Asif gives us here in chapter
41, our name. He tells us through
the Spirit of God, he tells us what our name is. Who believe
God, who trust God by His grace, and he tells us many precious,
precious promises that God gives us. And He's freely given, and
He's freely made in Christ. Now, brethren, when you read
the Scriptures, and you see the name which God has named you,
and you see the promises which God has made to you, always consider,
first of all, that the name and the promises is that which is between God
and His Christ. Between God and Jesus Christ,
our Mediator. And it'll deeply bless your heart. It will bless your heart. Because
these promises, this name is ours, and it's sure because it's
in Christ, and it's by Christ, and it's through Christ. That's
what I want you to see today. The name and promises in our
text are first the names and promises made and fulfilled in
Christ. And therefore, they're the name
and everlasting promises given to every believer. All right,
here's the division we'll look at. First is the name and blessing
given of God are Christ's name, His blessing. Secondly, the promises
made by God were first made to Christ. And then thirdly, we'll
remember these promises that He's given to us who believe.
All right, the first thing we see here is the name and blessings
that are given to Christ's bride is first given to Christ. It's His name. The blessings
given to Him. Verse 8. But thou, Israel, art
my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my
friend." You know, when a wife gets married to her husband,
the husband gives her his name. And the husband gives her everything
that the husband possesses is hers. It becomes hers. He says
here, verse eight, thou Israel art my servant. I want you to
see something here. Notice how verse one begins. Keep silence before me, O islands. Look down at verse two. Who raised
up the righteous man from the east, called him to his foot,
gave the nations before him, made him rule over kings, gave
them as the dust to his sword and as driven stubble to his
bow. a few times ago that this is all, that this is spoken of
Abraham, we looked at it of Abraham. But it could be said of Isaac,
it could be said of Jacob, it could be said of all those that
God called, that He's chosen, that He's redeemed, that He's
called by His grace. But now look, look over at Isaiah
49. Look over at Isaiah 49. And look how this chapter begins.
Listen, O Isles, unto me. You know who's speaking here?
The righteous man. Christ Jesus is speaking here.
The Lord our righteous. Listen, O Island, to me, and
hearken, ye people, from far. The Lord hath called me from
the womb. From the bowels of my mother
hath he made mention of my name, and he hath made my mouth like
a sharp sword. Isn't that what we just read
about Abraham, about Isaac, about Jacob? He gave them as dust to
his sword. He says, in the shadow of his
hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft. In his quiver
hath he hid me, and said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel,
in whom I will be glorified. Sometime when you have opportunity,
you go and you read Isaiah 41, and you compare it and read Isaiah
49. And everything that you see in Isaiah 41, in these first
20 verses that said to God's elect people, to his bride, in
their name and their promises, you find in Isaiah 49, that name
and those promises are made to Christ. Christ. See, Christ Jesus
is Israel. He's Israel. The name means,
as a prince, thou has power with God and has prevailed. Power with God and with men.
And Christ is Israel. He is the Prince of God. He came
and He prevailed. He prevailed with God and He
prevailed with men. And just like He did with Jacob,
when God revealed to Jacob At Bethel, he revealed to him Christ
the Mediator. He revealed to him that one way
in which his people, his fleshly people, sinners, and God himself
are joined together is in Christ the Mediator. And when we are
touched by him, And we continue in him by his grace, just like
he did to Jacob when he wrestled with Jacob and he touched him
in power. He makes us to behold a new name. He makes us to behold we're married
to him. And he gives us his name and
he gives us every blessing that's been given to him, that he's
purchased for us on our behalf. All right, look at verse eight
again. Jacob, whom I have chosen, That's our name by birth in Adam.
We're supplanting, scheming, cheats. That's what we are by
nature. That's what we are. Verse 14
says, thou worm, Jacob. Thou worm, Jacob. Worms live
in the dust. Worms feed on death. Worms produce
only dung. Worms are powerless, and they're
easily crushed to death. That's a pretty good description
of us, isn't it? Pretty good description of us. Every sinner
born in this world is a worm. He's dead in trespasses and in
sin. But here in verse 8, he says,
Jacob, whom I have chosen. This is what makes one worm to
differ from another worm. God chose some worms. He chose
some worms. We're worms, but God chose us
to be His worms. But he chose us to be his worms. And when he speaks here about
God choosing, I know that some will say that the election of
God speaks just to the church. But he chose Jacob personally. He said, Jacob have I loved.
That person, that man Jacob, he said, Jacob have I loved.
Not based on any good or evil in him, Jacob have I loved. But
he so have I hated. And he said, this is what the
scripture says, it's not of him, the person individually that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but it's of God that showeth
mercy. This is a personal election of
God that he chose. Now collectively, we make up
his bride, his church, and she is elect and precious because
everyone that makes her up is elected. But how could he love
Jacob? That's the question. How could
God love Jacob? The only way God could love Jacob
is, we found that out, we found out how he loves us Jacobs, who
are worm. He chose Christ first. That's why, he chose Christ first. Look at Isaiah 42, verse one. Behold my servant, whom I uphold,
mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth. I've put my spirit upon him.
He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not
cry nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.
A bruised reed shall he not break. The smoking flax shall he not
quench. He shall bring forth judgment of the truth. Matthew
12, I think it is, says, this is Christ. See what he's talking
about. And look what it says of him.
He shall not fail nor be discouraged. So he have set judgment in the
earth and the isles shall wait for his law because God chose
His Son to come forth, His Christ. Gee, and that one named Jesus,
this man who came forth in the flesh because He chose Him and
chose His people in Him, this one who's holy without blame,
and because God trusted Him to accomplish judgment in the earth,
establish His law, His people are righteous in Him. That's
what we find in Ephesians 1, 3. The God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ has blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places, in Christ, according as He chose us in Him
before the world began. And we should be holy and without
blame before Him in love. Now, when we behold what God's
done for us freely, and we behold that this that we are Israel because Christ
is Israel, that we're his servant chosen of God and precious because
his son is chosen of God and precious. Then we can joyfully,
truthfully, from the heart, sing with Isaac Watts and say, alas,
and did my savior bleed and did my sovereign die? And would he
devote that sacred head for such a worm as I? And we can say it,
and we can mean it. All right, verse eight, it says,
the seed of Abraham, my friend. The seed of Abraham's Christ.
That's what Paul told us in Galatians 3.16. He said, now to Abraham
and his seed were the promises made. And he said, not to seeds
as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ.
Christ is the seed of Abraham. He's the child of Abraham. Remember
Abraham's son, Isaac? Abraham couldn't bring forth
a son. He was old. His wife, Mary, I'm
having trouble with names today. Sarah, she was married. Isn't that us? That's us. But
he makes the bearer to bring forth. He makes, and that God
brought forth a miraculous child. He brought forth a miraculous
son, Isaac. And that's a picture, first of
all, of Christ who came forth of God, born of a virgin, made
of the flesh, who came forth, bone of our bone, flesh of our
flesh. And it's also a picture of every child who's dead in
trespasses and in sins, and who's born of the Spirit of God, of
the incorruptible seed of God, and who is thereby a miracle, a miracle of God's grace. So we see here that the names
and the blessings that come to us, that we're called by, is
first Christ's name, the husband, our husband, And it's our name
because we're married to him by God's grace. And so we can
hear this word and know it's so. Verse nine, thou whom I've
taken from the ends of the earth, Jew or Gentile, rich or poor,
bond or free, male or female, thou whom I've taken from the
ends of the earth and called thee from the chief men thereof
and said unto thee, thou art my servant, I've chosen thee
and not cast thee away. This is particular, distinguishing,
electing grace. Now, this is something to consider
now. A sinner can't get mad at this
and get angry at this unless he wants all this not to be said
of Christ. Because Christ is the one to
whom it applies first. See that? All right, but we want
it to be applied to him, don't we? We want it to be His glory
first, because that's how we're saved. All right, now let's see
this second point. God's promises to His people.
Well, first, God's promises to Christ. Now, when we're talking
here about Christ, and we're talking about Him coming forward,
as the second person of the Trinity, the Son of God, He's God. You
know that. You know that. I want you young
people to get this now. He's God and he's equal with
God and he needed nothing given to him. But as the man, the servant
of God, this one who is the mediator, he came forth and he made himself
of no reputation and he took upon him the form of a servant. That means he didn't just act
like a servant. He came forth and he became obedient
unto the Father. That by the disobedience of one,
that first Adam, everybody he represented was made a sinner.
And so it is by the obedience of Christ, the last Adam, that
everybody he represented is called to be made righteous, have been. Have been and shall be called
to know that the righteousness of Christ is theirs by God's
grace. So he took this likeness of sinful
flesh. So as the servant of God, serving
for his bride, serving, remember the willing unslave? He's come and he's free to go,
but he's got a wife and he's got children and he won't go
out free by himself. He's gonna serve for her. And
so he says, I'm willing to serve for her. Christ came forth to
do this. And look at Hebrews 5, 8. I want
you to see this now. I want you to see this. If we
don't get this, we won't understand. We won't get how that these promises
were made to him and fulfilled to him. Look at Hebrews 5, 8. Let's read verse 7. Who in the
days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications
with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save
him from death, and was heard in that he feared. Though he
were, and this fear means he was no sin in it, faithful, faithful,
holy, through and through. Though he were a son, the son
of God, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.
He experienced fully the obedience necessary, required for him to
undo for his people what Adam did. And he did that, and being
made perfect, perfecting, perfecting that which he was sent for, this
obedience, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all
them that obey him. called of God a high priest after
the order of Melchizedek. Now, do you become fearful? Do you become dismayed? God knows us because he says
here, he says, fear not, be not dismayed. Dismayed is the extremity
of fear. Do you get that way? God knows
we do. I do. He knows we do. I do. We're flea. We're dust
is what we are. He knows that. But we have this
one, Christ, who has experienced. He has been touched with the
feelings of our infirmities, and yet without sin. But because
he's touched with them, he knows everything that we fear. He knows
everything that we experience as flesh and blood. And because
he does so, he's able to comfort us because he knows And because
He's God, He's able to come for us through the Holy Spirit effectually
in our heart. Isn't that amazing? It's amazing to me how we can
be in a good frame, anchored, trusting the Lord, steady, just
rejoicing in it. And that fast, that fast we can
just be as if as if we've never even heard of who he is. But
then, he can just speak, and he can just calm us, can't he?
Can't he? He's got the power to effectually
do that. Effectually do that. Well, everything that he experienced
when he was walking here, he was promised. We get a double
blessing from this because not only are all these promises yes
and amen because of what he has accomplished in his flesh through
his death, but we see here how that God made these promises
to him and fulfilled these promises to him as he walked as the righteous
representative of his people. And so we know that This is a
double portion. We see here how doubly true that
these promises to us are yes and amen in Christ. All right,
let's see. He was promised strength as the
faithful servant of God. He cast his care upon the Father.
You remember before he went to the cross in John 17, let's look
at that, John 17. We can follow this. We're just
going to pick up here. He was the faithful, righteous
servant of God from the womb. But here we're going to pick
up now. Coming to the cross. Look right here. He prayed. And he said, let's look at verse
four. He's praying to the Father. He said, I've glorified thee
on the earth. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou
me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee
before the world was. I've manifested thy name unto
the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they
were, and thou gavest them me, and they've kept thy word. But
now look, and he left there, and it says, look at verse 18,
chapter 18, verse 1. It says, and when Jesus had spoken
these words, he went forth with the disciples over the brook,
Kedron, where was a garden into the which he entered and his
disciples. And he went into that garden,
and he's praying unto the Father. He's in soul trouble. It's a
physical trouble, yes, but it's a soul trouble because he's anticipating
being made sin for his people. And he's there in that garden
sweating, as it were, great drops of blood. And do you remember
what happened? The angel came to him and strengthened
him, and strengthened him. Perhaps the strength went something
like this. Perhaps that word of comfort
went something like this. Fear thou not, I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy
God. I will strengthen thee, yea,
I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand
of my righteousness. And because we behold him being
strengthened, And because of who He is and what He's accomplished
for us, we can be sure this is the word of promise to us, brethren.
Here's another promise that was made first to Christ. Hope it
gets placed there in John 18, but look back in our text, Isaiah
41.11. Behold, all they that were incensed
against thee shall be ashamed and confounded. They shall be
as nothing, and they that strive with thee shall perish. Thou
shalt seek them and shall not find them. Even them that contended
with thee, they that were against thee shall be as nothing and
as a thing of naught. Does God fulfill His promises?
Look back at John 18.4. This is just a little Just a
little illustration of this. Watch this. He's defeated all
his enemies. Now watch this. Jesus, therefore,
knowing that all things that should come upon him, all things
that should come upon him, went forth and said unto them, Whom
seek ye? This is his soldiers come to
arrest him. And they answered, Jesus of Nazareth.
Jesus said unto them, I am he. And Judas also, which betrayed
him, stood with them. And as soon then as he had said
unto them, I am he, they went backward and fell to the ground. See how the Lord's made, confounded
all his enemies. That's just a little picture
of it, a little foreshadow of it. Well, God says to you who
believe on him in verse 14, he's back in our text, he says, fear
not thou worm Jacob, That's what he says to us. Do you remember
when he was hanging on the cross and he cried out, my God, my
God, why hast thou forsaken me? Look at Psalm 22. Psalm 22. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? And art thou so far from helping
me and from the words of my roaring? But look at verse three. But
thou art holy, thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. This is
why he was suffering. This is why he was burying the
sin of his people in his own body on the tree. This is why
the Lord laid on him the iniquity of all his people, because God
is holy. God is holy. He's gonna save
in a manner that's holy. But look what he says in verse
six. He says, but I am a worm, a worm. and no man, a reproach of men
and despised of the people. Here he was, and this was the
promise he had. Even when he cries out and says,
I'm a worm and no man, this is the promise he had. In John 16,
32, he said this, Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come,
that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave
me alone. Yet I am not alone because the
Father is with me. The Father is with me. Well,
how could God forsake him and be with him? We're talking about God. We're
talking about the mystery of Godliness here. That's the promise
he had, and that's wherein this righteous servant faithfully
trusted the Father. He's going to be with me. Do
your sins cause you fear? Do they trouble you? Are you
tossed to and fro? I can assure you of that. I know
this. That's what troubles us more
than anything, as believers, is our sin. That's what troubles
us more than anything. because Christ took our flesh,
and because Christ became obedient unto the death of the cross,
and because Christ was willingly the sin-bearer of his people,
and because he purged our sins by that offering he made by his
own death. The triune God says to us, Verse
14, Isaiah 41, 14. Fear not thou worm, Jacob, and
ye men of Israel. I will help thee, saith the Lord. That word, Lord, there is Jehovah,
God our Father, and thy Redeemer, God the Son, our Redeemer, the
Holy One of Israel, God the Holy Spirit. Now you just think about
that. Think about that. Next time,
next time your sins begin to trouble you, next time that you
begin to be fearful and get dismayed over the fact of what you are
in your flesh and what you see in your members and how far short
In yourself, in your own members, you come of the glory of God.
You ponder this thought. Meditate on this thought. The
triune God of glory says, I'm with you. I'm with you. I'm with you. And we have this
promise because he was with Christ. All right? Now just a brief word
here about these verses 15 and 16. He says there in verse 15,
I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth.
Thou shalt thresh the mountains, beat them small, shall make the
hills as chaff. Thou shalt fan them, the wind
shall carry them away, the whirlwind shall scatter them, and thou
shalt rejoice in the Lord and shalt glory in the Holy One of
Israel. Look now over back over there
at Isaiah 49. Isaiah 49, look at verse 8. This is speaking
of Christ now. He says, Thus saith the Lord,
In an acceptable time have I heard thee, in a day of salvation have
I helped thee, and I will preserve thee and give thee for a covenant
of the people to establish the earth the cause to inherit the
desolate heritages that thou mayest say to the prisoners,
go forth. To them that are in darkness,
show yourselves. They shall feed in the ways and
their pastures shall be in all high places. Just like he had
all power when he walked this earth so that he could come up
to a disciple and he came to call, came to redeem. And he
said to them, follow me. And they dropped it all and followed
him. Just like he could come up to
Zacchaeus and say, Zacchaeus, come down. And Zacchaeus came
down in haste. Just like he came to Lazarus'
tomb and said, Lazarus, come forth. And that man who was dead,
wrapped up in grave clothes, without any possibility whatsoever
that anybody could revive him, just what you and me are by nature,
dead, dead. He came to him and said, come
forth, Lazarus. And Lazarus came forth. You know
why? He is the resurrection and the
life. The resurrection is not an event.
The resurrection is a person. He is the resurrection and the
life. And just like he did that, when he ascended, he led captivity
captive. And first of all, because it
was promised to him of the Father, he's made him a sharp threshing
instrument. And this whole world right here
that he's bought is his. And it is His threshing floor. And right now, by the word of
His mouth, by the voice through whom the victory shall be obtained,
through the Spirit of God, He's doing right now in the hearts
of His people what He did when He walked this earth and said,
follow me. That's right. Follow me. And
He's going to use worms like me and worms like you to be his
mouthpiece. Empty vessels that he's filled
that the power of God might be of the excellency of the power
may be of him and not of us. He's going to use worms to do
it. And so we have this assurance,
brethren, you who are resurrected to newness of life, you who have
been given faith and behold these promises that were given to him.
He didn't leave my soul in hell, neither did He suffer His Holy
One to seek corruption. He raised Him, and the Father
gave Him everything that was promised Him before the world
began. And because He's done that, brethren,
all this provision's gonna be made for His bride in this earth,
so that though we be barren in ourselves, He's gonna make us
bring forth children. And He's gonna make us a joyful
mother of children. going to make her a keeper of
the house. You know how you keep the house?
You know how we keep the house? We keep the house by declaring
our husband, declaring him. And you know, think about this.
We talked about the husband and the wife this morning. You husband,
think about this. If your wives, if they, if they, I mean, if
they cleaned up, literally physically cleaned the house up, spotless
every day, If they had a meal cooked for you every time it
was time to sit down and eat. If they had your clothes ironed
and pressed and laid out and ready for you to put on. If they
did everything for your children, physically did everything for
them outwardly. But they were teaching your children. not to follow you, not to trust
you, speaking against you, speaking contrary to you, speaking and
teaching your children falsehood about you, in spite of everything
else they've done for you. Would you think they were keeping
the house? No, they weren't, because if
you don't do all those other things, If you don't, at least
teach my children who I am. At least teach my children the
truth of who I am and teach them to follow me. And that's how
he makes his church his pride. He makes us keepers of his house
and joyful mothers. And you know how we really keep
the house? By telling the truth about our husband. Telling the
truth about him, about this God of glory, our savior. And He's
gonna make every provision. Look at verses 17 through 19. When the poor and needy seek
water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst. That happened to Him on the cross,
didn't it? But He said, I, the Lord, will hear them. I, the
God of Israel, will not forsake them. I will open rivers in high
places, fountains in the midst of the valleys. I will make the
wilderness a pool of water and the dry land springs of water. I know what that has to do with.
That has to do with in these deserts and these valleys called
our flesh and it has to do with that high place and that beautiful
place that you're sitting in right now. Sitting in right now,
where the fountains open, and the water's going, and it's going
freely by Him, from Him into your heart. That's what I'm talking
about. That's what this has to do with.
And look, in you who He's planted, trees. That's what you are, trees. Beautifying His sanctuary, beautifying
His holy place, the place of His dwelling, the place of His
habitation, His house, trees. And he said, I plant in the wilderness
the cedar and the shittah tree and the myrtle and the old tree.
I'll set in the desert the fir tree and the pine and the box
tree together. He plants them. He plants them.
All right now, we see here in this, his name is our name because
it's his name, Israel. The blessings that he was given
It's ours because they were all His. We see here the promises
that are ours were all made to Him and fulfilled in Him. To Him and in Him and by Him,
everything. So we can see how true, how sure
these promises are. Now let's go back and just see
these promises. Just touch on them. Look here
now, verse 10. And you might want to do this
for your own encouragement, your own comfort. I don't know if
you're writing your Bible, but this is one place where if you
want to underscore something just to turn to at a glance and
remind yourself of, go through here and underline the I am's
and the I will's and the thou shalt's. Because there, it's
all I will right here. All I will. Look at, do you feel
alone? Do you feel like you're alone?
Verse 10, fear thou not, for I am with thee. That's promise. Are you fearful? Verse 10, fear
not, be not dismayed, for I am thy God. Look at verse 10, are
you weak? Your God says, I will strengthen
thee. Are you helpless? He says over
and over in here, I will help thee. For you stumble as you
walk through this world. Look at verse 10. I will uphold
thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Are your enemies
a terror to you? Look at verses 11 and 12. He
says, I'll confound them and I'll bring them to nothing and
I'll slay every one of them. Is there no strength in your
hand? Look at verse 13. He says, I, the Lord thy God,
will hold thy right hand. Do you weep? Do you weep? Look at verse 16. Thou shalt
rejoice in the Lord. These are promises, promises. Are you abased? brought down. Verse 16, thou shalt glory in
the Holy One of Israel. Does it seem like there's nobody
who will listen to you? Ever get like that where it seems
like nobody will listen to you? Verse 17, I the Lord will hear them. Do you sometimes feel like you're
absolutely alone? Look at verse 17. I, the God
of Israel, will not forsake them. We're a bunch of helpless, powerless,
wretched worms in ourselves. That's all we are. But what a God who chose us and
redeemed us And called us by his grace. What a name he's given us. Israel. A prince with God. And what promises he's made unto
us. I will. I will. Oh. Because these promises. We're all made to cry, ordered
in all things and sure. They're ordered in all things
and sure to us. And He gets all the glory. All
the glory. The last thing. Why does He do
it this way? Why did God save worms? Why did
He make all this promise to Christ and fulfill it in Him first? and then call us and make this
promise known to us that it's already done. Why'd he do it
this way? Why'd he do it that way? Why
did we look at this text of scripture? And instead of just starting
out and talking about you, and trying to encourage you, and
trying to have a pep rally for you and me, why did we instead
look first of all at God in Christ? and then work our way down to
seeing now these promises that God says are ours. Why do we
do it that way? Look at verse 20. That they may
see and know and consider and understand together that the
hand of the Lord hath done this and the Holy One of Israel hath
created it.