Let's turn to Isaiah chapter
43. Isaiah chapter 43. I believe
the air is supposed to be scheduled to be fixed sometime about the
second week of October. So, about the second week of
October. We may be needing a heater by then. Alright, Isaiah chapter 43. Let's review here with chapter
verse 1, I'm sorry, and see who it is to whom the Lord is speaking.
But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob. This is the Lord who created
thee, O Jacob. He that formed thee, O Israel. This is to those He formed, those
He created. This is who the Lord is speaking
to. He says, fear not. This is who He's speaking to.
I have redeemed thee. He's speaking to those He's redeemed. I have called thee by thy name.
He's speaking to those who have been called by His name. speaking to those who are His
purchased possession, purchased by His own blood. Now, is that
a description of you? Can you say, I'm what I am by
the grace of God? Grace. All grace. He created me. He formed me. He redeemed me. He called me.
I'm His. All by grace. If so, if the Lord
God is your God, if all your hope, if all your refuge, if
all your strength is the God of all grace. And I want you to pause just a moment. And I want you to hear this word
of the Lord personally to you. Hear this word of our Lord as
personally to you as if the only two people in this room was you
and the Lord Himself. Hear it as personally as if nobody
else was speaking to you but the Lord Himself. Here's what
he says. Verse 2. This will be our text.
When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee. And through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee. And when thou walkest through
the fire, thou shalt not be burned. Neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. Now here's the first thing. The
Lord God says, to you who He's formed, you who He's created,
you who He has redeemed, called, who are His. He says, we shall
pass through waters and fire. We shall. He says there in verse
2, when thou passest through the waters and through the rivers,
when thou walkest through the fire. The waters and the fire
or trial. The waters and the fire are great,
grievous trial that comes our way. And there is absolutely
nothing that God sends to His child that comes to us by accident. Nothing. God sends it. It comes by the hand of God. He sends it. God sends it. That flood in Noah's day, God
sent that by His hand. The children of Israel were brought
to the Red Sea and they were hedged in on every way to where
there was absolutely no way they could escape with the Pharaoh's
army coming down on them with swiftness and God brought them
right to that spot. They wandered around in that
wilderness, circled and circled and circled in that wilderness
by His direct hand, being led of Him and were brought right
to the Jordan River at the time of the year when it was overflowing
its banks. And God brought them right there
to that river, right to that spot. Sodom and Gomorrah was
burned and fire ascended from that city, those cities, because
God rained down fire and brimstone. God did it. The waters and the
fire are absolutely necessary. They're absolutely necessary.
And as Scott just read, everything the Lord does, he does wondrously. Wondrously. It's wonderful. It's necessary because we have
to be made to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. You last week tried to express
to me as we left here exactly what I tried to express to you
as I left here and rode home thinking I wasn't able to express
what I was trying to say. I know you probably felt the
same way, but I think what we were trying to say to each other
was, by God's grace, through His Word, we walked in the Spirit
a little while. We were lifted above everything
for a little while. And when we did, the flesh was
mortified. All our lusts and all our worries
and all our cravings and all our... it was just mortified.
For a little while, it was nothing between us at all and God. How long did it take you? It
didn't take me very long to get cumbered about with the vines
of this world real quick. and come back down to reality
and come back down into these thickets we live in and these
briars we live in. And we get so cumbered about,
don't we? We get so cumbered about serving. Serving. Serving, serving, serving. And
wanting to be good servants. We want to serve. We want to
try to serve. One thing that I get so bogged
down with in my own flesh is thinking about my service
to you, to my family, my service. And I get bogged down in it because
I don't think very highly of it. My service. Do you think that
way about your own service? It's easy to think about mine.
I don't blame you for thinking about mine. What do you think
about your own? I don't get bogged down when
I think about yours. When I think about yours, I get filled up. I get some encouragement
when I think about my own. But we get to serving, and we
get to looking to our own understanding, and we get to thinking of our
ideas of what service is, and we get to thinking about these
things, and we get so covered about. And God just brings us
to a place, and He makes us just stand still. makes us stand still
and see the salvation of the Lord. And that's when our hearts
are rejoiced. And that's what these fires and
this sea is necessary for. You remember in Exodus 14 when
they came, let me show you what happened in Exodus 14, 11. When
they came to that Red Sea, and they got there to that sea, it
says in verse 11, Or verse 10, when Pharaoh, Judah,
and the children of Israel lifted up their eyes and beheld the
Egyptians marched after them, they were sore afraid. They became
afraid. They walked out of Egypt on wings. They walked out of Egypt and
they were soaring. And God brought them right to
this place. And they looked up and God brought that Egyptian
army out of there right on purpose, fleeing right after them. Right
on purpose he did this. He didn't do this by accident.
He did it on purpose. He brought it right, just right
on them. And they looked up and they saw
that army. And they were afraid when they saw that army. Soar
afraid. They became, oh, they became
terrified. Lord, help me not to point you
to the waves. Help me not to point you to the
waves. Not in our prayers, not in our
requests for one another. I don't want to point you to
the waves. I don't want to point you there. I want you to behold
Christ. But when they became afraid,
look at what they did. Look at what they did. They cried out unto the Lord. Well, that's a good thing. They
murmured. That's what it said. You want
to hear what they cried unto the Lord? Listen to what they
cried unto Moses. Is this not the word that we
did? They said to him, Oh, because there were no graves in Egypt,
has thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? Wherefore hast thou dealt thus
with us to carry us forth out of Egypt? Is not this the word
that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we
may serve the Egyptians? Isn't that our way? Isn't that
our way? When it gets, when we're in Egypt,
and it becomes harder on us, we say, Just leave us in Egypt.
And when God brings us out of Egypt, and it gets harder on
us, we say, It would have been better if we didn't have stayed
in Egypt. That's our murmuring heart. That is my heart, and
that's yours. That's yours too. It would be
better for us to serve the Egyptians. That would be Shaddai in the
wilderness. And Moses said unto the people, fear ye not, stand
still and see the salvation of the Lord. Just stand still and
see the salvation of the Lord. Look to your right a few pages
over to Joshua 3. Joshua chapter 3. Look at verse 8. He told them, they came right
to that river Jordan. He said, Joshua 3.8, the Lord
said, Thou shalt command, He told Joshua, command the priests
that bear the ark of the covenant, saying, when you come to the
brink of the water of Jordan, ye shall stand still in Jordan. Just stand still. Look at verse
10 there, he says, and Joshua said, Hereby you shall know that
the living God is among you. This is what God told Joshua
to tell him. Hereby shall you know that the
living God is among you, that He will not fail to drive out
from before you all of your enemies. Here's how you're going to know
it. Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth
passeth over before you into Jordan. He said, Now take these
twelve men and go forth. And he said in verse 13, It shall
come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests
that bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth shall
rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall
be cut off from the waters that come down from above, and they
shall stand upon a heap." And it came to pass. It came to pass
exactly like God said. But you know they never would.
Egypt never would have saw, or Israel never would have saw that
Red Sea parted and them go across on dry ground if they had never
come to that sea. And the children of Israel would
have never seen that Jordan dried up and then go across on dry
ground because the ark went across, because the ark was held up.
And the ark, picturing Christ, He's the one who's going to drop
the river. And they never would have seen it had they not come
to that river. the fires and the rivers, they're necessary.
And they're wonderful, they're wonderful, wonderfully necessary
for us. Not pleasant when they come,
but they're wonderfully necessary for us. That fire came down on
Solomon Gomorrah But it didn't come down on Sodom and Gomorrah
till Lot had been brought out. And Lot would have never seen
what God had done for him. Was he in a place he shouldn't
have been? Yes, he was. Did it excuse him? Not at all. Had He made errors? Yes, He had. Did it excuse Him? Not at all. But God overrules
our errors and He overrules our sin to show us God's doing the
saving. We're not doing the saving. And
if He had never been in that situation, He'd have never seen
the righteousness of God in bringing Him out. If sin had never entered
into this world, men, you wouldn't know what sin is. Did that excuse
Adam? No, it didn't excuse Adam. Did
that excuse us? No, it doesn't excuse us. But
God overruled it to manifest His glory and the salvation of
His people through Jesus Christ the Lord. God sends the fire
and He sends the water. It's absolutely necessary. He
said this in Amos 9, 9, For lo, I'll command and I'll sift the
house of Israel among all nations. That's where the house of Israel
is, among all nations. He said, and I'm going to sift
them. And he said, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall
not the least grain fall upon the earth. I'm going to sift
them, but I'm not going to lose not even one grain, not even
one child's going to be lost. though I send overflowing waters
and great fire. It's necessary, absolutely necessary. These floods and rivers and fires,
they're absolutely necessary for this purpose, to make us
let go of everything that's unnecessary. Everything that's unnecessary.
What are we gonna let go of one day? Everything here. What's unnecessary? As far as
us having to have it, everything that's here. How do we come into
this world? That's how we're going out. That's how we're going
out. That's what's necessary to know.
We didn't bring anything in. We're not carrying anything out.
What we're learning here is the only thing necessary is the glory
of God, the righteousness of God, and that's been wrought
out by God and given freely to us. And He's providing everything
else here. The songwriter said this, When through the deep waters
I call thee to go, the rivers of woe shall not thee overflow,
for I will be with thee in thy troubles to bless. and sanctify
to thee thy deepest distress. 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. So first of all, we will pass
through the floods and we will pass through the fire. Lord,
teach me to thank you for the river of flood, the river of
the fiery trial. Lord, teach me to thank you for
that. Well, here's the second thing.
The Lord God says to you, when you pass through the waters
and the fire, I will be with Thee. I will be with Thee. He's going to be with His people
in person. Do we realize that, that God's
with His people in person? How real? How real is He with
His people? He says He abides in His people.
His people abide in Him. How real is He with His people? Well, let's go back and ask this
question. How real was His people in Him
when God chose them and put them in Him? Of God are you in Christ? He
put His people in Christ Jesus before the world began. How real
were His people in Him when He passed through the waters and
He passed through the fire on behalf of His people? How real
were we in Him then? The scripture says that He came
forth to fulfill all righteousness. Every step that the Lord Jesus
Christ took, every step of righteousness He took is my step of righteousness. Every step of righteousness that
the Lord Jesus Christ took are the steps of righteousness of
His people. They're the steps of righteousness
that He fulfilled. Perfect righteousness that He
accomplished. The Scripture says, Blessed is
the man to whom the Lord will not put iniquity. Blessed is
the man in whom is no guile. in whom is no guile. The absence of guile, the absence
of guile in the holy character of Christ the Holy One is the
righteousness imparted in sanctification in the new birth when the Spirit
of God enters in making His child a new creation wherein God can
say of you, in all holiness and righteousness, there is no guile
in you. No God in Him. I see sin mixed
with all I do. I see guile mixed with everything
I do. But this is what John said, whoever
is born of God does not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in
him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God. I'm talking
about in that man. And that sanctification is Christ
in you. How one is Christ with His people. We were in Him when He went to
the cross and that justification accomplished by Christ at the
cross bearing the curse was His people bearing the curse, dying
the death we owed so that we're justified from the whole law
of God. and that righteousness that He
robes us in, we're robed in the righteousness of God. We're robed
in His righteousness in Him. We're in Him and He's in His
people. If we believe, the only reason we believe is because
we've been born of the Spirit of God and Christ abides in you. And that because before we ever
knew anything about it, God put us in Christ and we were in Him. That's so. He says, when you
pass through these waters and these fires, these waters and
these fires that he sent, these waters and these fires he sent
for necessary purposes, the causes to let go of everything that's
unnecessary and hold on to him. He says, when you pass through,
I will be with you. How real will He be with us?
As real as we were in Him when He obtained righteousness, our
salvation. As real as He's in us by the
Spirit, He's with us when we walk through these waters and
these trials. He's with us. Let me ask you
something. Do you suffer from family members,
family relationships in this world, folks who just don't believe
the Lord? He's with us in sympathy because
He knows that exact same trouble. Look over at John 7.3. I'm not
going to point you to a bunch of trouble, but I am going to
point out some of this trouble to show you that He's with you.
He knows it. He's been through it. John 7.3. He passed through the water and
the fire of family trouble. Look at John 7.3. His brethren This was those relations of Mary
or Joseph that dwelt at Nazareth or Capernaum or other places.
His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence and go into
Judea, that thy disciples also may see the works that thou doest.
For there is no man that doeth anything in secret, and himself
seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, show
thyself to the world. What were they saying to him?
Were they wanting him to be known so everybody... Look, why? Verse
5, For neither did his brethren believe in him. They didn't believe
him. They didn't believe him. And
he said to them, My time's not yet come, but your time is always
ready. The world can't hate you, but me it hateth, because I testify
of it, that the works thereof are evil. He knows family trouble. He came unto his own, and his
own received him not. I shouldn't get beside myself
if my family doesn't believe. He walked with his own. He walked with those that didn't
believe him. And how many times we find him turning and saying,
have I been with you this long and you don't know me? Even if our brethren, born of
the Spirit of God, even if our brethren act like they don't
know us, We shouldn't surprise. He knows what that's like. He
knows exactly, he's with us in that. What about financial trouble? Look at Luke 12. What about financial
trouble? We're talking about he who owns
the cattle on a thousand hills. When he walked this earth, he
didn't have a place to lay his head. You ever read, you know,
Peter said, what about us that's left homes and houses and family
to follow you? You know, not very much further
above that scripture you'll find they just came into Peter's house
where his wife and his mother lay. But Christ left heaven's glory,
came here to where we are, and the one who owned the place walked
through it without a place to even lay his head. Without a
place to lay his head. The one who held the waters in
the hollow of his hand said, I thirst. And this is what He says to us.
This is His heart of faithfulness. And this is what He says to us.
Luke 12, 29. He says, don't be of a doubtful
mind. Luke 12, 29. Don't be of a doubtful mind.
Look at verse 30. Your Father knoweth that you
have need of these things. ye the kingdom of God. All these
things shall be added unto you. Fear not, little flock, for it
is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." That
was his faithfulness. That was his strength as he walked
through this world, knowing. And that's the strength he gives
us. His grace is sufficient. He knows what we have need of.
And he says, I'm with you always. With you. What about physical
trouble? Anybody got physical trouble?
Matthew 27.39, it says there, you don't have to turn there,
let me read this to you. Matthew 27.39, it says, they
passed by and they reviled Him, wagging their heads at Him. In
Mark 15.29, it says, they that passed by railed on Him, wagging
their heads and saying, Ah, thou that destroyest the temple and
buildest it in three days. And this is what he said in Lamentations
112, typified by Jerusalem. He said, Is it nothing to you? All ye that pass by, behold and
see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done
unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his
fierce anger. Any sorrow like unto his sorrow.
He carried our sorrows and bore our sicknesses. He went to the
cross and bore our sins in His own body on the tree. He went
to the cross and satisfied all the demands of Holy God for us. And He says, is there any sorrow
like unto my sorrow? So that He says to this end,
look at Hebrews 2. Hebrews 2. This is why He sends
the trial. This is why He sends the since the rivers, is to drive
us to Him, to drive us to His feet. And He says here in Hebrews
2.17, Wherefore, in all things it behooved him to be made like
unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high
priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for
the sins of the people." Aren't you thankful that he came and
he is the high priest who makes reconciliation for the people?
He entered in not with the blood of others, but with his own blood.
He is the high priest that's gone in and he's made atonement.
He's made satisfaction. He's reconciled his people unto
himself. But I'll tell you what I'm equally
glad of. I'm just as glad of that, but I'm just as glad of
this too. For in that He Himself hath suffered, being tried, He's
able to comfort them that are tempted, that are tried. That's
the two-fold job of a high priest, to make reconciliation for the
people and to comfort the people. Look at Hebrews 4.15. We have not a high priest which
cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in
all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us,
therefore, come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may
obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. You see
that? He's with us, brethren. We were
in Him when He came to this earth and did what He did for His people. And He says, now I'm with you. When you pass through the waters
and the rivers, I'm with you. How do I know He's going to be
with me? He says it. What more can He say than to
you He hath said? He says it. I need some proof. If Him said it's not proof enough,
we don't have proof. He speaks the word in our heart
and we know it. We know it. He says it. How long is He with me? He said,
I'm with you always. Let your conversation be without
covetousness and be content with such things as you have for He
said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Never. He said,
I'll be with you always. He said, where two or three are
gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of you. I'm with
you always. Now what's the result of that?
We're going to pass through the waters and we're going to pass
through the rivers, but He says, I'll be with you always. So what's the result of that
going to be? This is the third thing. Thou shalt pass through. You're going to pass through.
You're going to come out of it. He's going to deliver you through
it. The rivers, he says, shall not overflow thee. Thou shalt
not be burned. Neither shall the fire kindle
upon thee. Because of me? No. Because of some strength in us?
No. Because he's with us. Why does
the fire of God's wrath come down on me? Why didn't it come
down? Why will the fire of God's justice
never come down on anybody for whom Christ died? It came down
on Him. Why will the rivers and the fire
never be able to separate a child of God from the love of God that's
in Christ Jesus? Why will nothing ever, nothing
ever, nothing... Oh, never say never. You can
say never here. You can say never here and say
it loud and boast in it because you're boasting in Him. Never,
He said, never will there be anything that will separate Him
from His people. Never. Because God's put us in
Him and we're in Him and He's in His people. Never. Paul knew
this. Paul knew this trial. Let's turn
over to 2 Timothy 4 and let me end with a few scriptures here.
Let me read to you some of the trial that Peter endured. While you're turning there, I'll
read this to you. I'm saying to Paul. Paul said this. He said,
Of the Jews, five times received I forty stripes, save one. That
took five different times. Three times, he said, I was beaten
with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I suffered shipwreck.
A night and a day I've been in the deep. He said, in journeyings
often, in perils in waters, in perils of robbers, in perils
by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in
the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils
among false brethren, in weariness and painfulness, in watchings
often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and
nakedness, besides those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily,
the care of all the churches. But look what he says in 2 Timothy
4.16. At my first answer, no man stood
with me, but all men forsook me. I pray God that it may not
be laid to their charge, notwithstanding the Lord stood with me. and strengthen
me, that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that
all the Gentiles might hear, that I was delivered out of the
mouth of the lion, and the Lord shall deliver me from every evil
work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom, to whom
be glory forever and ever. Amen. That's the strength. What do we see Thursday night?
The God of all grace, who has called us unto His eternal glory. After that you have suffered
a little while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle
you. He'll get all the glory because
the dominion's His. He dominates. He dominates. And this is what Paul said about
that, for which cause we faint not. Our outward man perishes,
but the inward man is renewed day by day. And he said, and
these things are working a far more eternal weight of glory. Of glory. He won't suffer your
foot to be moved. He will not suffer the feet of
his saints to be moved. He that keepeth thee will not
slumber. The Lord shall preserve thy going
out and thy coming in from henceforth for evermore. And he said this,
he'll keep the feet of his saints. And while he keeps the feet of
his saints, he said the wicked shall be silent in darkness. Two things he's going to do.
He's going to keep the feet of his saints and he's going to
silence the wicked in darkness. And you know why he says he does
that? You know why he said both those things? You know what he's
doing in both those things and why he says he does that? For
by strength shall no man prevail. No man prevail. Do you not have
any strength? I can't fix my, fix my, I can't
dry up the rivers. I can't put out the fires of
my own, of the ones that I go through. I can't do it. I can't,
I can't put yours out and dry yours up. I wish I could. As brethren, we can help each
other. We can try to help each other. We can't dry up the rivers. We can't put out the fires. But our God can. He who sent
the water can dry up the water. And this is what he said. Know
this, if He sent it and He sanctified it to your heart to make, and
it's called, what's that mean? He sanctified this trial to my
heart. What does that mean? Has it made
you truly look up to Him? Don't mean, you know, there's
a big difference between really looking at Him and being humbled
under His mighty hand and casting all care into His hand than just
moaning and complaining. to God about something, a huge
difference. I mean, just how do I know I've
been brought to that place? We will find joy. We'll find joy in it. Even in the midst of it, we'll
find joy in it. We'll rejoice in it. That's right. I hope we walk out of here in
the spirit. Walk out of here in spirit, rejoicing
in Him. Amen.