Alright, Isaiah chapter 43. There were many trusting in the
work of their hands in Israel from the time the Lord brought
them out of Egypt all through the wilderness, all through the
days of David, all through the days of the prophets. There were
many in Israel that never trusted the Lord. They were always looking
to their own works, to their own hand. And the Lord said here,
He declared Christ is coming. And He declared He would honor
His law. He would establish it, make it
honorable for His people. And He said there's none among
the people that are saying restore. Now this word we're going to
see tonight and hear tonight, this is the gospel that is the
dunamis. It is the power of God unto salvation. It's the gospel that is the dynamite
when he first calls us. It's the gospel that is the power
of God throughout the day of our life on this earth as believers. It's the word that he uses to
rebuke his people. It's a word he uses to strengthen
the weak. It's the same word he used to
reconcile those that are at odds. It's the same word he uses to
give bread to the hungry. This is the gospel. This is the
power of God unto salvation. While there was all this chaos
and confusion and trouble and all these The Lord had turned
Israel over and they were being chastened by these other nations.
And while all that was going on, this is the word the Lord
sent to be preached by Isaiah, his prophet. And this is that
successful gospel we saw. last week that he keeps having
declared and he kept sending it forth to his people throughout
the whole time from the time he called Abraham all the way
until Christ came and he's still sending this gospel forth. This
is the power of God unto salvation. It's in this gospel the righteousness
of God is revealed. From Christ the faithful to those
he's given faith, this is the message whereby he makes those
justified in his blood walk by faith. The power of God. The power of God. He says, verse
1, Isaiah 43, 1, But now thus saith the Lord that created thee,
O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, fear not. Do not fear. Brethren, do you
ever become fearful? We're Jacob. We're weak. We're sinners. We have no strength
apart from Christ. So it's easy to become fearful. It's easy to become fearful.
This is God's word to his fearful Jacobs. This is God's word to
his elect church made up of weak believing sinners. This is the
word that we're to speak to one another to remind each other
of his works and to strengthen one another and restore the fallen. This is the word. He says, now
thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed
thee, O Israel, fear not. Now be sure to get who's speaking.
Thus saith the Lord. This is the sovereign of heaven
and earth. This is God Almighty. This is the Lord God of heaven
and earth. The Lord that created thee, O
Jacob. He that formed thee, O Israel.
This is to God's elect nation. This is to His elect church. His elect individually. That's
who He's speaking to. He created us in eternity in
the mind and purpose of God. He formed us. He formed us. Thy sovereign Lord that created
thee and formed thee. He gives this command. Fear not. This is His command, fear not.
When will we not fear? When He speaks this in our heart.
That's when the fear will be gone, when He speaks this in
our heart and says, fear not. Now this is not for any that
are trusting their own righteousness. This is not for anybody that's
worshiping graven images, those righteousnesses they imagine
in their heart. This is not for those. This is
for those He's brought to cast all their care on Christ. It's
for those that He's calling through this gospel. Wouldn't it be good
tonight if he called one of his lost sheep and made us cast our
care on him and believe on him? Hear these promises. Hear these
promises of our Lord. This is what he says to those
that trust him and believe on him. And I pray you make each of us
hear these. For each one who truly believes on Him, this is
what He promises. He says, fear not, and He gives
four great reasons here not to fear. Four great reasons. Four promises here not to fear. Really, there's five, because
He says He's going to call all His people, too. But I want to
just look at these four that apply to us right here now. First,
the Lord thy God says, fear not, for I have redeemed thee. I have redeemed thee. Redemption
is to be set free by the payment of a ransom price. To be set
free by the payment of a ransom price. Now God typified that
payment when he brought Israel out of Egyptian bondage, political
Israel, in that Passover lamb that he provided. That's what
he was showing. But the redemption he's talking about here of his
true elect is far greater than that. We owe the law the debt
we couldn't pay. We owed it satisfaction to divine
justice. We owe that eternal debt, that
perfect exacting of God's justice for our sin. We owe God that. We owe the perfect righteousness.
And redemption is the ransom of chosen sinners from under
the curse of God's broken law. Being ransomed from the curse
of God's broken law by Christ's sin atoning death in the place
of his people. Redemption is satisfaction of
justice by the blood of Christ. That's how it was accomplished.
It's the deliverance of God's elect from all possibility of
condemnation by the curse of the law. To be brought out, the
debt's been paid in full by Christ's blood. And this name, Redeemer,
when you think of this name, Redeemer, our Lord as the Redeemer,
this is precious to us. It's precious to each one of
us that He saved. And the reason it's precious
is because it declares that the Son of God loved us freely before
this world was made and promised the Father to take all responsibility
for us, to pay everything we owe to the justice of God. That
was His promise from eternity. And He loved us freely. And it declares here that His
nearness to us He came because he had to be made a man. He came
and he became one with us like unto his brethren. His brethren, that's who he calls
us. This one who sanctifies and those
that he sanctifies are all of one for which cause he's not
ashamed to call us brethren. He's our near kinsman. That's
what this word redeemer tells us. He's our near kinsman. And
this name Redeemer declares, it's finished. It's finished. He doesn't say here, I'm going
to redeem you. He says, I have redeemed you.
It's finished. He was willing and He was able
and He did it. He paid the ransom price. What
was it? His precious blood. He said in
1 Peter 1.18, You know you were not redeemed with corruptible
things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received
by the tradition of your father. There's some today that are still
trying to pay their money for the absolution of their sins.
Paying a man, paying a church to have their sins absolved.
No man can do that. That's vanity. We were redeemed
with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish
and without spot who verily was ordained before the foundation
of the world. He did this before we ever, he
ever made anything. But He was manifest in these
last times, Peter said, for you. And it's by Him that we believe
in. Look at Isaiah 44 and look at
verse 21. Remember these, O Jacob and Israel,
thou art my servant, I have formed thee. Thou art my servant, O
Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me. I have blotted out as
a thick cloud Thy sins. Return unto Me, for I have redeemed
thee. You see this? Prometh, return
to Me. Return to Me. This is what He's
always going to speak to us, brethren. If we turn, He's going
to speak this to the heart of His child. Return to Me, I've
redeemed thee. Look at this. Sing, O you heavens, for the
Lord hath done it. Shout, ye lower parts of the
earth. Break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every
tree therein. The Lord hath redeemed Jacob
and glorified himself in Israel. Look over at 1 John, just real
quick. 1 John 4. Here's that love. He did this for us when we had
no love for him, but we sinned directly against him. This is
when he did this for us. Look here at verse 10. Herein
is love, not that we love God, not that we love God. And it
wasn't just an absence of love, it was a direct hatred of Him,
sinning against Him. But that He loved us and sent
His Son, the propitiation for our sins. Sin atoning, sin appeasing,
propitiating sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved
us, We are also to love one another. No man has seen God at any time.
If we love one another, when they sin against us, there's
one reason. God dwelleth in us and His love
is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we dwell
in Him and He in us because He's given us of His Spirit. His Spirit
was to love us when we sinned against Him. That's what we see
in Him being called our Redeemer. He loved us when we didn't love
Him. So now, knowing that He has redeemed us, knowing He has
put His love in our hearts, we can be certain He is going to
keep us. He says, fear not, I have redeemed
you. I have redeemed thee. So here
is the next word, the Lord commands us, fear not for I have called
thee by thy name. I have called thee by thy name.
We were dead, He called us, called us to life. We couldn't believe
Him, we couldn't repent, we couldn't do anything. But here's what
I want you to see in this. He not only called us and He
not only redeemed us, He gave us His name. He gave us His name. Look down at verse 7. He said,
I'm going to... Well, in verse 6 He says, I'm
going to call all my sons from far, my daughters from the ends
of the earth. Verse 7, even everyone that's
called by My name, For I've created him for my glory. I've formed
him. Yeah, I made him. Everyone is called by my name.
The Lord gave Jacob his name. You remember after he wrestled
Jacob, he said, what's your name? He said, Jacob. We're going to
confess to him we're nothing. We're the sinner. We're the trickster. We're the supplanter. We've got
to take sides against ourselves, entirely denying ourselves in
any contribution to salvation. What's your name? Sinner. Sinner,
that's my name. And the Lord said this, thy name
shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel. Why? Because as a prince hast thou
power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. As a prince
thou hast power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.
That's what Israel means. And so after he did this, Jacob
said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And the Lord said, Wherefore
is it that you do ask after my name? You know what the Lord
was saying to him? I just gave you my name. Why
are you asking after my name? I just gave you my name. Why
is Christ's name Israel? Because He's the Prince that
has prevailed with God and with men, and it's only in Him that
we've prevailed. Look over at Isaiah 49. I'll
show you. This is His name. Isaiah 49 and verse 1. Our only power with God, our
only way we've prevailed is in Christ. Look here. His name's
Israel. Isaiah 49.1. Listen, O islands,
O Gentiles unto me. Hearken, ye people from far.
The Lord hath called me from the womb. From the bowels of
my mother hath he made mention of my name. He made my mouth
like a sharp sword. In the shadow of his hand hath
he hid me and made me a polished shaft. In his quiver hath he
hid me. And he said unto me, Thou art
my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified. And after
he came to his own in Israel and they didn't receive him,
This is what Christ said. Then I said, I've labored in
vain, I've spent my strength for naught and in vain, yet surely
my judgment is with the Lord, my work with my God. I'm going
to trust my Father. Now saith the Lord that formed
me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him.
This is what thou Israel, I'm sorry, though Israel be not gathered,
yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God
shall be my strength. Now his name's Israel. He said,
but though these ones in Israel are not gathered, he said, my
name in the eyes of the Lord I'll be glorious and my God shall
be my strength. He said, it's a light thing that
thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to restore the preserved of Israel. I'll also give thee
for a light to the Gentiles that thou mayest be my salvation until
the end of the earth. That's Christ. And that's a good
word for us because we're Gentiles. Aren't you glad he said I'm going
to send you to the Gentile? But you get this brethren, by
his name, Our name, our name's Hid, because he's the head and
his people are the body. Your head doesn't have a name
and your body have a different name. He's the head, he's Israel,
so we're Israel, his people, by the union we have in him.
We've seen this so many times, but some may not have. Turn to
Jeremiah 23, and it bears repeating even if we have seen it. Jeremiah
23. Look at verse 6, speaking of
Christ here. He's the righteous branch, He's
the King that reigns and prospers and executes judgment and justice
in the earth. Verse 6, In His days Judah shall
be saved and Israel shall dwell safely. This is His elect, Jew
and Gentile, and this is His name. This is His name whereby
He shall be called the Lord our righteousness. And then look
at Jeremiah 33 and look at verse 16. Same word again, speaking of
the branch, Christ Jesus, verse 16, Jeremiah 33, 16, In those
days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this is the name wherewith
she shall be called, the Lord our righteousness. You get tired
of that. Can't get tired of that. You
know how many times I've preached these scriptures? You know how
many times I've heard these scriptures preached? Never grow old. Why? You're talking about our
Redeemer. You're talking about our Savior.
He keeps it new. He keeps you rejoicing. That's the security of every
believing sinner. We bear the name of our great
Redeemer. Then thirdly, this is what He
commands us back in Isaiah 43. Fear not. Why? I've redeemed thee. I've
called thee by thy name. Thou art mine. Child of God, get that. You belong
to him. You're his. You're his. By the payment of his blood,
he says to you and me who he saved, you're mine. You're mine. Not if you worship in your works
or your hand. But if you, if he's your only
righteousness, You belong to Him. You're His. The Lord gave Paul the word in
Ephesians 1, and he said, God trusted Christ, trusted His whole
word to Christ, was the first to trust Him, that we might be
to the praise of the glory of His grace. And he said, and in
Christ you also trusted after you heard this gospel, the word
of your salvation. And when you believed, you were
sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. I gave you the earnest,
the earnest of our inheritance. A foretaste and an earnest and
a guarantee that you shall receive this inheritance. And it is until
the redemption, until he comes back and redeems the purchased
possession. Who is that? He said, you're
mine. It's you he bought with his blood,
the purchased possession. And it's to the praise of his
glory. He's going to keep us remembering, brethren, you're
a joint heir with Christ. But not only that, you are Christ's
inheritance. You are his portion. He purchased
you. You're his. You belong to him.
He says you're mine. The Lord's portion is his people.
Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. And he said in that last day,
when I return, in that last day, He said in Malachi 3.17, They
shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I
make up my jewels, I will spare them as a man spareth his own
son that serveth him. And this is the word. This is
the word. The difference in Israel that
went through the wilderness and they didn't believe Him, they
didn't trust His salvation. Every time He brought them to
a trial, they blamed somebody else. It was somebody else's
fault. They had to blame somebody else. They never stopped and
examined themselves and said, am I believing the Lord? Am I
really trusting Him? Do I need repentance? That was
the difference. But Moses, you know where Moses
was? He hid his face. He's on the face before the Lord,
saying, Lord, what do I do? And you know what the answer
was in every single, from the Red Sea, to the waters of Marah,
to the wilderness with no bread, to the wilderness with no water. Every one of those trials, he
brought them to it. On purpose. And they failed every
time, every time. And it was always somebody else's
fault. But not his people. You know what his people did?
They hit their face. They hit their face and said,
Lord, have mercy on me. Why? This is the word. In every case, you know what
the answer was in every one of those cases? that the Red Sea
was hold up the rod, and he smoked, and he opened the waters. At
the bitter waters, it was take this tree and cast it in the
waters, and it sweetened the waters. When they were hungry,
it was manna from heaven. When they were thirsty, it was
water out of the smitten rock. In every instance, the Lord told
Moses this, tell them to stand still and see the salvation of
the Lord. He preached Christ to them, and every one of those
pictured Christ. Every time, the answer was, preach Christ
to them. Because He's the answer. He's the bread. He's the water.
He's the life. He's the one that makes the bitter
water sweet. And the reason this constrains us and brings us to
repentance is He says in our hearts, you're not your own.
You're bought with a price. Glorify God in your body and
in your spirit, which are God's. This is the word that's going
to bring. This is the word we speak, brethren. This is We need
that healing from Christ because of our sin. This is the word
we speak. This is the balm of Gilead. It's the great physician
that's going to bring us to this place to hear, I bought you. And here's His promise. Verse 2. Because this is true. Because He redeemed you. Because
He called you by name, because you are His. This is true, brethren.
Here is His promise. 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, thou shalt not be burned. Neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. He doesn't say if you pass through
trouble. He said, when you do, you shall
pass through trouble. Why did the Lord not just take
them straight into Canaan? He took them to every one of
those troubles on purpose. Every single one of them on purpose.
Why? Ephraim turned back in every
single trial. They were well armed, but they
turned back in every one of them. Why? He said, they believe not
me and they don't trust my salvation. You know why he brought the whole
group to there, to those troubles, through those waters? He gonna on purpose make us see
that he is with his people. I will be with you." Whatever
the trial, He shall be with you, believer. He suffered it. He
knows how to comfort you. He's going to bring you to the
waters to make you remember you have not a high priest who cannot
be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. In all points,
He was tempted like we are, yet He went through it without sin. And so He says, come boldly to
the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to
help in time of need. He promises here, you are going
to go through the waters, but they shall not overflow thee.
You are not going to drown. They are not going to separate
you from Christ. And the fire shall not kindle
upon you. What are the waters for then?
Well, when He brought them to the Red Sea, And they said, Moses
brought us out here to kill us. That's all he brought us out
here for. And what did the Lord tell Moses to preach? Stand still
and see the salvation of the Lord. The battle's not yours. It's the Lord's. Stand still.
See the Lord. You hold your peace. He'll fight
for you this day. You ever consider this, brethren?
It was not just a miracle that he split the Red Sea. That was
a miracle. It was a miracle that he dried
that sea up so much that when they went across on dry ground,
they weren't slipping and sliding. He dried it up completely. So
dry that Pharaoh thought he could drive his chariots across it.
And so the Lord took the wheels off the chariot. But you think
of the faith it took to go through that water. Most, there's 600,000
men, I count women and children, and a mixed multitude. Most didn't
have faith. Most went through because mom
and daddy went through, and a spouse went through, and whoever went
through, and they just didn't want to be back in bondage. That's
why they went through. But those that went through by
faith, you just think of this. You stood in front of an aquarium
before and sat there and looked at a wall of water and see those
fish swimming behind. And has it ever occurred to you,
you thought, man, if that water, if that little glass breaks,
I'm going to drown. But you know, somebody inspected
that. Hopefully, it didn't go to the
lowest bidder. Hopefully, somebody did their job. But you got that
glass there and you're thinking those things. That water was
as a heap on each side, just like it would look standing before
an aquarium. And they walked through there
with nothing to hold that water back. That's faith. And they didn't lift a weapon.
They just did what the Lord told them to do. They went through
and went on to the other side, and the Lord made the cloud go
between them and Israel, and when Pharaoh tried to go through,
he drowned them. That's why he brings us to the
water, to show us over and over and over. Every little bitty
thing he brings us through in this life is to remind us he's
already taken you through the deepest water there is on Calvary's
Cross. The fire is to purge the dross
in each believer and strengthen our faith in him. We have some
dross to be purged. And every time he brings you
to the fire, he purges a little more of it. But the fire doesn't
kindle on you. It never hurts you, not the real
you. The painful thing that we experience
in the fire is our flesh. It don't hurt you. It's good
for us. When through the deep waters
I call thee to go, the rivers of woe shall not thee overflow.
I will be with thee thy troubles to bless and sanctify to thee
thy deepest distress. When through fiery trials thy
pathway shall lie, my grace all sufficient shall be thy supply.
The flame shall not hurt thee, I only design thy draws to consume
and thy gold to refine. The Lord's teaching us that two-fold
lesson I mentioned to you Sunday. What's he teaching us in every
trial? Our flesh, my flesh, Our problem is we want to fix everybody
else. And we want to fix the whole
church. We want to fix that church. We
want to fix this church. We want to be critical of them
and that. It's us. It's me personally. It's you
personally. If we're his, that's who he's making us to examine
our own self. Every time. And just imagine. Here's why he's going to keep
carrying his church through this wilderness, and they're never
going to be harmed. Because he makes each of his people examine
themselves. And when each one is brought
to repentance and to trust Christ so the more, to see, here's the
two-fold, I'm grass. All my glory is just like a fading
flower. But my God reigns. He saved me. He redeemed me. He called me.
I'm His. This is not going to hurt me.
He's just reminded me of that. And each one of His people are
going to be brought to do that. They're going to be brought to
see Him a little more and trust themselves a little less. And
whatever happens to the rest is no harm to His church and
His people whatsoever. Those that didn't believe in
Israel, they weren't any harm to his people. His people were
always brought to trust him themselves. That's where he's going to bring
us, each one of us. And it keeps you. When it's all said and done,
you're going to be stronger for having suffered it. Why? Because
you're weaker in yourself and you see he's your only strength.
This thing is not about us The works of their hands is the ones
he passed by. You know, the Pharisees came.
He always sent the Pharisees away. But who did he save? The sinner. And this thing is
to teach us, brethren, it's not about us. It's not about something
we do. There'll be things you do. There'll
be things we do. But the repentance, the outward
putting away of something, that's not the repentance. That's the
effect of the repentance in the heart. The repentance in the
heart is, I abhor myself. I have nothing good to offer
God. I have nothing wherein I can stand. Nothing. He's everything. He's all my
righteousness. It's repentance toward God and
faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. It's a change of what I am. It's constantly. And we go a
little while and we need to be brought to another bitter water. Because we forget it. That was
His charge against those initial. They remember not my works. They
didn't set their hope in God. Their spirit wasn't right with
God. Well, what about the rest? Are they any different? Were
they just mighty strong believers? His people, He keeps your hope
set in God. And He keeps your faith on Christ.
And He keeps your spirit right with Him. How? By bringing you
to these waters and letting you act a fool. It's just really
that simple. Bringing you to these waters
and letting you do what you're going to do for a little while
and then putting this hand on you and setting you back down
and showing you Now I've redeemed you. I called you by your name. Gave you my name. You're mine.
That didn't hurt you. That just taught you something.
Taught you I'm your all. Trust me. Rest in me. We overcomplicate
it. That's the lesson over and over
and over. And that's how it's going to
keep us. Look at this, verse three, I'll just read it out.
For I'm the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior.
I gave Ethiopian sea before you. Since you were precious in my
sight, you've been honored and I've loved you. Therefore, I'll
give men for thee and people for thy life. Fear not, I'm with
thee. I'll bring thy children from
the east and gather thee from the west. And I'll 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's called by my name. For I created him for my glory. I formed him and I made him.
So let's heed this. Do not be afraid. Do not fear. Our Lord is He's the strength.
He has this whole thing wrapped up. Amen.