Isaiah 43, verse 1 says, But, but. That could be one of the most
glorious words in this Scripture. But. But what? Why does this begin? Why does
He begin chapter 43 with the word, but? Chapter 42 verse 13
says, The Lord God shall go forth as a mighty man. He shall stir
up jealousy like a man of war. He shall cry, yea, roar. He shall prevail against his
enemies. I have long time holding my peace. I have been still and have refrained
myself. Now will I cry like a travailing
woman. I will destroy and devour at
once. Verse 17 says, they shall be
turned back. They shall be greatly ashamed
that trust in graven images that say to the molten images, you
are our gods. Verse 25 says, therefore he hath
poured upon him the fury of his anger and the strength of battle,
and it has set him on fire round about. Yet he knew not. And it burned him, yet he laid
it not to heart. Chapter 43 says, but, but. Now thus saith the Lord that
created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, fear
not, fear not. I have redeemed thee, I have
called thee by thy name, and thou art mine. Fear not. Some bad things are coming, but
fear not. Fear not. Now this text tells us that some
people need to be very afraid. Very afraid. But some people
can fear not. Now here's the first question
we need answered. Who is He talking to? That's
what I need to know. Who's He talking to? To some
He says, fear not. Who is He saying this to? Well,
verse 1 says, Now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O
Jacob, and He that formed thee, O Israel. So he's talking to Jacob. He's
talking to Israel. So that doesn't apply to me. I'm not from that little country. I'm not Jacob. And I'm not from
Israel. Well, I want us to look at something.
Turn to Romans chapter 9. Romans 9. And let's read verse 6. Not as
though the word of God hath taken none effect, for they are not
all Israel which are from that little country. They are not all Israel, which
are of Israel. Everybody calls that the Holy
Land. But they are not all Israel,
which are of Israel. Now turn with me to Romans chapter
2. Romans chapter 2, let's look
at verse 28. It says, For he is not a Jew
which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision
which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew which is one
inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit,
and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of
God." What that's saying is, the mark of God's people is not
on the outside. Meaning, just because you can
look at a man, and you can see his features, and you can see
his skin, and say, that's a Jew, that's the praise of men. Well,
he must be from the Holy Land. He's an Israelite. He must be
God's child. God's people, the mark of God's
people is not on the outside. It's on the inside. Now turn
with me to Galatians chapter 3. Galatians chapter 3 and let's
look at verse 7. It says, Know ye therefore that
they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. Jacob was Abraham's grandson. And his name was changed to Israel. God said, your name is not going
to be called Jacob anymore, it's going to be called Israel. And
the children of Israel are the children of Jacob who was the
child of Abraham. It's his family. Now look at
Galatians chapter 3 verse 29. It says, If ye be Christ's, then
are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Isn't
that a wonderful thing to see? He's talking to Israel. the sons
of Jacob. And if I'm Christ, then I'm Abraham's
seed, and Isaiah 43 applies to me. Hold your place in Galatians. God's people are all those who
belong to Christ, all those who are in Christ, all those who
are loved by Him, chosen by Him, adopted into His family. He gives
them a new name, Israel. And what that name means is you're
a prince with God. A prince with God. Okay, hold your place there and
just flip back over to Isaiah 43. Verse 1 says, 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. There's a reason why you
can fear not. And that reason is, I redeemed
you. Now go back to Galatians 3 and
look at verse 10 with me. Galatians 3 verse 10 says, For
as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. I'd like to read that again.
For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. Whoever is of the works of this
law, this one, whoever must touch not, taste not, and handle not,
is under the curse. Under the curse. It says, for
it is written, Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things
which are written in the book of the law to do them." All of
them. If I'm going to be under the
law, I'm under every law. Every one of them. Not just some
of them. Every one of them. Verse 11 says, that no man is justified by the
law in the sight of God, it is evident. No man is justified by the law
in the sight of God, it's evident. For the just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith, But the man that doeth them,
he's going to have to live by them, all of them. Verse 13 says,
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made
a curse for us. For it is written, Cursed is
everyone that hangs on a tree. Do I understand what this is
saying? Can I really get a hold of this?
Do I really understand what this is saying? If I have to fulfill
this law to get to heaven, if I have to read these pages, well,
that's what it says, and that's what it says. If I have to fulfill
this law, I'm cursed. I'm cursed. I can't. I can't. I'm a sinner. I'm just a sinner. Nothing at
all. I break this law continually. I break it all the time. My only
hope in this life is that the Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled this
law for me. That's my only hope. And all
I can do is stand here and just look to Him and just trust that
that's exactly what He did. That's all I can do. And that
is called faith. Faith is looking to, and trusting
in, and hoping in, and believing on Jesus Christ. It has nothing
to do with me. People call it my faith. Christ
said, thy faith has saved thee. But if I have this faith, He
gave it to me. It's not of myself. It's a gift
from God. So He says to His people, fear
not. I redeemed you. I redeemed you. I hung on that tree for you. It was supposed to be you. It
was supposed to be you who they pressed thorns into your head. They pierced my hands. Those
were supposed to be your hands. They pierced my side and I gave
up the ghost for you. You were supposed to give up
the ghost. Just listen to this, don't turn
here, but 1 Peter 1, 18 and 19 say, For as much as you know
that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver
and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your
fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ. That's what
you were redeemed with, the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb
without blemish, without spot. We all have sinned. I believe
there's not a person on planet earth who believes he's never
sinned. How foolish can you be? How foolish
can you be? But I believe that most everybody
thinks that they can do something to redeem themselves. You know what I'm saying? I've
done some things before that I've had to go to somebody and
say, I want to try to redeem myself. I don't look too good
in your eyes right now. And I'd like to try to do something
to redeem myself. That's what people think they
can do with God, but they can't. They can't. It's going to take
the precious blood of Jesus Christ. I'm redeemed by love divine. Glory, glory, Christ is mine. All to Him I now resign because
I've been redeemed. Redeemed and so happy, redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb. We've been redeemed from the
curse. He was made a curse for us. We've
been redeemed from sin. He was made sin for us. We've
been redeemed from judgment. He was judged by God the Father
for us. And there is therefore now no
condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Because Romans
8 verse 3 says, Christ condemned sin in the flesh. In the flesh. Okay, our text
Isaiah 43 verse 1 says, 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. Now just listen to John chapter
10, verse 14 says, I am the good shepherd, and I know my sheep,
and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even
so I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. And
other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice."
And there's going to be one fold, and there's going to be one shepherd.
They're all going to hear my voice. This call, He said, I called
you by name. This call is a sovereign divine
call. It's a sovereign God call. He said, I called you. There was a person who came to
a preacher. I don't think it was Brother
Henry. I think I heard Brother Henry tell this, but a person
came to a preacher and he said, how will I know if God saves
me? And his reply was, how do you
know you're lost? And they said, well, God's revealed
it to me that I'm lost. He said, God will reveal it to
you when He saves you. You'll know. You'll know it's
a call. It's a divine, sovereign call. And it is a personal call. It's a personal call. And I need
this call every hour. Speak to me, Lord. I want to
hear Your voice. Speak to me. Call me again, please. It's not a general call. It's
specific. I have called thee by thy name. If God calls a sinner, that sinner
will know He's talking to me. I know He's talking to me. I
know He is. If you are in a dark room, Completely
pitch black room where you can't see your hand in front of your
face. Sometimes darkness is not that dark. But sometimes it is. I've been in a place where you
try to put your hand there and you just can't see anything.
If somebody turns the light on, do you think you'll know it?
Absolutely. When God does something, it's
obvious. If God does something, if God
is in it, it's obvious. It's like a light comes on. Well, He says, Fear not, I have
redeemed thee. Fear not, I have called thee
by name. And He says, Fear not, in verse
1, thou art mine. Now turn with me to John chapter
17. John chapter 17. Look with me in John chapter
17 at verse 9. Well, let me just read it. I pray for them. That's the Lord speaking. That
hit me this week. I studied this and that hit me
like I've never been hit with it before. I pray for them. Can you believe that Jesus Christ
is praying for you? I pray for them. I pray not for
the world, but for them which thou hast given me. For they
are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine
are mine. And I'm glorified in them. I
pray for them. He said the effectual, fervent
prayer of a righteous man is going to avail much. And he said,
I pray for them. He said, Peter, Satan hath desired
you that he's going to sift you as wheat. Oh, I could be so easily
sifted. There's nothing to me. I'll fall right through the cracks.
Satan hath desired you that he may sift you as wheat. But Peter,
I prayed for you. And your faith is not going to
fail. Your gift of God is not going
to fail. He's not going to fail. Well, back in our text, Isaiah
43, verse 2 says, When thou passest through the waters, I will be
with thee. And through the rivers, they
shall not overflow thee. When the flood of troubles and
trials come, and they are going to come, they're going to come. They're going to come. I talk
to my dad sometimes on the phone and I say, Dad, just tell me,
just lie to me and say it's going to get easier. And he'll say,
I can't even lie to you. They're going to come. When the
flood of troubles and trials come, I'm going to be with you. I'm going to be with you. I'm
going to be right there with you. Yea, though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, because
thou art with me. The most important one to me,
the most important flood to me, is when I cross over the river
Jordan, that river of death. I don't want to cross it alone,
Chris. I think about that sometimes.
I know the Lord gives His beloved peace. You know, the end of that
man is peace. But it's unknown. And I want
to have strong faith. God-given faith and belief. But it's unknown. And I'll be
honest with you, I don't want to cross it alone. Lord, when it's time for me to
face death, would you be with me? I want you to look at something
with me. Flip over a couple of pages to
Isaiah 46. Isaiah 46. Verse 3 says, this is our Lord
speaking, 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. 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. I believe He's saying, when you
cross that river, you're not even going to touch
the water. I'm going to carry you above
it. I can only imagine Him saying,
see, as He carries us across. I told
you there was nothing to be afraid of. I imagine it as being utter darkness,
when in reality I believe it's going to be total light. Christ
is there, the light. Fear not, fear not, fear not. Well, back in Isaiah 43, the
end of verse 2 says, When thou walkest through the fire, thou
shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. I want to tell you a story that
I heard. This is an account of pioneer
days. Settlement days. There was a
wagon train headed west to go settle out in California or somewhere
like that. And they had to travel across
the whole nation. And it was dangerous, a lot of
danger. So they would send, whenever
they would make these trips, they would send a scout on a
horse out in front to check for danger. And this scout would
go out about two or three miles looking. And one of their biggest
concerns was prairie fires, wildfires. This tall grass that would grow,
these wildfires would start and catch this dry grass and it would
just sweep across the land, just that fast, just sweep down the
valleys and the plains. Big danger. So this scout, you know, he's
up a couple of miles out. Sure enough, he comes over a
hill and there's a wildfire. Just raging, just huge, raging,
sweeping across this plain. So he runs back to the wagon
train and he tells the wagon master, two miles up, there's
a prairie fire. And it's coming this way and
it's sweeping fast and it's burning everything up in sight. And the wagon master says, I
want you to pull back some of this brush behind us and start
a fire behind us and let it catch on and let it burn out behind
us. And they did. And after that fire had burned
on out, he said, back the wagons up. And they sat, and they waited. And it didn't take long, and
over the hill, here comes a fire, blazing. Fury. It's coming fast. And they're
sitting there waiting. And a man has his son in his
lap. And that son is shaking, and
he says, Son, what's wrong? And he said, I'm scared, Dad.
He said, why? He said, the fire is coming.
And I'm scared of the fire. And he said, son, you don't have
anything to be afraid of. We're standing on burnt ground.
Flames cannot touch you. This ground is already burnt. If the fire of God's wrath has
already been burned on Christ. We're standing on burnt ground.
If we're standing on Him, fear not. The flames cannot hurt thee. It's not going to touch you.
Fear not. We have got to be standing on
Him though. Got to be standing on Him. Neither shall the flame
kindle upon thee. Verse 3 in our text says, For
I am the Lord thy God. I am Jehovah. If I said it, it's
going to come to pass. I am the Lord. I change not. I am God. 2 Corinthians 5 says,
God was in Christ reconciling us. Matthew 1.21 says, Call His
name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sin. But
Matthew 1.23 says, Call His name Immanuel, because God is with
us. I'm the Lord thy God. Verse 3 says, I'm the Lord thy
God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. I gave Egypt for
thy ransom, Ethiopia and Sheba for thee. Turn with me to Exodus
11. Exodus chapter 11. I love this.
I love the book of Exodus. I love this whole story. Exodus chapter 11. And look with me at verse 5.
The Lord says, All the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die. from the firstborn of Pharaoh
that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the
maidservant that is behind the mill, and all the firstborn of
beasts. And there shall be a great cry
throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it,
nor shall be like it any more. But against any of the children
of Israel, shall not a dog move his tongue against man or beast,
that you may know how the Lord doth put a difference between
the Egyptians and Israel." He said, I'm going to kill every
firstborn born unto them. But I'm not even going to let
a dog bark at you. Nothing's going to touch you.
You're mine. I've put a difference. Fear not. Fear not. Our text says, Isaiah
43 verse 4, 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. He said, Thou wast precious,
and thou hast been honorable. That word honorable was the word
that got me. I had to think about that. Thou
hast been honorable. What does he mean by that? Well,
let's read the next sentence. It takes three verses to get
through the next sentence. and it will explain it. Verse
5 says, 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 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 have
made him. I made Him precious in my precious blood. I made
Him honorable. His sins are gone. I redeemed
Him from all His iniquities. Why did He do this? Verse 4 says,
because I love Him. I love Him. I have loved thee. That's the beginning of our great
salvation. The song says, hail sovereign
love that first began the scheme to rescue fallen man founded
on love. Verse 8 says, bring forth the
blind people that have eyes and the deaf that have ears. They
think they see. The blind people that have eyes. They think they see, but they
don't. The deaf that have ears, they
think they hear, but they don't. How scary is that? How scary
is that? To sit in a place, sit in a church,
and listen to a man all your life, thinking, I hear, but they
don't. That's so scary. Verse 9 says,
Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people
be assembled. Who among them can declare this
and show us former things? Let them bring forth their witnesses,
that they may be justified. Or let them hear and say, It
is truth. Turn over two pages to Isaiah
45. Isaiah 45, look at verse 20 with
me. Assemble yourselves and come. Draw near together ye that are
escaped of the nations. They have no knowledge that set
up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a God that cannot
save. Tell ye. Tell them. Tell them. and bring them near. Yea, let them take counsel together. Who hath declared this from ancient
time? Who hath told it from that time? Have not I the Lord? And there
is no God else beside me, a just God and a Savior. There is none
beside me. Look unto me, and be ye saved,
all the ends of the earth. For I am God, and there is none
else. He said, they're gathered together,
they're praying to a God that cannot save. He said, go tell
them. Go tell them, I'm a just God,
I will not clear the guilty. If you're a sinner, you must
die and all have sinned. But you go tell them, I'm a Savior.
Go tell them there is a way of deliverance. There's a way of
salvation. The end of verse 9 in our text
says, Let them bring forth their witnesses,
that they may be justified. Or let them hear and say, It
is truth. Let them prove in the Word of
God that their idols are actually God's. Or let them hear the voice
of the true God say, I am God, and there is none else. If they
ever hear Him say that, they will say, it is truth. It is truth. Your God is God. It is truth. Well, in verse 10,
He says, if you've heard My voice, ye are My witnesses. If you confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord, Lord of Lords, King of kings, if you
confess that He's the only hope of salvation, the only hope of
redemption and eternal life, if you confess that Jesus Christ
is everything, Christ is all, then He says, you are my witnesses. You are my servant, He says,
you belong to me. And you can rest assured and
believe with all your heart that I chose you. You can believe that you know
Me, the true God. If you confess, I'm all, the
only hope of salvation. You can rest assured that you
believe Me, He says. And understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed,
neither shall there be after Me. Now I want to close by just reading
the next three verses. And it was these three verses
that gave me the title of this message. I titled this, A Confident
God, A Comforted People. Don't you love a confident God? I do. It gives me comfort. Let's just read the next three
verses. I, even I, verse 11, am the Lord,
and beside me there is no Savior. I have declared and have saved,
and I have showed when there was no strange God among you,
Therefore, you are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God. Yea, before the day was, I am
He, and there is none that can deliver out of my hand. I will work, and who shall let
it? I'm going to do this. And nobody
can stop me. Now what are we going to say
to these things? Amen. That's it. Amen. I pray the Lord
would bless His Word. Let's stand together. Have a
word of prayer.