"Yea, young children despise me: I arose, and they spake against me.  All my inward friends abhorred me: and they whom I love turned against me.  My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.  Have pity on me, O ye my friends: for the hand of God hath touched me.  Why do you persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?  Oh that my words were now written!  Oh that they were printed in a book!  That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock forever!  For I know that my Redeemer liveth forever."

Job 19:18-25

Every year there is always something that tries to disclaim Jesus Christ and attack the Christian faith.  Last year it was The DiVinci Code, a movie base on the fictitious book claiming that Jesus was not divine but a mortal man.  Now the latest claim is that in the 1980's someone found a tomb with boxes containing the bones of Mary, Joseph, another Mary and Jesus.  There were others in the tomb, but the discoverers were saying that they had enough evidence to prove that this was the burial place of Jesus Christ.  Now if that is true, it means that the very pillar of our faith is false.  The New Testament faith is built upon the fact that Jesus, though He died on the cross, though He was buried and laid in a tomb for three days, is now alive.  He was resurrected from the dead.  I like what the angel said to Mary when she went to the tomb on the first day of the week.  The angel said, "Why seek ye the living from among the dead?  He is not here."

Job was a man who was persecuted.  He went though trials and tribulations.  In the first two chapters of the book of Job we see how much he was persecuted.  His friends despised him and even little children shied away from him.  In Job 3:1-3 Job says, "I wish I had never been born because my life is such a mess."  Yet, through it all, Job said, "I know that my Redeemer liveth."

I want to preach about the Redeemer this morning --  Jesus Christ.  The "scientific evidence" seems to be overwhelming.  They have these bones; they have the tomb; and they have the boxes with the names written on them.  However, do you know what they fail to realize -- this (pointing to the Bible) is also scientific.  Amen!  Someone who knows everything wrote this book.  That seems scientific to me.  The book of Genesis is a written account of how the world was scientifically created.  He did not just toss the stars into the heavens; He lovingly placed every one of them into their own special place.

The book of Job was written some 1500 years before the New Testament.  It is one of the oldest books of the Bible, maybe the oldest book.  Now, how did Job know that his Redeemer liveth, if He had not come to earth yet?  It is very simple.  Jesus has always been as eternal as God the Father has been.

In Genesis 1:26, God said, "Let us make man in our own image."  Now, who is "Us"?  They are God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Trinity has always been and it will always be.  Jesus did not just show up on the scene when He was born and placed in the manger.  He did not come out of nowhere.  He chose to leave the regal surroundings of Heaven and enter a world of pain and suffering.  He purchased us with His blood and we belong to Him.  He made the payment we could not make for ourselves.

For I delivered unto you first of all that Christ died for our sins according to the Scripture.  He was buried, and that He arose on the third day according to the Scripture.  Cephas, the 12 disciples and five hundred brethren saw him. 

I Corinthians 15:3-6

That should be enough evidence to disprove the controversy.  This blessed book has endured for thousands of years and it will continue to endure.  My Jesus is alive!  Guess where He is right now -- He is seated at the right hand of God right now and He is making intercession for every one of us.  He says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."

I will close with Romans 20:9 -- "That if thou shalt confess Him with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."  Scientific truth or Bible truth -- which one will you choose?  I place my life on Bible truth.

Bro. Earnest Fields Jr.
March 4, 2007

Sermon edited by Mary King

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