Thank you, ladies, for that. Let's go back to Isaiah chapter
43. This morning, and I'm going to
do something that I don't often do, and that is the message will
have two parts, one this morning and one this evening. And our subject is going to be
encouragement for Israel. Let's think about encouragement
for Israel from this portion of Scripture. This is a very joyful few verses that our brother
read to us earlier wherein God promises to be with His people
throughout all of our earthly journey and in all of the difficulties
of life. But I would hasten to put you
in remembrance that chapter divisions, though very beneficial, weren't
in the original text and so Isaiah He didn't take a break when we
get to what we call chapter 43. He's continuing to speak. Therefore, if we want to understand
the words of chapter 43, especially the verses that we have read
to us, and if we want to understand that word, but, In chapter 43
verse one, we need to take some notice of the things that were
written before this was written. Because you see, when Isaiah
delivered this prophecy to Israel, he just, as he read it to them,
he would have just kept on reading. Well, what was it that he said
before this? Go back to chapter 42 and verse
17, and what he does in verses 17 through 25, he sets before
the people the certainty of the judgment of God upon idolaters,
upon those who had forsaken him, upon those who neglected His
Word, those who didn't believe Him, those who refused to hear
His preachers. God is angry. He's angry. In fact, it says that in verse
25, Therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger. God is angry. What's He angry
about? Well, you know it's got to have
something to do with sin. Because this is where God's anger
is directed towards, sin. Go back to verse 17. God says
they shall be turned back. They shall be greatly ashamed
that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images,
you are our gods. The Lord says to Israel, to Jacob,
that nation that He chose above all nations of the earth, He
says you're idolaters. You bow down before man-made
images. And He says to them in verse
18, Hear ye deaf and look ye blind that ye may see. You're
deaf to My Word. Why don't you listen to Me? Why
don't you listen to My preachers? Why don't you listen to My prophets?
He says you're blind. You refuse to see. Why don't
you see? Why don't you take heed to the
Word of God? Why don't you take heed to the
Lord who says, look unto Me and be ye saved, all ye ends of the
earth? For I am God, there's nothing
else. Why do you look to idols? You're foolish people. Listen
to Me, God says, ye deaf. Look to Me, ye that are blind. And then He says in verse 18,
He identifies who the blind and the deaf are. He says, who is
blind, but My servant, that is, My servant Israel, who is deaf
as My messenger that I sent. But Jacob, who is blind, as he
that is perfectly blind, as blind, he says, as the Lord's servant.
You see many things, but you don't observe. You don't observe. You see what the Word of God
is, but you don't really pay any attention to it. That's true
of all of us. We know what the Word of God
has to say about us, of our sinfulness, of our negligence of the things
of God, of how wrong it is to worship a false idea of God. You know you're wrong, but you
don't pay any attention. You don't listen to the preacher.
You still seek acceptance with God on the basis of the things
that you do. You don't understand you have
no goodness to present to God. You're totally filthy and unfit
for the presence of God. And the only way you can be righteous
in the sight of God is through the Lord Jesus. But you won't
look and you won't listen. That's our problem. We won't view Him who is God's
Lamb. John the Baptist said, Behold
the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. But he
says, but you won't look. He says, listen to me, hear ye
deaf, but you won't hear. You won't observe. He says in
verse 20, opening the ears, but he heareth not. I sent you the
truth. I sent you messengers to be honest
with you. They told you who I am. Holy,
holy, holy. I told you what you are, sinful
people. I told you the remedy for sin,
but you will not hear. That's the problem with the natural
man. We won't hear what the Lord has
to say. But then he puts in A wonderful
statement of good news. He says in verse 21, the Lord
is well pleased for His righteousness sake. He will magnify the law
and make it honorable. Who's going to do that? Our Lord
Jesus Christ. You see, notwithstanding our
natural rejection and rebellion against God, God has a purpose
of grace. That purpose of grace is going
to be brought to pass through a substitute for sinners, and
that's the Lord Jesus Christ. And He's going to establish that
which we've got to have. Listen, you're not going to glory
unless you're righteous. You understand that? I'm not
talking about doing the best you can. You've got to be righteous.
You've got to be holy. You gotta be perfect before God.
Say, preacher, nobody's like that. You're absolutely right. There's nobody in the natural
state who stands in perfection and righteousness and holiness
before God. But our Lord Jesus, He came down
here to this earth and by His life and His death, He established
righteousness. He made things right with God
for us. And all who believe Him, all
who receive Him, all who look to Him, they stand before God
not in their own unrighteousness, but in the righteousness of,
the holiness of, the purity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to what God has to say. It's not you, it's Christ. It's
not your works, it's His work of redemption. Will you hear?
Will you look? Will you then live? But then he says in verse 22,
but these people. This is a people robbed and spoiled. In other words, God said, I've
sent all these physical judgments to you. They're all of them snared
in holes. They're hid in prison houses. They are for a prey. And none
can deliver. None can save you. And none says,
restore. Who can restore you to God? There's no man on earth can do
that. Who can deliver you? There's nobody on this earth
that can deliver you from your sinfulness. The only deliverance
and the only restoration that can be given to a sinner is by
a sovereign act of God through the obedience of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And he says this in verse 23,
Who among you will give ear to this? Who will hearken and hear
for the time to come? Who will listen to what I'm saying?
And I would say to all of you this morning, all who are gathered
in this auditorium, all who are watching by way of the internet,
who among you will give ear to this? Who among you will really
listen? Who among you will hear the judgment
of God upon the wicked? Who will listen? Will you? The
people in Noah's day wouldn't listen. He said God is going to send
judgment. This earth's going to be covered
with water. But there's an ark. I'm building
this ark. Come into the ark. You're welcome
to come in. That's the only place of safety.
Well, that's your religious belief. I'm telling you, judgment's coming.
That's what Noah said. God's gonna send judgment. God's
angry. Bunch of idolaters. Bunch of
blasphemers. And as it was in those days,
so it is in our days. A bunch of idolaters. A bunch
of blasphemers. Look at the world all around
you. Is it not an ungodly world? There
are things being done today and spoken about today that used
to be they were hidden, but not anymore. Just open, arrogantly,
absolutely defying God. Hear me! Judgment's coming. You say, well, I'm not wrapped
up in all that immorality stuff and profanity. If you don't worship
God through the Lord Jesus Christ, you, my friend, are an idolater. And I'll tell you, God doesn't
take that lightly. Who among you will give ear to
this? Who will hearken and hear for the time to come? Who will
hear the prophecy of coming judgment? Who will receive instruction?
Who will believe the gospel of grace? Will you? Will you flee
from your work's salvation and sue God for mercy and say, Lord,
I'm a poor beggar before You? I need Your grace. I need your
mercy. I've tried to turn over a new
leaf, I've tried to do right, but I can't please you because
the Bible says in the flesh no man can please God. I come to you Lord, I fall down
before you. Will you? Notice what he says in verse
24. Who gave Jacob for a spoils and Israel to the robbers? Did
not the Lord? He against whom we've sinned?
So that's the problem. We've sinned against God. And
I know most people think lightly of sin. Well, who hadn't made
some mistakes? Every sin is a rebellion against
God. Every sin's got to be dealt with. For they would not walk in His
ways, neither were obedient to His law. What are the ways of
God? It's a way of grace. It's a way
of Christ Jesus. It's a way of satisfaction to
His justice through the death of a substitute. But the Lord
says, you wouldn't walk in his ways. Christ Jesus is the way,
but you wouldn't walk in the way. You're on, hear me, you're
on the road that leads to destruction. And many there be that go in
there at. Therefore, look at verse 25,
therefore, He had poured upon him, that
is Israel and Jacob, the fury of his anger. The very strength
of battle. I tell you what, you think you've
been in some battles in life? You stay in rebellion against
God, you're in for a battle. You have no idea how great your
defeat is going to be. Because you set yourself up against
God Almighty. You go ahead and defy God. You go ahead and stick up your
nose at His Word and His Gospel, His Christ, His grace. I'm not
going to believe that. That's good for you folks, but
I'm not going to believe that. You just keep on with that kind
of attitude. You have no idea what it's going
to be like in the day of that final battle. why God will destroy you with
the breath of His mouth. Who knows the fury of the anger
of God? I've thought about this. Lord,
there are people to whom I speak, that I preach to, who are going
to be the objects of the fury of your wrath. Who could stand
the wrath of God going to battle against God Almighty? You look through the Old Testament.
He destroyed whole armies with just the word of an angel. What
do you think He's going to do to you? When you refuse to bow
to Christ Jesus, the only Savior, the only Mediator, you won't
pay any attention, oh, you'll give God a little thought every
once in a while, but you're too busy living your life. The day's
going to come when you die and you stand before God, and then
you'll cry and God says, I'm not going to listen to you. Because
you wouldn't listen to My servant. He says, who among you will give
ear? Who will hearken and hear for
the time to come? Will you hear? Oh God, give you
ears to hear. Oh God, open your eyes to see.
You have no idea who you're dealing with. And after we set forth
all the perfections of our God, We haven't even scratched the
surface. What are you going to do when
you stand before a God who's angry? I shudder at that thought. Stand
before the God of judgment? And you have no Savior? You have
no Mediator? You have no great high priest
to speak to God on your behalf? If you won't weep for yourselves,
I'll weep for you. If you won't pray to the Lord,
I'll pray for you. But He's got to do something
for you. Let's understand that. He's got
to do something for you. Because you see, to be reconciled to God is not a
work that you must do, it's a work he has to do. You see, let me read verse 25
again. Therefore he poured upon him
the fury of his anger and the strength of his battle. and it
hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew it not. The judgment
of God, the very fire of God's wrath is, as it were, burning
around you. You don't even pay attention
to it. That's a sad case, isn't it? You see those wildfires out west,
What if you saw somebody, hear these awful flames, those fires,
coming right toward a person? What if you saw a person out
there standing, just doing nothing? Hey, buddy, don't you see the
fire's coming? Didn't you hear what the fireman
said? Retreat, go back. Pay no attention. Now that man's
a fool. And so are you. And so are you. If you don't flee to the only
escape, to the only savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, look at the next verse. But, but, Now thus saith the
Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel,
fear not. I said a while ago, I love these
buts when the Lord puts in. You see, it isn't that Israel,
God's true people, it isn't that we do something, he does something. He steps in. See, here's what
we rejoice in. We rejoice in the fact that our
God interrupts us in our fatal plunge toward hell. He steps
in. He makes the move toward the
sinner. It isn't that the sinner makes
his move toward God. It's the Lord who does something.
I know you're rebellious and you're unbelieving just like
me. And if left to ourselves, we
are absolutely going to perish. But, thus saith the Lord, He
redeemed sinners. He saved sinners by the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross of Calvary. And were it not for the fact
that the Lord does something for us, we'd still be on that
broad road that leads to destruction. Look here in chapter 43, look
at verse 16. Let me just draw your attention
to a few things. In verse 16, thus saith the Lord,
which maketh a way in the sea and a path in the mighty waters.
Picture Israel at the Red Sea. Their situation was an absolutely
impossible situation. Here's an advancing, mighty army,
the greatest army in the world, coming toward them. And here's
the Red Sea in front of them. Wow. We're daughters now. See, that's
you and me. What in the world is going to
have to happen? Oh wait, God made a way through the sea. He opened it up. There is a path
through the mighty waters, and the way to God, the path to God
is our Lord Jesus Christ. We didn't ask for Him to come.
We didn't beg for Him to come. We didn't seek for Him to come.
He came to save sinners by His death upon the cross of Calvary.
That's exactly what He did. And a way is open. The way. The way is open. Look at verse
19. God says, Behold, I will do a
new thing, and now it shall bring forth. Shall you not know it?
I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the
desert. Here's the way again. And the
rivers, the rivers of His grace, the rivers of His salvation.
God says, I'm going to do it. Because you can't do it. Because
you're idolaters. You're blasphemers. You're profane
people. Look at verse 21. The Lord says,
this people have I formed for myself. They shall show forth
my praise. Who do you think gets the praise
for the salvation of a sinner? Oh, the Lord of glory. The Lord
of glory. Look at verse 25. He says this. I, even I, am He that blotteth
out thy transgressions. I've destroyed them. I've abolished
them. And I did it not for your sakes,
but for mine own sake. You see that? And remember, this
is the people they spoke about in chapter 42 of being idolaters. They refused to hear. They refused
to see. They wouldn't heed the warnings.
God said, I'm angry. I'm going to pour out my judgment.
And He did pour out His judgment, but it fell on His Son. And because of that, God says,
I, even I, the Holy God, I'm going to destroy and abolish
your transgressions. I'll do it for my sake, that
I might be glorified. And God says, and I will not
remember thy sins. You see, my friends, this is
what I'm trying to tell you. This is a salvation all of grace,
found only in Christ Jesus. So he says in chapter 43 in verse
1, But now, thus saith the Lord
that created thee, O Jacob, he that formed thee, O Israel, fear
not, fear not. Why should I not be afraid? Because
I have redeemed you. I have called thee by thy name,
and thou art mine. Consider the condition of these
people There are fearful people. That's why God says, fear not. They're greatly troubled. They're
overwhelmed by the difficulties of life. I speak to those of
you who are the children of the Lord. Someone said the life of a child
of God is like a bed of roses. First time I heard that, I thought,
that's not true. But yes, it is true. It is a bed of roses, the very
fragrance of the flowers, and all the pain of the thorns. That's the life of a child of
God, isn't it? We smell the fragrance of the
grace of God, the death of our Lord Jesus.
Inhale. Oh, how wonderful is the salvation
that's of the Lord. My sins, which were many, are
all forgiven. I'm unrighteous by nature, made
righteous in Christ Jesus. I like to breathe that in quite
often, don't you? Breathe in the grace of God. but I also know life is full
of thorns. Here we read of a people created
and formed by God, a people redeemed and called, acknowledged by the
Lord to be His people, a people who belong to Him, His peculiar
people. We might, without thinking, assume
that these people will be exempt from the tragedies of life, the
sorrows of life. Surely these, the people of God,
will never suffer. Well, God's people do suffer. You notice in verse 2 it says,
when thou passest through the waters. I'll tell you what I
noticed right there. That verse doesn't start with
if. It starts with when. This is a certainty. You're going
to pass through the waters and through the rivers. You're
going to walk through the fire. This is a given. It's a given. Some of you have expressed to
me even this very morning some of the difficulties you've been
encountering in life. That's the way it is with all
of God's people. Some more, some less, but all, all are called
upon to endure these things. There will be certain times in
life when all of the people of God must walk through deep waters
of trouble, the flooding rivers of sorrow and adversity, the
raging fires of sickness and disease and death. But here is what God says. When you pass through them, and
you will pass through, you will pass through. You're gonna
come out on the other side. He says, when you pass through
the waters, keep this in your heart. I will be with thee. And when you pass through the
rivers, and you'll come out of the rivers, but they're not going
to overflow you. After all, I redeemed you, the
Lord said. They're not going to destroy
you. And when you walk through the
fire, you don't have to run. Don't get in a hurry. I want
this trial to be done with. Well, now, just wait a minute.
It'll be done with when God says it's done with. Just walk through the fire and
realize you're not in the fire by yourself like Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego. Nebuchadnezzar said, didn't I
throw three men in that fire? He sure did. He sure did, O King,
because we got some workers here that threw them in and they were
consumed by the fire. He said, Lo, I see a fourth one
in there. Likened to the Son of God. I know some of you have walked
through the fire. Maybe some of you walking through
the fire now. It won't be burned. It can't
touch your soul. Well, who says this? Why is it
that we're not going to be consumed? Verse 3, 4, and that word means,
here's the reason, because I, the Lord, thy God, the Holy One
of Israel, thy Savior, I gave Egypt for your ransom. Ethiopia,
and Sheba for thee, since thou was precious and highly valuable,
highly esteemed in my sight. Thou has been honorable and I
have loved thee. Therefore, I will give men for
thee and people for thy life. I am with you. I'll do whatever
is necessary to take care of you. That's what God says. Can you get a hold of that? I know that you're going to have
some troubles, and so am I. But the Lord says, I'm with you. He's with you. He's the one who
initiated, and not only initiated, not only began the work of salvation,
but who will finish the work of salvation. This is not you.
You're not a self-made Christian. You didn't cause yourself to
be born again. You didn't put yourself in God's
family. He did. He put you in God's family. And He says, I'll never leave
you and I'll never forsake you. You see, we weren't seeking Him. He says later in Isaiah, Isaiah
chapter 65, He said, I'm found of them who sought Me not. Well,
we were the idolaters. We were the ones who wouldn't
hear. We were the ones who wouldn't see. We wouldn't listen. Oh,
the preacher preached and, well, we heard the words with these
ears, but it didn't have an effect upon our heart till God put the
Word of God in our souls. He quickened us. He caused us
to believe. He pulled us to Christ with irresistible
grace. And in our neediness, we came
to Him. And now, as it were, the Lord
says to His people, do you think I'll forsake you now? After all
I've done for you, and I'm going to show you this evening from
this portion of Scripture, all the many things that God has
done, is doing, and will yet do for His people. And He does it for His name's
sake and because He loves us. He loves us. Well, I want you
to get your songbooks and turn to 231. And I want us to sing
one stanza of Jesus saves. The Lord says, I'm the Savior.
Jesus saves. And nobody else can restore you
to God's favor. Nobody else can deliver you.
But He can and He does deliver sinners. 2 Timothy 1. Sing the
first stanza. Let's stand together.