May it please almighty God to
bless us together this morning as we meditate in his holy word.
Let us turn to the prophecy of Isaiah, chapter 43, and we'll
read the first verse. The prophecy of Isaiah, chapter
43, and reading the first verse. 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. This is really a very wonderful
and a very encouraging statement to the Church of God. And the
beginning says, but now. That must, of course, have reference
to that which was spoken before. And those verses at the end of
the 42nd chapter really speak to the Church of God and in a
sad condition and not a good state of health. And from verse
22 we read, But this is a people robbed and spoiled. They are
all of them snared in holes and they are hid in prison houses.
They are for a prey and none delivereth. for a spoil, and
none saith restore. Who among you will give ear to
this? Who will hearken and hear, for
the time is come? Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and
Israel to the robbers? Did not the Lord hear against
whom we have sinned? For they would not walk in his
ways, neither were they obedient unto his law. Therefore he hath
poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle,
and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew it not, and
it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart. And so we see in
those few verses the work of God. And Israel didn't realise
what it was and they were walking contrary to God. They were following
their own way. They were pleasing themselves. And yet we see here the glorious
Blessing of God the wonderful favor of God because he comes
now following that Statement those words of admonition really
now comes and says but now Now is a time to listen now is a
time to hear the good news of the gospel He says but now Thus
saith the Lord It's not the word of men. It's not the word of
a man. This is God speaking. And when
the Lord speaks, the word is with power. When man speaks,
it's just man's words. But when God speaks, it is with
power. And so, but now saith the Lord, And we have a little summary
of the greatness of God, and how good it is to realize that
today we are dealing with Almighty God, the Ruler of the Universe,
and indeed, as we are told here, that created thee, O Jacob. When he speaks of O Jacob, he's
speaking to the Church of God, to realize that it's God The
Almighty God has created us. We didn't just appear on the
earth. We didn't just come in some haphazard
way. We were created in the way that
God determined. We were appointed to be on this
earth at this time. Thus saith the Lord that created
thee, O Jacob, And He that formed me, the Lord has formed us exactly
as we are. We can't change ourselves. God
has made us. God has created us. God has caused
us to be as we are at this very time. to realise that we are
therefore in the presence of Almighty God. What a great blessing
it is to know that this is so. And, you know, we recognise perhaps
as Israel would have recognised being under this view and the
power of Almighty God that They were convinced of their sin and
they were convinced of their sin because they were under the
law, the law of God, which speaks so solemnly and powerfully, the
soul that sinneth, it shall die. There's no hope naturally for
us because we are dead in trespasses and in sins. And when the apostle
Paul wrote to the Romans, he said, moreover, the law entered
that the offense might abound. That's a good thing, isn't it?
If we have been convicted by the law of God of our sins, we
can't say, well, I'm a good person. I've lived a good life. No, we
are convicted. But then he says, but where sin
abounded, which he does and has in our lives, grace did much
more abound. There we have the gospel set
before us, the grace of God, the favour of God, the mercy
of God, the love of God set forth, and what a blessing if it has
indeed abounded toward us. And it has abounded if we have
been brought from that state of deadness, that state of darkness,
into the light of the Gospel. And really it means that if we've
been drawn to the cross of Christ, if we've been found indeed at
the foot of the cross, if we've been found looking to the Saviour,
and if a light has therefore shone forth. And so here we have
this great statement. Thus saith the Lord that created
thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel. of Israel. We're part of Israel, the true
church of God. Then these are the encouraging
words for us today. And it does apply if the light
of the gospel has come upon us. So we're able to say one thing
I know. One thing I know. Whereas I was
dark, whereas I was dead. Now I see, now I am spiritually
alive. This is the work of God and we
should not therefore dispute it and we should not turn away
from the wonderful and blessed evidence of God's work within. And so he says then, fear not,
fear not. Well, the Church of God do fear. We must have feared. Perhaps
we fear today. Perhaps we fear the Lord has
passed us by. Perhaps we fear we're cut off. Perhaps we fear there's no hope
well you know it's a good thing and a right thing to fear it's
a godly fear but the prophet says fear not why are we to not fear we are
to not fear if we're able to trace out and we should desire
to trace out. We should desire to see in our
lives the evidence of the life of God, the evidence of God's
work, the evidence of God's hand upon us, that hand perhaps which
stopped us in our mad career, a career which is following the
things of time, the pleasures of this world, and to think and
to know and to have the evidence that God's hand was upon us and
stopped us in our mad career. Now it's only the work of God which could do
that. Otherwise we're left to ourselves. to carry on in this poor, sinful
world with no hope and then to fall
at last into eternal hell. What a terrible, terrible thought. But today we have an encouraging
statement. Fear not. Fear not. And then there are really Three
statements to encourage us. Three glorious statements. The
first is this, I have redeemed thee. You see, it's something
which is historic. I have redeemed thee. Secondly,
I have called thee by thy name. And thirdly, thou art mine. Now these are three very powerful and very positive statements. And the aim of the adversary
is to turn us away from such statements. And yet here we have
this encouraging word, Fear not. Fear not. We may fear. We may think of those previous
words we read in the end of that 42nd chapter. And we may feel
what that describes me. And therefore there's no hope.
That's what the devil wants you and me to believe. That we've
been snared. That we've been robbed and spoiled.
We're in prison. And now we're going to stay.
Oh, no. Restore, says the word of God. Fear not, says the word of God. And the reason for I have redeemed
me. You know, there are there are
many really fear not in the word of God. And we can perhaps think
just in the in the 41st chapter. And in the 14th verse, there
is a very beautiful fear not, and it speaks to those who may
feel to be the outcasts, who may feel to be very low. And this is what it says. Fear not thou worm Jacob. And ye men of Israel, I will
help thee. We can't expect anything greater
than that. Here we have God speaking. The previous verse tells us,
For I am the Lord thy God, will hold thy right hand, saying unto
thee, Fear not, I will help thee. Yes, this is the promise of God. And so fear not then, thou worm
Jacob, and ye men of Israel, I will help thee, saith the Lord,
and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. These are very strengthening
words, aren't they? Who are they for? The Church
of God. That's who they're for. For the
Church of God. To believe the great and glorious
truth of God. And may we therefore rejoice
in them and be truly thankful for them. Yes, to realise this
wonderful, wonderful favour. And then in the 35th chapter,
we read again, encouraging words. And the Lord tells us there,
it says in the third verse, strength in neither weak hands. Confirm
the feeble knees. We may feel it to be weak. We
may feel to be feeble. These are the words which the
Lord says, say to them that are of a fearful heart, be strong,
fear not. Behold, your God will come with
vengeance, even God with a recompense. He will come and save you. And the eyes of the blind shall
be open and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall
the lame men, leapers in heart, and the tongue of the dumb sing.
For in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the
desert, and the parched ground shall become a pool, and the
thirsty land springs of water. This is encouraging, isn't it,
for the whole Church of God to be found therefore blessed with
such encouraging statements, for I have redeemed thee. Well, if we are indeed redeemed,
it means that we are forever blessed. It reminds us of what
the Lord has done in order to redeem us. That means he's paid
the price that was required to put us right with God. There
we were, far off. There we were an enemy of God.
We were born enemies to God. And yet what a blessing to think
that we have a great and glorious Redeemer,
because these are the words for I, the Lord God, I, the blessed
Saviour, I, the Lord Jesus Christ. Who's being spoken of here? For
I have redeemed thee. Isn't the word of God positive?
See the devil endeavours to make us doubt the truth of God. That's
what he wants to do. And how often he's successful.
And yet, you see, may he be a vanquished foe. May we be found at the cross
viewing the finished work of the Saviour, the finished work
of redemption, that glorious work which redeemed our soul. The devil cannot gainsay that
which did occur. We know it's true. The Word of
God tells us It's true. Thy word is truth. And the Lord
finished the work that his father gave him to do. That work was
finished. Why? In order to take away all
our sins. In order to set our feet upon
the rock, the rock Christ Jesus. In order to free us from the
curse, the curse which was the soul that sinneth, it shall die. We've all sinned, we're all under
the curse. And yet the glorious Saviour
came into this world to redeem our souls. Oh, to set our feet
upon that rock to establish our goings, to establish us in the
things of God, to put a new song in our heart, even praise unto
our God. Those who are redeemed would
indeed praise God. We must praise God for this great
work of redemption. And so here we have this statement. Fear not, for I have redeemed
thee. And so as we do fear, may we
look not to ourselves. We'll only be despondent. Look
to Jesus, firm and strong. There's our hope, not in ourselves. We're failures. We always will
be. Sin is mixed with all we do. We're sinners. But Christ has died. Yea, he risen again. He's conquered. Sin, death, hell and the grave.
There's our hope today. Not in ourselves. How often we
find ourselves looking within. Often we're dismayed. Let us
look out of ourselves. Let us realise the truth of God's
word. These words are recorded. Why? For the encouragement of the
Church of God. They're not there to be dispatched
and to be ignored. They're recorded by Almighty
God for our encouragement. for the strengthening of our
faith, to have a blessing application of his word to our soul. Those
words that Jeremiah was instructed to speak and to write. Yea, I
have loved thee. It's very personal. Yea, I have
loved thee. with an everlasting love. Here
it is, for I redeem thee. It's directed to individuals
as well as the whole church of God. Yes, for I redeem thee. The Lord has redeemed us only
because he's loved us. He would never redeem us had
he not loved us. But it's because he has loved
us. He has redeemed us. And because
He has redeemed us, there's the evidence of His mercy toward
us, His love toward us. And what does He do? He gives
us faith to believe the glorious plan of salvation. He gives us
faith to believe that this redemption was done
for us. Oh, may God give us faith to
receive it. receive these great truths, to
comfort our souls, to strengthen us as we journey on through life,
to realise this is the Word of God. And so, for I have redeemed thee. You see, and if the Lord has
indeed redeemed us, then you see what follows is also so plainly
and powerfully evident and true. I have called thee by thy name. I have called thee by thy name. It's not there just as some vague
statement. The word of God, the promises
of God are applied to the souls of his people. Well, this morning,
you know, it's very easy to forget what God has done. It's very
easy to Have our eyes as if we're blind, the devil wants us to
forget. All our evidence is dark, marks of grace I cannot show,
that's what the devil wants you and me to be in that condition. Well, look back, search, search
out. Stand back, sit down, consider
what has God done? What has God done? Dare we deny the work of God? Dare we deny His call? Do we come and say, in answer
to the question, has He done anything for your soul? Are you going to stand and say,
no, nothing? We dare not deny God's work,
God's calling. The reality is that once we were
deaf, spiritually deaf, when our ears were opened, we
heard. the call of God. Didn't come
to the person next door, came to me. And so for I redeem thee, I have
called thee by thy name. Well, just think of that. Here is the Lord speaking to
us today. And he's saying, I have called
thee. I redeemed thee, and therefore
I must have called thee, and I will call thee. I have called thee. You know, Jacob, we're told,
the Lord found him. Where did he find him? In a waste,
howling wilderness. He found him. We're immersed
in the world. Whereas the blessed spirit of God found
us. The Lord found us. Just like
Jacob. He knew where we were. He watched
over us. It came to that time when Our
eyes were opened and our ears unstopped. And there was a change. Yes,
we heard. We heard the voice of Jesus. We can look back and say, I heard
the voice of Jesus. Once I was deaf, once I was dead,
now I hear. Oh, what a blessed, wonderful
thing it is to have heard the voice of Jesus. I've called
thee by thy name. Where we were, you see, The time
of life, indeed, Solomon in the Song of Solomon,
he describes it as the time of the singing of birds has come.
Oh, it's good news, isn't it? We now sing. It's been a change. There's life within. Life within the work of the Holy
Spirit. Oh, my friends, it's a great
blessing, isn't it? See, all the Church of God walk this way. All the Church of God come this
way. And yet you see so often, we
often think of those words which I quoted, all my evidence is
dark, marks of grace I cannot show. The devil doesn't want
us to perhaps come and sit and ponder and think, well, I could
not, that brought myself to that condition, to that situation. It must have been God's calling
to my soul. What does it do? It puts a new
song in your heart, strengthens us, encourages us, and we rejoice,
don't we, in what Jesus Christ has done. Yes, we were perhaps
unaffected We'd heard much about the Saviour, but the time
of love came. Oh, there was that change. There
was that drawing to the Saviour, drawn with those cords of a man,
those bands of love drawn to the Saviour. Well, this morning,
If we've been called, we will know something of the drawing
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, drawing to Him. Naturally,
there's nothing in the Saviour that we should desire Him. Nothing naturally. but it's a
blessed work of the Holy Spirit in our souls. I have called thee
by thy name. And if we are the Lord's, if
we've been called, then the great truth is, thou art mine. This is Jesus
speaking to us. We're his. We're redeemed. with a precious blood of Christ
that can never be taken away. Once in him, in him forever. Eternally blessed. Thou art mine. Oh, how very humbling
this is, isn't it? to think that you and me, a vile
sinner, with nothing in us deserving any notice, nothing in us that
is attractive. All we are is sin, a great sinner,
lost and ruined in the fall, and yet the Lord has looked upon
us and called us and loved us. And therefore we are a new creature. Yes. And we are the Lords. And if we are the Lords, we are
forever the Lords. We won't be dropped off. We won't
be cast out. No, we'll be forever His. throughout time throughout eternity
it's a wonderful consideration isn't it and therefore can we
not understand therefore why the prophet's able to come and
say fear not fear not yes you may have feared but now There's
a time to fear not, and as we read on in this same chapter,
a few verses further on, the prophet says in verse five, fear
not, for I am with thee. And the previous verse gives
us the reason. Since thou wast precious in my sight. You see, all the church of God
are precious in the sight of the Saviour. And they are so
valuable, their soul is so valuable that the Lord Jesus Christ died
to redeem us. That's the preciousness of our
soul. Since thou wast precious in my
sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee, Therefore
will I give men for thee, and people for thy life. Fear not,
for I am with thee. I will bring thy seed from the
east, and gather thee from the west. I will say to the north,
give up, and to the south, keep thy back. Bring my sons from
far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth, even every
one that is called by my name.' Well, we are blessed indeed to
be called by the name of the Blessed Saviour, son and daughter
of the Most High God, to be part of the glorious family of Christ,
those who are called, those indeed who are redeemed. As the Lord
graciously told his disciples in the upper room You have not
chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that you
should go and bear forth, bring forth fruit and that your fruit
should remain. There is the blessed evidence
of the work of God in the life of his children to show forth
his work as a brand plucked from the burning, there we were, but
God came down and called us and plucked us as a brand from the
burning. Yes, because he loved us with
everlasting love. Oh Israel, oh Israel, the church
of God, fear not. For I redeemed thee, I have called
thee by thy name, thou art mine. Well today, may we realize the
wonderful blessing of this privilege. And as the prophet went on to
speak and he said, because of this, ye are my witnesses, everyone. You are my witnesses, saith the
Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen. All of God's people are
his servants. It doesn't just revolve around
those who preach the gospel. And ye are my servants whom I
have chosen, that ye may know and believe me and understand
that I am he. God gives us spiritual understanding
as we trace out in our souls the blessed work of almighty
God. My friends today, do not despise the day of small things. Rejoice in it. Bless God for
the smallest evidence of his grace in the heart. It all emanates from God. It's not something you and I
have produced, something you and I have done. Oh, it's God's
work and just think of that. As we have here, the Lord that
created the OJECOM and he that formed me is his work in our
soul. And that work will never be removed. God's work doesn't stop. God's work continues. And that
work is His work. And may we therefore today truly
be thankful for it and recognise this wonderful truth. Even everyone
that is called by my name, for I have created him for my glory. Don't forget that. I have formed
him, yea, I have made him. Bring forth the blind people
that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears, and the eyes
have been opened, and the ears unstopped for the glory of God. Well today, may we rejoice in
this wonderful statement. And as it says, but now, but
now today, 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. Bless God.