May God be pleased to bless us
together this evening as we meditate in his word. Let's turn to the
prophecy of Isaiah in chapter 43 and we'll read three verses. Verse 1, verse 7 and verse 21.
The first verse in 43rd chapter and the 7th verse and the 21st
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. In the seventh verse, even everyone
that is called by my name, for I have created him for my glory. I have formed him, yea, I have
made him. And then a 21st verse. This people
have I formed for myself. They shall show forth my praise. So, these three verses have a
common theme, as I expect you recognised. And that common theme
is that God's people have been formed by him, made by him, fashioned
by him. And what a great and important
consideration it is for all of us tonight to have the evidence
that God's hand is upon us. that God's hand has been upon
us, so that we are formed by himself. And this first verse
in this beautiful chapter, the 43rd of Isaiah tells us, but
now, thus saith the Lord. It's God who is speaking, how
important that is for us. Do not think that Isaiah has
just dreamt up a few phrases or chapters or books to write. He is moved by the Holy Spirit
of God. And may you and I be moved by
the Holy Spirit of God, to realise that what is written in the Word
of God is not the Word of man, it is the Word of God. And may
we have the evidence that those words are speaking to our very
souls. They don't go over our head.
They're relevant to us, each one of us. Don't pass it over
the seat to the person next to you. My friends, let us take
each of these words to heart and to see whether we measure
up to the words that are spoken. Because we need to. We don't
want to find ourselves outside of them. We don't want to find
ourselves amongst those who are not formed for His honour and
glory. Those who are just formed to
live a worldly life and then to sink into hell. We want to
have the evidence in our very soul that we are amongst those
for whom Christ died. Yea, he rather is risen again. So says Isaiah, but now thus
saith the Lord. That created thee, O Jacob, and
he that formed thee, O Israel. References really to the generic
Church of God, the people of God. And he that formed thee,
he that formed thee, no one else, only God, and how relevant that
is for you and me to consider and to ponder and to see whether
it is true that the Lord has indeed formed us. Form thee,
O Israel. Now, if we have the evidence
of that, and we'll come to that in a moment, if we have the evidence
of it, and may we all have the evidence of it, it is most, most
important. Then says the Lord, fear not,
fear not, why? For I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name,
thou art mine." What a wonderful statement that is. But how necessary it is that
you and I therefore are inside the text and not outside the
text. And that we find that we have
been redeemed and we have been called. and that we are the Lords."
Well, that's a very clear statement, isn't it, in that first verse.
And then, just running on for a moment to the other two verses,
the seventh verse tells us even, "...everyone that is called by
my name, have I created him for my glory." What a statement that
is! how important it is, how we need
to consider it. Everyone that is called by my
name, for I have created him for my glory. I have formed him. To think that you and I have
been formed, you and I have been created for the glory of God. What a thought that is. What
a consideration. But it's true. It's the Word
of God. And sometimes such startling
statements as this wake us up, as it were, in our life. To look to whether we are amongst
those who are numbered, blessedly, who have been formed. I have
formed him. And those who he's formed have
been created for his glory. Not for my glory, not for your
glory. For the glory of God. How simple
a statement. How deep a statement. How important a statement. Because you and I have a short
life to live. And have we lived our life so
far for God's glory? Or have we lived our life for
our own glory? Have we perhaps not given it
a thought? Again, let us be very honest
in our answers before God. We all stand before God. And
to be very honest in our answers, have we ever considered that
God has formed us for His glory? I have formed Him, yea, I have
made Him. And then just going to the last
verse, this verse 21, where it tells us very clearly, this people,
those who are redeemed, Those are called this people and only
this people have I formed for myself. They shall show forth
my praise. No doubt about it. No doubt about
it. The Word of God. And if the Lord
Almighty has formed us It is for himself, and the result must
be to show forth his praise." Well, that's a statement, isn't
it, by Almighty God. And how necessary it is for you
and me today in this dark and lukewarm age in which we live,
where many settle down, as the Word of God tells us, their least. They're not really too worried
or too concerned about their spiritual life, about their union
and about their communion with the Lord Jesus Christ. And yet
the truth is that if we have been formed by God, we've been
formed for himself. and to show forth his praise. Now, those who are formed by
Almighty God have much reason to show forth his praise. And
they have much reason to show forth his praise. Because it's
really like the Apostle said when he wrote the lovely chapter
in Ephesians, the second chapter of Ephesians, and no doubt we're
pretty familiar with the eighth verse which speaks to us in this
way. It tells us so very clearly,
it is, for by grace are you saved through faith And that not of
yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man
should boast. And that's a great and important
statement. Then it says, for we, those who receive this blessing,
for we are his workmanship. We've been formed by him. We're
his workmanship. It's the work of God upon us
to bring us into a condition of spiritual life from spiritual
death. We are his workmanship created
in Christ Jesus for what purpose? Unto good works which God hath
before ordained that we should walk in them. Again more words
to ponder, aren't they? As we stand before God and examine
ourselves to see whether we are in the faith or not, many people
wander through life aimlessly, just ticking the boxes that they
think are relevant to them, to their life, and those boxes which
will impress people we're not here to impress people. We're here to be able to answer
before God. Therefore it'll be an amazing
favour if you and I tonight are able to recognise that we're
amongst those who are formed by Almighty God. And it's very interesting to
know that the Prophet Jeremiah, in his prophecy, has a very relevant
statement for us. In his prophecy, it's good to
be able to realise that there are such things as this. Jeremiah
was told by the Lord, and he was said, go down to the potter's
house There I will cause thee to hear my words the God sometimes
instructs us to seek to see something which instructs us and teaches
us and it was a lesson here to Jeremiah so that he might be
able to understand the great and blessed formation and forming
of Almighty God it says then I I went down to the potter's
house and again let's just realize for a moment to be obedient to
God we're told that obedience is better than sacrifice and
so he says arise and go down to the potter's house and there
I will cause you to hear my words and I went down to the potter's
house and behold he wrought a work on the wheels And the vessel
that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter. So
he made it again, another vessel, as seemed good to the potter
to make it. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter, saith
the Lord? Behold, as the clay is in the
potter's hand, So are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel." Well,
that's a simple illustration, isn't it? I'm sure many of us
have seen a potter at work, and he takes a lump of clay, just
a lump of clay, and gradually he spins it on his wheel, and
gradually it's formed into an article that he wants it to end
up as. Sometimes the work is intricate,
sometimes it's simple, but nonetheless the potter has complete control
over it and the clay has no say in how it's going to be formed.
It can't tell the potter to do this or do that or change this
or change that. The potter has a perfect right
to shape that lump of clay just as he will. Now think of that
with regard to your life and my life. That God has a perfect
right to mould us, to form us as he sees fit. But the great
blessing is that he does take hold of us. You see the potter
has a lot of clay. He doesn't use it all. He takes
some of it. What a blessing then in a spiritual
sense. If God has taken you and me, as it were, as a lump of
clay, and puts us on his wheel, and as it spins round, he works
on us. He moulds us. And what is that
moulding? What does it do? It brings us
into conformity with his image. not of course in a physical way,
but in a spiritual way, to make us like unto Him, like unto Him,
to walk in His way, to do His will. Again, the Apostle Paul
knew what it was to be formed to the image of Christ and the
desire to be formed to the image of Christ. And he tells us, as
I sometimes speak of and he writes to us in the third chapter of
the Philippians and he tells us this that he might be made
conformable unto his death he says and be found in him not
having mine own righteousness which is of the law but that
which is through the faith of Christ righteousness which is
of God by faith that I may know him and the power of his resurrection
and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his
death being molded like that it's a it's a great statement
isn't it and again in the 21st verse he tells us who shall change
our vile body and that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious
body according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue
all things unto himself. It is his work to mould us. It's his work to form us. And
so let's come back to this first verse in this 43rd chapter where
he tells us I have called thee by thy name thou art mine. It's a great proof and evidence
that we are amongst those who are formed by him if we have
received a call from him. A call from him. You may say
well I don't quite understand what should I be listening for. We should be listening in your
heart for the Word of God to convict you of the position that
you are in by nature. And what is that? You are a sinner,
and a black sinner, and a bad sinner, and a vile sinner, and
the sinner doesn't deserve any mercy. Do you say tonight, that's me Lord? Or do you say, well, I don't
understand that at all. But if you don't, and again,
be honest to God, be honest to God, pray that you may be shown
how you stand before a righteous, holy God. The effect is you'll
tremble because you stand face to face
with a righteous God who is pure and holy and undefiled. And you,
by comparison, are the opposite. Well, what a mercy if God has
come and called you to recognise your condition before God. And never try and justify yourself. Never try and think, well, it's
because of this, it's because of that. No, it's because of
this. We're lost and ruined in the fall. That's the reason. We are lost and we need to be
saved. We need to be called, and if
we receive that call of God to show us our sinful state, then
to believe the Lord will call us to then do what? Look to himself. Look to Jesus,
firm and strong. Look to me. Look unto me, all
the ends of the earth, and be ye saved, for I am God. And there
is none else. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ,
for I have redeemed thee. And that's what all of us need.
Without being redeemed, let us not be under any misapprehension. We haven't been formed by Almighty
God. And we won't go to glory. We'll
perish in our sins and spend eternity in hell. There's no
middle course, there's no such thing as purgatory. It's very
clear that you and I will be found on one side or the other. Now may we have the wonderful
blessed evidence, then of the work of God in our hearts, that
we are amongst those who are redeemed. And if we are, It will
be to our hearts a wonder of wonders. And we will really be very amazed
that there are such words as this, since thou wast precious
in my sight. How can such a sinner be precious
in the sight of the Saviour? as we are in Christ. We are as
we are those who are redeemed. And we are redeemed, of course,
by that great and glorious transaction which was completed upon Calvary's
Hill when the Lord Jesus Christ satisfied the holy law of God
for the whole of his church by giving his life a sacrifice for
our sin. And I'm sure if we are truly
taught of God, we will stand amazed. That's why John Newton
said, amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch
like me. I once was lost, but now I'm
found. His grace has set me free. That, you see, is the Gospel. And that is the glorious truth
of God's Word. And that is what the Church of
God rejoices in, to know this blessed Saviour, the Almighty
Son of God, so wondrously came into this world to save sinners,
as the Apostle Paul said, that I am chief. He didn't look around
and say, that man's worse than me, that woman's worse than I
am. He said, I am chief. And how did he say that? Convection
by the Holy Spirit of God. He didn't look at other people.
It was himself. How wonderful it is when the
Lord convinces us to look to the Lord Jesus Christ because
there's no one else that can redeem our souls and then have
some appreciation. the cost of our salvation, that
it may really have an effect upon us. Those who have really
been shown their sin, and really been shown the glory of their
redemption, they glorify Christ, they must do, because of what he's done for
such unworthy sinners. So then says the Prophet, fear
not, fear not. We're safe, eternally safe. My friends, you and I travel
on through life, we do need the evidence and the confirmation
that our souls are safe. Don't just go wandering on day
by day and say, well I'm not sure about this, I really don't
know. You know the Apostle Paul, gracious man, blessed man, but
a typical man said, I know whom I have believed. Doubts are not God-glorifying. Some people somehow think that
a doubting profession is a godly profession. But the Bible doesn't
tell us that. It does tell us to fear not,
perhaps, but when the Lord has worked in our heart, when the
Lord has called us, when the Lord has redeemed us, when we
have the wonderful evidence of his work in our hearts, do we
not have reason to praise God? Do we not have reason to rejoice? Do we not have reason to thank
him for his wonderful mercy, his great love to such unworthy
sinners? Well, I'm sure we do. You see,
those that honour me, I would honour. And if God has worked
in our hearts and blessed us with these glorious truths, we
are not to pretend that we don't know. We are not to deny his
great and glorious work. We have to be able to come and
say, once I was lost, but now I'm saved. And now I'm found
to the glory of God. Oh, Jesus found his people, as
he found you, wandering along in this waste town in wilderness,
as he found you, Has he spoken to you? Has he
called you? The Lord does find his people. None of them are outside of his
knowledge. They may wander away, far off, but not too far. The Lord's people cannot wander
beyond his reach. and cannot wander beyond his
knowledge. And blessed be God, we have that
account where Jesus went after the one sheep of the hundred
and found him, or her, and carried it back on his shoulders. What
a wonderful saviour we have. He doesn't cast us off. And say,
well, you shouldn't have done that. You shouldn't have wandered
off. In our right mind, we know it to be true. But we see the
glorious and wonderful compassion of our God. And it's because
he's formed us. He's formed us, isn't it wonderful
to think? This great God, the almighty
God, the one who's made heaven and earth, as we read, the Lord
that created thee. nor do made us. It's this Almighty
God who's now had compassion on us, called us and redeemed
us, called thee by thy name. It's a personal salvation. The Blessed Saviour has died
for us personally. Hard to appreciate, hard to understand. Now the Almighty God should take
notice of such an unworthy, sinful person who is totally insignificant. Why? Because God has loved us
with an everlasting love. And therefore with loving kindness
has he drawn us, drawn us to himself. Yes, and you see when that drawing
occurs, as we read in the Song of Solomon, draw me, the effect
is we will run after thee, because they're such a blessed saviour
that Lord Jesus Christ, we want to be with him, we want to be
aligned with him, we want to be noted as one of his people,
not to stay back in the confines of darkness and muddle along
with the devil. We want to know and feel the
presence of the Lord with us, the presence of the heavenly
shepherd, and to have this wonderful favour as he says here, I have
called thee by thy name, thou art mine. There's no greater
blessing in this world than to know that you and I are a child
of the ever-living God. Because if we have the evidence
of that, then you see our soul is eternally safe. And we have
before us a wonderful prospect of heaven, a wonderful prospect
of glory. We on this earth are to therefore
give the evidence of that call by grace so that I have created
him for my glory. Because every sinner saved by
grace is for the glory of God. Our conversion, our call, our
redemption, our walk, our conversation should be for the glory of God. And so even everyone that is
called by my name, have I created him? For my glory I have formed
him, yea, I have made him. Well, this evening again let's
just ponder, where do we stand? Where do we stand in consideration
of this great truth? Have you and I the evidence that
God has formed us for himself? And we are there created for
His glory. This is the truth of God's Word.
This is the evidence of it. And then the 21st verse is very
salutary and very relevant. This people have I formed for
myself. They shall show forth my praise. Again, it's a very positive word,
isn't it? This people have I formed for myself. They shall show forth
my praise. And if you and I just spend a
little bit of time and go through the Word of God and to read about
the life of the saints of God, however poor they may have been,
However insignificant they may have been, yet to realise that
they were those that showed forth God's praise. You know there
was that account of Gideon. Gideon came and he said this.
He was the least in his father's house. He didn't think he was
of any importance. He was the least and yet God
determined to use him, and to bless him, and to give the evidence
that he was chosen of God. And he was indeed one who God
had formed for himself, and he did show forth the praise of
Almighty God. And you think of God's servant
David, or he was, looking after the sheep. And all the other
brothers had come before Samuel to see whether they were the
one to be anointed as king. Is there anyone else? Oh yes,
there is someone else. He looks after the sheep. Let
him come, let him come. He was the one who God had formed
for himself. He was the one who would show
forth the praise of Almighty God. And there are so many other
people, aren't there? You can go through the patriarchs,
you can go through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, you can go through
his sons, especially Joseph, showed forth the praise of God,
showed forth the grace of God, showed forth that they were formed
for God's glory. They were formed to show forth
His praise. Well, we have to come down to
today, don't we? We have to come down to ourselves. We have to consider our position. Well, in the book of Esther,
in the fourth chapter, the 14th verse, we read this, that Esther
was formed, Esther was there for such a time as this. And friends, you and I have been
called to walk on this earth today for such a time as this. We don't know what the Lord has
in store for us. We don't know what the Lord has
in store for us to do and to say. But what we do want to know is
that we have an answer of a good conscience before God. We want
to know that we are amongst those whom he has formed, that we are
one of those whom he's called, one of those who's been redeemed,
one of those whom he's loved, one of those who he's revealed
his grace to, and one of those who have been born for his glory,
and one of those who is showing forth his praise. Now, tonight,
all of us here have to stand before God. And don't forget, as I mentioned
earlier, we are encouraged to examine ourselves. see whether we are in a faith
or not, to see whether our lives demonstrate that we are amongst
those who are formed by Almighty God. And let us not forget, if
we have not been formed, if we are not formed, if we're never
formed, we shall perish in our sins. So it's not something which
is insignificant, is it? It's something which is very
relevant to all of us, young and old, to have the wonderful
favour and blessing that Almighty God, and let's ponder that, Almighty
God has formed us for himself, for his praise, for his honour,
and for his glory. And my friends, if we are walking
contrary to God, if we're walking in opposite direction, if we're
saying, I will not have this man to reign over me, may we
know what it is to be humbled under the mighty hand of God,
that we may be exhorted in due time, and that we may come casting
all our care upon him, all our concerns, having that faith to
believe, He cares for us. Well, there's these three verses.
There are other verses, of course, in the Word of God, which we
could have referred to, which mention being formed. But these
three are so relevant. So let us ponder them. Be now,
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 mine. And may it be true in each of
our lives. Amen.