So the lord identifies himself
in these first four verses and We get in on it too because who
he is has something to do with who we are Because he said I
created you I made you I created you from the dust And I made
you what you are today And now he says in verse four Fear not. And there's just one reason.
There's one thing we need to know if we're going to not be
afraid. Lord, are you with me? Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou
art with me. The previous verse, verse four,
shows us that Him being with us is not just a matter of proximity. He's with us because He's for
us. You're precious to Him. That's what He means by I'm with
you. Not just that He came down to this earth, but He came down
to this earth because we were precious to Him. He's with us
because He's for us, and if He's for us, you know the rest. What are we afraid of? Well, Chris, bad things can happen.
Bad things happen. Yeah, but whatever happens, happens
because our Heavenly Father has ordained it. What else are you afraid of?
Well, we have enemies, Chris. We have enemies. We have powerful
enemies. Look at what our Lord said. Turn
with me over to Isaiah 54. Just a few pages over to Isaiah
54, verse 14. You've got enemies you're afraid
of, listen to our Lord. In righteousness shalt thou be
established. Thou shalt be far from oppression,
for thou shalt not fear, and from terror, for it shall not
come near you. Behold, they shall surely gather
together, but not by me. Whosoever shall gather together
against thee shall fall. He's gonna make them fall. And
he said, I'm gonna do it for you, for your sake. Behold, I
have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire and that
bringeth forth an instrument for his work. And I have created
the waster to destroy. I created the one that sat there
and hammered out that sword on the anvil and the sparks flew.
And I created the one that commissioned it. And it's gonna wield it.
And it's gonna come after you with it. And no weapon that is
formed against you shall prosper. And every tongue that shall rise
against thee in judgment, thou shalt condemn. They're going
to open their mouth to condemn you, but it's going to be the
other way around, because I've established you in righteousness.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness
is of me, saith the Lord. Who's going to say anything against
that? Who is he that condemneth? It is God that justifies. Who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Well, what else are you afraid
of? Well, you might say this. You might say tonight, well,
Chris, it's not so much enemies that I'm afraid of. It's not
so much, you know, just bad things happening. It's me. I'm scared of me. Anybody else
like that? I had a precious friend tell
me on his deathbed, I'm afraid of my flesh. I'm afraid of me. I'm weak, I'm selfish, I'm a
fool. Well, the psalmist said in Psalm
73, 1, my heart was grieved and I was pricked in my reins because
I was foolish. I'm a fool, he said. I'm ignorant.
I'm a beast. Nevertheless, I'm continually
with the Lord. Thou hast hold me by my right
hand. Thou shalt guide me with counsel. And afterward, receive me to
glory. I'm an idiot. I'm selfish. I'm stupid. I'm
hell-bent on evil. My flesh is. But he's going to
guide me through it. And when the journey's over,
he's going to take me to be with him forever. Nothing to be afraid
of. Don't be afraid of you. He's holding your hand. Whom
have I in heaven but thee? There's none on earth that I
desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth.
Yes, it does. But God is the strength of my
heart. Don't be afraid. God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever. He said, don't be afraid. I'm
with you. And that's what he said. I will bring. I will bring. God has been doing this from
the beginning. He's been bringing his people
to him from the start. From the east to the west, the
north and the south, In John 10, 14, he said, I am the good
shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the
father knoweth me, even so know I the father, and I lay down
my life for the sheep, and other sheep I have, which are not of
this foe, them also I must bring. They're gonna come from every
point of the compass, and they're gonna come because I bring them.
He's not standing there hoping somebody will come to him. He
says, come unto me, and then he brings you. The power of his
voice. The one that says, come unto
me, is the one that said, let there be light. That's why we
come. He brings us. I will bring. And there'll be
one foal and one shepherd. He said in verse 6, I will say
to the north give up and to the south keep not back bring my
sons From far Where is far from God Way over
there in Ethiopia or something no God's just as much there as
he is right here as far as his omnipresence Far from God is No thought whatsoever for God,
living completely for yourself. That thief on the cross, he was
far from God until that day, wasn't he? And then he was right
next door to me. Far from God. I'm going to bring
him from far. How far were you away when he
brought you home? When he said, I left the 99 and
I went after my sheep until I found him. How far did he go to get
you? All across the globe, there are
those whom God calls his sons and his daughters. Not everybody is. We know he's
on the Pharisees. You have your father, the devil.
Not everybody is a son or a daughter of God. But he said, my sons
and my daughters, I'm going to bring them. Nothing can keep
them back. They are his sons and daughters
by adoption and by birth. This transcends earthly things
by choice. When you adopt a child, you choose
them. But also by being born of the
Spirit of God, born from above. Our relationship as God's children
could not be adequately pictured by one or the other, and so God
uses both, adoption and birth, to teach us who we are to him. Do you see why? Because we have
his nature, but he also picked us out. He also picked us out, you see.
That's why he teaches us that way. And when God commands the whole
earth listens and obeys, He's going to say to the north and
to the south, give them up. There's no corner of the earth
where you can hide from God's wrath. But bless His holy name,
there's no corner of the earth where you can hide from His mercy
either. He's going to bring you home now if you're His. We'll
bring you home. Verse 7, even every worm that
is called by my name, for I have created him for my glory. I have formed him, yea, I have
made him. Well, when God talks about forming
us, creating us, and making us, It's hard not to think again
of the potter. So I want to read a passage of
scripture to you, Romans 9.21. If you want to turn over there
with me, probably be good to look at it together because we're
going to see a lot of our Isaiah study in this passage of scripture. Look at Romans 9.21. Hath not the potter power over
the clay? of the same lump to make one
vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor. Our text says,
I've created him for my glory. I formed him. I made him. I fashioned
him. And he fashioned us out of the
same lump. We're in the same lump with everybody
else. Same flesh, same evil, same sin. Even as others, it says there
in Ephesians, but God who is rich in mercy. Children of wrath,
even as others. Same look, but God. But God formed
us and fashioned us and made us into something that we would
never be any other way. Look at what he said. Make one vessel under honor and
another. What if God, willing to show his wrath and to make
his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels
of wrath? fitted to destruction, and that
he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of
mercy which he had aforeprepared unto glory. You notice he makes
vessels of wrath, and he endures them with much longsuffering,
and it says he does that to make his power known, and he's glorified
in that in a sense. But when it talks about the riches
of his glory, that's the vessels of mercy. That's what he shows
when he fashions a vessel of mercy. That's what our text said. I've created him for my glory. He made some vessels of mercy
that he might show, that he might make known the riches of his
glory. on those vessels of mercy which
he had aforeprepared unto glory even us I just I started reading
this and I couldn't stop it has a lot to do with our study in
Isaiah listen to it even us whom he hath called whom he has said
come I'm gonna bring you he's called not of the Jews only but
also of the Gentiles not just from one corner of the globe
but from the north south east and west you see that As he saith
also in OC, I will call them my people, which were not my
people, and her beloved, since thou was precious to me at Santa
Isaiah there. Beloved, which was not beloved
by anybody else, or didn't know they were. And it shall come
to pass in the place where it was said unto them, you are not
my people. There shall they be called the
children, the sons and daughter. I will bring my sons from afar.
You see why I just kept on reading it. Isaiah, verse 27 also, crieth
concerning Israel, though the number of the children of Israel
be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved. We've seen that
all through Isaiah, haven't we? There's a whole bunch of Jews,
but the Lord came to Zacchaeus' tree and said, I'm going to have
to come live at your house today because you're a Jew. He passed
through a sea of Jews to get to that one. But he was a real
Jew, a spiritual Jew. A remnant shall be saved, verse
28, for he will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness
because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth. And
Isaiah said before, except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a
seed, we had been as Sodom and been made like unto Gomorrah.
What shall we say then? that the Gentiles, which followed
not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness. They
didn't do anything righteous, but the Lord said, because you
were precious in my sight, thou hast been honorable. That's our
text in Isaiah. Even the righteousness, which
is of faith, But Israel, in other words, you ain't got no righteousness,
but because you believe on Christ, who is the righteousness of God,
you're united to him by faith, and he is your righteousness. But Israel, which followed after
the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.
They tried to, but why didn't they get there? Wherefore? Because
they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works.
Of the law for they stumbled at that stumbling stone. Here
was their problem christ Christ is either the answer to all your
problems or he's your problem one of the two You just have
one problem and there ain't but one answer to it and he's both
he's both Your problem is you're seeing
you understand what i'm saying your problem is you're seeing
but why is that a problem because christ You're going to be judged
by that perfect stone. And you're going to be found
wanting, unless he is your righteousness. As it is written, behold, I lay
in Zion a stumbling stone and a rock of a fence, and whosoever
believeth on him, the only ones that are going to stand confident
and bold and unafraid. He said, don't be afraid. How's
that going to happen? You're going to have to believe on him. Believe on Him, and you won't
be ashamed, you won't be afraid, you won't be lacking, you won't
be worried. And again, notice that the word glory
there was only used when he's speaking of the vessels of mercy.
God will be glorified in justice and wrath, but the riches of
His glory that Moses asked to see in Exodus 33, show me your
glory, can only be seen in Christ, the rock, In Christ shedding
his precious blood to redeem sinners like us. That's the that's
the riches of God's glory in his mercy towards sinners But
also now we're called by his name not just because he made
us And that's true. If you make something It is that
in it If I Accomplish a work of art
or some kind I might just sign my name to that or if I build
something, anything, if I do anything, I'm putting my name
to it, whether my name is actually on it or not. Everybody that
knows about it knows, well, if there's a problem with it, that's
because Chris made it. I'm putting my name to whatever
I do. And that's the Lord as the potter
and us the clay. But this is not just about maker
and property. It is that, but I'll tell you
who else bears my name. My family. My wife had no idea 30 years
ago that she'd ever be a Cunningham. But she is now. And there's three more now, isn't
there? Three more Cunninghams. For better or for worse, she
said it, and I heard her say it. She's a Cunningham. and she is because I loved her
and because I chose her and because I held her to myself and I said
I've got to have her. I've told y'all this story before
but I literally said to myself I've got to have her. Have you
ever thought about something that way when you think about
well is this right or is this wrong you think about well what
if I just I thought about that I said what if I just say you
know we live so far apart this just isn't working out maybe
I can just you know move on And I thought about that for about
10 seconds. That's it. I got to have her. I got to have her. I thought
about all that one day when she was getting on a plane, she was
walking away from me. And I said, I don't ever want
to see her walking away from me ever again. And thank God she loved me too.
And we do, don't we? We love him too. because he first loved us. And this is why when Paul speaks
in Ephesians 5 of wives submitting themselves to their husbands
and husbands loving and caring for their wives, he said, I'm
talking about Christ and his church. That's what I'm talking
about. We bear the name of Christ as
his family. Paul uses this throughout his
letters also to exhort the churches to live godly. He said you don't
belong to yourself, you belong to him. You bear his name now. Your body is the Lord, you're
bought with a price. Body and soul. He's redeemed
both. Paul said in 1st Corinthians
6.15, Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? Shall
I then take the members of Christ and make them the members of
it? God forbid. My body has his name on it, stamped
on it. So does my soul. Isn't it wonderful
to be his? His. His. Solomon said, he sang this song,
My Beloved is Mine and I'm His. I'd love to have heard that put
to music. But even without the music, boy, it's beautiful, isn't
it? My Beloved is Mine and I'm His. Think about all the ways
that we are His, or some of them. We can never think of all of
them, probably. His children, we talked about that already,
as His children. And all these are kind of They
kind of all go together, but think about as children loved
and cherished and trained up. He teaches us as little children,
doesn't he? His sheep found, brought home, protected,
provided, led, I'm glad to be his sheep,
aren't you? His elect picked out, claimed,
loved, and redeemed. His church called, gifted. He gave gifts unto his church.
He gives gifts, the Spirit. Sent. Gathered he gathered us
here tonight didn't he? Kept His bride And you can see how
many of these things could apply to to other other ones chosen
as his bride, of course Beautiful Beautiful Through his comingness
I thought about this as being his bride. Close. Close. Close to the Savior. This world don't understand it,
do they? They just don't and they can't understand it. One. He said of husband and wife,
they twain shall be one. Father, I will that those that
you've given me be one with us, even as we are one. His friend. His friend. I thought about this
passage in John 15, beginning with verse 15. Listen to this.
He said, henceforth I call you not servants. For the servant
knoweth not What has Lord done? Aren't you
glad he reveals to us what he's done? But he said, I called you friends for all things that I have heard
of my father, I've made known unto you. You've not chosen me, but I've
chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth
fruit and that your fruit should remain. that whatsoever you shall
ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. I wanted
to read that next verse because we don't think of the context
of that often. That's a verse often quoted,
you've not chosen me, but I've chosen you to teach the electing
grace of God in Christ. And it clearly does, but look
at the context of it. You're my friend because I wanted
it that way. Not because you did before, but
now we do, don't we? Now we're glad. Can you think
of a greater privilege and more wonderful thing than to be able
to call the Son of God my friend? And then the Lord challenges
those who know him not in verses eight and nine. Let's look back
at our text. He says, bring forth the blind
people that have eyes and the deaf that have ears. That's the
lost. They have eyes, but they can't see anything worth seeing. They say we see, the Pharisees
said, we don't need to have our eyes up. We see just fine, you
blind. But if you said we're blind,
then you'd have no seeing. Then I'd make you see. Oh, may God teach us that. And then he says this, let all
the nations be gathered together and let the people be assembled,
who among them can declare this? Who among them can tell you the
things that I'm saying to you? Who God is and what he does and
why? He said in the text, wherever
I've called you, my friends, I've revealed to you the things
of my father. Who else can do that? Who can
declare anything? And listen, who among them can
declare this and show us former things? Who can show you what
happened in eternity? Let them bring forth their witnesses
that they may be justified. Let them come forth, in other
words, and make a case for themselves. They've rejected me. They hate
you, my people. They want to kill you. Let them
explain themselves. They're in opposition against
the God that made them. There must be a good reason for
that. Let's hear it. That's what God's saying Or Either
let them make a case for themselves and say something worth hearing
or let them shut up and Listen to me. You see that they're in
the tent Or let them hear Let them shut their mouths and listen
to me and say that's the truth one or the other Boy That's God just laying it
out in it Just laying it out either say something worth saying
or shut it and listen to me And acknowledge that what I say is
right and true Those who say they have eyes and ears, come
tell us something worth hearing. Come bring a charge against my
people. Come explain yourselves. Come explain why you hate and
are trying to destroy my children, my sons and daughters. Come defend
yourselves. Or, if you can't say anything
against God and what He said, if you can't answer the questions
that He does and that He asks you, if you cannot do what He's
done, Then shut up and hear God and bow to him. Bow to his truth. Say truth, Lord. When God says
you're a sinner, you're a wretched, vile dog from the head, crown
of your head to the sole of your feet. There's no soundness in
you. He said that in this very book of Isaiah of Israel. There's no soundness in you,
but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. You're a nasty leper before
God and you deserve to go to hell. Can you answer that? Maybe you have a way of justifying
yourself for what you've done and what you've said and what
you've thought your whole life. If not, then bow and listen and
believe and say like that woman of Canaan, truth Lord. That's
exactly what he's saying right there. It is truth. It is true. And then verse 10, he said, let
them bring witnesses. And of course that's all rhetorical.
They can't, they got nothing to say. What are you going to
say to God when he says you're wicked and vile and wretched
in my sight and I'm going to put you in hell. What are you
going to say? How are you going to defend yourself?
But then in verse 10, he said, you are my witnesses. Let them
bring witnesses. I've got some witnesses here
to speak for me. saith the Lord. What a privilege. And my servant, whom I have chosen,
that you may know and believe me. That's why God speaks. So that if you don't know him
or believe on him, you might do so if you're his. These are written, John said,
that you might believe. And understand that I am He.
Before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after
me. I, even I, am the Lord, verse 11, and beside me there is no
Savior. Now just a couple of thoughts
here. Listen to me now. He said to the world, to the
enemies of Christ, bring your witnesses. This world doesn't
have anything to say worth hearing, but you do. He said, you're my
witnesses. You've got something to say. If you're his, and this is how
we say it. Through the preaching of the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, go ye into all the world and
preach the gospel. Those that believe you, I'll
save, and those that don't, I'll damn. That's his commission to
us. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them. to cause them to know him and
believe him. That's right there in the text.
They have no savior to talk about, but we do. They have a pathetic
failure that they talk about who's trying, you know, to save
somebody who's waiting on man to do something. And God says
they need to shut up and listen to you. Because in listening
to you, they're listening to me. They need to hear what we
say. They're just one God. They're
just one Savior. And this is what we're doing. We're witnessing. We're telling what we've seen
and what we've heard. And what we've seen and what
we've heard is a who. We've seen Him and we've heard
Him. And He is our message. We preach Christ crucified. You see what it says again there
in the text in verse 10, this is key now, that you may know
and believe me. That's what it's all about. You
don't need to know a whole lot else. Everything else that you
need to know will come from knowing me. It's like we said this morning,
you know, somebody's, you know, somebody's, you know, living
in the world and they're doing all the wrong things. Boy, you
need to straighten this out and you need to straighten that out.
No, you just need to know God. That's what it is. If you straighten
out yourself, you're just going to be a moral, godless wretch.
But if you know Him, you're going to be His. You're going to find
out you're His. And then that'll change everything.
That changes everything. We preach Christ crucified. Unto the religious, unto the
Jew, who represents the religious of this world, he's a stumbling
block. And to the Greek, the smart aleck,
the know-it-all, the science believer that ridicules, he is
ridiculous. But if God ever reveals himself
to either one, they'll know Christ as the power and wisdom of God. And that's why we do what we
do, that you may know and believe. That folks may know Christ, who
he is, that was the first, we talked about that this morning,
and what he did. And hang upon his every word,
Christ, the son of God, You need to know Christ, the Son of God,
the one who does as he pleases, when he pleases, with whom he
pleases. You need to know Christ, the
Lamb of God, that actually takes away sin. By his precious blood, who actually
redeemed all of his people by his victorious sacrifice on Calvary. The Father sent him to do a work.
He did the work. He finished the work. He said
the work's finished. And then he went back to glory.
And that work was the redemption of his people, the redemption
of our souls. He brought in everlasting righteousness,
and he washed us from our sins in his own precious blood. He
bore our sins and the wrath of God against them on Calvary.
And you need to know Him, Christ the Lamb, Christ the Lord, Christ
the Son of God, Christ the Lamb, Christ the righteousness of God.
In whom alone a sinner can stand accepted and holy in the sight
of God. He is our righteousness. And
then the final word we'll look at tonight, look at the very
last phrase now. Look at verse 11, the whole verse. I am the Lord. He tells who he
is, doesn't he? Let me get back over there. I, even I, am the Lord, and beside
me there is no savior. Think about what he's saying. If the only one who can save
you is the Lord, If the only one who can save
you, who can redeem you, who can help you, who can deliver
you, is the sovereign, then it's time
to bow. Simon Peter preached in Acts
14, be it known unto you all and to all the people of Israel
that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified,
whom God raised from the dead, even by him did this man stand
here before you all. This is the stone which was set
at naught of you builders, which has become the head of the corner,
the chief cornerstone, the stone that you cast aside and destroyed,
you thought, is the cornerstone of all the building of God. Neither
is there salvation in any other. For there is none other name
under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. He
just told them that the one that they nailed, they spit on and
beat and made fun of and murdered is sitting on the throne. And
the only way they're going to be saved is to bow to him. That's quite a message. He said
in Acts 2.36, Therefore, let all the house of Israel know
assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom you crucified,
both Lord and Christ. If the only one that can save
you is sitting on the throne, it's time to bow. Think about
what he's saying. I am sovereign, and only I can
save you. The one that nobody ever had
to let do anything. He is the only one who can save
you. The one who's not waiting on
you to do anything. He's the only savior. The one
who never tried to do anything. The one who speaks and it's done.
The one who says I have power on this earth to forgive sins.
I have the authority to forgive your sins if I want to. He's
the only one that can save you. Do we hear him? Do we know him? Do we believe on him? That's
why he has witnesses to declare himself by these means. Aren't you glad he does? that
by these means he is witnessed of and sinners come to know who
he is and come to believe on his name. Thank God I'm one of
them. By his eternal grace. Well, let's
observe the table together.