Alright, let's turn to Isaiah
chapter 43. Isaiah chapter 43. Notice in verse 14. Isaiah 43, 14. Note who is speaking. Note who
this is that is speaking. Thus saith the Lord. The Lord. God, Jehovah, your Redeemer. Now this tells us who He's speaking
to. He's speaking to those He has
redeemed. Thus saith the Lord, your Redeemer,
the Holy One of Israel. Now, note that He says He's bringing
down, bringing to nothing their enemies. He says, I have sent
to Babylon and have brought down all their
nobles and the Chaldeans. I have brought
down all their nobles and the Chaldeans whose cries in the
ships. The Lord, your Redeemer, the
Holy One of Israel says, I have done this. I have sent to Babylon
and brought them down. He brought them down. He brought
them into Jerusalem to take Jerusalem captive. And He sent forth the
Deliverer to bring them down, put them down and deliver them
from the Babylonians, from the Chaldeans. Now notice why the
Lord said He did this. Look there at verse 14. For your
sake. Do you see that? For your sake. Now we see who's speaking. This
is the Lord God and He says, I'm the Redeemer. That means
He's the Deliverer. That means He's the One who accomplishes
delivering His people from their sin. Delivering His people from
the deadness of their flesh. Delivering His people from Satan. Delivering His people from all
the enemies. He's the Deliverer, the Redeemer,
the Holy One of Israel. There is only One. And He's the
Holy One of Israel. And He said, I've done this for
your sakes. Everything that the Lord has
done in this earth, since He made this earth, everything the
Lord has done in this earth. has been for the sake of those
that He has everlastingly loved, those He chose in Christ, formed
in Christ, created in Christ Jesus before the world was made.
Everything He has done and is doing and shall do is for your
sake. Now, do you think whenever the
children Those who truly were born of the Spirit of God and
believed God, do you think when they were in their land and the
enemy invaded their land and took them captive, do you think
they understood that that was for their sake? That the Lord
had done that for their sake? Do you think when he sent forth
a deliverer and brought them out Do you think that they fully
understood everything that had transpired was for their sake,
for your sake? That's the case today, right
now. For every elect child of God, everything God is doing
is for your sake. Well, let me ask you this. What does He do? When He does
these things, when He delivers, what does He do? What are some
things? Why does He do this? What is
it? How is it for our sake? I want
to show you four things right here in this scripture. Here's
the first one. He does this to make us to know
and to remind His people continually who He is. Who He is. Look at verse 15. I am the Lord,
your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King. Before sinful,
depraved men ever decided they would choose another man and
set him up and call him their king, and a man would reign over them.
Before that ever came about, before man ever entered into
his mind to do that, God's people had a king. And he's that king. He's that
king. He said, I am the Lord. Your
Holy One, the Creator of Israel, Your King. Look over at 1 Samuel
chapter 8. 1 Samuel chapter 8. This is the fallen man's problem. Right here. 1 Samuel chapter
8. Do you remember whenever the people rejected Samuel? Look at 1 Samuel chapter 8 and
look at verse 6. They said this, but the thing
displeased Samuel when they said, give us a king to judge us. That's what the people said to
him. Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the
Lord. And the Lord said unto Samuel,
hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto
thee. For they have not rejected thee,
but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. You know what a king does? He
reigns. And God said this before as yet Christ entered the world.
We know King Jesus is the King of righteousness. He's the King
of peace. But before as yet he entered the world, when this
was said to Samuel, God said, The people don't want me to reign
over them. He said, I'm the king. When he
said this to Isaiah in Isaiah's day to deliver to the people,
he said, I am the Lord, your holy one, the creator of Israel,
your king. I am. King Jesus, He is the King
and He's God. He is God come in human flesh. He's always been a King. We understand
things in time, but our God has always been the King. He's the
creator of His people, of His Israel. Before there was an earth,
before there was a people in the earth called Israel, Before
there was an earthly Jerusalem, before there was an earthly king
in earthly Jerusalem, there was the Lord, the Holy One, the Creator
of Israel, our King. He's seated upon His throne in
the heavens. He's always been on His throne
in the heavens. When He came into this earth,
He was the King on His throne in the heavens. When he accomplished
the salvation of his people, laying down his life, purchased
the demons. The scripture says God purchased
the church with his own blood. How can that be? God purchased
the church with his own blood. He came forth as a man, joined
himself with our human nature, and accomplished the redemption
of his people. And when he was here doing that,
he was the king on his throne. And when he arose from the dead,
he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. He is the king. And when he shall
have delivered up the kingdom to God, and put all things in
subjection under him, when his mediatorial work is finished,
when it's done, there'll be the Lord, the Holy One, the Creator
of Israel, our King. That's who He is. That's who
He's always been. Look over at Hebrews 7. Hebrews
7 and verse 1. He works all the deliverance
of His people, the redemption of His people, to remind us,
to continually show us, He says, for your sake, that I'm the Lord. The Holy One, your Holy One,
the Creator of Israel, your King. Look at this, Hebrews 7.1. Speaking
of Melchizedek, he was King of Salem, priest of the Most High
God. He met Abraham returning from
the slaughter of the kings and blessed him. To whom also Abraham
gave a tenth of everything. And look what this man's name
is. His name, first being by interpretation,
King of Righteousness. How do you think Abraham defeated
the kings? By God, the King of Righteousness. And after that, his name is King
of Salem, which is King of Peace. King of Jerusalem. That's who
he is. Look at this, without father,
without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days
nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God, and He abideth
a priest continually. In eternity, before the world
began, the Holy One, the Creator, created His Israel in Christ
Jesus when He chose them in Him. And He's always been the King
upon His throne. Now you think about this. He
took the hedges down off of that physical nation and he allowed
Babylon to come into that nation. He allowed Babylon to take them
captive. You know who allowed Satan to
enter the garden? You know who allowed Adam to
fall and plunge all mankind into depravity, sin, death? You know who did that? You know
who permitted that to happen? The same one who ordained for
Babylon to come in and take Jerusalem. He did that. Why did he do it?
He did it for the sake of his people, that he might make his
name known and his power known. That's why he did it. I saw this
the other day. Turn over to Romans 9. I want
you to see something. Romans chapter 9. We looked at
this when we were going through this the other day, but I want
you to see this. Look at verse 17. For the Scripture
saith, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up. For the
Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have
I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee and that
my name might be declared throughout all the earth. You know what
Paul had just got through saying up there in the first part of
that chapter? He just got through saying, in verse 6, that the
Word of God, it wasn't as though it had taken on effect, for they're
not all Israel which are of Israel. And he said, neither because
they're the seed of Abraham are they all children. And surely
you'd say, well surely He wouldn't create that nation just to allow
some to perish in that nation. Simply to make His power and
His name known. And Paul is telling us right
here, He says, yes he did do that with Israel, that political
nation Israel. He says in the scripture, saith
unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up.
And he raised up Egypt for the same purpose. He made all the
nations for the same purpose, to reveal, make his power known
and his name known. Make his power, everybody rejoiced
and rejoiced here recently when Gaddafi was killed. What would this world do if the
leader of Israel was assassinated? He'd think something totally
different. They wouldn't be jumping in the streets and rejoicing.
But one nation, One nation is not greater than
another nation. He made them all for the same
purpose, to make his power known, his name known, to show his mercy
and his grace for those who are his true elect, not just of the
Jews that he's called, but of the Gentiles also. But it's the Lord who allowed
the Babylonians to come in. It's the Lord who allowed sin
to enter in. It's the Lord who brings down
Babylon and puts away sin. And He did it all for the sake
of His people, to show His name. You know, we're prone to look
to the host instead of to the Lord of hosts. We're prone to
look to the imaginary holiness of our flesh instead of to the
Holy One. We're prone to look to our hands
and things we imagine that we've made and created rather than
to the creator of Israel, of his people. We're prone to try
to reign instead of submitting to Christ our King. And so he
brings us through some bitter trials and bitter, stormy seas,
sometimes just like he did his people right over and over in
the history of this world, over and over and over, bringing up
nations, putting down nations, delivering his people, his elect
remnant through through it all the time to show his name, make
his power now remind us who he is. for your sake. Now here's
the second thing he does, the reason he does this, he does
it to make us remember that the victory was won by our Lord before
the enemy ever came forth. The victory was already won before
there was ever a war to be fought. an enemy to be conquered. Look
at verse 16. Thus saith the Lord, which maketh
a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters, which bringeth
forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power, they
shall lie down together, they shall not rise, they are extinct,
they are quenched as toad. This is the Lord now. The same
Lord who makes a way in the sea and a path in the mighty waters
is the Lord which brings forth the chariot and the horse, the
army and the power. They're all under His power.
And the Lord declares this to His people beforehand. He's declaring
this before any of this has taken place in Israel. He's telling
before they're even taken captive by Babylon. He's telling them
already before they've ever seen themselves fully delivered out
of the hands of their enemies. He's telling them already. They
shall lie down together. They shall not rise. They are
extinct. They are quenched as toad. They are, he said. Before as
yet it's even come about, it's already done, he said. You know
what tow is? You ever had a campfire? A tow
is like a wick, you know, on a candle. And you just put it
out. You snuff it out, and it goes
out. Well, you ever been around a
campfire? You built a campfire, you know,
and you get ready to leave the campsite, and you just pour water
on it. And it's just, it's out. It's
quenched. It's not burning anymore. It's
done. Well, the Lord reminds us continually
that before the enemy... When we see the enemy approaching,
when we see ourselves unable to deliver ourselves from our
own sin, from our own wicked thoughts and our own wicked imagination,
from any trial, anything that comes upon us, He's the Lord
who makes a way in the sea and a path in the mighty waters.
He's the Lord who brings forth the chariot and the horse. He's
the Lord who brings forth the army and the power. And He says,
all of them, All of them. The ones that he used, Babylon
and the Chaldeans, and the nations that he used to conquer them
and deliver Israel out of. He said they're all going to
lay down together. They're already extinct. They're all quenched
his toad. The victory is won already, the
Lord said. Before there was ever sin, God
had provided himself a lamb in the person of his son. He's the
lamb slain from the foundation of the world. When he entered
into charityship, when he struck hands with the father, when the
son agreed with the father, the debt was settled. The payment
was settled. When as yet there wasn't even
a sinner in the earth yet that had sinned that needed to be
redeemed. The victory was won. The victory was won. Because
he purposed it and there's no way that it wouldn't be fulfilled
and he wouldn't accomplish it. He made the earth to fulfill
the thing he said he would do. He made the people. to show them
His glory and to show us that He's the victor. The victory
has been won by Him. Now, that's the first thing He
does for our sakes when He brings, brought forth sin, allowed sin
to come forth, when He brought forth Babylon into Israel, when
He allows us to be overtaken in our sin or when He allows
us to be suffering these great trials. The first thing He does
is to remind us who He is. I am the Lord, He said. The Holy
One of Israel. Your Creator. Your King. The
second thing He does is to tell us, before as yet you ever see
the enemy approaching, I've already conquered him. It's done. The victory is won already. Here's
the third thing He does. To turn us from the past. to
expect our Lord's future work of grace for us. Remember Paul
said, I don't look back. He said, I press toward the mark
of the prize of the high calling of God. Now look what he says
in verse 18. Verse 18, remember ye not the
former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I
will do a new thing. Let me show you the new thing.
Look at Jeremiah 31, 22. Just to your right. Jeremiah
31, 22. I'll do a new thing. How long wilt thou go about,
O thou backsliding daughter? For the Lord hath created a new
thing in the earth. A woman shall compass a man. Now what's that mean? A woman
shall compass a man. Look back at Isaiah 7, verse
14. Isaiah 7, verse 14. Therefore the Lord Himself shall
give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive. That's a new thing. Who ever
heard of that? Behold, a virgin shall conceive. and bring forth a son. She shall
come past a man, the man. and shall call his name Immanuel. God's coming forth. He's coming
forth, the seed of woman. But before we can behold Christ,
before we can behold that new thing, you know what has to happen?
All the old things, all the worthless things, all the things that we
think are new things, are good things, got to be made completely
worthless to us. Behold, and this is why He's
making us to look forward to what He's doing and He's done
and shall do. The future work that we can expect.
I'm going to do a new thing. And did He do it? He did it.
Look at this, verse 18. Now it shall spring forth, shall
you not know it? The Lord put the axe to the root
of the tree of Israel. Just like you chop down a tree.
But out of it came a branch. Out of it came a root. Out of
it came a tender plant. He said, it shall spring forth. Look there at Isaiah 53 verse
2. Isaiah 53 verse 2. He shall grow
up before Him as a tender plant, as a root
out of a dry ground. He hath no form nor comeliness,
and when we shall see him there is no beauty that we shall desire
him. The Lord said, As the earth bringeth
forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown
in it to spring forth, so the Lord God will cause righteousness
and praise to spring forth before all the nations. Christ our righteousness,
Christ our praise will spring forth before all the nations.
He's the one who's come forth, but before we're gonna behold
Christ springing forth, coming forth, and accomplishing the
salvation of his people, we've got to be made to behold the
bitter root that we are. We got to be made to behold the
bitterness and the worthlessness of our flesh. Look here at verse
18 again. He says, I will even make a way
in the wilderness. You know what the Lord said in
John 14, 6? The Lord said, I am the way. He said, I am the way. He's the way in the wilderness. He's the way from Babylon, this
falsehood called Babylon, this sin-cursed earth that we live
in, this harlot falsehood we live in. He's the way from Babylon
into God's presence, into heavenly Jerusalem. He's the way that
God can be just and justifier. He's the way that God can uphold
His holy law, honor it, magnify it, make it honorable, and yet
show mercy to His people. He's the way that mercy and truth,
mercy, and truth are met together. He's the way that righteousness
and peace have kissed each other. He's the way before we can rejoice
in Christ the way to God. You know what has to happen?
For our sake, he's got to make us to see we can't conquer Babylon. We can't conquer Babylon in this
wilderness called our flesh. But we see he has, and we see
he's look forward to his future work of accomplishing. He's the
way in the wilderness. We have to be made to see that
our flesh is the waste town in wilderness. And it doesn't ever
change. We forget that. Paul said, I
know that in me that is in my flesh dwells no good thing. We
have to be constantly reminded that not to turn back to the
old thing, the wilderness of our faith, not to remember the
things of old and look back, but to press forward in the way,
toward the way, following Christ's way. Look here in verse 18. He says, and I will make rivers,
I will make rivers. I'm sorry, verse 19, I will make
a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. You know where
the desert is? It's our flesh. That's what it
is. It's our flesh. I know this speaks
to him going forth even from that nation Israel and bringing
forth his gospel into the Gentile world. I realize that. But focus
our attention on him personally saving his people. The desert
is us. The desert is us. We can't bring
forth, we can't plant anything and grow anything. It's just
a dry, waste, howling wilderness, this flesh is. And it doesn't
change. But the scripture says this back in Isaiah 32, 1. Look
back there. Who's the rivers in the dry place? Behold, a king shall reign in
righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment, and a man shall
be as a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest. A man shall be as rivers of water
in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. A man shall be there. Who is
he? Look at John 7. Look at John 7. And look at verse 37. In the last day, that great day
of the feast, Jesus stood, there's the man, the God-man. Jesus stood and cried saying,
if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. What's that mean? Let him come
unto me and drink. Our Lord tells us what it means.
He that believeth on me, as the scripture has said, out of his
belly shall flow rivers of living water. Christ the life, Christ
the life. Have you ever seen or read much
about when they built the Hoover Dam and they sent all the water
throughout Northern California and that whole area? It was just
a desert. That whole place was a desert.
And now you know what comes out of that place? There's rivers
of water. There's all kinds of fruits and
all kinds of lettuce and all kinds of things we get from there
because rivers. Life has gone into that desert.
You know what happens when God creates a man anew, when the
new birth takes place in a sinner, when the Spirit of God comes
into this sinner, you know what happens? Christ is formed in
a dead body, Christ enters in. The rivers of water, abundant
life, life that never ends, eternal life. But before we can behold
that there's no life in us, He's got to enter in. He's got to
come in. And He says, look at that now. Go back and look at
that again in Isaiah 43. Now notice this. All He told you and me to do,
verse 18, is remember ye not the former things, neither consider
the things of old. He says, forget them. Forget what's behind. Now He says, behold. That's two
things that the Lord said to do. Remember not the old things
and behold. That's remember not and behold.
Behold and watch this. I will do a new thing. He said
I will. I'll do this. Now it shall spring
forth. Shall you not know it? Yes, his
people's going away. He said, I've done it for your
sake. I've done it to make you know it. I will make a way in
the wilderness. I will create rivers in the desert. He said, I'll do it. All he tells
you and me to do is forget about the things of old and behold
what I've done. Behold me. Believe on me, trust
me. Now look at verse 20. The beast
of the field shall honor me, the dragons and the owls. I don't
know what all that means. But I tell you this, when God
creates life in us, when he does this new thing, it makes us behold
Christ Jesus. And no more look to our former
old ways and our former things that we put confidence in. You
know what he makes us to see ourselves as? Beasts of the field. Remember what he said at the
beginning of Isaiah? Look back there. Verse 3, Isaiah 1-3. The ox knows his owner, and the
ass his master's crib, but Israel doth not know, my people doth
not consider. He said, and that's what He does,
He makes us to behold, we're beasts of the field. He makes
us to behold, we're the dragons, we're the owls, we're the unclean
wild things. He makes us to do that, that
we cease honoring ourselves and honor Him. Honor Him. Look, Isaiah 43, the beasts of
the field shall honor me and the dragons and the owls. Now
what's the cause for God doing all this? What's the cause that
he does all this? Free grace. Sovereign, free grace. Look,
because, because. Here's why they're gonna honor
me. Because I give waters in the wilderness. You see that?
I give, I give. I don't sell it. I don't, I don't
prostitute this out. I give it. I give waters in the
wilderness and rivers in the desert to give drink to my people,
my chosen. Do you see that? That's what
I did. Look at 1 John 5 11. 1 John 5
11. This is the record. 1 John 5,
11. This is the record. This is the
record that God has given of His Son. This is the report. This is what God has said. This
is the record that God has given. God has given to us eternal life. And this life is in His Son. It's given. Eternal life, it's
in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life. And he that hath not the Son
of God hath not life. He that has the Son has life.
The Lord told, He said, the man that believes on me shall never
die. He'll never die. You mean this
physical body won't die? Yeah, it's gonna go back to the
dust. It's dust, and it's gonna go back to the dust, because
that's the curse. That's what it's worth. That's what the flesh
is going to, dust. But those in whom Christ dwells,
those for whom Christ died, those who've been redeemed by his blood,
the moment we close our eyes in physical death, We awake in
his presence. We awake with our king, with
our holy one, with our creator, with the king who has redeemed
us in his presence. And there His people are at His
feet praising Him. Why? Because He gave. He gave. He said, You've not chosen Me,
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.
Now the first reason that He allowed that Babylon to come
in and conquer His people The reason that our Lord permitted
sin to enter into this earth, the first reason was to declare
His name. He said, I've done it for your
sake, to declare My name, He said. Let's look at it again,
Isaiah 43. He said, I did it to declare
My name. Verse 15, I'm the Lord, your Holy One, the Creator of
Israel, your King. That's the first reason. The
second reason He did it was to remind us that The victory is
won. It was won before, as yet, the
enemy ever came forth. Verse 17. He said, I bring forth
the chariot and the horse, the army and the power. They shall
lie down together. They shall not rise. They're
extinct. They're quenched as toe. I've snuffed out the enemy. I've conquered. The last enemy
that shall be destroyed is death. Death. He does it to remind us
not to look to the old things we are, but to look to the new
thing He's done. To look to Him. Press forward
towards Christ. He said, verse 18, Remember ye
not the former things, neither consider the things of old? Behold,
I will do a new thing. I will make way in the wilderness,
rivers in the desert. The beasts of the field shall
honor me, the dragons and the owls, because I give waters in
the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people,
my chosen. And here's the last reason he
does all this. Because every one of his people
are going to praise only him. Look at verse 21. This people
have I formed for myself, they shall show forth my praise. Are you worried, Clay, that as
you try to set forth the gospel, are you worried that somehow
God's elect children are going to be deceived? Somehow they're
not going to hear this gospel. Somehow they're going to be lost. Can you imagine that? Carol, I saw a song you like,
Love Won't Let You Go. And that, wasn't that the time
though? This is love that won't let you go. He won't let his
people go. I don't have any doubt, any doubt
whatsoever, that every one of his sheep in this place right
here, in this community right here, in this state right here,
In every other state, in every other country, I don't have any
doubt whatsoever that his people are going to show forth his praise
because he created them. He draws them, he brings them,
and they will praise him only forever. No doubt in my mind. Not one, he said, shall be lost. Not one. For your sake, I've
done all this, he said. Can't you rejoice in that? Ah,
that can fly. Ah, man. Floats my boat. It does. Warms me when I'm cold. Lifts
me up when I'm down. Brings me down when I'm too high. Makes me rest when I'm laboring. Rejoice in him for your sake. All right.