I want you to exercise your imagination a little
this morning. By the way, you can turn back
to Isaiah 43. But let's imagine something together. If you were told that the Lord
was going to open the heavens and say something to you, What would you want him to say? Of all the things that he might
possibly say, what would bring you the greatest joy, comfort,
peace, and assurance? The Lord has said many things.
Many wonderful things, any one of which we might choose, and
it'd be a wonderful thing to hear. For example, in verse two,
it says, when you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And when you pass through the
rivers, they will not sweep over you. We go through such times,
don't we? We go through trouble. We go
through times when it seems life is like a raging, flooded river,
and we're in the middle of it. Boy, it's good to hear him say,
I'm with you. These waters are not going to
overflow you. That'd be good to hear. Or it'd be good to hear him say,
when you walk through the fire, you will not be burned. The flames
will not set you ablaze. Sometimes trials seem like a
flood, sometimes they seem like a fire. They seem like that which will
surely, well, they're painful like fire. And it seems as though
it'll certainly kill and consume us. And yet, what precious words
to hear. You notice he says, when you
walk through the fire, he doesn't say if. If you've never walked
through the fire, be patient, you'll get your turn. Some have walked through fiery
trials several times. But the Lord said, when it happens,
I'll be with you. You'll not be burned. Remember
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego thrown into the fiery furnace.
Now Isaiah said these words, or repeated the Lord's words,
nearly a hundred or more years before the southern tribes were
taken into captivity before Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were deported
to Babylon and had to face the self-aggrandizing kings, one
of which decided to throw them in the fiery furnace because
they prayed to the living God instead of Him. Maybe they had
already read these words and that's why they said it. Oh, King, we will not worship
you. And if you throw us in the furnace,
so be it. How could they be so confident?
Probably because they'd read, when you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned. The flames will not set you ablaze.
And when the king looked into that fiery furnace, he says,
didn't we put three men in? They said, yeah. And he said, well, I see four.
Count them, one, two, three, four. One of them looks like
the Son of Man. Well, he looks like, I mean, the Son of the
Gods. He looks like the Son of the God, because that's who he
is. He was in the furnace with them,
and while he was in there, they couldn't be burned. It'd be good to hear him say,
I am the Lord, Jehovah, your God. That'd be a good thing to
hear from him. He goes on to say, I give Egypt
for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your stead, all these things.
And then in verse four, look at it. Wouldn't it be lovely
to hear this from God? You are precious and honored
in my sight, and I love you. I would like to hear that from
the Lord, wouldn't you? But there's something better
yet. He says in the last part of verse
43, fear not. Now, you know, I may not request
those words, but they're words I need to hear. I do a whole
lot of fearing. I do way too much fearing and
worrying and anxious fretting. for someone who claims to trust
in God. It's a natural part of my constitution,
but that doesn't excuse me from the fact that things that should
not be of concern to a believer cause me to fear. So it certainly
would be beneficial to me if I were to hear the voice of God
say to me, do not fear. It would sure be good to hear
him say, for I have redeemed you. Now, we believe that everyone
whom Christ redeemed is redeemed. His death did not make redemption
possible. His death was the redemption
price required by God, and he paid it. Therefore, those for
whom he died are redeemed. He didn't say here to Israel,
you can be redeemed. He said, I've redeemed you. And
you know, if a voice that I was certain was God's voice, was
certain it was the voice of our Lord Jesus, spoke to me from
heaven and said, I have redeemed you, then I'm sure that I'd find
a way to do some cartwheels or something. Wouldn't that be wonderful news
to hear? Well, how about this? I have summoned you by name. By name. He called. Now, we preach the
gospel. We preach it to everybody. We don't hold back from anybody. We never say to anyone, the gospel's
not for you. We preach it. But we know that
when we summon people by the gospel, nothing happens until
God summons His people by name. I don't mean the name that your
mother and father gave you, but by the name of what you are
and the name of what He will make you. But boy, wouldn't that be good
to hear God speak from heaven and say to you individually,
I have summoned you by name. But for me, and you see if it's
true for you, there is nothing our Lord could say to me that
would have more power, that would bring more comfort and assurance, that could gather together all
my hopes into one small phrase, in the three words at the end
of this verse, you are mine. You are mine. Now we know this, the earth is
the Lord's and everything in it. He owns it all. And why does
he own it all? He made it all. So in some sense, It is true
of every individual in the world, they are the Lord's because He
owns them. He made them. There He is. He is by right. But that's not
what He means here. He's not just talking about ownership. We could find comfort in these
words if we considered them as the words of God to his elect. Simply establishing the relationship
that he is God, sovereign, and he's chosen us. That would be
good. But I don't believe that that's
all he means by this. It would be good if we were to
take these words as a father to his child. You're mine. We find, at least most of us,
a great comfort in the love and protection that our fathers gave
to us. I had a great father. And to be considered his son
is to me, and was, a great blessing. to have that confidence Godward.
The disciples said, teach us to pray. And the Lord said, pray
like this, our father. When our Lord was praying, he
said, my father, holy father. Paul founded a great deal of
our blessings upon the father-son relationship between God and
his people. But he was considering sons in
the sense of heirs, because back then it was sons that inherited
things. And therefore it says, that we
are sons of God, and if sons, then heirs, heirs of God, and
joint heirs with Christ Jesus. There's a great blessing in that
thought. In Romans, he says, the Spirit
bears witness with our spirit that we are the sons of God. Wonderful, blessed thing. But I think something even deeper
than that is intended here. And our Lord says to his people,
you are mine in the sense of a husband speaking to his wife. Full of all the love and affection
that you could imagine a perfect husband having towards his wife. You are mine, full of all the determination
to have and protect and preserve the object of one's love. You bundle up everything that
God says Every blessed word God has ever made to his people,
every blessing he's promised, every relationship he has established,
every way that he has shown forth his love and his determination
to save the people of his choice. Bundle that all together and
you could not make a tighter bundle than the three words,
you are mine. What assurance is in this? I know that the Lord will not
lose anything that's His. Everything He lays claim to,
He takes. And He will not allow anyone
to take it from them. He said, concerning his people,
none are able to snatch them from my hand." They're mine. What assurance, what protection
is in those words? Every other creature, whether
of this world or another world, whether the enemies that we face
day to day or those spiritual enemies that we know are present
but we can't see them. Everyone else that would try
to lay claim to us is rebuffed by the words of the Lord Jesus,
this one is mine. Sometimes I laugh inside when
I think of the devil and all of his arrogance, thinking that
he will ever be able to lay hold of one of God's people and bring
any harm to them. Oh, he can bring pain. He can
bring suffering. He can cloud the mind with doubts. but the Lord Jesus Christ is
there to lay claim to them. You are mine. He speaks these
words with the authority of one who sits on the throne of the
universe and whose will cannot be thwarted in any way. He says
with all the power In authority of heaven and earth, he says
to his people, you are mine. He speaks with power. He speaks
with unimaginable love. These are tender words, strong
but tender. In Isaiah 40, It says, Comfort
ye, comfort ye my people. And the words, I've not looked
it up myself, but I've read that literally they're saying, speak
to the heart of my people. Speak tenderly. We probably spent significant
part of our life, particularly our growing up years, those of
us that are somewhere around my age,
and the religions that we were raised in, we often had preached
to us the harsh, condemning voice of God, trying to terrify us
into decisions or certain conduct But the Lord Jesus Christ comes
to his people and he doesn't say to them, be very much afraid. Just any minute now the earth
might open up and swallow you into hell. He comes to them in
all the misery of their existence and he says, you're mine. You're
mine. I laid claim to you. And nothing in heaven, earth
or hell will take you away from me. You are mine. What kind of people
hear these words? Well, we would normally think,
that is naturally, that's the word, we'd naturally think that
the Lord would say this to those who are pleasing in his sight,
who are religious, and who are very upright. Do you know who actually said
them to that? Look at verse 23 of chapter 42. Which of you will
listen to this or pay close attention in time to come? Who handed Jacob
over to become loot and Israel to the plunderers? Was it not
the Lord against whom we have sinned? For they would not follow
his ways, they did not obey his law. So he poured out on them
his burning anger and violence of war. It enveloped them in
flames, yet they did not understand. It consumed them, but they did
not take it to heart. And then he says to them, you
are mine. Now, he's speaking to a nation
here and we apply it to us. Well, we can apply it to the
church as that true holy nation of God, and we apply it to us
individually as the members of the Lord's church. But to understand
it, we have to see that it was applied to a nation. He was speaking
to a nation. And though, because of their
rebellion, he had brought, well, from Isaiah's viewpoint, would
bring horrible, horrible judgment upon them. Many of them would die. Many
of them would get covered up in the flood. Many of them would
be burned in the fire. Nebuchadnezzar sent his army
down there and it's unspeakable the things he did to the city
of Jerusalem. And yet, Among the people of
that nation, there was this group, which the
Bible calls the remnant, according to the election of grace. And
believe me, they felt the fire. They saw some of their loved
ones killed, and they felt pain. They got moved to a foreign land,
and most of them never had the opportunity to come back. And
yet to them, he says, you are mine. You are mine. I cannot imagine
a better time to hear those words than those times when it seems
like the Lord is about to kill us. When it seems like, on the
outside, we've got trials that are going to overwhelm us for
sure, or we have wrestlings of the mind within, which casts
such serious doubt on whether or not we belong to the Lord,
whether we are the objects of His grace. When He brings us
through those times, and remember, whatever happens, it's Him that
does it. It's Him. He may use agents to
get it done, but He's behind all of it. and in your deepest
suffering, you must acknowledge this is from the Lord. And yet
in the midst of that, he comes to us, says, fear not, I've redeemed
you, I've summoned you by name, you are mine. I'm glad he said this to those
who were feeling the sting of his discipline and chastening. For if he had said it, to those
who were living in obedience. I would not be able to have much
hope that would ever be said to me. You are mine. Notice how he describes
those to whom he talks. This is what the Lord said, first
part of verse one, who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you,
O Israel. I love it when the Lord calls
the nation by its double name. He who created you, the word
translated created is the same one used in Genesis 1, chapter
one. In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth. And so the Lord speaks to the
nation and calls them by the name of their father, Jacob. It was from Jacob that the 12
tribes sprang. And he calls them by the name
Jacob, because that is the name of their creation. That's the
name of their natural person, Jacob. I always feel like I gotta
issue an apology when I make these points, but it's true.
The name Jacob, as it was used of the patriarch Jacob, was a
name designed to indicate a scoundrel. A liar, a deceiver, a supplanter. It's derived from the word for
the heel of the foot. And the picture is this is somebody that'll
grab you by your heel and trip you up as you go by. And boy,
that's exactly what that man was. And that's exactly what every
one of us is by our creation. We came into this world, Jacobs,
every one of us. We came into this world, every
one of us, deceiving, supplanting, trying to take that which was
not ours. You wonder, are these words,
you are mine? Are they for you? Well, I ask
you this, are you Jacob? Well, come on now, that's who
he spoke it to. Those who by nature are Jacob. But thanks be to God, that's
the only name that Jacob had. Do you remember when Jacob was,
Traveling and it says that he wrestled with a man all night
long. But Jacob knew who this man was. And they wrestled and
they wrestled and they wrestled. I don't know what they were wrestling
about. I don't know if an argument came up. I don't know if the
Lord in the form of a man just rushed him and started fighting.
I don't know. It just says they wrestled all
night long. And if I remember right, keep
in mind, Jacob's in his 70s or 80s when this happens. That would
have been an interesting fight to watch. But as morning is coming,
it looks like Jacob's gonna win. Somehow or another, he gets the
man-lord, if we can call him that, in some kind of hold. Well, had he won? No. The Lord
had been playing with him all night long. And so Jacob gets him in this
hold. And the Lord said, all right, this has gone on long
enough. And he reaches up and he grabs Jacob in the hollow
of his thigh. I don't know exactly what part
of it it was, but it must have hurt like a dickens. Whatever
the Lord did to him, it made him limp the rest of his life. The Lord grabbed him and said,
let me go. Now here's where the real fight
begins. All that came before was preamble. The Lord said, let me go. And
Jacob said, I will not let you go till you bless me. And the Lord said, what's your
name? What's your name? I bet that hurt. You know, when he stole the birthright
from Esau, when Esau found out, he said, well, did you name him
Jacob? And the Lord said, all right,
what's your name? Jacob. Own up to what you are. If you
want my blessing, own up to who you are. Jacob. And the Lord said, you will no longer be called
Jacob. Your name is Israel. What does Israel mean? Well,
you see on the end of it, the common word for God, L-E-L, Israel,
a prince, a powerful one, a prevailer. And God called him that, saying
that he had prevailed with God. Now, how does a man prevail with
God? Did Jacob prevail with God in that wrestling match? No.
He didn't win that wrestling match. As I said, that wrestling match
is not picture of a man winning against God. It's kind of a picture
of how God works with men as He's bringing them to a point
of conversion. But the real fight didn't begin
until the Lord exercised His overwhelming power against Jacob
and got him in a hold that, I'll tell you, it would have made
anybody else turn loose. When did Jacob prevail with God? When God said, let me go. And
Jacob said, I'll not let you go till you bless me. Jacob told
the Lord, you are more important to me than anything. And I would rather be in agony
than to depart this place without your blessing." It was his demand for the mercy
and grace of God that prevailed. The Lord prevailed with Jacob. And in prevailing with Jacob,
he enabled Jacob to prevail with God. Jacob, he wanted the birthright. And by deception, he gained the
blessing of his father. Yet after all of that, he didn't have what he wanted. But on that night, He had, he laid hold of what
his heart had been made to desire. Not the blessings of the earth,
not even the blessings of his father Isaac. He craved the blessing
of God. And that's when he prevailed.
There is not a time when anyone has ever called out from his
heart to the Lord, seeking his mercy, desiring his gracious
blessing, and the Lord has not been moved to give them. Are you Jacob? Yeah. Have you ever been brought
to the point where you would be willing to endure anything
give up anything in order to have the blessing
of God. That's what it is to be Israel. To these, to such who have come
to understand something of the wretchedness of themselves, to
those who have been made desperate For the blessing of God to them,
he says, fear not. Yes, horrible things happening
all around you, but they won't hurt you. There's gonna be waters, fast
moving waters, pretty deep waters, but they ain't gonna go over
you. You're not gonna drown. There's gonna be fire. Very hot fire. They put Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego. He said, you make that thing
seven times hotter than before, which was just his way of saying,
you make that fire just as hot as you can make it. That's how
mad the king was. He said, I won't touch you. It says Shadrach. I love this
in that story. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
came out of that fire, said there wasn't even a smell of smoke
on them. They didn't come out of there with their hair singed
and their eyebrows gone and blisters on their skin and they just survived
the fire. They came out as though they had never been in. Don't be afraid. In all the scary things that
go on around you, And in all the scary things that happen
to you, God has no evil design. In fact, in those things, his
design of salvation is being brought to pass. He says, fear
not. Well, I've redeemed you. I've
redeemed. I've paid. You've already paid
the penalty you owe. I've been through the waters
that were designed to drown you. I've been in the fire which was
sent to burn you. And I was burned. I was consumed. Through the prophet Jeremiah,
the Lord Jesus says, he has sent his fire into my bones. But he says, I've redeemed you.
None of this that you're experiencing is the wrath of God. Not for
you it isn't. I've summoned you by name. What
name? Jacob. Israel. You know why? The summons of
the gospel so often falls on deaf ears. It's terribly difficult
to find Jacob. There's not many Jacobs in the
world. Oh, what a blessing to be a Jacob
and to know it. A song by Brother Ed Hale. Oh, how good or blessed it is
to be a sinner. A sinner who is trusting in the
Lord. Men want their accolades, they
want to be patted on the back for how good they are. But the
Lord God says to those whose name is Jacob, you are mine. To those whose name is Israel,
To those who crave his blessing and cannot live without it, he
says to them, you are mine. I've redeemed you. Don't be afraid. You'll go through trouble. It
won't hurt you. You'll go through fire. It won't
burn you. Enemies will rise up. I will
mow them down. Claims will be laid against you.
I will defy every one of them. Don't be afraid. Verse five,
I'm with you. And if he who claims our souls
is with us, brethren, what can happen to us? What evil can befall those who
are claimed by the Lord Jesus Christ with all of His passion
and love and power? What can happen to them? Not
even death can claim them. Our Lord said, as He was approaching
the home of Lazarus and Martha and Mary. And they were so distressed. Lord, if you'd have been here,
he wouldn't have died. The Lord said, he that believes in me
will never die. And he that lives and believes
in me, even though he dies, yet shall he live. And I get this
picture that death comes and it will come to to all except
those who are here when our Lord returns for the last time. But death comes, and death tries
to lay claim on us, and it grabs us in our flesh and takes away
the life of our flesh. But before death can drag us
to the grave, the Lord grabs our souls and says, that one's
mine. Can't have him. What did our Lord say? On this
rock I will build my church. And the gates, the most English
translations say the gates of hell, the word is Hades and it
means essentially death. Death will not prevail. You are mine. When you hear the gospel, Do
you hear the voice of the Savior saying, you are mine? Do you hear the gracious word
of your heavenly husband lay claim to you and pull you close
to himself, put his everlasting arms under
you and around you? and whisper, you are mine. May God grant it to be so.