters, we hope for this, we wait for this. You might ask, can I know that that hope is mine this morning? And you can know if you will do as Job did, and as countless believers through the centuries have done, if you will call upon the name of the Lord. Call upon his name, pray, pray your burdens, your trials, your sufferings, bring them to him, ask him for his mercy, and for his grace. Let's pray together. Father, once again, we thank you for the testimony of your servant, Job, and for including this account in your word, and for how it can teach us, and encourage us, and give us comfort in the midst of our suffering. And we thank you especially for the hope of the gospel, that Jesus Christ is our mediator, our Redeemer, and our Advocate. We thank you that through his suffering, he has brought an end to sin and death, and that someday when he returns, every tear will be wiped away from our eyes. May it give us comfort this morning, and we thank you for the testimony of your servant, Job, may it give us comfort this morning, may it give us hope, may it sustain our faith in the midst of whatever we face, so that you may be glorified and honored in our lives. In this we pray, in Jesus' name, amen. Shout on, pray on, we're gaining ground. Glory, hallelujah, the dead's alive, the lost is found. Glory, hallelujah. I'm glad you've been with us today, and pray the message has been a blessing to you. The speaker is Brian Hedges, pastor of Redeemer Church in Niles, Michigan.

If you'd like to hear additional messages from this series on the book of Job, you can find them on our website at BaptistBibleHour.org, and you can make a donation there. Till next week at this same time, may the Lord richly bless you all. He lives my hungry soul to feed. Glory, hallelujah.

He lives to help in time of need. Glory, hallelujah. The Baptist Bible Hour has come to you under the direction of Elder LeSaire Bradley, Jr. Address all mail to the Baptist Bible Hour, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217.

That's the Baptist Bible Hour, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. He lives, my Jesus, still the same. Glory, hallelujah. Oh, thus we join this sentence gives. Glory, hallelujah. I know that my Redeemer lives. Glory, hallelujah.