Alright, back in Isaiah 43. Isaiah 43. You know, when the Lord gives
the assurance that there is no reason to fear,
that sinner has no reason to fear. I often think to myself, When I try to read, when I try
to pray, when I try to preach, Lord, can I deem myself a child? Would a child of God act and
think like I do? I tell you, verse 1 that we just
looked at, bears out to every sinner who sees himself by faith,
to be by nature a Jacob, a spiritual Jacob. And let me tell you something,
every Jacob knows that that old nature is still there. Every
Jacob knows that. Yeah, I see something of what
I am. But I can tell you this by faith. And it is only by faith, because
I know that that which is born of God sinneth not. I know that
that's so, but I just don't see it in me.
As I've said before, you tell me, what prayer have you ever
prayed that you thought to yourself, now boy, I knocked that one out
of the park. Ever had one of those? No, I
haven't either. Which time have you ever read
Scripture and not thought back, what did I read? Did I understand
anything? Has there ever been a time that
you've ever seen yourself having done anything perfectly? That's a Jacob. that believes
by grace that God has made him an Israel. Well, for all of you
Jacobs out there, I've got some good news for you. For all of
you that see yourselves in need of a Savior, for all of you that
see yourselves in need of one to keep you, because you know
that you're not going to keep yourself, I've got some good
news for you. Don't be afraid. Very soon, we're going to all
go over Jordan. We're going to go to the other
side. And when we pass through, the Lord has said, I'm not going
to leave you. I'm not going to forsake you.
Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. I'll hold you. The everlasting
arms of His mercy, grace, and power, I'm going to keep you.
Now for all of you that see yourselves as truly being Jacob's, and thinks
be unto God would make me an Israel, what does the Lord have
to say? Now, He said in verse 2, when
thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee, and through
the rivers they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through
the fire, I shall not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee." Now, whenever Israel crossed over the Red Sea on dry
ground, Scripture says, You know what I know? Christ was there. He was there. The scripture bears
out that he spoke to Moses. Moses you tell the people. Moses
you lift up the rod. Moses you lead the people. Moses
you tell the people to go. Scripture bears out that he was
in the pillar of the cloud and he looked. And he saw. Scripture bears out that the
Lord caused a mighty wind to come and blow and blow and split
that water. And that water stood up and a whole nation of Israel,
probably millions, millions of people, walked across. The Lord was there because the
Lord took the chariot wheels off of the chariots of the Egyptians
and they couldn't drive them anymore. They were stuck. And he drowned an entire army
along with Pharaoh. He says, when thou passest through
the waters, I will be with thee. When you go across the rivers,
they're not going to overflow thee. Remember, Scripture bears
out. Joshua 3, it talks about whenever
the nation of Israel came to the Jordan River and the Lord
told Joshua, He said, you tell the priest, come on. Start leading the people. And
when the feet of the priest touches the water, the water's not going
to overflow them. They touched that water and that
water backed up and stood up. And the Scripture says concerning
that event, the priest stood firm on dry ground in the midst
of the Jordan and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground until
all the people were passed clean over Jordan. Do you know why
that water didn't overflow Israel? Because the Lord was there. When
you pass through the waters, I'll be with you. When thou walkest
through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall
the flame kindle upon thee. You know what I'm going to say. Nebuchadnezzar said when the
music starts, everybody bow down. So the music started. Somebody
came up to Nebuchadnezzar and said, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego
didn't bow down. Nebuchadnezzar was going to give
them another chance. He said, now maybe you didn't
hear, maybe you weren't listening, maybe I don't know, but I'm going
to tell you something, I'm going to give you another chance. They
said, we don't have to be careful about what we're going to tell
you. We're not going to bow. We're not going to bow. Well, he fired up that furnace
and threw all three of those boys in there. And the Scripture
says that Nebuchadnezzar looked in and he said, Lo, I see four
men, loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no
hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. I wonder
how he knew that. God revealed to Nebuchadnezzar,
I'm here, I'm here, and these are mine, and you're not going
to hurt them. Old Jacobs, you that need a Savior,
we have one, we have one. The Lord has promised that we're
going to have afflictions in this world. But in the midst
of God's appointed afflictions and all that the Lord loves,
they're going to go through this world with chastisements and
trials and the water of adversity and the rivers of these trials
and fires. He's promised. not going to leave you. I've
told you before, for myself, if anybody needs to hear this,
I do. Because whenever my world starts
caving in, for me to be remembering, oh
Jacob, I've everlastingly loved you.
I sent this. I sent it. I caused you to walk through
the mists of the fire. I caused you to go through the
river of adversity. I caused you to go, but these
waters are not going to overflow you. This fire is not going to
burn you. Why? Because I'm here. Because
I'm here. Fear not, verse 3, O Jacob, O
Israel, For I am Jehovah. I've told you all capital letters,
Jehovah. I am the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit. I am that I am. I'm thy God. I'm your God. I'll be your God,
you'll be my people. For I am the Lord thy God, the
Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. He saves me. He keeps me. I gave Egypt for thy ransom. Ethiopia and Sheba for thee."
You know what he's saying? That for God's people, God will
raise up a nation and God will put down a nation. And those
nations will be sacrificed rather than His people perish. He said,
it ain't going to happen. It ain't going to happen. You're
not going to die. I told you, this tabernacle right
here is going to be put off. But He said, you're not going
to die. I'm not going to leave you. When you pass through, It
is not going to overflow you. You walk through the fire of
adversity and trial and tribulation, you're not going to be burned.
The Lord is there. I am the Lord thy God. Let me tell you, when you see
that, I'm the Lord thy God. Let me tell you who He is. He
is the God that David was talking about when he said, this is all
my hope, this is all my salvation. He made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things and sure. And He who gave me
unto Christ and put me in the surety, and the Father was the
first one that ever trusted in Christ. And Christ who has everlastingly
stood to answer every demand for justice and righteousness
on behalf of all that were given Him, I'll answer. I'll answer. And the Father looks
only to Him. Now isn't that comforting? He's
not looking to me. Thanks be unto God He's not looking
to me. I am a Jacob that God has made
by grace to be an Israel, found in Christ, formed in Christ. He said, I'm not going to leave
you. I'm not going to forsake you. It was the Father that said concerning
the Son, Isaiah 42.4, He shall not fail, nor be discouraged, till
he have set judgment in the earth, and the isles shall wait for
his law. Fear not. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid.
Verse 4, Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honorable,
and I have loved thee. Since thou wast precious in my
sight." Since you have been prized is the word. Precious, prized. Since you've been prized. How long has the objects of God's
mercy been prized in His sight? Always. Always. There's never been a time. Since
thou was precious in my sight. You say, well, that just means
that since they believed. Let me ask you this. When did
God change? Does God look upon the object
of His mercy right now as prized? At what point then did He not? He said, I don't change. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. Since thou wast precious in my
sight, thou hast been honorable. Found in the Lord Jesus Christ,
He said, I have loved thee. Therefore will I give men for
thee and people for thy life. What caused us to be precious
in His sight? Was there anything of value that
He looked down in time I see Marvin is going to... Now there's
going to be a faithful subject. Boy, there's going to be one
that I'll be able to put some trust in. There's one that will
never deviate, never wander, never... I'm sitting here with my poor
mother. Oh, the stories she could tell
you. But God Almighty would look upon me in Christ and say of
me, in Christ, since thou was precious in my sight, is Christ
precious in His sight? If I'm in Him, I'm precious in
His sight, for Christ's sake. For Christ's sake. Since thou has been honorable,
is Christ honorable? I am too in Him. I have loved
thee as He's loved the Son. That's just too deep for me to
grasp hold of. But I can tell you this, for
me to be prized and honorable and loved in Christ, He says
to me, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. Fear not. Our preciousness and honor is
totally being found in Him. Adopted. Adopted into His family
by Christ to Himself. We're precious in His sight.
Because the Son has betrothed Himself to us, because we are
precious to Him, His bride, He has eternally undertaken for
us. Reckoned by the Lord, Scripture
says, to be His portion. Therefore, God Almighty says
concerning His people, You're precious. You're precious. I
love you. Thou hast been honorable. I looked that word up, honorable.
And it says this, prevailed and promoted to honor. Thou hast been honorable. You've
prevailed. You've prevailed. Come in a time
when all men are going to stand before God. And Scripture says
he's going to separate the goats from the sheep. Goats he's going
to put on his left hand, sheep he's going to put on his right
hand. He's going to say to those, right
hand, sheep, enter in. Well done. Well done. Well done. Well done. A good, faithful servant. And a Jacob says, Lord, when was I ever faithful? In
myself? Never. In Him? Always. Charged with His righteousness,
robed in His righteousness, with His righteousness imputed to
me. Robed in His obedience, His righteousness,
that which He has done, of which the Father has said, this is
My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Robed in His righteousness,
found in Christ, He says to me, well done. Well done. Thou hast been honorable. You
have prevailed. Promoted to honor. And I've loved
you. Everlasting love. Therefore I
give men for thee and people for thy life. Why did the firstborn in Egypt
die? Why did the firstborn in Egypt
die and the firstborn of Israel live? Why? Because the Lord saw
the blood. Who did he tell to slay the Lamb
and put the blood on your door? He told Israel. He said, I'm
going to come through tonight. You put the blood on the door.
Get inside. Get inside. Get inside. Don't get outside. You get inside. And when I come through, I'm
going to pass over you. What was it about the Israelites
that made them any different than the Egyptians? What was
the difference? The grace of God. The grace of God. The only difference between that
lump of dirt and this lump of dirt is that God Almighty said,
I have made you unto honor. Does the potter have the right
to make one lump unto honor? and another under dishonor. Does
he have the right to do that? Yes, he does. My friend, if God
Almighty has given you a heart, see yourself as a lump in need
of a Savior. You've got some hope. He's a
Savior. He says in verses 5 to 7, Fear
not, for I am with thee. I will bring thy seed from the
east and gather thee from the west. I will say to the north,
give up. To the south, keep not back.
Bring my sons from far, my daughters from the ends of the earth, even
everyone that is called by my name. For I have created him,"
listen to this, for my glory, I have formed him, yea, I have
made Him. I'm telling you, salvation is
all of grace. Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is according to God's
mercy. Where are, in closing, where
are these Jacobs? Where are they in this world?
I'll tell you where. There's a couple of verses here.
Look over at James 1.1. Where are they? James 1.1. I'll tell you where they are.
James 1, James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ
to the twelve tribes, that's speaking of, symbolic of all
of God's people, God's elect, which are scattered abroad. That's
what James says to them. Greetings. Greetings. I've got some good news for you.
All of you, turn over to 1 Peter 1, 1 and 2. 1 Peter, just a few
pages back. 1 Peter 1, 1 and 2. Where are they? Where are they?
Where the Lord said, I say to the north, give up. To the south,
don't haul them back. You bring them. Come on. Where
are they? Look at 1 Peter 1, 1 and 2. Peter,
an apostle of Jesus Christ to the strangers. Scattered throughout
Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia. Elect. According
to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification
of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of
Jesus Christ, grace unto you, and peace be multiplied." I know this for a fact. All that the Father giveth me,
the Lord said, shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, which
is all that the Father hath given me, because the Spirit of God
is going to call him out. He said, I will in no wise cast
out. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid.
The Lord in His high priestly prayer, John 17, 2, has given
him power over all flesh that he should give eternal life to
as many as thou hast given him. God's elect were created, they were loved,
they were chosen in Christ according to God's purpose to show mercy
and compassion to them, to whomsoever He would. And all who by the
grace of God have been given a new heart, made willing in
the day of His power to believe Him, who by the grace of God
have cast themselves upon Him for mercy." That is every sinner
that is in need of a Savior. Every sinner that can't save
himself. You know, we're all sinners.
But I'm talking about every sinner who by the grace of God has been
made to know, I can't do anything for myself. I've got some good
news for you. Fear not. He said, I'm your God. Lord bless the word to our hearts
for Christ's sake.