Well, we're turning back to Isaiah
chapter 43. I think I've told you before,
I absolutely love these chapters of Isaiah, from chapter 40 through
to 45 especially. I mean, much more, but these
particularly seem so rich. They're so full and so clear. When they first became very vivid
to me was when we were in our 20s. living in Wellingarden city
and we were troubled for two or three weeks by Jehovah's Witnesses
knocking on our door and telling us that what we were doing was
completely wrong and how we could find salvation only with them,
et cetera. And I think it forced me for
the first time to look to the scriptures for myself. Not just
to read what somebody else had told me it meant, but to actually
look and see if I could see for myself. And I was just staggered
as I read these five chapters over and over and over again,
how I could not believe how the Jehovah's Witnesses could possibly
maintain their position with such a clear message in Scripture.
What's the message? It's about Christ, the Redeemer,
written seven to eight hundred years before he actually came
and was born in Bethlehem. Christ the Redeemer, but this
is the point, this is the point, that Christ the Redeemer, Christ
the One who pays the purchase price, Christ the One who pays
the ransom price, the penalty, He is Himself one God, manifested,
made known, shown, And it's all here in these chapters, and especially
here in the first 13 verses of chapter 43. So let's try to open
this treasure chest of divine gospel truth in verses 1 to 13. It begins with, Now thus saith
the Lord, Now, this is God speaking. This is God. Do you not think
we ought to sit up and pay attention? This is God speaking. What has
he got to say? Is it not amazing? that God who
dwells in unapproachable light, the unknowable God, no man shall
see me and live, that this God should speak to people like you
and me. And we have it here in these
words, miraculously preserved, irrespective of all of the other
pseudo-scientific nonsense that's peddled about the truth of God
not being true. And yet here we have, in this
book, the words of the infinite God. to people like you and me. So I want us to see first of
all the Lord who is speaking. Thus saith the Lord. Then I want
us to see the people to whom he speaks. And then thirdly,
the comfort of his promises that he speaks to his people. First
of all, the Lord who is speaking. Now thus saith the Lord that
created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel. Israel,
the nation, was a picture of the true people of God. It was
never truly the sum and substance of the people of God. It was
only a picture. And amongst those people was a remnant according
to the election of grace, is what Romans tells us. They were
not all Israel, which were of Israel. But nevertheless, as
a nation, as Romans 3 verse 1 tells us, as a nation, what advantage
then has the Jew? What benefits did these people
have? Much in every way. For, why? To them, the oracles of God were
given. What are the oracles of God?
The Scriptures, the Old Testament Scriptures, the words of the
prophets, divinely given, divinely inspired. Those people were constantly
blessed with the true message of salvation, the true message
of the Kingdom of God. by those that he sent. But they,
as a people, were constantly prone to idolatry. Do you remember
the account in the Wilderness Wanderings when they'd come out
of Egypt and they're at Mount Sinai, and Moses is going up
the mountain to God to be given the law on tablets of stone.
And while he's away, he's away quite some time, and the people
say, we don't know what's happened to this Moses. What are we gonna
do now? And they said to Aaron, who was
God's priest, they said to Aaron, make us gods that we know what
we're worshipping, make us something that we can see and touch and
feel, because this Moses, we don't know what's happened to
him, and the God he's gone off to, we've no idea what he's doing.
And so Aaron said, well give me all your jewellery, your gold
jewellery, and he made them a golden calf, an image, an idol, an icon,
and they all bowed down, and they were dancing round it, and
Moses came down the mountain and saw the terrible idolatry. That's just one incident. Over
and over and over again, they were prone to idolatry. Not just
the idols of golden calves and images, but the idols of the
mind. Do you know, people today are
just as idolatrous. They have the idols of their
minds. Those idols amount to error concerning God, wrong ideas,
wrong thoughts concerning God, wrong ideas concerning sin. The
view of the people of this world in general regarding sin is not
the view of God regarding sin. They're in error, and they're
worshipping an idol of their own. They're hiding in a refuge
of lies about it, about the righteousness of God, about the justice of
God, about the demand of the law of God for justice, about
the salvation that God has provided for his people. Idols concerning
all of that because people have wrong ideas about it, and they
listen to false teachers about it, and they hear the message
of Antichrist about it, not the true message of God. No, they're
not all Israel which are of Israel, but there is a remnant according
to the election of grace. And true God True Jehovah, wherever
you see that word Lord with small capitals, think of it as Jehovah. It's the Hebrew word that was
virtually unpronounceable, Yahweh, Y-W-Y-H, Wahweh, and it's virtually
unpronounceable. And it's normally rendered Jehovah,
so whenever you see Lord in capital letters, that's the word there,
Jehovah. True God, Jehovah, speaks to
his elect people. That's what he does. He speaks
to his elect people throughout this book. And who are they?
How do we know who the elect people of God are? We know because
they're the ones who believe his gospel truth as it is in
the scriptures. Ah, there are all sorts of interpretations
of the scriptures. Yes, there are. There's one that's
true and there are all the rest of them. And we seek to preach
the one that's true. Oh, that's very arrogant of you.
How dare you say that? Well, put it to the test. To
the law and to the testimony. You examine what I seek to do,
and many other preachers like me seek to do, that we know about,
we seek only to preach that which is in accord with this Word.
And it isn't what is preached in religion all around us. In
the name of Christianity, it's a pack of lies. It's the message
of Antichrist is what they're actually preaching, not the truth.
No, we believe the truth of His Gospel as it is in Scripture.
Verse 1. God who created his elect people
for his own possession. Look at it there. Thus saith
the Lord who created you, O Jacob, and he that formed you, O Israel. It's the one who created them
for his possession. God chose a people in Christ
before the beginning of time for His own purpose, for His
own glory, to be His people in this world, to be their God.
Look at verse 3, He says to His elect people, He says, He's not
saying this to the world in general, although He is God of the world
in truth, And it will prove to be the case in the end. But at
the moment, the prince of this world, Satan, and his kingdom
of Antichrist seems to have the upper hand everywhere you look.
But truly, God is the Lord, the God of his people, the Holy One
of Israel. Israel the Israel of God, Galatians
6 verse 16, the Israel of God, the true people of God, the elect
of God, the church of God, the people he's chosen out of this
world for his own glory. He is the saviour of those people,
their God and their saviour. And he is the one who will not
share his glory. We saw it last week in verse
8 of chapter 42. I am the Lord. I am Jehovah.
That is my name. And my glory will I not give
to another. He won't give his glory to another.
Yet, yet, look at verse 10 of chapter 43. Ye are my witnesses,
saith the Lord. You are my witnesses, says Jehovah,
and my servant whom I have chosen, speaking to his people here,
that ye may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Who? Who is he? God, God. Before me, the God who is speaking,
there was no God formed. Neither shall there be after
me. There's not another God coming along. There wasn't one before
and there's not one coming along, yet God is manifested, made known
to those who are his What does it say? Witnesses. You are my
witnesses, says the Lord. You're my servant, whom I have
chosen. You, my elect people, are my
witnesses and my servant, that you may know. Of course, in a
way, it's again the Father speaking to the Son. Christ was the witness
of God, the ultimate witness of God. He is the ultimate servant. Chapter 42, verse 1, Behold,
my servant is speaking of Christ, whom I uphold, mine elect. He, above all, is the elect.
But all his people in him are those very same things. They're
his witnesses. We are his witnesses in this
fallen world. We are his servant in this fallen world. This is
God who saves. Beside me, verse 11, I even I
am the Lord, and beside me there is no Saviour. There is only
one Saviour. Who is the Saviour? Who is the
Saviour? In Psalm 106, just listen to
this, Psalm 106 verse 21 talks about God, their Saviour. Who is the Saviour? God is the
Saviour. Hosea chapter 13 verse 4. Listen
to these scriptures. Hosea 13 verse 4. I am the Lord
thy God from the land of Egypt. Meaning he brought them out all
the way in all their travels. He has been their God. I am the
Lord thy God from the land of Egypt and thou shalt know no
God but me. No false God, no idol but me.
That's the command. For there is no savior beside
me. There's no alternative. God alone
is the saviour of his people. Only God is the saviour of his
people. When Mary was told that she was
going to bear a child, and it would be Jesus, it would be the
Messiah, come, conceived of the Holy Spirit, in what's known
as the Magnificat, in Luke 1, 47, she says, my spirit has rejoiced
in God, my saviour. Who is the saviour? God is the
saviour of his people. Acts 5 verse 30. The God of our
fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree,
preaching to the Jews after Pentecost in the Acts of the Apostles,
chapter 5 verse 30. You slew him, you crucified him. Him, Jesus, has God exalted with
his right hand to be a prince and a saviour. Beside me there
is no saviour. Do you get that? Do you get what
I'm saying? God has exalted Jesus to be a prince and a saviour.
Isaiah 43 verse 11, I, even I, am the Lord and beside me there
is no saviour. He said, I will not share my
glory with another. And in John 17 verse 5, Jesus,
the man, prayed, Father, restore to me the glory that I had with
you before the beginning of time. Do you know what it's saying?
Is it not saying that which the Jehovah's Witnesses cannot see
because of their blindness, of their delusion, of their error?
Our Lord Jesus Christ is true God. In Him dwelt the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. In Him is life. He is the Word
from the beginning. He's a saviour to give repentance
to Israel and forgiveness of sins. Who is Israel's saviour?
Who is the saviour of the people of God? It's the Lord Jesus Christ,
who himself is God. God our saviour. Acts 13 verse
23, God has raised unto Israel a saviour. Who is he? Jesus,
the man, Jesus, the man, is God our Saviour. Titus 1, verse 4,
grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ our Saviour. Titus 2 verse 10. Adorn the doctrine
of God our Savior in all things. Do you see? Beside me there is
no Savior. Who is the Lord who is speaking?
Is it not the Lord Jesus Christ? Is it not our God manifested? Verse 12. I have declared and
have saved and I have showed and there was no strange God
among you. Therefore are ye my witnesses
said the Lord that I am God. Do you know, I don't know if
you can see it, but to me that is shouting out, that when Jesus
walked this earth, When they saw Him, when John and the other
disciples saw Him, we beheld His glory, the glory as of the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. When
they saw Him, they saw God manifest on earth. They knew that He was
God. Look, I've declared, when there
was no strange God among you, when Jesus walked this earth,
there was not another God there. Therefore are ye my witnesses,
says the Lord. that I am God. It seems to me
that it's screaming out that Christ, the Word of God, is saying
there, I am God, I am your Saviour. There was no strange God, but
what there was, was the fullness of the Godhead bodily. In 1 John
chapter 5 and verse 20, right at the end of that first epistle
of John, he says this, The Son of God is come, and hath given
us an understanding, that we may know Him that is true. That's
God who is true. And how do we know Him? We know
Him by the Son of God who came. And we are in Him that is true.
In whom? Even in His Son, Jesus Christ. How are we in God who is true?
We're in God who is true because we're in His Son who is true.
This is true God and eternal life. I know these are profound
things. And Luca said to me the other
day, he said, I just find it so confusing. Don't worry, Luca,
so do I, so does everybody else. But we believe by faith what
God tells us here, that in Christ, God is known to his people. The
Jehovah's Witnesses and others, they have this error that Jesus
Christ is not God, and they'll argue on the doorstep with you.
Don't bother arguing with them. You can give them something that
shows he's true God, then do it. Christ is the Word. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He made all
things. In Him was light and life. The
Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The Word who was God became
flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory
as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
No man, verse 18, no man has seen God at any time. No man
has seen God the Father at any time. The only begotten Son,
who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known. Hebrews
1, verses 1 and 2. God, who at sundry times and
in divers manners spake unto the fathers by the prophets.
Here, Isaiah is one of those prophets speaking to the fathers.
When Hebrews was written, he meant Isaiah, Jeremiah, all of
the other ones. He spake unto the fathers by
the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son,
by His Son. He's spoken to us. This is God
speaking by His Son. This is the God of His people
speaking by Isaiah the prophet in these pages, but clearly speaking
to us by His Son. This is the one and only true
God. If you would know God, you must
come through Jesus Christ. How do we come to God? Jesus
said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to
the Father but by me. If you would know God, you must
come to him by his son. The story is told, and there's
some truth in it, of Abraham Lincoln in the time of the American
Civil War in about 1865. And he lived in the White House
in Washington, D.C. And one of his sons was called
Tad, I think, which I think was a familial name for Thomas or
something like that and this was quite an enterprising young
man though with very charitable intentions and he was doing a
thing where he was so much in his father's favour that anybody
that wanted an audience with Abraham Lincoln for something
that was pressing upon them you would go and see Tad and he had
this little scam running where he would charge people a nickel
What we're told, he put it all to good charitable use, so we'll
excuse the young man, but for a nickel he got them into the
White House and they saw his father. Well, do you know, there's
a grain of truth in that, that if you would come to the Father,
you must come by his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Is this your
God? Is this God your God? The God
that's speaking, thus saith the Lord, is this God your God? Or
is your God, like so many in religion, the false idol of religious
error? So that's the God who is speaking.
Now let's think about the people to whom he speaks. Look there
in verse 1. Thus saith the Lord that created
thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel. Jacob, Jacob. What do we know about Jacob?
He was the son of Isaac. who was the son of Abraham. Jacob,
we read in the scriptures, it says, God says, Jacob have I
loved, and Esau, his twin brother, have I hated. Jacob have I loved,
but the other one I have not loved. Jacob have I loved in
electing grace, because my purpose of blessing is upon him, and
Esau I've left to himself. I've left him alone. I've left
him to his idols. Jacob is a symbol of those sinners,
because that's what the name means, swindler, sinner. Jacob is the one God has loved
in electing grace. and has called Israel, which
means Prince with God. He said, your name will no more
be Jacob, it will be Israel. Israel, Prince with God. Jacob
that formed thee, O Israel. He is God who created this people
for his own purpose. He is the one that formed them
for his own purpose. He is the one that called them
by their name. He called them out, all of his
elect he calls out under the preaching of the gospel of grace.
He calls by name as he called Abraham. You might not audibly
hear your name being called, you almost certainly won't, but
in your soul you will know that the true and living God is calling
you to salvation, to his service, to follow him. Verse 7, even
everyone that is called by my name, see there in verse 1 he
says I've called you by your name, and then in verse 7 I've
called you by my name. those that are called by His
name, because these that are called by His name, do you know
how they get His name? They get it in electing grace
before the beginning of time. When God the Father gave a people
to His Son and put them in union, eternal union with His Son, betrothed
for a marriage. There's a marriage supper of
the Lamb coming when the Son of God is married to His bride,
which is His church, which is the people that the Father gave
to Him before the beginning of time. And He, in Jeremiah 23
and verse 6, His name is the Lord, our righteousness. And
in chapter 33, verse 16 of Jeremiah, the church, the people, She is
called the Lord, our righteousness. Just as a wife always used to
be, takes her husband's name. It is symbolical of that. It
is that we're called by the same name. I have called you by your
name. I have called you by my name, says God. This is the bride
of Christ, his church. This is the people who he speaks
to. God speaks to his people. God, who we know in the Lord
Jesus Christ, speaks to his people. And he calls his people from
throughout the world. Look, not just Jews. Not just
those of physical descent from Abraham, but he says, look, fear
not, verse 5, I am with you. I will bring your seed from the
east and from the west. I will say to the north, give
them up, give them to me. And to the south, don't keep
them back. Bring my sons from far. The people of God are described
elsewhere in the scriptures as a multitude which no man can
number of every tribe and tongue and kindred. without any barriers
or differences of race. The people of God, the elect
of God are called from throughout the world to be the Israel of
God. A people created and formed for
God's glory. Look in verse 7, I have created
him for my glory. this elect people of God. I have
formed him. Yea, I have made him. And what
is the glory of God? What is the greatest glory of
God? Moses said to the Lord, show me your glory. Exodus 33
verse 18 said, show me your glory. And God said, I will cause all
my glory to pass before you. I will be compassionate to whom
I will be compassionate, and I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious. That's the glory of God. God
is glorious in power, in wisdom, in righteousness, in holiness,
but His greatest glory is His grace. I will be gracious. in saving a people from their
sins. And in verse 10, we hear that these people that he calls
from throughout the world are my witnesses, says God. God's
witnesses. In contrast, in verses 8 and
9, it might not have been particularly clear to you, but that's talking
about those that follow false idols. And it's a challenge to
them to come and tell us, tell us what you've seen, if you can,
but you can't. If you think yours is truth,
come and prove it, come and put your backing behind it. But in
verse 10 he says to his true people, you are my witnesses,
in contrast to the witnesses of those false idols. You are
my servants, he says, whom I have chosen. chosen. God has chosen. You didn't choose
me. In John 15 verse 16, Jesus said
to the disciples, and he means to all his believing people,
you have not chosen me. I'm going to make an offer to
everybody to come out to the front and to choose. No, that's
not what the scriptures say. If you hear that, You're following
a lie. You're following preachers who
peddle a lie. The scripture says, you didn't choose me, I have
chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth
fruit. And the first fruit that is brought
forth is that fruit of the Holy Spirit's quickening, which is
the fruit of faith. For we see and we believe This
is what, I know I quote it often, but this is what Paul said to
the Thessalonians. We are bound to give thanks always
to God for you brethren, beloved of the Lord. How do you know
that they're beloved of the Lord, Paul? Because God has from the
beginning chosen you to salvation. How do you know that they are
chosen to salvation, as opposed to the rest that are not? It's
through sanctification of the Spirit. It's setting apart of
the Spirit. It's making holy for the use
of God, by the Spirit of God. And how do we know that that's
happened to them? Answer? Very simple. Belief of the truth. I heard Don Faulkner say the
other day that the only assurance of faith is faith. And that's
absolutely right. The only confidence you can have
that your faith is true is that you believe the truth. You believe
the truth. It almost sounds tautological,
but it isn't. That is absolutely the truth. Election is not an optional doctrine,
not something that if you want to go off down that route, you
can do, but we don't need to fall out about it. Oh yes, we
do. It's the very foundation of the gospel purposes of God.
It's not secondary, it's a fundamental truth. This is true God and his
people. Now I know I've done that very
quickly, just for the sake of time, because I want to spend
all the time that's left seeing what God says. to his people. The Lord who says, thus saith
the Lord, and speaks to his people. And he speaks the comfort of
promises to his people. Verses 1 to 13. Those verses are full of one-sided,
unconditional promises of God to his people. He doesn't say,
I will do this if you will do that. There's no dependence on
the believer in this. It's all the one-sided, unconditional
promises of God to his people. And being God's promises, they
are certain promises. They're absolutely certain. You
know, people used to, I suppose they still do in some quarters,
have promise boxes. They misuse the scripture, they
mishandle the scripture. And they have little verses written
in a box and you sort of randomly pull out the promise for the
day and read it. And I remember many, many years
ago, a girl that I knew, and she was having problems with
housing, and she pulled out this verse, and it was something to
do with building of the temple, and, I will build thee an house. Oh, oh, we're going to get a
house, we're going to be given a house. Well, that's a complete
false way of using that kind of thing. No, these promises
are precious and they are certain. 2 Corinthians chapter 1 verse
20 says this, for all the promises of God in Jesus Christ are yea
and in him are men. In other words, they're absolutely
certain. They're as certain as Jesus Christ
is certain. As he cannot change, what do
we read of Jesus Christ? Jesus Christ, the same yesterday
and today and forever. Who else do we read that about?
Eternal God, who does not change. I am the Lord, I change not.
The same yesterday, today, and forever. Because He cannot change,
His promises cannot fail to be completely and utterly fulfilled. All of His promises, down all
of the years, have all been fulfilled. Do you know, there's really only
one that's yet to be fulfilled, and that's His return. That's
his return. All the rest have been fulfilled,
and we're waiting for his return. He cannot change, so his promises
cannot change. His promise stands as sure as
Christ himself is. And his promises are not just
flippant and fickle, they're deep and profound. 2 Peter 1
verse 4 says, whereby are given unto us, who? the elect people
of God. The people that he's addressing
as Jacob and Israel and you are my witnesses. These people. whereby
are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises." Exceeding
great and precious promises. Promises for what purpose? For
the purpose of comforting his people in their earthly journey. Because this earthly journey
is full of positives and negatives, ups and downs, highs and lows. the battle with sin and temptation,
all of these things, we need comfort for this earthly journey.
Satan has no end of opportunity to say you can't possibly be
right with God because look at you, look at yourself, look at
your flesh, look what you're like, look at the weak testimony
that you give, look how poor you are in this, that and the
other. But God comforts His people with His promises. In 2 Corinthians
1 verse 4, Paul writes to them about God who comforts us in
all our tribulation, all our troubles. Why? Why do we get
comfort from God? That we may be able to comfort
them which are in any trouble. With which comfort? With the
comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. We know
God's comfort and we can put our arm around fellow believers
and comfort them with that same comfort. And that's such a blessing,
that's such a ministry. You say, what can I do in the
church of God? What can I do for others? You
can write to them. We've got email all around, you
can write to them, you can pass on a message of blessing and
of comfort to them that you've learned. That's a good thing
to do. And they're promises which are entirely based on and in
accordance with God's saving work for his people. In verse
one, look, this is the foundation of why God promises these things
to his people. In verse one, he has created
and formed his people in electing grace. Why do you think God would
do anything of purpose like that? You know, according to religious
falsehood, the things that happen in the kingdom of God, God hasn't
got a clue how it's going to turn out. He's done everything
necessary and now he's sitting there going, oh, I do hope they'll
believe me. Oh, I do hope that they'll come out to the front
and follow me. Oh, I do hope that somehow we can do all sorts
of tricks to persuade them to stop doing this, that and the
other. No, God isn't like that. not in the slightest. God has
saved his people completely because, look, he comforts them because
of the fact that he's created them for his purposes. I have
formed thee, I have created thee, in electing grace. He is the
great potter. You know, in Jeremiah, go down
to the house of the potter, go down, learn a lesson. And in
Romans 9, we read the same thing. God is the potter. and humanity
is the clay. And is it not, oh, we don't like
this. No, flesh doesn't, but faith
believes it, because God says it. Is it not the right of the
potter to make of the same lump of clay the very best china to
sit in the display cabinet? You know, you don't get it out
in case you break it, but it's beautiful, and it zings with
a chime when you ping it with your fingernail, ding, you know,
because it's the vessel for honor. And then down the garden I've
got earthenware pots that are vessels of dishonour. They're
just clay, they get full of water, they freeze, they fall apart,
they're just vessels of dishonour. Is it not his prerogative to
make of the same lump of clay that fine vessel of honour, and
also the one for dishonour. And he did it before time began.
2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 9, speaking of the grace of God
which was given us, the believing people, in Christ Jesus before
the world began. Get that? That's profound, isn't
it? It was given us in Christ Jesus
before there was any time. Before there was a beginning.
And then what does it say? I have redeemed thee, redeemed
thee, redeemed, paid the ransom price. I have paid the price
to buy you back. He's redeemed his people. He
says that cursed is everyone that doesn't continue in all
things written in the book of the law to do them and then Galatians
3.13, but Christ has redeemed us, has brought us back from
the curse of the law that would condemn us. How? By he himself
being made a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is
everyone that hangs on a tree. He hung on that tree and shed
his precious blood, which was the demand of the law, the offended
law of God. The soul that sins it shall die.
And he died in the place of his people, that his people might
be made the righteousness of God in him. And then back to
that 2nd Timothy chapter 1 verse 9. He's called us. I have called
you by your name and I've called you by my name in verse 7. He's
called his people. He's called them. In 2nd Timothy
chapter 1 verse 9 it talks about us being saved and called with
a holy calling. That's the call of the Holy Spirit.
That's the call to come to Christ. That's the call of irresistible
grace. You know, tulip, total depravity,
unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace,
perseverance of the saint. This is irresistible grace because
you talk to the most vile of sinners who has come to belief
of the truth and they will tell you, I couldn't resist it. It
was there just so plain to me. And then, look, thou art mine,
thou art mine. They are owned as Christ's sheep. Thou art mine. John 10 verse
14, Jesus said, I am the good shepherd and know my sheep and
am known of mine. He said to the Pharisees, you
don't believe because you are not of my sheep. He didn't say
you're not of my sheep because you don't believe. He said, you
don't believe because you're not of my sheep. I know my sheep.
My sheep hear my voice and they follow me. and none can pluck
them out of my Father's hand. My Father is greater than all.
For the people that He has created and formed and elected and redeemed
and called to truth and possessed as His sheep, is He not going
to do everything that is needed to bring them to eternal glory?
Look at verse 2. When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you. Through the rivers, they shall
not overflow you. When you walk through the fire,
you shall not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee."
For several believers, these things were literally true. When
Israel passed through the Red Sea and through the River Jordan,
They were kept by God, miraculously. When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
in the days of Daniel, were in the fiery furnace, they passed
through the fire, and they were not burned. They were literally
not burned. Nebuchadnezzar said, I thought
we threw three men into the raging fiery furnace, and he said, I'm
looking in and I see four, and one as it were the Son of Man.
Christ was there with them. I will be with you. Do you hear
the promise of God to his people? When you pass through the waters,
when you walk through the fire, I will be with you. You shall
not be burned. The waters shall not overflow
you. Even though they kill the body, your soul will be eternally
preserved. Neither shall the flame kindle
upon me. He does all of this for His people.
We could elaborate on it very much, but I'm not going to now
for the sake of time. But just to say this, look in
verse 3 and 4. I am the Lord thy God, the Holy
One of Israel, thy Saviour. I gave Egypt for thy ransom. Ethiopia and Seba for thee. You
were precious in my sight. You've been honourable. I've
loved you. I've given men for you and people for your life.
He that spared not his own son. but delivered him up for us all,
how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Egypt,
which symbolically represents the world, and I've no doubt
that there are Egyptians today who are among the elect of God,
who are called out under the preaching of the gospel, but
Egypt in scripture in the Old Testament is symbolical of the
world. Egypt was lost in the Red Sea
so that Israel, the Israel of God, might be saved for eternity. There is nothing that God will
not do for the eternal blessing of the people of His gracious
choice. In verse 4, He assures them of
His love. I have loved thee. In verse 5,
He assures them of His presence as we walk through this life.
Fear not. for I am with you. Fear not, for I am with you. You know, when you embark on
some new venture, whatever it might be, if you're a child of
God, you know, fear not, for I am with you. God is holding
your hand. He's with you. He's keeping you.
as we look to Him, as His witnesses, as His servants, seeking to do
His will and walk in His ways. We're with Him. Psalm 23, verse
4. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
and surely this world in which we live is the valley of the
shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Why will you fear no
evil, child of God? For God is with me. His rod and
His staff, they comfort me. These promises comfort me. Is
this your experience? Is this your assurance? Is this
your comfort? Is this one true God in our Lord
Jesus Christ, your God? If he is, we're called to be
his witnesses to the truth that he alone is true God. You are
my witnesses that I am true God, that there's no other God but
me. This is what we bear witness of. Is this not the most blessed
condition to be in. Is this not the most comforting
thing for your soul? Whether you're young, in middle
age, in the height of your career, in retirement, in ill health,
in whatever state you're in, is this not the most comforting
assurance that there can be? That the Lord speaks to his people
and gives us such promises. Or is your soul troubled that
you're not right with God? That divine justice demands your
condemnation? Oh, that His Spirit would call
you, would call even you, as He called all of His people,
by this declaration of gospel truth in Christ, to peace and
comfort and rest for your soul. Amen.