Now this evening, I want to bring
a message from Isaiah 44. And we'll read verse 21, 22,
and verse 23 again. Isaiah 44. Remember these, O
Jacob. Jacob is what we are by nature.
Israel, what we are and what we've been made by his grace.
I am what I am by the grace of God. For thou art my servant. What a privilege. What a privilege
for God to call us his servant, his children. God said, I formed
thee. I formed thee. I made thee. I called thee. Thou art mine. Thou art my servant, O Israel.
Thou shalt not be forgotten of me. The Lord said, I'll never
leave thee. I'll never forsake thee. I blotted
out. I blotted out thy sins, thy transgression
as a thick cloud. And as a cloud, thy sins, I blotted
them out. Now return to me, return unto
me. Look to me, come to me, rest
in me, for I have redeemed thee. Sing, O you heavens, the song
of heaven is unto him who loved us and washed us from our sin
in his own blood. Sing, O heavens, for the Lord
hath done it. The Lord hath done it. I like that statement. I'm
going to use that for a title. The Lord hath done it. What has
he done? He's redeemed us. The Lord hath
done it. That's what heaven sings about.
The Lord hath done it. And the lower parts of the earth
break forth in the singing. What do believers on the earth
sing about? He redeemed us with his own blood. And the mountains
and forests and every tree For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob. He's called the God of Jacob.
The Lord hath redeemed Jacob. Jacob, there's a picture of God's
elect. And glorified himself in Israel,
his spiritual children. He's magnified himself. commanded
the light to shine in our darkened heart that we might see the glory
of God in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. So I'm using for
a title, verse 23, the Lord hath done it. You see that? Sing,
all you heavens. The Lord hath done it. The Lord
hath done it. The Lord Jesus Christ has redeemed
us with his precious blood. We say with the scripture that
our salvation is of the Lord. Everything the Lord has done
for us and in us, he has done it well. Excellency. He by himself performed all things
for us in salvation, in redemption, and in righteousness. He's performed
all things for us, all things for us in righteousness, in redemption,
and in all things. Listen to this verse. Don't turn. Let me just read it to you. Isaiah
32, 17, the work of righteousness shall be peace and the effect
of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever. He is our
peace. He is our assurance. He is our
assurance. I had a young man in the community
called me sometime back and he came to one service. And he said
to me, he said, I just don't have any assurance. I said, well,
the problem is you're seeking assurance. Assurance only comes
from seeking Christ. Looking to the Lord Jesus Christ,
we have assurance looking in Him. But the Lord has performed
all things for us. We studied in Hebrews 1, when
He had by Himself purged our sins, when he by himself purged
our sins. He sat down on the right hand
of the majesty on high. In that same chapter we read
earlier, Hebrews 9, it says there in verse 26, he appeared once
in the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself. Not with the blood of bulls and
goats. The blood of bulls and goats can never put away sin.
That's why he came. That pictured substitution and
salvation through a substitute, but the Lord Jesus Christ is
the fulfillment of that. You remember Psalm 52, David
said, I'll cry unto God most high, unto God that performeth
all things for me. Salvation by his performance,
not ours. I like that. That makes salvation
to us by the grace of God alone. Now I'm sure that, You notice
as we read this chapter, the Lord makes a sharp contrast between
idolatry and the useless, powerless God that sinners of their own
device make that cannot deliver. They say, verse 17, the residue
thereof, He maketh the God. Even his graven image, he falleth
down unto it, and worshipeth it, and prayeth unto it, and
saith, Deliver me, for thou art my God. What a contrast. You remember over here in Isaiah
45, turn one page. Isaiah 45, verse 16. They shall be ashamed, and also
confounded, all of them, they shall go to confusion together
that are makers of idols, but Israel, Israel shall be saved
in the Lord with an everlasting salvation. You shall not be ashamed
nor confounded, world without end. They have no knowledge. Look down at verse 20. Assemble
yourselves and come, drawn near together, ye that are escaped
of the nations. They have no knowledge that set
up wood of their graven image, and they pray unto a God that
cannot save. So it makes that contrast between
the true and living God and that God, the idols of men cannot
deliver anything, cannot put away any sin. Those who know
and believe and worship a true and living God have eternal salvation
in the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember Paul wrote to Thessalonians,
he said, how God in his purpose and grace, how you turn to God,
turn to God from your idols, To serve the living and true
God. It doesn't say you turn from your idols, it says you
turn to God from your idols. To serve the true and living
God and to wait for his son from heaven who delivered us, redeemed
us from the wrath, the wrath to come. Those who believe the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, they have everlasting salvation. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanses us from all our sin. Those who have created a
God of their own imagination have the opposite of salvation.
What is the opposite of salvation? Those who are trusting the God
of their own imagination, praying to a God that cannot save. What's the opposite of salvation?
It's condemnation, isn't it? That's the opposite. They pray
unto a God, as we read a moment ago in Isaiah 45, they pray unto
a God that cannot save. Now, what good is an idol? And
yet people are so taken up with these things. Why do sinners
do that? Willingly participate in idolatry. Well, two reasons are given.
Verse 18, God has judged them in their sin and left them to
their own devices. You see that verse 18, they have
not known or understood for he has shut their eyes they cannot
see and their hearts that they cannot understand. God has given
them over to a reprobate mind to believe a lie and be damned. And in verse 20 it says, his
heart is deceived. He feel it on ashes. A deceived
heart had turned him aside that he cannot deliver his soul nor
say, he can't even say or doesn't even recognize and know that
there's a lie in his right hand. You remember Isaiah 28. Our Lord
calls those refuge of lies, those who look to themselves for all
salvation. Notice the Lord, says of those
who worship useless and powerless gods of false religion. He said,
they feed on their ashes, the ashes of idols. What good would
it do for us to naturally eat a bunch of burnt wood? Wouldn't
do us any good, would it? It'd harm us. Such is the same
about those that feed on the ashes of their idols is deadly
to the soul. Their heart is deceived. Jeremiah
talks about that. The heart is deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked. Who can even know it? By nature, we don't know it. People often say, well, if I
know one thing, I know my heart. Wrong. Your heart is deceived. Don't trust your heart. Don't
trust your feelings. He's deceived his deceived heart. In his deceived heart, he's turned
aside so much so that he doesn't know that he holds a lie in his
right hand and thinks the lie will set him free. Remember our Lord said in John
8, it's the truth that shall set you free. from the bondage
of lies. It's only the truth of God, the
truth of the gospel that sets us free. Those who trust in idols will
lay down in sorrow. Look at Isaiah 50. Isaiah 50,
verse 11. those that trust their idols,
those who look to the refuge of lies. Isaiah 50 verse 11,
behold, all you that kindle a fire, encompass yourselves about with
sparks, walk in the light of your fire, and in the spark that
you have kindled, this shall you have of my own hand, you
shall lay down in sorrow. Ask my bigness as your pastor
to warn you about idolatry. about the lies that are promoted
by Satan. All idolatry is inspired by Satan
himself. As your pastor, I'm to warn you,
you remember we studied in 1 John 2, John said, there are many
who are anti-Christ that will come among you. You might think
we don't have idolatry. We don't have any idolatry around
these parts of the country. We live in what they call the
Bible Belt of America. We don't have any idolatry in
any of these religious places, do we? Now, I don't know if anybody
has whittled out a god from a tree. or bow down to a tree, maybe
not literally, but there are many around us that bow down
to and worship a useless, powerless God of their imagination. These modern idolaters say, God
loves everybody and has done all he can do to save you, but
now it's up to you to make your decision. Sounds to me like the
God that they promote is a helpless God. What is a helpless God?
An idol. These modern idolaters say God
sent the Savior to be the Savior of all mankind everywhere, yet
he failed to do so because sinners won't accept him as their personal
Savior. Sounds to me like a helpless
failure of a Savior. A helpless, powerless Savior
is an idol, not the true and living God. I warn you as your
friend and pastor and lover of your soul, I warn you to flee
from my idolatry. Flee from my idolatry unto the
true and living God. You remember, say, well, you
shouldn't make fun of people. You remember the story, turn
to Psalm 115. You remember the story of Elijah
on Mount Carmel when they had that contest between Elijah the
prophet of God and those 750 false prophets? And they had that contest, God
that answers by fire. Well, the prophet of Baal went
first, and they jumped up and down and cried and cried, and
their idol God never answered. And Elijah, remember, he mocked
him, didn't he? He said, won't you cry a little
bit louder? Maybe your God's on vacation.
Maybe he just can't hear you. And then Elijah prayed that prayer,
let it be known thou art God, and the fire fell. What did Elijah
do with those 750 prophets of Baal? He didn't pat them on the
back and say, can't we just get along? He took a sword and killed
them all. God is jealous of His truth. Look what it says here in Psalm
115. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us. Verse 1. But unto thy
name give glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. Wherefore
should the heathen say, where is now their God? But our God,
David said, is in the heavens. He done whatsoever he is pleased.
Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They
have mouths, but they speak not. Eyes have they, they see not.
They have ears, but they hear not. Noses have they, but they
smell not. They have hands, but they handle
not. Feet they have, but they walk not, neither speak through
their throat. They that make them are like
unto them, and so is everyone that trusteth in them. They that
make them are like unto them, what? Dead. Dead in sin. Dead in trespasses and in sin. So, we have in what we call in our
day, free will works religion, is nothing but idolatry dressed
up to look like the truth. It's nothing more than man-centered,
flesh-exalting idolatry. That's all it is. In Romans chapter
one, down from when we read on Sunday, Paul writes, who changed
the truth of God into a lie and worshiped and served the creature
more than the creator who was blessed forevermore. They worshiped
and served the creature rather than the creator. Now, verse
21, remember these, remember this, O Jacob, and Israel. You're my servant, you're my
people. Thou art my servant, I made thee, I formed thee. God called one man Abraham and
made out of that one man Abraham a great nation. I redeemed thee,
thou art my servant, I formed thee, thou art my servant, O
Israel, thou shalt not be forsaken of me. When the Lord in mercy
saves us by his almighty power and grace, when he delivers us
from vain, useless religion that our flesh has whittled out, he
brings us to the knowledge of a true living God, we gladly
forsake all former idolatry and refuges of lie. We count it with
Paul, dung and ruined, that we may win Christ and be found in
him. He's caused us to turn unto him,
and when we turn unto him, we turn from our idols. Our Lord
plainly says he's made us trophies of his grace, objects of his
love. He said, thou art my servant.
I have formed thee. I have redeemed thee. Turn back
one page. You remember Isaiah 43, verse
one? Isaiah 43, verse one. But now thus saith the Lord that
created thee, O Jacob, he that formed thee, O Israel, fear not,
for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name,
thou art mine. Look at verse seven in this same
chapter, Isaiah 43. 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. Look at verse 21, Isaiah 43,
verse 21. This people have I formed for
myself. They shall show forth my praise. We can say with Paul, I am what
I am by the grace of God. Who makes us to differ from another?
It's grace that's made us to differ, right? Thou shalt not
be forgotten of me. Thou shalt not be forgotten of
me. But back it. Isaiah 40, turn back over there,
Isaiah 40, look at verse nine. Thou shalt not be forgotten.
You're my servant, I've chosen you, I've redeemed you, you're
mine. You won't be forgotten of me. Isaiah 40, look at verse
nine. Oh, Zion, that bringeth good
tidings. Get thee up into a high mountain. Oh, Jerusalem, that
bringeth good tidings. Lift up thy voice with strength.
Lift it up, be not afraid. Say unto the cities of Judah,
behold your God. Behold, the Lord God will come
with a strong hand. His arms shall rule for him.
Behold, his work is with him and his reward is with him and
his work before him. He shall feed his flock like
a shepherd and shall gather the land with his arms and carry
them in his bosom and shall gently lead those that are with young.
He said, I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you. No, no,
not ever. The salvation that's of the Lord
is an eternal salvation. He said, I give my sheep eternal
life and they'll never perish. They'll never, never perish.
Thou shalt not be forgotten of me. Thou shalt not be forgotten
of me. Now, look at verse 22. I have
blotted out. I have blotted out thy sins. I have blotted out like a thick
cloud. thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins. Now return,
return to me, because I have redeemed thee." That's a good
reason to come to the Lord, because He has redeemed us. Here we see
the reason why the Lord will not forsake His people. He said,
I have redeemed thee. I have redeemed thee, thou art
mine. Thou art mine. Look at verse
25 in chapter 43, in Isaiah 43, look at verse 25. Even I am he
that blotteth out thy transgression for my own sake and will not
remember thy sins. Now think about that. Remember
our study in the book of Hebrews? He said, their sin and their
iniquity will I remember no more. The Lord has completely made
complete atonement for our sin. Complete atonement. Complete,
full atonement for our sin. He has redeemed us. Not with
corruptible things, but with the precious blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ by himself
has made complete atonement for us, complete payment for our
sin. You remember in the book of Acts, Paul when he writes
and preaches to those elders, he said, take heed that you feed
the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood. And then
Paul, when he writes to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 6, 20, he said,
remember, you're bought with a price. You're not your own.
You're bought with the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We
studied Sunday from 1 John 3, 5, that the Lord Jesus Christ
was manifested to take away our sin. You remember? And in him
is no sin. We all know what Isaiah 53 says,
right? He was wounded for our transgression, bruised for our
iniquity. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him, and with His strife we are healed. We are redeemed. And Him was all the fullness
of Godhead bodily, and we are complete. God alone is the only
one that can blot out our sin. Turn back to Isaiah 38, 17. 38,
17. Behold, he said, for peace I
had great bitterness, but thou in love to my soul. This is a
prayer of Hezekiah, king of Israel. Behold, for peace I had great
bitterness, but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it
from the pit of corruption, for thou has cast all my sins, sins
behind thy back. Now, where is that? I don't know. They're gone. God doesn't see
them because the Lord Jesus Christ made complete atonement for those
sins. Only God can cause the clouds
to disperse and the sun to shine. Only God in Christ can remove
the clouds of our sin and make the sun of righteousness to shine
in our hearts. And that's what Christ has done
for us. Remember this Psalm 103? As far as the East is from the
West, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us. In
Isaiah 59, He said, Your sin have separated you from your
God. In the Lord Jesus Christ, our
sins have been separated from us as far as the East is from
the West. And then in the book of Micah,
you remember, I quoted this a while back, but in Micah 7, Verse 14
said, he will have compassion upon us. He will subdue our iniquities
that will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Remember
I told you how deep the deepest part of the sea is? 36,000 feet deep. That's total
darkness. Total, complete darkness. Our
sins have been cast away. Only God can make a cloudless
sky. Only God can make a sinner clean. Can you remove one cloud? But
God blows them away, doesn't he? Makes a clear blue sky with
the sun shining so brightly. Remember the leopard came to
the Lord and worshipped him. In Matthew chapter 8, the leopard
cried, Lord, if you will, if you will, you can make me clean.
And the Lord said, I will. Be thou clean. And immediately,
his leprosy was cleansed. I prayed that all the while and
still do for myself. With my cancer, I still have.
Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. One day he's going to make me
completely whole. I'm going to have a new body without sin. Now look at verse 22 again. I blotted out as a thick cloud
thy transgression and as a cloud thy sins. Now watch this. The last part of verse 22. Return
unto me because I have redeemed thee. Return unto me because
I have redeemed thee. Now notice something carefully
here. Now return to me. This is the
Lord's command to repent and turn to Him. You remember in
Luke 13, our Lord said, except you repent, you'll perish. But
notice carefully how this is said here in verse 22. It does
not say, return to Me, and I will redeem thee. It doesn't say,
return to Me, and I will redeem thee. He doesn't say, repent,
and I will redeem thee. Just the opposite. The Lord says,
repent and turn to me because I have redeemed thee. The only
reason we truly repent is because we have redemption in the Lord
Jesus Christ. He's exalted to the right hand
of God as Prince and Savior for to give repentance and the forgiveness
of sin unto his people. You see, it's the goodness of
God that leads us to repentance. You remember the story in John
chapter 8 about the woman that was taken in adultery, caught
in the very act. And those Pharisees dragged her
out in public to shame her. And they brought her before the
Lord Jesus Christ. And they said, according to the
law, she should be stoned. Remember what the Lord said?
You who are without sin, let him cast the first stone. And
then he stooped down and started writing. And then he stooped
down and wrote again, and they started to walk away from the
oldest to the youngest. He stooped down and wrote some
more. What do you reckon he was writing? I don't know, but they
were so embarrassed, they walked away. And then the Lord said
this, where are thine accusers? And she said, no man. No man
here to condemn me, accuse me. And the Lord Jesus said to her,
neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more. Now he didn't
say, sin no more and you're not condemned. That's saying the
same thing here. Same thing here. Neither do I
condemn thee, now go and sin no more. And that's what he's
saying right here in this Scripture. For return to Me, come to Me,
believe on Me, because I have redeemed thee. We only believe
the Gospel because He's redeemed us with His own precious blood.
What a great motive here to seek the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ
who's put away all our sin and justified us by His blood. Verse
23. What's the result of that? Sing,
O ye heavens. Sing unto the Lord. For the Lord
hath done it. Who has done it? Who else could
redeem us from all our sin? Who else could bring in an everlasting
righteousness for us? Who else could establish the
ground of a just salvation upon the atonement of the Lord Jesus
Christ? Sing, all you heavens, for the
Lord hath done it. Shout, ye lower parts of the
earth. Break forth into singing, you mountains, O forest, and
every tree therein, for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob. Who did
it? The Lord has redeemed Jacob and
he glorified himself. He redeemed us in such a way
that he glorifies his own holy justice and glorifies his mercy
and grace at the same time. That's how he can be a just God
and the Savior. There is great joy in salvation
in the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember Psalm 98. Oh, sing
unto the Lord a new song. For He hath done marvelous things.
His right hand and His holy arm hath gotten Him the victory. The song of redemption is not
what we've done for the Lord, but rather what the Lord has
done for us. of heaven is unto him who loved
us and washed us from our sin in his own blood. That's the
song in heaven that the redeemed of the Lord sing, and it's the
song that they learn right here. You see, it says, sing, O you
heavens, the Lord hath done it. Shout, you lower parts of the
earth, the Lord hath done it. Break forth in the singing. All
you mountains and forests and every tree, let all creation
glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. For the Lord has redeemed Jacob. Hath redeemed, past tense. Hath
redeemed. He hath redeemed us with his
own blood, and he done it in such a way to his own honor and
glory. He redeemed us by his eternal
purpose, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness
of sin, according to the riches of his grace. He redeemed us
by his eternal purpose, the Lamb slain from the foundation of
the world. He's redeemed us by his precious blood, He redeemed
us by His glorious power. I'm not ashamed of the Gospel
of Christ. It's the power of God and the salvation to everyone
that believes the Gospel. He's redeemed us and to our God
that He might receive all the honor and glory now and forever. He glorified Himself in redeeming
sinners. That's the bottom line. Everything
God does is for His glory. If He's going to save one sinner,
He's going to do it for His glory. That's the bottom line in all
that God does for His people, His church, His bride. As Paul said, God forbid, I should
glory save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. They sang
a new song. Thou art worthy to take the book,
to open the seals thereof, for thou was slain and has redeemed
us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, tongue, nation,
and people. Worthy is the lamb that was slain
to receive all honor, glory, and power, both now and forever. The Lord hath done it. Can you
say amen to that? Sing, O ye heavens, for the Lord
hath done it. Shout, the Lord hath done it. Break forth in the singing. Oh,
all creation, the mountains, the forests, the trees, for the
Lord hath redeemed his Jacob and glorified himself in saving
Israel.