Alright brethren, Isaiah 43.
I like it whenever we're going through a couple of books and
the passages from each book just go hand in hand. And that's the
case today. We saw there in Philippians 1
where the Lord through Paul talked about the trial of being persecuted. We saw how
we bear up under that by the power of the Lord. And now we
come to a passage in Isaiah 43 that's speaking to us about the
various trials. Now when God gives us New Testament
eyes, we start to see and discern Christ in the Scriptures like
never before. And in Isaiah 40, If you think
about this with New Testament eyes, in Isaiah 40, verses 1
and 2, you had Christ crucified, accomplishing the work. The message there was cry unto
His holy city that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity
is pardoned, she is received with the Lord's hand double for
all her sin. Christ accomplished. the salvation,
the redemption of His people. And the remainder of that chapter
declares Christ is the shepherd who has all power to lead His
sheep and that He'll save everyone. And then Isaiah 41, He declared
He would make His church a new sharp threshing instrument through
preaching the gospel. And you remember what before
Christ ascended, he came to his apostles and he said, all power
in heaven and earth is given to me. And he said, go forth,
therefore, preaching me, preaching my person, my work, what I've
accomplished. And lo, I'm with you always.
And Isaiah 42, as the gospel goes forth, The Lord speaks affectionately
into the heart of His child, and the first verse of Isaiah
42 is, Behold My servant whom I uphold, Mine elect in whom
My soul delighteth. He said in verse 21, The Lord
is well pleased for His righteousness' sake. He will magnify the Lord
and make Him honorable, and Christ shall not fail. When the gospel
goes forth, He says, The judgment in the heart brings you to faith
in Christ, and you rest in Christ your righteousness. But at the
end of Isaiah 42, we hear of God's judgment upon Israel because
they rejected God's servant, the Lord Jesus. He said in Isaiah
42, 24, Who gave Jacob for a spoil and Israel to the robbers? Did
not the Lord, He against whom we have sinned? For they would
not walk in His ways, neither were they obedient to His law.
Therefore He poured upon him the fury of his anger and the
strength of battle, and it set him on fire round about, yet
he knew it not, and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart.
And that judgment on the political nation came about in 70 A.D. when the Lord destroyed Israel. So Isaiah 43 opens with a God's
Word to His spiritual Israel, to you who He's called and given
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, But now, thus saith
the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and He that formed thee, O Israel,
fear not, for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy
name, thou art mine." Those that God saves are His new creation. New creation. We were created
and formed in divine election by God the Father, just like
brother Greg just read. We were created and formed through
the blood of Christ Jesus, our Redeemer. We were created and
formed by the Spirit of God, regenerating us and creating
a new man within us. He created this new creation. And He created us for His glory,
to glorify Himself. Look down at Isaiah 43 verse
7. Even everyone that's called by
My name, for I have created him for My glory, I have formed him,
yea, I have made him. And all those that have been
saved by Him, have been called by Him, you want Him to have
all the glory, don't you? We want our Redeemer, our triune
God in Christ to get all the glory for our salvation beginning
to end. Psalm 100 verse 3 says, Know
ye that the Lord, He is God. It is He that hath made us, not
we ourselves, We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, thanking Him for creating us
anew. Enter into His courts with praise. Be thankful unto Him and bless
His name. And we gladly take our place
as sheep, as His sheep. A sheep is a dumb, helpless creature,
a defenseless creature. I saw a video a few weeks ago.
You may have seen this. Actually, there are quite a few
videos of this, but as I began to look it up, you know if a
sheep rolls over on its back, it can't get back on its feet.
I didn't know that. But if a sheep rolls over on
its back, They're there, and they'll just stay there until
either something gets them, kills them, or somebody comes and rolls
them back over and puts them back on their feet. A sheep is
defenseless. They really are defenseless.
And that's a good description of you and me, brethren. Helpless,
defenseless sheep. But we're the sheep who have
a great shepherd. We have a great shepherd. Now,
if that describes you, then this is God's Word to you. This is
what God says to you. Verse 1, But now thus saith the
Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel,
fear not, because I have redeemed thee. Fear not, for I have redeemed
thee. We just read this, the law held
us for ransom. But the Lord Jesus Christ paid
the purchase price, and the purchase price was His precious blood.
His precious blood. Fear not, I have redeemed thee.
He says, fear not, I've called thee by name. Right now the gospel
is going forth and this is the general call. It's going forth
and all are being commanded to repent and believe the Lord Jesus. But nobody will do that until
the irresistible call comes. And it comes personally. The
Lord says, I call thee by name. It becomes personal. Zacchaeus,
come down. Lazarus, come forth. It comes
personal, irresistible. He says to you that believe,
fear not, thou art mine. Brethren, I didn't tell Greg to read that
passage, but he read it. We are his purchased possession.
When you first believed, when you believed by God's grace,
you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. And the Holy
Spirit is the earnest. It's the guarantee. It's like
earnest money. It's the earnest that guarantees
us that we're going to be with God in glory. It's the earnest
of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession. Until the praise of His glory.
We're His purchased possession. And there's coming a day When
our Lord Jesus Christ is going to, what He's talking about there
is He's going to redeem us out of this body of death and out
of this sin-cursed world into what Paul called in Romans 8,
the glorious liberty of the sons of God in the glory with Christ
where we'll have our inheritance. But right now, brethren, everybody
He paid His precious blood for are His purchased possession.
Now since all of this is so, Surely God's saints must have
an easy life. Surely it must be easy. I mean,
the Lord just gave us this. Good news. I remember when the
Lord first called me and I was baptized and I thought, you know,
your heart's overflowing. You're rejoicing and everything's
new. You're just full of zeal. You don't want to miss hearing
the gospel preached. You're there. I mean, it's just
so brand new. And I thought, I really did think
things are going to be a lot smoother now. It's going to be
a lot smoother now. And it wasn't very long at all.
I found out I was still a sinner and this world hates my God and
my Savior. And it didn't take very long
to find that out. Well, our Lord here gives us some precious promises
concerning our trouble. First of all, Remember, when
our Lord walked this earth, He declared that we must, not maybe,
He said we must, through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom
of God. We must, through much tribulation,
enter the kingdom of God. Notice the wording here in Isaiah
43 verse 2. It says, If thou passest through
the waters, No, it says when you do, when you pass through
the waters. It says when thou walkest through
the fire. It's not a matter of if you're
going to, it's just a matter of when. In order to redeem his
people, brethren, wasn't it a must that our Savior suffer much tribulation? Our Savior, it was a must that
He suffer much tribulation. Why? Why did the Son of God come
down and take flesh and have to suffer so much trouble? Hebrews 5.8 says, though He were
a Son, capital S, though He is God the Son, yet learned He obedience
by the things which He suffered. It's hard for me to even comprehend
that He humbled Himself so and became such a servant representing
His people. So one with us in a sinless body
of flesh that He actually learned. This One who is wisdom, this
One who created all things, this One who... I mean, He's infinite wisdom. But
he humbled himself so, representing his people and became the God-man
in such a way that he learned obedience by the things which
he suffered. Scripture says he grew in wisdom and stature as
a man and in favor with men. Well, that's exactly what he's
doing for you and me by trials. He's making us, He's teaching
us, and we're learning obedience by the things which we suffer.
We're learning, first of all, not to trust in ourselves. We're learning a little more
each time we suffer trials, that in my flesh dwells no good thing. Every time you go through some
trouble, you learn that a little more. The trouble does not put
anything in you. The trouble puts nothing in your
flesh. But the trouble will reveal what's already there. It'll reveal
what's already there. And when we come into trouble,
we very soon will find out, in our flesh, we're still sinners. We're still sinners. We learn
that only Christ is able to deliver us from this body of death. He alone. Well, through trouble,
we learn nothing in this world will last. Nothing in this world
will last. We have one lasting possession
that we will have forever and it's the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
that's so brethren. Listen, Ecclesiastes 5.13. There is a sore evil which I
have seen under the sun namely, riches kept for the owners thereof
to their hurt. But those riches perish by evil
travail, by trouble. They perish. And he begetteth
a son, and there's nothing in his hand. As he came forth of
his mother's womb, naked he shall return to go as he came, and
shall take nothing of his labor which he may carry away in his
hand. And this also is a sore evil,
that in all points as he came, so shall he go. And what profit
hath he that hath labored for the wind?" Nothing is lasting in this world.
Absolutely nothing. We have one lasting possession,
that's Christ. He'll never be taken from us.
When we go into trouble, the Lord's teaching us that we shall
not prevail by our own strength. We shall not prevail by our own
strength. God our Father is the first cause
of everything that comes to pass. Our omnipotent Savior, the Lord
Jesus, is ruling everything that comes to pass in this world.
He said, all things, all power is given to me in heaven and
in earth. The devil is under his control. Men are under his
control. All things are under his control.
And he's working things and will paint you in a corner or hedge
you about in such a way to teach you There is no way you can deliver
yourself by your own strength. In 1st Samuel 2.6 we read, the
Lord killeth and maketh alive. He bringeth down to the grave
and bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor and maketh
rich. He bringeth low and lifteth up. He raiseth up the poor out of
the dust and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill to set them
among princes and to make them inherit the throne of glory. For the pillars of the earth
are the Lord's, and He has set the world upon them. He will
keep the feet of His saints, and the wicked shall be silent
in darkness, for by strength shall no man prevail." He's not
going to let us prevail by strength. He just won't do it. Because
we saw there, He said, I created you for My glory. And so He's
going to get the glory. Well, He brings us through trouble.
so that we learn that our life is a vapor. That's something
else he teaches us through trouble, that our life's a vapor. You
take sickness, for example. One day you're healthy, and the
next day you get a news from a doctor that you have cancer.
And it's just that quick. You find out just that quick
how quickly your life can be taken. It's a vapor. It's a vapor. We learn that we
should redeem the time. That's what Christ taught us,
redeem the time. He's teaching us, be about the
business of our Lord Jesus Christ, furthering His gospel, preaching
His gospel, ministering to His saints, and bearing witness of
Him to lost sinners. Be about His business, just like
He was about His Father's business. Redeem the time. Time is short. Isn't it short? It is short.
Through trouble, we're kept humbled at Christ's feet. We're being
taught and learning by these troubles to depend entirely upon
the Lord Jesus Christ and His grace. He keeps us humbled. That's what Paul said. Paul said
it two times. Listen, in 2 Corinthians 12.7,
he said, lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance
of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh,
the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted
above measure. And for this thing I besought
the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And he
said, my grace is sufficient for thee. For my strength is
made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will
I glory in my infirmities. He said, I'll glory in my weakness
that the power of Christ may rest upon me. He's saying, I'll
own the fact that I am totally weak. Because then the power
of Christ rests on me. Isn't that so? We saw that in
Isaiah. He said, I give strength to the
faint and to them that have no might, he increases strength.
But it's only those who are brought to the place where we can confess
in truth from the heart, I have no strength. That's the ones
Christ's power rests upon. He said, therefore, I take pleasure
in in infirmities, and in reproaches, and in necessities, in persecutions,
in distresses for Christ's sake. For when I'm weak, then am I
strong. Paul meant that. Paul meant what
he said. This man has suffered incredibly. I mean, he's probably, him and
Job are next, you know, behind our Lord Jesus in how they suffered.
And he said, I take pleasure. I rejoice that I'm weak. Because when I am totally weak,
that's when I'm strong. And that's what the Lord's doing.
He's keeping us humbled to know that He's our strength. He's
our salvation. And brethren, when you think
of Him as your strength, you know, it's the strength of your
life. It's the strength to be able to believe. But brethren,
listen, He's the strength because He's our righteousness. He's
our strength because He's our perfection. He's our strength
because He's our Redeemer. He's the only strength we have. The only strength we have. We could go on and on and on.
The Lord is just teaching us. We learn obedience to the things
we suffer. And the obedience we are learning
is this. Cast all your care on Christ. Don't stop looking to
Christ. Walk in His steps and stay near
to Him and trust Him to save you. That's what we are learning,
brethren. That's what we are learning. And when you get through
the trouble, This is what our gracious Redeemer always brings
His child to say without a doubt. It's good for me that I have
been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes. That's what He
always teaches you through the trouble every time. It's good
for me. The Lord's teaching me. It's
good for me. Now secondly, our Lord promises
us that we shall not be in the trouble by ourselves. We won't be in a trouble alone.
He says in verse 2, when thou passest through the waters, I
will be with thee. I will be with thee. Our Savior
promised, I'll never leave thee nor forsake thee. And he says
right here, I will be with thee. When I thought of that, I thought
about Nebuchadnezzar when he cast Hananiah and Mishael and
Azariah into the fiery furnace. That was their Hebrew names,
you know. Those other names are the names that the Babylonians
gave them. But when they cast those three into the fiery furnace,
Nebuchadnezzar looked in there and he said, didn't we cast three
men bound into the midst of that fire? And he said, ìLo, I see
four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have
no heart,î he said, ìin the form of the fourth, is like the Son
of God.î The Lord said, ìIíll be with you in this trial.î That
great psalm we all love so much, Psalm 23, ìYea, though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death.î Whatís that? Whereís that? You've been walking
through it since you were able to walk. We're living in it. Though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with
me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort
me. Thou art with me. That's what
he said he would be. He said, I'll be with you. And
He's with His people. We sing this song, Jesus, what
a friend for sinners. Jesus, lover of my soul. Friends
may fail me, foes assail me. He, my Savior, makes me whole. The Apostle Paul experienced
friends failing him, and he experienced foes assailing him. But here's
what he said. He said, at my first answer,
no man stood with me, but all forsook me. He said, notwithstanding,
the Lord stood with me and strengthened me that by me the preaching might
be fully known and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion
and the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and will
preserve me into his heavenly kingdom to whom be glory forever
and ever, amen. That's what he said. He stood
with me and he strengthened me. Child of God, listen, in every
trouble, in every trouble, Christ is with you. He's with you and
He makes you know He's with you in your heart. He makes you know
it. He makes you know it. He speaks with that still small
voice that Isaiah talked about. And He says, ìFear thou not,
for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy
God. I will strengthen thee. Yea,
I will help thee. I will uphold thee with the right
hand of my righteousness.î Do you believe that? Do you believe
that He will do just what He said? We believe that. We see it in the Word. He has
given you faith to believe it. But you know when we are going
to really believe it? When He has proved it to you. When He's
let friends forsake you and foes assail you, and He's with you,
and makes you know He's with you, you'll know it. You'll know
it. We learn it all. Brother Joe
Terrell said it, put it the most simply. He said, talking about
learning by experience, he said, when do you learn not to touch
a hot stove? When you touch a hot stove. And
when the Lord brings you through the trial and He makes you know
I'm with you, that's when you learn it's really so. He's with
me. He's with me. Lastly, because
our Savior sent the trouble and since He's with us in it, we
shall pass through it and we'll be bettered by it. We'll pass
through it and we'll be bettered by it. Isaiah 43, 2, He said,
when thou passest through the waters. I will be with thee,
and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee. When thou
walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither
shall the flame kindle upon thee." That was so of those three that
came out of the fiery furnace. They didn't even smell like smoke. That's not a fable, brethren.
That's not just some story. They heated that furnace seven
times and threw those three in there, and they came out of there
without any smell of smoke on them. That's so. That's true. On the cross, Christ bore the
mighty flood of God's justice. He bore the
fire of God's wrath. And God is so just. That's why
He went to the cross, because God's holy and God's just. That's
why He suffered that. And because He suffered that,
God will not, because He's holy and He's just, God will not pour
out wrath on anybody for whom Christ died. Our judgment was
settled on Calvary's cross. If you even remotely remotely make me think you believe
Christ. I'll tell you what I'm going
to do. When you fall flat on your face in sin and somebody
comes and tells me about it, I'll tell you what I'm going
to do. I'm going to be merciful to you. Because that's righteous judgment. You know why? Because that's
what God's going to do to you. He's going to be merciful to
you because He's just to be merciful to you. We act like that, you
know, well, if a believer falls in sin and this, that or whatever,
brethren, there ain't a moment goes by that God's not being
merciful to me and you. Because there is not a moment
going by that we don't have sin in our flesh and sin mixed with
absolutely everything we do. And the greatest sin we have,
me, you, and every other saint made holy by God, the greatest
sin we have in our flesh is thinking we're not as bad as we are. That's
the greatest sin we have. But our judgment settled on Calvary's
cross, and He won't pour out judgment again. God is satisfied
with His Son, and He's satisfied with His people in His Son, and
so He will have mercy on His people. He will have mercy on
His people. The floodwaters of the trial
are sent by our Lord, ruled by our Lord, and they're for the
same purpose that He brought the children of Israel to the
Red Sea and they stood there before those waters. The same
purpose. Remember what it was? He told
them, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. The Lord
will fight for you today and you'll hold your peace. That's
why He brought him there, to show him that. When you come
into the floods of trial, it is for you to stand still and
look to Christ and see the salvation of the Lord. Watch Him work it
out. Watch Him work it out. All of these little trials we
go through in life, they're just mini-salvations, is what they
are. They're just little small instances
where He's saving us. to make us know that he really,
back there 2,000 years ago, really saved us on Calvary Street. And
to prepare us for when we come to the last few breaths of our
life to know he's really going to save us because he already
passed through the grave and we are too. We already have. When through the deep waters
I call thee to go, the rivers of woe shall not thee overflow. For I will be with thee, thy
troubles to bless, and sanctify to thee thy deepest distress."
See, that's what we need. We need Him to sanctify to us. That means He's going to make
you know why you're suffering this. These things I'm trying
to declare, He's going to make you know these things. And the
fire, when you come into the fiery trial, is to exalt Christ
our refiner. Our refiner. He's purging the
dross of our producing. That's what the dross is. It's
what we produced. He's purging that and he's refining
the gold that he produced. The new man and the faith and
the fruit of the spirit that he's produced. He's refining
that gold. He shall sit as a refiner and
purifier of silver, and He shall purify the sons of Levi and purge
them as gold and silver." And here's the number one reason.
Here's the number one reason. so that you come to God with
nothing but Christ Jesus, our righteousness." He said, I'm
going to refine them. This is from Malachi 33. He said,
I'm going to purge them as gold and silver that they may offer
unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. There's only one
way you're going to do that. Believe on His Son. Come to God
through faith in His Son. But that's why He's purging us
through the fire to make us come with nothing but Christ our righteousness. But when you suffer concerning
the real you, concerning the new man He's created, you're
not going to be hurt at all. Why does it hurt so? That's our
flesh. What's the pain and the sorrow
about it? That's our flesh. But the new you, the real you,
the inner you, in which he dwells, not being hurt in the least.
He said, thou shall not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon you. We sing, when through fiery trials
thy pathway shall lie, my grace all sufficient shall be thy supply.
The flame shall not hurt thee, I only design thy dross to consume
and thy gold to refine. Whoever wrote that song, had
experienced it. He knew what he was talking about.
He didn't even put his name on it. We don't have any idea who
wrote how firm a foundation. So what should we do when the
floodwaters are deep and rising? When you come into trial and
you're about to drown, there's just one thing to do. Look to
Christ. Look to Christ, stand still and
see the salvation of the Lord. All right, the Lord brings Israel
to the Jordan, bringing them to the promised land finally.
Made them wander around in the wilderness while he brings them
to the Jordan. You know when he brought them there? He brought
them there during the flood season so that the river was out of
its banks from one side to the other. There's no way they can
cross it. And he told the priest, he said,
you walk over and you stand in the edge of that water and you
just hold the Ark of the Covenant up. And he told Israel, he said,
you stand back far enough, millions of them, you know, he said, you
stand back far enough to where all of you can do one thing. You just look at that Ark. Just
look at that Ark. And God dried the river up and
they went across on dry ground. Christ is the ark, the covenants
in Him. He said, Thy law is within my
heart, O Lord. And that law that was in that
ark wasn't broken, it was unbroken. We broke the law that first set
of tablets. But that law, that second set
of tabernacles wasn't broken. It was put in the ark. And Christ
Jesus said, the law is in my heart. And He came and fulfilled
the whole law of God for His people. And He is the mercy seat
on top of that ark, the propitiation. And God said, there's where I'll
meet with you and have mercy. So when you come into the floods,
just like that flooded Jordan, you look to Christ. He'll dry
it up. He'll dry it up. You'll go across
on dry ground. What should I do in the fiery
trial? Look at Zechariah 13. What should I do in the fiery
trial? Zechariah 13.8. He said, And
it shall come to pass that in all the land, saith the Lord,
two parts therein shall be cut off and die. He's talking about
people. But the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part
through the fire. That's his people. And I will
refine them as silver is refined. And I will try them as gold is
tried. And what do you do when you suffer
in that? He said, they shall call on my name and I will hear
them. I will say, it is my people. And they shall say, the Lord
is my God. Is that too simple? Is that too simple? Men want to be told all what
they ought to be doing, all bunch of things they ought to be doing.
But you know what they don't want to be told? Only look to
Christ. That's the only way you're going
to be saved. They don't want to hear that. Remember after Job's trial? It said, the Lord blessed the
latter end of Job more than his beginning. And brethren, by the
trial, He grows you in the knowledge of Christ. He teaches you to
trust Christ more, to put no confidence in your flesh. That's
how He blesses the latter end of the trial more than the beginning.
And Christ shall not fail. He said, ìCome and hear, all
you that fear God, I will declare what He has done for my soul.î
Listen to the psalmist. ìCome here, I declare to you
what He has done for my soul. Bless our God, you people. Make
the voice of His praise to be heard, which holdeth our soul
in life. and suffereth not our feet to
be moved. For thou, O God, hast proved
us. Thou hast tried us as silver
is tried. Thou hast brought us into the
net. Thou laidest affliction upon our loins. Thou hast caused
men to ride over our heads. Listen now, we went through the
fire and through the water, but thou brought us out into a wealthy
place. You know where that wealthy place
is? It's Christ Jesus. the unsearchable riches of Christ. Believe in Him more, knowing
Him more, trusting Him more, and having no confidence in yourself
more. That's the wealthiest place you
can be. That's what it's for. That's
what it's for. And that's what He'll work. He
never fails. All right, Brother Greg.