Alright, brethren, Isaiah 43. Isaiah 43. Our subject this morning is,
Fear not, I am, I will. Fear not, I am, I will. Our text is Christ's Word to
us as the church as we go forth and preach the Gospel. And this
is His Word. He says in verse 5, 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, and to the south, Keep not back. Bring my sons from
far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth. even everyone
that is called by My name, for I have created him for My glory. I have formed him, yea, I have
made him." The Lord Jesus Christ came into this world because
there was no other way God's people could be saved from our
sins and God's law be honored. The Son of God had to be made
of a woman. He had to be made under the law.
He had to be made sin for us. He had to be made a curse for
us. And because He accomplished the
redemption of His people and justified us and made us the
righteousness of God, now He is made higher than the heavens. And that same justice that required
the Son of God come down and do the work of justifying His
people, the same justice now requires that all those that
Christ redeemed, all those Christ justified, must be called to
faith in Christ. God is just and He will not pour
out His wrath on His Son and then pour out His wrath on those
for whom Christ died a second time. He won't do it. We already
bore that wrath in Christ. So all those Christ redeemed
must be called to life and faith because God is just. That's why. Because God is just. Now, each one of us that he's
already called, he's assembled us as his church, and he's using
us to preach him. He says there that He called
us by name and He said, I created Him for my glory, I formed Him,
yea, I made Him. He created us for His glory.
And that means several things. One, Christ created us for the
purpose that we personally give Him all the glory and our salvation. And every single believer, true
believer, does. We give God all the glory for
our salvation, beginning to end, because He's the only one to
do that glory. And secondly, it means Christ
created us for the purpose of using us to preach His glory. To preach the gospel, giving
Him all the glory, and He will, through that gospel, call out
His chosen people. He's chosen us sheep, is what
we're called. Foolish things, weak things,
despised things, so that He gets all the glory in us. So that
it's obvious that we didn't do the calling, He did it. It's
obvious. And so as we preach Christ, we
glory only in Christ. We give Christ all the glory. And so, our Lord says to us,
fear not. Fear not. And brethren, each
time our Lord, He's told us three times up to this point to fear
not. since we began in Isaiah 40,
going from there forward. And each time he has done this,
each time he has said to you and me, fear not, it has been
in regard to us not fearing men, but rather fearing the Lord and
giving Him the glory as we preach Christ. That's what it's been
in relation to each time. and that's what it's in relation
to in our text. Let's go back just a minute to
Isaiah 41. I want you to see the first place
he said this. First place he said this. In Isaiah 41, I'm saying the
first place he said it in this series since we started in Isaiah
40. As we preach Christ, he warned
us sinners will war against us. Sinners will war against us,
but He promises to keep us fearing Him by the work that Christ will
work toward those that reject Him. Now get this, He'll keep
us glorying only in Him, and that's what it is. When you fear
Him, you glory only in Him. When you glory in Him, it's because
you fear Him, Christ. And He'll keep us glorying in
Him by the work He works toward those that reject Him. And He'll
do this using you and me. This is why we have to have Him
speak affectionately in our heart and command us in the heart,
fear not. Otherwise we would just wilt.
because there is so much opposition. Look, Isaiah 41.10, he says,
Fear thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I
am thy God. I will strengthen thee, yea,
I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand
of my righteousness. Behold, all they that were incensed
against thee shall be ashamed and confounded, they shall be
as nothing, and they that strive with thee shall perish. He says
there at the end of verse 12, they are war against thee, but
they shall be as nothing as a thing of naught. And here's why, verse
13, for I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto
thee, fear not, I will help thee. Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and
ye men of Israel. I will help thee, saith the Lord,
and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. And he says there,
I'm going to make you a sharp threshing instrument having teeth.
He's saying he's going to use us to preach the gospel. I'm
just reviewing. We've seen this, so I won't go
into detail. But as we preach this gospel,
he says, verse 16, Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall
carry them away. And the Lord will do this, and
He says, and the whirlwind shall scatter them, and He says, and
thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, and shall glory in the Holy One
of Israel. You see, He's going to make us
not fear men, but glory only in Him by the work He works through
His gospel. by the work he works through
his gospel. And this is important. This is
so vital, brethren, because listen, whoever we fear is who we glory
in. Whoever you fear is who you glory
in. The fear of man, when you fear
man, it's what makes religious folks deny Christ. The fear of man. It's why some
preachers won't stand up and preach Christ. They fear man. It's why some people won't believe
Christ. They fear man. You remember whenever the blind
man that our Lord gave sight, his parents knew Christ gave
him sight. They knew that was their son.
They knew he had been born blind and they knew Christ gave him
sight. And they brought them into the synagogue and the Pharisees
questioned them. And they said, they denied knowing
Christ did it. They said this, they said, he's
of age, let him answer for himself. Why did they do that? It said,
these were Specky's parents because they feared the Jews. For the Jews had already agreed
already that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should
be put out of the synagogue. It said, at the Feast of Tabernacles,
men were all talking about the Lord Jesus Christ amongst themselves. And it said, how be it no man
spake openly of Him for fear of the Jews. It says in John
12, 42, among the chief rulers also, many believed on Christ. But because of the Pharisees,
they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the
synagogue, for they loved the praise of men more than the praise
of God. You see, The fear of man will
make you deny Christ. And if you fear man, you're giving
that man or men glory, saying they're more powerful than Christ. But if you fear the Lord and
glory in Him, you're saying, I'm not fearful of man. He's
got all power. He's doing the saving. Can a
sanctified, holy child of God fall into this? Yes, the Apostle
Peter, you know why he got up from the Gentiles' table and
moved to the Jews' table? It said before that certain came
from James, he did eat with the Gentiles, but when they were
come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were
of the circumcision. That's the Apostle Peter. Brethren, Christ created us for
His glory. That's why He created us. And
He's using us to preach Him in this world. And so He says, fear
not, and by His works, by what He works in our midst, He will
make us glory only in Him. That's what He said there in
that text at the end. When you see what I do through
the preaching of this Word, you shall glory only in the Lord.
That's what it is, to fear Him. He said in Matthew 10.27, if
you want to look there, Matthew 10.27, He said, What I tell you in darkness,
that speak ye in light. And what you hear in the ear,
that preach you upon the housetops. And fear not them which kill
the body, but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear
him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are
not two sparrows sowed for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall
on the ground without your father." They just sowed for a penny,
and they won't even fall without your father. He said, the very
hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not, therefore, you are
of more value than many sparrows. You see, He's going to keep us
glorying in Him by fearing Him alone and not fearing men. Alright,
secondly, in Isaiah 43, this is the second time He told us
to fear not, and it was in relation to trials. And He said there,
we just looked at it recently, so I won't read the whole thing,
but He said there, He reminds us, He says, Fear not, for I
have redeemed thee, He said, I've called thee by thy name,
thou art mine. So when you pass through the
waters, it won't overflow you. When you pass through the fire,
it's not going to burn you. It won't even kindle upon you,
he said. Fear not, he said. Why did Nebuchadnezzar throw
those children into the fire? Why did he throw the three Hebrew
men into the fiery furnace? A hatred for Christ and His gospel. What I'm trying to show you is
when our Lord says, fear not, it's in relation to us preaching
the gospel and the opposition you receive from preaching the
gospel. And he says, Here, when you go through the trial, and
most of the trials that the early church faced, that Apostle Paul
faced, most of them were because of the hatred in the natural
man's heart for Christ and for his gospel. That's mostly what
they suffered for in the beginning. And it's because when you preach
the gospel, you give Christ all the glory. all the glory. The Lord said the reason that
he saves through the foolishness of preaching, he said in 1 Corinthians
1, is so that no flesh shall glory in his presence. And when
we declare what it says there, of God are you in Christ, that
means before the foundation of the world, God chooses people
in Christ, not because of anything in us. And that means that if
a person believes God and trusts Christ, it's because of God are
you in Christ. And it says, who of God, Christ
of God, through the Word being preached, Christ of God is made
unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
That takes everything out of the hands of a man. That declares
Christ is everything we need to come into God's glory. So
as it is written, he that glories, let him glory in the Lord. But
when you preach this, because it does take all the work out
of a man's hand, and it turns all the focus from man and from
man's works to Christ and His works, Paul said, the quarrel
minds enmity against God. and they mind the things of the
flesh and man wants to hear a gospel that puts the focus on him and
his works. That's what you hear preached
all over the world in Christianity and in other kinds of religion. Every religion is the same whether
it goes under the heading of Christianity or not. It's either
works or the other one true religion, which is grace. There's only
two in the world. They all put a man, give a man
something to do. And so men will listen to this
gospel of Christ, but it doesn't take long and they will say,
well, when are you going to start preaching about me? When are
you going to focus this on me and my works? And when you don't,
when you keep preaching Christ, that enmity will come out. And
so our Lord says, when you face these fiery trials and you're
going to face them, He said, fear not. I am with you. They're not going to burn you.
They're not going to overflow you. I'm with you, He said. We
saw this Thursday night. Whenever the Lord Jesus Christ,
He said, because of what I've spoken, the gospel He preached,
He said the Pharisees had no cloak for their sin anymore.
And He said, because I did the works no other man did, His perfect
works that He did in saving His people, He said they have no
more cloak for their sin. By His gospel and by His works,
It made it obvious that all their so-called works of righteousness
and holiness were just sin. That's all they were. And so
they wanted to kill Christ and ended up eventually fulfilling
God's will. They did. He laid down His life
and killed Him. He let them. He laid down His
life. But brethren, what's the difference?
Why did you believe you had that same hatred? I had that same
hatred. I didn't want to hear of Christ
at all. And I certainly didn't want him
to get all the glory. We were that way. What made the
difference? God sanctified this gospel to
your heart and made you see by His gospel, which declared His
perfect works, He made you see all your so-called works were
vain. They were just sin. They were
dead works. Because the Spirit of God sanctified
that to your heart. And so you came to Christ the
light, confessing He worked all the works of righteousness to
make you righteous and holy. That's the difference. That's
the difference. And so, since Christ created
us for His glory, as you suffer these fiery trials when men reject,
not only is He going to keep you glorying in Him by what He
works through the gospel, He said, as you pass through these
trials, He said, fear not, I've redeemed thee, I've called thee
by thy name, you're mine. If men cast you into the fire,
He said the flame won't burn you, it's not even going to kindle
upon you. Now that's the promise of our
Lord. Now here we come today to the third time He says fear
not, and it's in relation as well. Let me read this before
I move forward. Let me read this. You remember
we saw this in Philippians. He said, Strive together, stand
fast in one spirit with one mind, striving together for the faith
of the gospel, and in nothing terrified by your adversary,
which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation
and that of God. For it is given unto you not
only to believe on him, but to suffer for his sake. but he said,
I'll keep you gloried in me. I'll bring you through it. Now
here's the third time he says it, and it's in regard to a fear
of men as well, but it's a little different way. This one he's
saying is when we don't see people called out as quickly or called
out in as great a numbers as we'd like to see, we start fearing
man. We're fearful. And he says to
us, fear not. That's what our text is dealing
with. When you're not seeing people called out as quickly
or in great numbers, he says, fear not. Fear not. He tells you that obviously is
a need we have, isn't it? We'll fear unless he says to
you, fear not. Fear not. I'm with you. You know,
in each one of these passages we just read in Isaiah, every
time Christ assured us, the way He assured us was declaring,
I am with thee. Fear not, I am with thee. That's
what He said in Isaiah 41.10. Isaiah 43.2 there, He says, when
you go through the fire, I'll be with thee. He says here, fear
not, for I am with thee. When Christ gave the great commission
for the church to go forth preaching the gospel in this world, that's
the same way he gave assurance to us. He said, he came and he
said, all power is given unto me in heaven and earth. He had
all power as God, but he's talking about as the God-man. He went
back to glory as the God-man mediator. And he said, all power
is given to me in heaven and in earth. And he said, go forth
preaching. And he said, lo, I'm with you
always, even to the end of the world. That's the assurance we
have. He's with his people. Whenever
the apostle Paul first went to Corinth, he was opposed. Nobody was believing. And it
says in Acts 18.9, And spake the Lord to Paul in the night
by vision. What do you think he said to
Paul? Be not afraid. Fear not, but speak, and hold
not thy peace, for I am with thee. And no man shall set on
thee to hurt thee, for I have much people in this city. And he continued there a year
and six months, teaching the word of God among them. He commands
us, fear not, I am with thee. Brethren, that's how he's going
to keep his preacher just preaching the gospel. You know, our number
one preeminent goal is to preach Christ. It's not to make disciples. Now, we want to see disciples
made, and Christ will make disciples. But Paul said, he didn't send
me to baptize, he sent me to preach Christ and crucify Him.
Because if you think your goal is to make disciples and you
don't see people being called out or you don't see as many
being called out as you think they are, you know what a man
will do? He'll take the offense out of the gospel so he can get
the numbers that he thinks he ought to be seeing. That's why
Christ has to speak in our heart and say, fear not, I'm with thee. Fear not, I'm with thee. And
then he assures us with this word. He says, do not fear. He declares it's Christ Himself
who will call His lost sheep. He says in verse 5, fear not,
I will bring. I will do the bringing. And then
He says there, I will say. We see how foolish it is for
sinners to boast in their will right here. It's so foolish for
sinners to boast that they brought themselves to Christ. And they
by their will believed on Christ. Christ promises, I will bring
my lost sheep. I will bring my lost sheep. Christ
promises, I will say, I will speak and plant them. Because
he speaks affectionately in the hearts of his people. Blessed
is the man, the psalmist said, whom thou choosest and causest
to approach unto thee. that he may dwell in our courts.
We shall be satisfied with the goodness of our house." When
he's chosen you and he's caused you to come, he said you'll dwell
in his courts and you'll be satisfied with the goodness of his house
and even of his holy temple. That's the work he works. Why
must a sinner be brought to faith in Christ by Christ's will rather
than the sinner's will? That's a must. That's not just
some minor doctrine. That is a must. Why? Because
he said, I created him for my glory. Salvation is to give God
the glory. When folks boast of their will,
it is an evident token. You can mark this down. I can
back this up with scripture. It's an evident token they have
not been born of the Spirit of God and called to faith in Christ. When they're going around boasting
that they brought themselves to Christ and by their will they
accepted their Jesus. Listen to this, Ezekiel 39.27. There's a lot of scriptures,
but I just want you to hear this one. Ezekiel 39.27, the Lord
said, When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered
them out of their enemies' lands, and am sanctified in them in
the sight of many nations, then shall they know that I am the
Lord their God. which caused them to be led into
captivity among the heathen, but I have gathered them into
their own land and left none of them anymore there." God said,
when I've called, when I've brought them by my will and I've spoken
by my will into their heart, He said, they're not only going
to know that I did the gathering, they're going to know I'm the
one whose purpose it was that you
went into captivity. God was ruling and it was by
His will that Adam fell in that garden and we went into captivity
in the first place. The sin was all of Adam. The
sin was all his fault. But it was not out of God's will
and not out of God's purpose because God had set up Christ
from before the foundation of the world to glorify Him. That
was all a part of God's purpose. And he said, when I've called
and gathered, they will know that I caused them to go into
captivity and they will know I gathered them. That's God's
Word. It's always amazed me how you
sit here and you preach and you just showed up one day. You folks
that are sitting here now, you just showed up. I wasn't looking for you. I mean,
I was looking for you, but I didn't know where you were. You just
showed up. I remember not long after I came here, there was
a person that was here for a little while and not very long, but
they made a statement to me one day, and they said, you're going
to have your work cut out for you chasing me and making sure
I come back week after week. And I said, no. I said, I wasn't
chasing you when you came here the first time. And I said, if
God drew you and God has spoken and planted you, I said, I'm
not going to have to chase after you. That's God's will. He said, I'll put my fear in
their hearts that they shall not depart from me. Peter said,
Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal
life. We believe, we believe you're the Christ. And then look
at this next word. Christ assures us we have no
reason to fear by declaring, now this, get this right here,
by declaring that those lost sheep, they're your seed. Look at what he says, verse 5.
Fear not, he says, fear not, for I am with thee, I will bring
thy seed. That means your children. Scripture calls the church a
mother. Now, I know the Roman Catholic has abused that, but
I don't care. The Scripture still says it.
If the Scripture says it, it's true and we preach it because
it's true. It don't matter who, men abuse
everything in the Scripture. When the Scripture calls the
church a mother, and it says Christ is our husband, and He's
producing children through the incorruptible seed, through the
preaching of the gospel. And so the lost sheep that Christ
shall call, they are our seed. They're our children. They're
our children. Look with me at Isaiah 49 verse
22. Thus saith the Lord God, Behold,
I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard
to the people." The banner is Christ. He said, I'll lift them
up, and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters
shall be carried upon their shoulders. Look with me at Isaiah 54. You
know the scripture says, you've probably read this scripture
a lot, maybe you never applied it this way, but it's what it
means spiritually. Psalm 113.9 says, He maketh the
barren woman to keep house and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise you the Lord. What does
that mean? What does that mean in terms
of salvation? Well, in Isaiah 53, Christ redeemed
His people. Christ came as a substitute and
redeemed His people. And when Christ arose, when He
arose to the right hand of the Father, the church looked like
a barren wife, looked like a barren mother that had not many children. There was 120 people that were waiting at the day
of Pentecost when He poured out the Holy Spirit. 120, that's
all. That's all that was there from
Christ's ministry, 120. But after Christ redeemed His
people and He ascended to the Father, After he declares that
in Isaiah 53, here comes the word in Isaiah 54, 1. Sing, O
barren, thou that didst not bear. Break forth in a singing and
cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child. For more
are the children of the desolate than the children of the married
wife, saith the Lord. The married wife was the Pharisees
and those that had all the folks. And you know, they were like,
you see the picture in Hannah and Panana. You know, Peninnah
had children and so she boasted that she had children and she
persecuted Hannah because Hannah didn't have any children. Well,
that's false religion that's got all their great multitudes
boasting and persecuting those born of the Spirit of God, the
barren. But look what the Lord said, many more are the children
of the desolate than the children of the married wife. Enlarge
the place of your tent. He said you have to add on to
your house because you are going to have more. Look at verse 3.
For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left,
and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles. Thy seed shall, thy
children shall. They will inherit the Gentiles.
They will make the desolate cities to be inhabited. How is all this
going to happen? Verse 5. For thy maker is thy
husband. The Lord of hosts is His name.
Thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole
earth shall He be called. He's going to have people praising
Him throughout the whole earth. Throughout the whole earth. I'll
show you one more place. Isaiah 59. I'm going to pass
it, but I've got to show you this. Isaiah 59, 21. Look at
this. As for me, this is my covenant
with them, saith the Lord. My spirit that is upon thee,
and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart
out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out
of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth
for evermore. That's certainty, brethren. That's
the Lord saying, you're going to have children through this
gospel, and your children are going to have children through
this gospel, and it's all because the Lord is our Maker, our Husband,
producing His children through the Mother, His Church. I see. Fear not. Fear not. That's why
you have not to fear. Now listen, when the Lord opens
the door for you, and you've got an opportunity to bear witness
of Christ to somebody, And you might be a little fearful, a
little intimidated because you've been rejected in the past. You
know how people respond in the past. Just think on this next
time. When you have an opportunity
to speak the gospel to somebody, you think about this. This might
be one of my children. Seriously, think about that.
This might be one of my children. That's what the Lord promised.
I'm going to call thy seed. I'm going to call your children.
That will give you a little confidence. The only way you're going to
know is if you speak the Word to them, because that's how they're
going to be born. It's through the Word. Alright, next thing. He assures us we have no reason
to fear, because Christ shall call His people no matter where
they are. He said, verse 5, 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, and to the south, keep not back. Bring my sons from
far and my daughters from the ends of the earth. I just saw
this, but here's a blessing too. Those very ones He calls your
seed, those very ones He calls your sons and daughters, in the
next verse there He calls them His sons and daughters. So there's
a double assurance. They're His sons and daughters.
Alright, but look, He said, I'll bring them. Christ knows where
His lost sheep are, brethren. He knows right where they are.
North, south, east, west, he knows right where they are. Remember,
Jesus said to Nathaniel, He said, before Philip called you, He
said, I saw you under the fig tree. He already knew everything about
Nathaniel. Scripture says he must needs
go through Samaria. Why? Because he knew he had one
of his elect children When that Samaritan woman by the well,
he must go through Samaria. He knows where his children are.
This congregation is an example. We got brethren here from the
north, the south, the east, and the west, and a long distance
from afar. My grandfather used to say, sheep
will travel a long ways for green pasture. You just don't find
green pasture everywhere, do you? And no matter how the devil
tries to keep Christ redeemed locked away and prevent this
gospel from prevailing, the gates of hell shall not prevail against
Christ. Christ said, I will say to the
north, give up, and to the south, keep not back. Listen, Psalm
22, 27, after declaring that great word in the first verse,
it ends with this, and it says, "...all the kindreds of the nations
shall worship before Thee." Not everybody, not all kindreds,
not everybody, but His elect. in all different kindreds, in
all different nations, they shall worship before thee." What makes that word sure? For
the kingdom's the Lord's and He's the governor among the nations. He's the governor. You turn over
to Isaiah 51. I want you to see that this right
here is going to bless your heart. Christ is using his church to
bless him. This is how much he's the governor
among the nations. Remember Isaiah said that the
government's on his shoulder. And he, not just, not only the
government of the carnal nations, but the government to save God's
people is on his shoulder. And he will save his people.
Now here's how much the government's on his shoulder. Here's how much
he is in power over everything. Christ is using you to preach.
Because it's through you and me preaching this gospel that
Christ, as He's calling His people, He is making the new heavens
and the new earth. the new creation. He makes His
people a new creation, but He's making the new creation. Look
here now, beginning verse 4. Hearken unto me, my people, give
ear unto me, O my nation, for a law, that's the gospel, for
a law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to
rest for a light of the people. My righteousness is near, my
salvation is going forth, mine arms shall judge the people,
and the Gentiles shall wait upon me, and on mine arms shall they
trust." That's what God declared in Isaiah 42. He's going to set
judgment in the heart, He did it at the cross, He's going to
set judgment in the heart, the Gentiles will trust Him, and
He will not fail. Now look, Lift up your eyes to
the heavens and look upon the earth beneath. He's talking about
this natural creation, the first creation. He said, look at all
this. For the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth
shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall
die in like manner. But my salvation shall be forever,
and my righteousness shall not be dissolved. See, that's what
Paul said when he said, the unseen things, they are the things that
are eternal. The things Christ made, His righteousness,
His salvation. Now watch. Hearken to me, you
that know Christ as your righteousness, the people in whose heart is
my law, my gospel. Fear ye not the reproach of men. Neither be ye afraid of their
revilings. Look at verse 12. I, even I,
am he that comforteth you. I'm with you. That's what he's
saying. I'm with you. Who art thou that thou should
be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the Son of Man which
shall be made grass? And forget us the Lord thy Maker
that has stretched forth the heavens and laid the foundations
of the earth? He said, Now look, look at the
heavens, look at the earth. I made all this. It's all going
to be dissolved, every bit of it. But then look at verse 15. Now He turns us to the new creation
and He turns us to why He's using you and me. Verse 15, but I'm
the Lord thy God that divided the sea whose waves roared. He's
talking about salvation now. He's talking about when He divided
the sea and delivered the children of Israel through the Red Sea.
He's talking about salvation here now. That's what Christ
did for us on the cross. He saved us. Now watch. Watch. The Lord of hosts is His name.
That means he rules everything. Everything is his host and he's
ruling it all. He said, and I've put my words
in thy mouth, and I've covered thee in the shadow of my hand,
that I may plant the new heavens. and lay the foundations of the
new earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people." Every time
He calls one of His people, brethren, He makes them a new creation,
creating a new man in them, making them see Christ as their righteousness
and their holiness, and they're saved entirely by Him. And when
He's called every single one of us in, The new heavens and
the new earth will entirely be the creation of Christ Jesus
our Lord. And he's saying, I put my word
in your mouth, I'm hiding you, covering you with my hand, so
that you go forth and preach this gospel. And by it, every
time he calls one of his people, he's calling them into the new
heaven, and every time he calls one of his people, he's laying
the foundations of the new earth. That's what he said, saying to
my people, thou art my people. You see how much he's the governor?
You see how much he made this first creation, he makes the
new creation. And he's doing it through us
preaching this gospel. We have no reason to fear. I
don't see people being called out. I don't see a big number.
There is never, ever, ever any mistakes with our God. He's calling
everyone of His people right on time, right according to His
purpose, and He will not lose one, not one. And here's the
most assuring word of all. This is where I began. This is
the word I began with, right here. The reason that we can be assured is because
even before He calls His lost sheep personally, In our text,
He already called them by name, He already created them, and
He already formed them, and He already made them. Look here,
look now, verse 43, I mean, chapter 43, look at verse 6. He says
in the middle there, I will, I will, that's future tense,
I will bring thy seed. Alright, now look at verse 7.
He said, I will bring them. And he said, verse 7, even everyone
that is called by my name, for I have created him for my glory. I have formed him, yea, I have
made him. You see, all the Lord's people,
they were called, created, formed, and made by Him when God chose
us in Christ before the foundation of the world. Every one of them
were. Paul used the same word to encourage
Timothy. He said, God hadn't called us
to fear. He'd given us a sound mind and
a loving heart. He said, be not ashamed of the
testimony of our Lord. He said, nor may he, as prisoner,
be partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
power of God, who hath saved us and called us with a holy
calling, not according to our works, but according to His own
purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ before the
world began. But now it is made manifest by
the praying of our Savior who has abolished death and brought
life and immortality to life. He told Jeremiah, before I formed
you in the belly, I knew you. I ordained you. Christ already
redeemed His people. And get this, brethren, the lost
sheep that are in this world right now, they are seated with
Christ in glory, just as sure as you are that He is already
called. They are seated there. He said, He came and redeemed
us. And He said in Galatians 4.6,
And because ye are sons, already redeemed, already a son, because
ye are sons, He said, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into
your heart, crying, Abba, Father, because ye already were sons.
Brethren, you can rest right there. David said, The Lord is
my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is
the strength of my life. Whom shall I be afraid? In the
time of trouble, He'll hide me in the pavilion, in the secret
of His tabernacle. He'll set me on a rock and therefore
I'll offer praise in His church, in His tabernacle. I'll offer
sacrifices of joy. I'll sing. I'll sing praises
to the Lord. I hope that gives you reason
not to fear, brethren. We have every reason not to fear.
It's all in the hand of the Lord. He's calling his people right
on time. Alright, Brother Adam, Brother Ravi, will y'all pass
out the elements?