We were in Isaiah 45 all day
last Sunday. And in reading around that area,
it really struck me, it really did strike me how much encouragement
and comfort is in the book of Isaiah. You know, there's a lot
of, in these books, there's a lot of stark warning and hard truth,
but there is a lot of comfort and encouragement in the book
of Isaiah. And I'm constantly looking at
this section of Isaiah, this middle portion of Isaiah. I'm constantly quoting from here
or having us turn to scriptures like Isaiah 40. Turn with me over to Isaiah 40. Verse one says, comfort ye, comfort
ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem. That means to the heart. Speak
to the heart. And cry unto her that her warfare
is accomplished. Where was it accomplished? On
the cross of Calvary. That war was accomplished. You
cry to her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity
is pardoned. I was so excited to bring this
message to you. I've been so excited through
the song service. This is so good. Her warfare is accomplished.
Her iniquity is pardoned. She's received of the Lord's
hand double for all her sins. You tell her that. Tell my people
that. Verse 10, behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand
and his arm shall rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him
and his work before him. He shall feed his flock like
a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with
his arm and carry them in his bosom and shall gently lead those
that are with young. What comfort that is. Look at Isaiah 41. This is one
of my favorite things to read. You all know this. This is one
of my favorite things to read. Isaiah 41, verse eight. But thou,
Israel, art my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the seed
of Abraham, my friend. He's my friend. Abraham is my
friend. Thou whom I have taken from the
ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof,
and said unto thee, Thou art my servant, I have chosen thee,
and not cast thee away. Verse 10 says, Fear thou not,
for 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. Verse 13 says, For I, the Lord
thy God, will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear
not, I will help thee. Fear not, thou worm, Jacob, and
you men of Israel. I will help thee, saith the Lord,
and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. Don't you love that? Don't you love the comforting
thought of thinking that God Almighty, the Lord God Almighty,
would take the time? This is the part that gets me. that he would take the time to
sit right there beside you and hold your hand. Comfort you, encourage you in
your time of need. Don't fear. I'll sit right here
and hold your hand. I love Isaiah 41. I love Isaiah
40. I love Isaiah 41. Look at Isaiah
42. This is God the Father speaking
concerning God the Son. Verse 1 says, Behold my servant,
whom I uphold, mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth. I have
put my spirit upon him, he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. Verse four says, he shall not
fail nor be discouraged till he have set judgment in the earth
and the isles shall wait for his law. Verse six, I the Lord
have called thee in righteousness. I will hold thine hand and will
keep thee and give thee for a covenant of the people for a light of
the Gentiles to open the blind eyes to bring out the prisoners
from the prison and them that sit in darkness out of the prison
house. What comfort, what encouragement,
what confidence All right, but we can't stop there. Look at
Isaiah 43. Verse one says, but now thus
saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee,
O Israel, fear not. How many times does he say fear
not, fear not, fear not? For I have redeemed thee. I paid a price for you. I shed
blood for you. I've redeemed thee, I've called
thee by thy name. Thou art mine, you're mine. 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. Neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. Just ask Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego if that's so. They came after this verse of
scripture. I think it was about 100 years
maybe, I could be wrong. After this chapter was written. Don't you know they read that
in a whole new light? Verse three, for I am the Lord
thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior, I'm your Savior.
I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Sheba for thee. Since thou wast precious in my
sight, thou hast been honorable, and I have loved thee. Therefore
will I give men for thee and people for thy life. Fear not,
I'm 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 not back. Bring my sons from
far and my daughters from the ends of the earth, even every
one that is called by my name. For I have created him for my
glory, I have formed him, yea, I've made him. He said, I'll
move whole nations for you. I'll sway King's hearts for you. Now again, we were in Isaiah
45 on Sunday, and we quote quite a bit from that chapter. If you
look at Isaiah 45, Verse 5 says, I am the Lord,
there's none else. There's no God beside me. I girded
thee, though thou hast not known me, that they may know from the
rising of the sun and from the west that there's none beside
me. I am the Lord and there is none
else. I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. Verse nine says, woe unto him
that striveth with his maker. We quote a lot from this. Verse
22, look unto me and be ye saved. All the ends of the earth for
I'm God and there's none else. I love Isaiah 45. I've always
loved Isaiah 46. Look at verse three. Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob,
and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are born by
me from the belly, which are carried from the womb. I bore
you, I carried you. Verse four, and even to your
old age I am he, and even to gray hairs will I carry you. I have made, and I will bear,
Even I will carry and will deliver you. That's beautiful, isn't it? All right, now here's why I showed
you all that. In recognizing how much we love this section
of the book of Isaiah, it dawned on me that I've never really
given as much attention to chapter 44 as I have all of these other
chapters. So I gave some attention to chapter
44. And I can't wait to show you
what I found. I'm so excited about this. I'm
already so, if I go home, I'm already blessed. I'm good. But
I'm just so, I hope you really enjoy seeing this. I love seeing
this. I love the thought of this. I
love this. All right, Isaiah 44. We're gonna
focus on verse five, but let's read these first six verses again. Yet now here, O Jacob, my servant,
And Israel whom I have chosen, God has a people. Every time
we see that, we need to announce that. God has a chosen people. God has an elect people that
he chose to save. Verse two, thus saith the Lord
that made thee and formed thee from the womb. He is the creator. He is our maker. Verse two goes
on to say, which will help thee. He's our helper. He's our defender. Fear not, O Jacob, my servant. And thou, Jesurun, whom I have
chosen. Jesurun is another name of spiritual
Israel. It means upright one. It describes
the character of a child of God in Christ. Jacob describes the
character of a child of God in himself, in the flesh, in sin. Jesurun represents God's people
in the character of Christ, the person of Christ. Verse 3 says,
for I will pour water upon him that's thirsty. I won't give
you a few drops, I'll pour water all over you. and floods upon
the dry ground, I will pour my spirit upon thy seed and my blessing
upon thine offspring. How wonderful is that? I'll be
gracious and merciful to you and to your children. What a
thing to say. Verse four, and they shall spring
up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses. One shall say, I am the Lord's,
and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob, and another
shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and surname himself
by the name of Israel. Thus saith the Lord, the King
of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts, I am the first
and I am the last, and beside me there is no God. I love it when our Lord plainly
says, this is who I am, and this is what I'm gonna do for you.
It's so good, it's so comforting, it's so encouraging, and it produces
so much in God's people. Hearing Him say that, seeing
that in the Word, this is what it causes God's people to do
and to say in return, all right? Here in everything that we've
heard, this is the response in me. This is the response in all
of God's people. Let's get a hold of verse five
and just see if you don't say amen to this, all right? The
thought of being able to do this just, it blesses my heart. After
hearing who God is and what he's chosen to do for his people,
specifically who he said he would render blessings upon blessings
upon blessings to, after hearing that, verse five, One shall say,
after hearing that, one shall say, I'm the Lord's. I'm the Lord's. Who's on the Lord's side? I am. By God's grace. by what He has
done, by who He says He is, and what He said He would do, and
who He said He would do it for, I am. I want to be identified
with Him. I want to belong to Him. I want to belong to Him. I'm
the Lord's. I belong to Him. He owns me,
He controls me. I want Him to be my God. I want to be his people." Well, who are you? Jacob is my name. Verse five, one shall say, I'm
the Lord's and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob. What's your name? Like when the
Lord wrestled with Jacob, he asked him, he said, what's your
name? Jacob, Jacob is my name. Trickster,
supplanter, liar, cheat, sinner, Jacob is my name. Why would you call yourself that? Because that's who he said he
would do all this for. That's who he said he would bless.
That's who he said he would help. That's who he said he would save.
Look at verse one again. Yet now here, O Jacob, my servant,
and Israel, whom I have chosen, thus saith the Lord that made
thee and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee. Fear not, O Jacob, my servant,
and thou, Jesurun, whom I have chosen. I will pour water on
him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground. I will pour
my spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine offspring. And they shall spring up as among
the grass, as willows by the watercourses. That's who's gonna
spring up. They, thine, thy, Jacob. The moment God's people truly
hear that in the heart, this is what they say, I'm Jacob. That's me. Verse five, one shall say, I'm
the Lord's. And another shall call himself
by the name of Jacob. and another shall subscribe with
his hand." That means to write. You know, you heard of scribes.
That means to write with the hand, but it means to write deeply,
to inscribe, to engrave into something so it can't be erased. I want to belong to the Lord. So much so, this is what I desire
to be called. Verse five, one shall say, I
am the Lord's. And another shall call himself
by the name of Jacob. And another shall subscribe with
his hand unto the Lord and surname himself by the name of Israel. From here on out, my last name
is Israel. If God said he would do all of
this for Israel, then I want my name to be changed. Like God said, Jacob, I'm changing
your name. Here in America, we call our
last name in our name, our last name. Does that make sense? We call our last name, I have
three names. And the last one, we call it
our last name. But over in England, they call
their last name, their surname. The last name or the surname
tells everybody what family you belong to. That's what the last
name does. That's what the surname does.
It lets everybody know what family you belong to. It tells everybody
who your father is, who your brothers and sisters are, right? That last name tells everybody
I belong to this family. This is who I identify with. Our Lord said, after my people
hear who I am and what I'm going to do for my own, they're all
going to desire a new last name. They're all going to surname
themselves by the name of Israel. They're all going to call themselves
by the name of Israel. Israel means prince with God. That's Christ. That's Christ,
he is the Prince of Peace, he is the Prince of Life. To take
that name is to take his name, is to take the name that he has
given, the name that came from him. And that's the only way
that any of us can have that name is if it comes from him.
He must give it to us. It has to be given by Him. And every one of His people will
be given that name by Him. And they will gladly call themselves
by that name. His name. Look at Isaiah 45 again. Verse 4 says, For Jacob my servant's sake,
and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name. I have surnamed thee, though
thou hast not known me. I gave you a last name before
you ever even knew who I was. I've given you a new last name,
and I've called you by it. What is it? Look at Isaiah 43
again. Verse 5 says, fear not for I'm
with thee. I will bring thy seed from the
east and gather thee from the west. I'll say to the north,
give up, and to the south, keep not back. Bring my sons from
far and my daughters from the ends of the earth, even every
one that is called by my name. Every soul that has my name given
to them. Every soul that is acknowledged
as being in my family. because of the name they bear,
the name that has been given to them. Look with me at Jeremiah
23. Jeremiah 23 verse five. Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, that's
Christ, and a king shall reign and prosper and shall execute
judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved
and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is his name whereby
he shall be called the Lord our righteousness. That's his name. Now go to Jeremiah 33. Jeremiah
33. Verse 15. In those days and at that time
will I cause the branch of righteousness to grow up unto David. That's
Christ. And he shall execute judgment
and righteousness in the land. In those days shall Judah be
saved. and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this is the name wherewith
she shall be called, the Lord our righteousness. I love that
so much. His name is her name too. Did you know that my name is
my wife's name too? I call her by that name. She
calls herself by that name. Her surname, her last name, that
was given to her. Legally, lovingly, willingly. I call her by that name. She
legally, lovingly, willingly calls herself by that name. She
can legally call herself by that name. That's the name whereby I am
called. That's the name whereby she is
called. By birth, by adoption, by marriage,
by blood. By his blood, by redemption in
his blood, we bear his name. We bear his name. So many scriptures
speak of this. I had all these scriptures written
down that talk about this union with Christ. I'm gonna give you
one. All right, I've chosen this one
verse. It'll represent all of them. This'll be the closing
scripture for us tonight. Go with me to Ephesians 3. Ephesians 3 verse 8, Paul said, unto me who am less than the
least of all saints is this grace given, that I should preach among
the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make
all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery. which from the
beginning of the world hath been hid in God who created all things
by Jesus Christ. To the intent that now unto the
principalities and powers and heavenly places might be known
by the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal
purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom
we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.
Wherefore, I desire that you faint not at my tribulation for
you, which is your glory. For this cause, I bow my knees
unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family
in heaven and earth is named. We all get his name. That he would grant you according
to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might by
his spirit in the inner man that Christ may dwell in your hearts
by faith. that you being rooted and grounded
in love may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth
and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ
which passeth knowledge, that you might be filled with all
the fullness of God. Now unto him that is able to
do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according
to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the
church. By Christ Jesus throughout all
ages, world without end. Amen.