Isaiah 43, 12. See a lot of woe and a lot of terrifying words of judgment the book of Isaiah, but this
chapter is such a beautiful promise of comfort and good for the Lord's
people. We start in verse 12, but remember
that God has declared to his true Israel, his remnant, that
he's made them, he keeps them, they have no reason to fear because
he's redeemed them. When they go through the troubles
that we all do, he said, don't be afraid. I'm with you. I'm
with you. And in verse 12, he says this,
I have declared and have saved. And I have showed when there
was no strange God among you. Therefore, you are my witnesses,
saith the Lord. that I am God. Well, I'm not sure we'll get
past this verse tonight. There's so much wonderful gospel
truth here. And in the middle of a lot of
wonderful gospel truth in this chapter, we have this declaration
from God. I have declared That's why we
have this book in front of us, because God has made a declaration. I have declared, I have saved,
and I have showed. And that pretty much sums it
all up. That's what God has done. He
declared, he saved, and he showed. That's what he's done for us
and that in that order. That's perfect order. It begins with the Word of God,
the Bible. God wrote a book and the subject of the book is revealed in the result of
it. We know what the subject of it is because by God's grace
we've read it and by his grace understood what he's revealed
to us. But he says I have declared and
I have saved. Those two go together because
as Paul said the way that he saves is by his declaration. What did he declare then? He
was going to save and how he's going to save and by whom he's
going to save That's what he declared that
he was going to save the entire Old Testament and New Testament
a revelation of the Son of God In his purpose of saving the
people of God he declared salvation and then he robbed salvation
and salvation is Christ in the Declaration of it and in the
performance of it. It's Christ. Remember John 20,
30. This is a scripture that we ought
to remember often and hide in our hearts. Many other signs
truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not
written in this book. You can imagine. But these, bless
God, are written. And why are they written? That
you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that believing you might have life through his name. That's
why God wrote the book. To declare his Son and what he
did. Who he is and what he did. And
having declared that, by that means he reveals to us He is
he reveals his son to us. He reveals his son in us. It's
the power of God unto salvation So the declaration is salvation God wrote a book about his son
and what his son has done for sinners So that his people might
believe on Christ And be saved It's really that simple This
is what our text says, I have declared. Paul said in Romans
1, 1 through 3, what God has declared concerns his son, Jesus
Christ. He has declared from the beginning
that the only way of restoration of the communion and fellowship
and favor of God that we lost in Adam in the garden, favor
with God, acceptance with God is by the blood of the lamb.
right from the start, the more excellent sacrifice of Abel,
the blood of the lamb. And God has declared that his
son would come. He's been promising the son. Unto you a child is born, unto
you a son is given. And the government shall be upon
his shoulders, and his name shall be called Wonderful. The mighty
God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. He's been
promising. He promised Adam and Eve in the
garden. The woman's seed shall crush
the serpent's hand. That he would come and that he
would bear the iniquities of his people. Isaiah, God hath
laid upon him the iniquities of us all and all through every
picture, every type, every ceremony, the tabernacle and everything
in it and all the people that served in it. Everything represents
Christ and him Bringing and offering an acceptable sacrifice to God
for the sins of his people So that we are restored unto God
and then some God has declared That Christ would be successful Don't forget that He shall be satisfied The Lord's
work his will will prosper in the hand of his son. He's not
going to make an attempt. He's going to accomplish something
His very name means it as we often Say God has declared that God
he is both just and justifier by that Redemption through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus by the atonement made by
his precious blood Calvary and this declaration as I said already
it's not a best effort he wrote of his son in order to save and
he saved that's the second phrase of our text he hath declared
what did he declare I'm gonna save you my people and then what
did he do he made good on it he's not just talking he's not
just whistling Dixie he's not just making an offer he's not
just doing his best He's saying I'm going to save and then he
came and saved. That's what he does. It's that the difference
between what the gospel that we preach and the false that
is preached in most churches is simply that. He did what he
said he was going to do. The gospel is not God begging
sinners to do something in order to be saved. The gospel is the
power of God unto salvation. to everyone that believeth, Romans
1 16. The gospel is the power, the
declaration, and the one that came and did according to the
declaration, he is, what did Paul call him? He's a stumbling
block to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks, but to those who
are called, Christ the power of God. Christ declared is the
power of God and the salvation through faith in that gospel.
And Christ crucified is the power of God and the salvation in the
sense that he actually performed it. He accomplished salvation
on Calvary. God declared, he saved and he
showed. God declared that he would send
his son to redeem his people with every drop of blood that
was ever shed and recorded in the Old Testament. And then when
the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son. And actually did what he said
he was going to do. Made of a woman made under the
law to redeem them that were under the law. that we might
receive the adoption of sons. Not that we might have another
shot. I have to emphasize that because that's what 99.9% of
this world's religion is teaching. They'll talk a good game up until
that point. They'll say Jesus this and Jesus
that and then they'll say he did all he could do and now it's
up to you. You just denied the son of God and blasphemed his
holy precious name. Galatians 4 for God sent forth
his son to redeem God says I have saved He declared himself to be a just
God and a Savior and in sending his son to live and die for his
elect He actually was and is the just God Who spared not his
own son it don't get any more just than that I He spared not
his own son, and he saved, too. He delivered him up for us all,
and freely with him gives us all things. The just God and the mighty Savior,
who with his own precious blood entered into the holy place,
not made with hands having obtained eternal redemption for us Hebrews
9 12 and then it's interesting that
the order of these words is what it is he declared in his word
then he came and actually made good on what he said by saving
his people from their sins and then it says he showed well wait
it just says he declared This is not the same thing. God saved
me a long time before he showed me what he had done. He declared in his word from
the beginning, as long as there's been a man, there's been a declaration
of God to man concerning his son, Jesus Christ, his salvation. And then he came and actually
saved. And then one day he showed me who he is and what he had
done for a wretch like me. We say when we come to know the
Lord Jesus Christ, God saved me, and that's fine. But that's
just when we get in on it. It's okay to say that as long
as you know the truth. God saved me one day. Yeah, he
saved you long before that day though. And he's been saving
you ever since. It's a terrible mistake to reduce
salvation to an experience. It's an eternal work of our Redeemer
for us. The day that he fell in love
with me, And I've made a false statement there. It wasn't on
a day that he did that. There was no time when he did
that. There were no days. But how else are we going to
talk? What else do we know? We have to... When he fell in love with me,
when there was no when, he saved me. When Christ agreed to be
my surety, I was saved. When he chose me in Christ from
the foundation of the world, I was saved. He said to Jeremiah, before I
formed you in your mama's belly, I knew you and I loved you and
I set my affection on you. I sanctified you. I made you
holy. Even before. The matter is not in question
up until the point of faith. Is that important to you? It
was never in question. Is he going to believe? Is he
not going to believe? That may be our perspective. It was never
in question. Not for a second. That's important
to me. That's my God. God saved you before there was
a you. We're bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren,
beloved of the Lord. because God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit
and belief of the truth. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ according as he has chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world. All spiritual blessings were
ours in Christ and we were in him before the
foundation of the world." That's pretty clear. That we should
be holy and without blame before him in love. We ain't even been
born yet in this text. Having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ of himself according to
the good pleasure of his will to the praise of the glory of
his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved in
whom we have redemption through his blood. The forgiveness of sins according
to the riches of his grace. He declared before there ever
was a me that he was going to save me. And then he redeemed
me with his precious blood. And then one day, blessed day,
I don't mean to minimize it. Blessed day, he showed me. He
woke me up, he turned the light on and showed me his son and
what he had done for my soul. He shined in my heart. I love
the way Paul put that. He shined in my heart, Paul said,
and said, let there be light. Oh, that's beautiful. He showed
me his glory in the face of his son. He showed me that he loved me
with an everlasting love. And that's why with loving kindness
he drew me to himself that day. He drew me to himself. But he
loved me long before that. Without beginning or end, he
showed me that my name was written in heaven. He showed me his hands
and his feet and his side just as surely as he did Thomas. He showed me in his word. And he said to me, be not faithless,
but believing. And I was. And then he says in the text
there, when there was no strange God among you, when this happens,
we see the idolatry, the rich and disgusting heritage of idolatry
in the nation of Israel. But when this, he's talking about
a day And there's just one God. One God. He said, I was your God and I
was merciful to you when you didn't have but one God. When
he showed us that all other gods of our imagination and of the
lusts of our flesh were idols, products of our own will and
imagination, evil imagination. When he declares and saves and
shows, that's when you go sell all you have and give it to the
poor. That's when you crush your idols like the rubbish that they
are. And come follow him. There is a spiritual abandoning
of all else and all others. And commitment to Christ and
acknowledgement that he is my Lord and my God. That's what
he's saying there. And those whom he has brought
to that place, he said, you're my witnesses. Once you know who
he is, once he shows himself to you, and now what he said
in the text, you're my witnesses. I have declared and I have saved
And I have showed when there was no strange God among you,
therefore, therefore, you're his witnesses,
not because you volunteered, but because he showed you who
he was and volunteered you, recruited you. Saul of Tarsus wasn't volunteering,
was he? The Lord put the lights out and
put his face in the dust and said, you're going to be my witness
now. Is that all right with you? And so Paul said, yes, that'd
be all right. What do you want me to do? That's
how the Lord does things. You know that. I love the God that's God, don't
you? That's God indeed. By his grace, I do. He said, therefore, you're going
to tell everybody else you know, everybody that'll listen to you. And this is our simple message
as his witnesses. You say, well, boy, Chris, I
don't know if I can preach the gospel or not. That sounds complicated.
No, it's not. You know what our message is?
He is God. That's what he said right there. Can you sum it up that simply? he is God that is he doeth as
he pleases in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of
this earth and none can stay his hand or even question him
would you say I'd be going too far to say that is included in
the language he is God what does it mean to be God David said
here's the heathen are asking about our God I'll tell you about
him he's in the heavens how are you going to describe him David
how are you going to tell him Just in a few words, who He is. He
hath done whatsoever He hath pleased. He's God. He's God and His Word is infallible. That just follows, doesn't it?
God has spoken. If God declares He's going to
save, He's going to save. And that's what He did. He is
God. That is, you must bow. It's not
a stretch to jump from one to the other, is it? To say he is
God is to say it's time for you to bow. To say he is God is to
say you're not. As much as you think you are
by nature, you're not. He is God. That is his love and
mercy and grace are effectual. When he loves you, you're loved.
And love is not a feeling, it's action, isn't it? We know that. His love, he is God, that is
his precious blood is almighty to save. If he sheds his blood
to save somebody, they're saved. He is God, that is you can rest in his invincible arms. Be still and know that he is
God. That's our message. And there's no God lacking, a
just God and a savior. Is that what he means by I am
God? You think I'm stretching it? Look at the next verse, verse
13. I said, I'm God, therefore I
do whatever I want to do. That's kind of what he said.
You know why I say what I say? Because he said it. If I ever
say anything God didn't say, don't listen to it. Yea, before the day was, I am
he. And there is none that can deliver
out of my hand. I will work, and who shall let
it? Who shall? Turn it back who shall
undo it who shall thwart it He is the before the day was
I am He's the reason there is a day
He is the eternal creator of all things and all people and
no doubt Think about this, he's saying to his enemies here clearly,
none can deliver out of my hand. Once I get hold of you, was it
Paul, one of the apostles said it's a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of the living God. You're not getting that, you're
not getting away. You're not going to be able to hide behind
a bush or behind a Bible or anything else. None can deliver out of my hand.
There's no hope for you if you incur the wrath of God. And you
have by nature. But think about it this way too.
I can't get out of his hand either. Aren't you glad? There's nobody
that can deliver me out of his hand. He said that there again. I'm only saying it because he
did. My sheep hear my voice. I know you know this scripture.
Don't you love to hear it anyway? My sheep hear my voice and I
know them. And they follow me. And I give
unto them eternal life. And they shall never perish.
Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My father which
gave them me is greater than all and no man is able to pluck
them out of my father's hand. I and my father are one. And then he said this, I will
work. I will declare, I will save and
I will show and nobody's gonna stop me. Now you think about
that. In his declaration of his word,
nobody can undo what he declares. He said, as the rain falls from
heaven and it don't come back up until it has done what I sent
it to do. That's how my word is. You can't stop it. It is an invincible
force that accomplishes exactly what he declares it through his
men to accomplish, the salvation of his people. The revelation
of His Son, the declaration of the glories of His Son. And Paul
said, we're the saver of life unto life to some, and the saver
of death unto death unto others, and that both are accomplished
by Him. But it's always a victory when Christ is preached. That's
what He sent His Word for. And it won't return to Him void.
Who's going to let it? Who's going to stop it? Who's
going to keep Him from accomplishing what He wants to with His declaration? And He saves. Who can do anything
about that? Can you unsave me? Who can thwart what Christ has
done in living for us and dying for us? Who can undo that? And you know
what the most blessed thought about that is? I can't undo it.
He's plumb saved me and I can't mess it up. Who can let it? If there was any way I could
mess it up, I would have done it already. But I can't let it. And his showing? Who's going
to stop him? You say, well, some, you know,
some sinners just, they're enlightened sinners and unenlightened sinners.
Yeah, you know who the enlightened ones are? The one that he shows
the truth to. He don't come and find enlightened
ones and unenlightened ones. You know, they have these different
religious little theological phrases that they use to make
a difference. The difference is God. He shows
it to some. He don't show it to others. I
thank thee, Father, that thou hast hid these things from the
wise and prudent and revealed them unto babies. I'm thankful
for that, too. And who's going to stop him from
doing that? If he wants to reveal his son in you or your children
or grandchildren or anybody, who's going to stop him? Well, I like that, don't you?
That gives me hope for the hopeless, like me. Who's going to turn it back?
Who's going to reverse it? That goes with the last part
of the previous verse, that I'm God. That's what it means to
be God. This is what God declares and
shows when he saves. This is the difference between
a form of godliness and true faith in Christ. What's wrong with having a form
of godliness? 2 Timothy 3.5, but denying the power. Denying
the power thereof. They have a form of godliness,
don't they? They use the same Bible we do in many cases. They
talk about God and heaven and hell and the Lord Jesus. They
use his name. They talk about him dying on
a cross and all of that. What's the problem? The Jesus
that they preach can't save who he wants to save. That wouldn't
be fair. They deny his power, his authority. He can't just say to one, I forgive
you, and to another, let him go to hell. That is prerogative. That wouldn't be fair. My Lord and my God does that
every day. He does that every day. He sends
sinners to hell every day because he wants to. And he saves the
souls of sinners every day because he wants to. That's the difference between
having a form and knowing God. He reveals His power, His sovereignty,
His authority. He reveals simply this, I am
God. It really is that simple. I am God. The very gospel of God, the gospel
of our salvation hinges upon the effectual nature of Christ's
precious blood. the power of his blood. Everybody
says that Jesus died on a cross and he shed his blood, but his
blood don't have any power. If it's up to you, the power
is yours. Listen to the words of the text
in this way. He said, I will work and who
shall let it, who shall undo it or return it or Make it null and void. Listen
to the words this way. I will work. I will accomplish. I will live. I will die for my
people. I will do and finish the work
that my father sent me to do. And who is going to disannul
that? If Christ paid my sin debt, who's going to reverse the charges?
This is what Paul is asking in Romans 8, 34. Who is he that
condemneth? It is Christ that died. Yea,
rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand
of God. Now, all of that's significant because of who it is that died
for me. I'm unchargeable with any sin
before God, and he's sitting on the throne. How are you going
to hurt me? How are you going to do anything
against what he did? He's at the right hand of God.
He's interceding for me now on the basis of that eternal, infinitely
powerful blood. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Christ who bestows his love upon
me every day, every hour, every moment. Who's gonna separate me from
that? He sits on the throne. And it's
Him. It's Christ. It's God's Son that
died. Can the will of man thwart the
accomplishment of the Lord Jesus Christ? The love, when He says,
who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Again, that's
not just a feeling. Herein is love. What a beautiful definition of
love. Herein is love, and if we're going to talk about love,
the first thing you need to do is forget about your love. He
gets that out of the way right off the bat, doesn't he? Not
that we love God. Forget about that. Quit singing
that. But that he loved us. And here's
what that means. He sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sins. If you take that part out of
it and just say God loves you, that's what everybody else is
doing. Quit saying God loves you unless
you can back it up and say this, if he loves you, he sent his
son to be your sin offering. If Christ is not your sin offering,
if you're not sinless before God, then God don't love you.
Because if he did, you would be. He loves and sends his son
to wash sins away when he loves. He don't love like religion talking
about. Love you, but I'm gonna wait over here and see what you're
gonna do about it You may just go to hell. Anyway, it's part
of my love. That's not the love of my Savior It's not just a feeling his love
is a work It is his saving precious blood shed for my sins. Can the
will of man thwart that in any way? Of course not Religion says that rejecting
Christ is to thwart his will to That's the prerogative of
man's will and that that man's rejection will negate the blood
Actually saving them that Christ died with the intention of saving
them, but they rule that out by not believing on him in absolute
opposition and blasphemous pride and rebellion against our text
tonight. They say it anyway, and they
say it a lot. And we gotta call them on it. By the grace of God, let's
call them on it. If you believe that, simply look
to Calvary itself. as an example, and bow your head
in shame. You can't possibly more willfully
reject the Son of God than by beating Him, spitting on Him,
nailing Him to a cross, and mocking Him while He bleeds. But He saved
some of those anyway. He saved them anyway. They rejected
Him, but did that stop Him from cleansing them from their sins
in His precious blood? Did that negate His sacrifice
on Calvary? No. He hung there and said, Father,
forgive them. They have no idea what they've
just done. Forgive them. And the Father heareth him always,
John 11, 42. If the Lord cries out to his
Father, forgive them, whoever he's talking about, they've forgiven. Oh, I want to read you the whole
passage that we started to read a while ago, because there's
no better expository statement upon our text than this right
here. How are you going to expound?
I will work. God said I will work. And who's
going to stop me? Who's going to undo what I do?
You know how you expound that? John 10, 11, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. I will work. I will work. But he that is in harling and
not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, they see the wolf
coming and leave the sheep and flee. And the wolf catcheth them
and scattereth the sheep. The harling fleeth, because he
is in harling, and careth not for the sheep. I am the good
shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even
so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. What does God say when he says,
I will work? That right there. He's going
to give himself in life and death to save us. That's his work. And other sheep I have which
are not of this fold, them also I must bring. and they shall
hear my voice and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.
Therefore does my father love me as a man, as his servant. The father loved him because
I lay down my life that I might take it again. No man taketh
it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay
it down and I have power to take it again. This commandment have
I received of my father. I will work. And nobody can undo
it. Verse 27, my sheep hear my voice
and I know them and they follow me and I give unto them eternal
life. The life that I worked in order
for them to have, they gonna have it. They're gonna have it. I give it to them and they shall
never, they shall never, Who's going to let it? Who's going
to undo it? If I save them, who's going to unsave them? Who's going
to harm them? They shall never perish, neither
shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave
them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them
out of my Father's hand. My Savior gave himself a ransom
for me. for my soul he called me to himself
and he wrapped me up in his omnipotent hand and I can't be charged with
sin I can't be deceived not fatally not ultimately he said in Matthew
24 24 it's not possible I can't be harmed he said if
you want to try to harm one of mine you'd be better off Go ahead
and harm yourself instead. You'll be better off. Killing yourself. My savior. People talk about good works
and You know, the Lord died on a
cross, but there's things we have to do, you know, to be saved.
We have to accept Him, and we have to live the Christian life,
and we have to do this, we have to do that. All of my works put
together are my problem. His work is salvation. He worked for me. He lived for me. He died for
me. And he did it for the purpose
of saving me. He declared it in this book.
I know what he did. I know who he is and I know what
he did because he hath declared. And I've experienced who he is
and what he did. And I've fallen in love with
him because he saved me and showed me. He showed me. Thank God. It seemed like a good
time to sing a particular song. Safe in his hand, in his nail-scarred
hand, he said to Thomas, reach hither.