Sir Lord, may you graciously
help me, I return your prayerful attention to the prophecy of
Isaiah in chapter 43 and verse 21. Isaiah 43 and verse 21. This
people have I formed for myself. They shall show forth my praise. Isaiah 43 and verse
21. This chapter I believe has been
a great encouragement to the Lord's people down through the
ages. Isaiah's prophecy sometimes referred to as the Gospel of
Isaiah, because it has so much looking forward to the Lord Jesus
in it. It has been a great blessing
to the Church of God. And this chapter opens with this
word, but. And if you open a statement,
a sentence with the word but, you're referring it to what has
happened in contrast to what came before. And the latter verses
in chapter 42 are talking about judgments of God. How judgments
of God was going to come upon Israel for their disobedience.
And so in Isaiah we have this separation between the precious
and the vile. There was going to be those that
were obstinate and stubborn as it were in their rebellion, continuing
to go against the things of God. they were ultimately going to
perish in their rebellion. And of course that was a picture
of what would happen to the Jews when the Lord Jesus came. There
were those that did come to see him as their Lord, their Master
and their Saviour. But there were many that continued
in their rebellion and unbelief, and there was that great destruction
of Jerusalem, 70 AD, around that time. And there was a terrible
time of slaughter for the Jews. In Zechariah's prophecy, chapter
13, we have these words. verse 8 and it shall come to
pass that in all the land saith the Lord two parts therein should
be cut off and die but the third should be left therein and I
will bring the third part through the fire and will refine them
as silver is refined and will try them as gold is tried they
shall call on my name and I will hear them I will say it is my
people and they shall say the Lord is my God. So there is to be that separation,
not all Israel were of Israel, as in not all those who went
into captivity proved to be the true children of God. But there
was that remnant, there was those who truly, when they were brought
into captivity, had that true repentance, and were brought
back, and did obey the Lord, and walk in His ways, and love
the things of God, and look to Him as their Lord, their God,
and their Saviour. So here, amongst the solemn judgements,
this chapter opens, 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. So in that way you see I spoke
to the children in Sunday school this morning of a little illustration
of a boy who had a little sailing boat made for him by his father
and he was sailing it on the lake and playing with it but
then the wind took it and blew it right across out of his sight
and sometime later after giving it up for lost His father and
him were walking up a road and saw the boat in the window of
a second-hand shop. It was for sale. And so the father
went in and said, that's my boat, I made it. But the shopkeeper
said, it's mine now. You have to pay again to have
it as yours. And so the father did. And as the boy walked away with
his little sailing boat in his hand once again, He said to the
sailing boat, that you're mine now twice. Once because my father
made it for me, but now again because he's purchased you as
well. Purchased it back. But now thus
saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee,
O Israel. God was the initiator. He was
the creator of us. We are all his creation. We were
made in the image of God. But through the fall that we
were speaking of this morning, we have all gone far off from
God. And there is therefore that need
of redemption, that need to be brought back in union with the
Lord Jesus. There needs to be a price paid. Just as it were, that boat needed
to be brought back again. It had become into the hands
of others. It needed to be purchased. But
when we think of the redemption of our souls, it was not just
a few coins that brought our redemption. You are not redeemed
with silver and gold, but you are redeemed with the precious
blood of Christ. What a price! So you see the
Lord's people are His by creation. They are also His by redemption. They are doubly His. And they
are His because He calls them by His name. Thou art mine, by
thy name thou art mine. there is an understanding. They come into realisation that
God is their God because he deals with them. He has dealings with
his people. He puts them through the fire. He puts them through the trials.
He puts them in the pathways that will kill them, as it were,
of following the things of this world and the things which are
sinful. and puts them in a path that
will enable them to love the things of God and to seek first
the kingdom of God. I have called thee by thy name,
thou art mine. You see there's a possession
here and this is a wonderful thing. But you might say, but
how do I know that this is true of me? How do I know that I'm
part of this one third rather than the two thirds that should
be destroyed? How do I know? So, in Jeremiah 31, we have similar
words really. Jeremiah 31 and verse 3. The
Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved
thee with an everlasting love. Therefore, with lovingkindness
have I drawn thee. So there we have the statement
of God's eternal mind towards us, but we have a confirmation
of that statement, therefore with loving kindness have I drawn
thee. And therefore it is by God's
dealings with his people that we can come to a realisation
and looking at the Bible and the precious promises in there,
that actually the way God is dealing with us is with sons
and not as enemies. He is dealing with us as He says
He will deal with those that are sons. You see, what son is
he that the Lord chasteneth not? And if you never know the chastenings
of God, if you are never pulled up for your sin, if you never,
as it were, weep over the fact that you come short of the glory
of God, sin never really bothers you. You really have no indication
that you are a child of God. Because you're not walking in
that way that God has said, whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth.
He brings us up when we come short, when we wander from the
ways. He goes after us like the good
shepherd who cares for his sheep. He calls them by name. He deals
with them. I know our old pastor here, LSB
Hyde, he used to tell a story of an old man who was a war veteran
and he received a pension, you see, because he had fought in
the army many years before and he said this, he said, I understand
there's a register in London that has the names of all the
war veterans in it He said, I've never been to London
and I've never read my name there. But as the pension comes, month
by month, without fail, I believe my name is there. Therefore, with loving kindness,
have I drawn thee. How do we know the eternal mind
of God? We know the eternal mind of God
by His dealings with us. so that he deals with us as with
sons. You see, if there's no correction,
if there's no dealing, if we're not brought up for our sin, if
we haven't got to turn round, as it were, and repent of this
or that in our lives, daily I'd repent of sin, daily washing
Calvary's blood, if we know nothing of that, we've no evidence that
we're on the road to glory. But now, thus saith the Lord
that created thee, O Jacob, that form thee, O Israel, fear not,
For I have redeemed thee. You see, often the Lord's people
are fearful. They fear lest perhaps they are
not redeemed. When they see that there is so
much evil within them, and they see the difficulties of the way,
they write bitter things against themselves. For I have redeemed
thee, I have called thee by thy name, thou art mine. And then
these beautiful words, when thou passest through the waters, I
will be with thee, and through the rivers, They shall not overflow
thee. But what is the purpose of these
waters? And what is the purpose of these
rivers? These people have I formed for
myself. They shall show forth my praise. You see, when Moses was instructed
to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt, God did faithfully
tell him that I am certain that Pharaoh will not let you go and
yet probably we are no different than Moses think well perhaps
God is with us and it will be a smooth path and you see when
Moses began in that path of obedience to bring the children of Israel
out of Egypt and to go to Pharaoh he met with great opposition And if I just pick this up in
Exodus 5 and verse 20, and this is when Pharaoh had made their
task much harder by not giving them straw. This is what Moses
was faced with. And they met Moses and Aaron,
that's the leaders of Israel, who stood in the way as they
came forth from Pharaoh. Verse 21 of Exodus 5. And they
said unto them, The Lord look upon you and judge, because ye
have made our saviour to be aboard, in the eyes of Pharaoh and in
the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to
slay us. Listen to this, And Moses returned unto the Lord,
and said, Lord, wherefore hast thou so evil entreated this people? Why is it that thou hast sent
me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name, he hath
done evil to this people, neither hast thou delivered thy people
at all. Have you been there in your pathway?
God has perhaps encouraged you to go in a certain way and all
you can see is negative and difficulty and trouble as a result of walking
in his ways. But when thou passest through
the waters, I will be with thee. And through the rivers, they
shall not overflow thee. And we turn in the next chapter,
verse 6. Chapter 6. Then the Lord said
unto Moses, Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh. For
with a strong hand shall he let you go, and with a strong hand
shall he drive out thee out of the land. You see, we think that
the way forward will be nice and smooth, and then it will
be easy, and then we will be able to easily get to glory. But that's not the way God has
appointed, because He has said this, people, have I formed for
myself. They shall show forth my praise. You say, well, what's that got
to do with walking through the waters? God often said to Moses, I will
get honour. upon Pharaoh and upon his horsemen. The way God led the children
of Israel out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched
arm bringing them through the Red Sea, bringing them through
impossibilities, feeding them with food from heaven all their
time in the wilderness. Those 2 million people sustained
in desert conditions for 40 years. It was a miracle. It was this
people have I formed for myself. They shall show forth my praise.
And you see as we pass through this life, we are not used to
living to ourselves. We might think a smooth path,
that would be best. But God knows how he is going
to fulfill verse 21 in Isaiah 43 in our lives. This people
have I formed for myself. He's made them for himself. and
they have a purpose. They shall show forth my praise
in the things that they walk through. When thou passest through
the waters, I will be with thee. And through the rivers they shall
not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, thou shalt not be burned. Of course, this was so borne
out, wasn't it, in the time of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego
that were literally put into a physical fire, heated seven
times hotter than it was wont to be heated. And the very people
that bound them and threw them into that furnace were killed
by the heat of that furnace. And yet, Shadrach, Meshach and
Abednego fell down bound in the midst of a burning, fiery furnace. Their cords were burnt, but only
their cords, everything else, that there was no smell of fire
upon it. And they were loosed and walking
in the midst of the furnace, and they were not alone. The king himself observed that
there was one who did not recast three men into the fire, but,
no, I see four men, and the fourth is like the Son of God. when
thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither
shall the flame kindle upon thee. God has appointed, you see, that
the Lord's people should walk through difficulties so that
it will be a trial of their faith, so that they should come forth
as gold, but also it glorifies God. You see, we read as well
that when at that time that the king saw that they were in this
burning, fiery furnace. After that, he praises God for
what God has done. You see, this people have I formed
for myself. They shall show forth my praise. And it's an expression, you see,
of the praise of God. It glorifies God when we walk
humbly before our God through difficulties, through troubles,
through disappointments. For I am the Lord thy God, the
Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour. And then he says basically how
much he's given on behalf of his people. He's done everything
for them. He's left nothing back. He is
the one who gives them all things and is able to cause them to
be blessed in most difficult circumstances. But if you think
of Isaiah, when Isaiah was written, it was written to Israel that
were to go into captivity and then it was written to encourage
them that they would be brought out. And you see in the Psalms
in those times, they often look back to how God brought them
out of Egypt as a way of looking at God's goodness to them and
it was something that they that they would speak of and something
that they would recount as God's goodness to them. But in verse
18 you see of this chapter 43 of Isaiah, it says, Remember
ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold,
I will do a new thing. Now it shall spring forth. Shall
ye not know it, I will even make a way in the wilderness. and
rivers in the desert. In other words, it wasn't that
God didn't want them ever to remember what had happened in
Egypt, but what God was going to do for them again was going
to make what happened in Egypt, as it were, seem a small thing. God, again, was going to deal
with them. And of course, God did. They
went into captivity. They were under the power of
the Babylonians. And then, of course, there was
that conquer by Cyrus the King, the Persian. And Cyrus, who is named in Isaiah's
prophecy, his very name is given. that Cyrus would let the people
of Israel back to their own land. You see, God was going to work
powerfully once again and bring them back out of captivity. God
was going to do this. God was going to do this for
his glory. And the encouragement then is in our lives to trust
in the Lord, to realise that his His ways are higher than
our ways. His thoughts than our thoughts. God was going to do this great
thing. He was going to bring them out. of a way, but earlier in the
chapter it does actually speak of the Red Sea as well, I believe,
in verse 16 and 17 of this chapter. Thus saith the Lord, which maketh
a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters, which bringeth
forth the chariot and the horse, the army and the power, they
shall lie down together, they shall not rise, They are extinct,
they are quenched as Tyre and of course that happened in the
deliverance that God wrought when the children of Israel were
brought through the Red Sea and if you remember the chariots
of the chariot men of Pharaoh followed them and it seemed that
the passage that God had made for Israel was also made for
the enemies and it didn't seem that the passage then was particularly
helping Israel escape because their captors were also using
the same passage. But as you recount what happened,
God then brought the waters again while Pharaoh and his hosts were
still in the midst of the sea. God dealt with them and God deals
with the enemies of God. And you see this is a great trial
for the people of God's faith. Will God deliver them? Will God
do for them all that he has said? You see, we are to trust the
Lord. This people have I formed for
myself. They shall show forth my praise. I want to think of it like this
as well. Did Moses always say that this,
as he was passing through the trial, as Pharaoh made their
life much more difficult, as the difficulties seemed to come
against him more and more, Did it seem that it was to show forth
the praise of God? Think of another character in
the Bible. You think of Naomi, who went
from Israel into the land of Moab because there was a famine
of bread in Israel. She went with her husband and
two sons. She went out full, as she describes it, and I came
again empty. She returned and she said, call
me not Naomi, but call me Mara, call me bitterness, because the
Almighty has dealt bitterly with me. Now she wasn't bitter with
the Almighty, but she acknowledged that the Lord had acted in judgment,
in reproof, in chastisement for her. But the point I'm making
is here, you think of Naomi in that situation, If you'd have
asked her, do you think you're showing forth the praise of God
in you travelling back to Bethlehem? Oh, she would say, no, not I.
No, my life. Oh, the difficulties that I've
passed through. They won't show forth the praise of God. I'm
sure she would have come to that conclusion. But is that how Ruth
sees it? You think of Ruth's resolve.
Thy people. should be my people, and thy
God, my God." Is that the eyes that Ruth saw it with? No, Ruth
saw Naomi as a child of God. Yes, passing through affliction.
Yes, passing through the waters, but she saw that God was with
her in those waters. She saw the way that she was
passing through, that God was with Naomi. And you see, She
loved Naomi and she became to know and love Naomi's God. And I say that in way of encouragement
tonight. And I believe the Word of God
is so full of this that we don't always understand and
see how our life today in following faithfully what God has commanded
us to do How can that bring glory to God? And yet, I believe, for
me, Isaiah 43 verse 21, I have to make into a prayer, to plead
before God. This people have I formed for
myself. They shall show forth my praise. They never will in and of themselves. Left to themselves they never
bring glory to God. But if God is dealing with them
as with sons and daughters, if he's bringing them by a way that
they knew not, walking in paths that they know not, which is,
I'm quoting from Isaiah 42, verse 16, and I will bring the blind
by a way that they knew not. I will lead them in paths that
they have not known. I will make darkness light before
them, crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them
and not forsake them. This is music to the ears of
the Lord's people as they are walking in darkness and have
no light. They cannot see the way cleared
up nor know which way to go. They do not see their signs.
They do not realise that the way that they are walking will
bring any glory to God at all. And yet God has said, and his
world shall stand, this people have I formed for myself. They
shall show forth my praise. It's a great blessing then, in
the life that we live, in what we pass through, if we can truly
see that God, as we stand back at times and God shows us that
He is using us to glorify Him. But I suppose we ought to stop
and ask the question, is this our desire? Verse 21 of Isaiah
43, This people have I formed for
myself, they shall show forth my praise. Is that even on the
agenda? Is that on your daily agenda?
Showing forth the praise of God. speaking, as it were, to God's
honour and glory, and the things that we pass through, but to
be for God's glory, to be a witness in the things that we walk through,
and in the way we speak of God, and in the choices that we make,
the things that we do do, and the things that we don't do.
Is it a concern of ours that we do show forth His praise, And this is very, very important
in our lives, that we do show forth the praise of God. Because
if this is the end for which we are created, what is the chief
end of man? That man may glorify God and
enjoy Him forever. You see, sin entered the world
and it's been said that the word sin has three letters in it,
S-I-N. And you see, I is at the centre
of sin, of the word sin. And is that true of our lives? Are we at the centre? of our
lives? Is it all revolving around that
great I in our lives? It's what I want to do. It's
what I want to achieve in my life. It's what I like. It's
my preferences. It's my life. Or have you come
to seek to lay down your life because you've seen something
far, far more precious? This people have I formed for
myself. they shall show forth my praise.
I also mentioned in Sunday School this morning regarding, I do
believe it's the testimony of many that I've read and my own
personal testimony that those who come to a knowledge of the
truth, those who are true Christians, often before they can claim that
they are the children of God themselves, they see the preciousness
of the Lord's people. They realise that there is a
people that do glorify God. Ruth would say that of Naomi.
She may not have said it of herself, but she did say it of Naomi.
She saw that Naomi had something that she didn't have. She saw
something precious. She saw something glorious in
it. And you see, this is true of
us. This people have I formed for
myself. Do you see that there is a people of God? That they
do show forth the praises of God. That they are blessed. Blessed are the sons of God.
That they have an internal inheritance. That they have been redeemed.
That they have been washed. That they have everything that
they stand in need of. You may not be able to claim
yourself amongst them at this moment in time, but do you see
the greatness of that position? Do you see that to be something
that you long for, that you desire in your heart? With them numbered
may I be, now and for eternity, created, redeemed, called. dealt with by God, having communications
from God, not left, as it were, alone, not left to fulfil the
desires of the flesh and of the mind, but having a desire to
live to God's honour and glory. This people have I formed for
myself. God has formed a people for his
praise. They shall praise him throughout
an ever-ending eternity. They shall praise Him forever
and forever and forever. I've heard it said in this way,
that if you've never known what it
is to praise God here below, what makes you think that you
will be doing that activity forever, throughout an ever-ending eternity.
If the praise of God, His glory, His kingdom, His greatness, His
power is not what you desire to glorify here below, what makes
you think that you'll be doing that in glory? You see, we read
that the Lord's people are prepared, you see, on this world. In this
world they're being prepared, they're being shaped, they're
being moulded. They're being brought as a shock
of corn, ripe for the harvest. And how are they moulded? Passing
through the waters, knowing that God is with them. Through the
rivers, and proving that they're not overflowing. And it does
say, when thou passest, not if. When? God appoints that we should
go through these pathways of difficulties and the purpose
is not just to get out the other side, but it's to bring glory
to God as we look back. Thou shalt remember all the way
the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness
to humble thee, to prove thee, to see what was in thine heart.
This people have I formed for myself. Where do you stand for this evening? We need to know that the Lord
is our God. We need to know that the Lord
is dealing with us as with sons and daughters. We need the Lord
to come and to make himself precious to us. we need to know that the Lord
is our God. And really, you see, we spoke
about that this morning, that the Lord's work, you see, is
in exposing our sin. When that gospel promise was
given that there should be enmity, God would bring enmity between
Satan and the seed of the woman, in other words the seed of the
godly seed of Jacob, those who would truly be the children of
God. God was going to bring enmity between Satan and those people. I ask you, do you know that enmity? Do you know that enmity? Do you
know the battle? Do you know the struggle? You see, if we don't hate sin,
what evidence have we that we have passed from death unto life? I know another story that a late
pastor used to tell, LSB Hyde. He used to speak of a lady who
was in Scotland and she went to the church there and she was
a godly lady and she sat down to the Lord's Supper on one occasion
and their custom was that if you did that for the first time
you had to then give an account to the elders as to why you felt
that you should sit down to the ordinance of the Lord's Supper.
And when she came to speak to them, she was silent. She could
not seem to say anything to them. And so one of the elders, who
knew she was a godly lady, tried to ask her some questions to,
as it were, get her able to speak. And the first question he asked
was this, are you a sinner? And she said, yes, I am a sinner.
He said, have you always been a sinner? And she said, yes,
I have always been a sinner. And he said, well, is there any
difference then between you being a sinner now than what you always
have been? Have you passed from death unto
life? Is there any change? She said, yes, there is. She
said, once I was a sinner, and I loved sin. But she said, now
I'm sadly still a sinner. But Noah hates sin. You see that
there was enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed
of Satan. There was no longer this unholy
alliance. There was no longer this kingdom
of darkness, unchecked, unstopped, in the heart of that woman. There
was, by God's grace, by the work of His Spirit, there was this
word had come in and the desire for spiritual things had been
granted to this dear lady. But now, thus saith the Lord
that created the old Jacob, He that formed thee, O Israel, fear
not, for I have redeemed thee, I have purchased thee back. The
Lord Jesus, his redemption, he is to buy back his church, his
church which were rolling in their filth, unholy by far. But they were to be brought back. They were to be redeemed. They were to be washed. They
were to be given a new desire, a new outlook, a new ambition,
a new purpose in life. They were no longer to be living
to themselves. They were no longer to be seeking
the vanities of this time sense. They were to be people who had
a new object in life. They were their greatest desire.
is to glorify God. I think we need to each, each
of us, myself included, we need to consider what priority does the glory
of God have in our affections? Is it important to us? If it
isn't important to us, we need to seriously question whether
we are a Christian at all, whether we have any right to call ourselves
a Christian, if the glory of God, his kingdom, his glory is
not, as it were, a great interest in our lives. Now, that's not
to say that true Christians can't backslide. David, as you see,
he knew what it was to have hot, ardent desires after God, but
he also knew what it was to be in a cold, backsliding state.
But he lost his assurance. He didn't lose, he didn't have
that familiarity with God. He prayed, restore unto me the
joy of thy salvation. He lost it, and so should we. We should lose, as it were, the
assurance if we are not walking in his ways. Otherwise, we are
walking like ignorants. Ignorants in the pilgrim's progress,
characterised by Bunyan as one who spent his whole life travelling
in so-called the pilgrim path, and yet never realised that he
was not rightly entered. He never really confessed his
sin. He never really found Christ
to be precious. He was just walking in the way. He didn't want to be searched.
He didn't want to have the work of God exposed to see whether
it was consistent with the Bible. But if we are by God's grace
among this people, have I formed myself. They shall show forth
my praise. It's a beautiful, beautiful thing
if the Lord has taken hell-deserving sinners and made them show forth
his praise. They've had an utter, complete
character change. They are no longer walking, as
it were, in their old ways. They are now seeking to glorify
him. There has been a change. Their
direction is different. Their ambitions are different.
Their goals are different. Their end will be eternally different. And it's all because God has
created them for himself. All because he has redeemed them. And all because he has called
them by his name. It's a lecture known by calling.
He calls his people and then they come and find out the reason
why they ever came was eternal thoughts of love and mercy toward
them. When thou passest through the
waters I will be with thee. And we need to be encouraged.
In the difficulties that we pass through, it does not mean that
because we pass through difficulties, it is an evidence that we are
not a child of God. Clearly, that's not true from
this chapter at all. It's clear that the Lord's people
do pass through difficulties, but the key is that the Lord
is with them. And he's doing it to bring them to an expected
end and also to glorify himself. so that he will get glory, he
will get praise, I will get honour upon Pharaoh and upon all his
horsemen as they see that God is with you and God is going
before you. And you see if we never had a
challenge, if we never had to, as it were, show that that our
faith is in God and truly act according to our faith like Noah
who built an ark in obedience to God and we're today to act
in a way that shows that we believe the word of God that when we
believe that the one thing needful is to have God in our lives if
we then act by the things that we do that everything else is
more important than the fear of God and then you see we're
acting a lie But if we show that He is King in our lives, He comes
first, He has first place in our lives, our thoughts and our
affections as grace is given, then you see we have that evidence
that this people have I formed for myself. They shall show forth
my praise in this life, but also throughout and have end in eternity
to sing The God is love. May the Lord add His blessing. Amen.