It is my pleasure, truly my pleasure,
to be here and to see my brothers and sisters in California, in
Christ. You know, we have brothers and
sisters all over this world. And someday we'll get to meet
all of them. But every now and then I get to meet some here
and some there. And the Lord and His providence
brought me this way this week. Turn to Isaiah chapter 43. Isaiah chapter 43. I titled the
message, Created for His Glory. If we can really get a hold of
that, that He made us for Himself. God did not make me for me. God
made me for Himself. Scripture says in Colossians
chapter 1, all things were created by Him and for Him. And we will see this in this
chapter. And I'm not going to deal with every verse in this
chapter, but I'm going to touch on several of them. And you'll
notice he says in verse 1 of this chapter, he speaks of Jacob
and Israel. But now thus saith the Lord that
created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel. Now
for us to have an understanding and for us to really apply this
to ourselves, We have to understand who Israel is. Who is He speaking
to? Who is the Lord speaking to here
in this chapter? Turn to Romans chapter 9. Starting
this, we're going to turn to a few verses of Scripture, because
we definitely want to establish everything we have to say from
the Word of God. I tell the people back home,
Spring Lake, I said, after I preach a message, you take the Word
of God and you follow me and you check it out. Check it out. Now in Romans chapter 9, Romans
chapter 9, let me read verse 8. Let me go back to verse 6. In
verse 6, Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect,
for they are not all Israel which are Israel. Neither because they are the
seed of Abraham are they the children." They pride themselves
on being the children of Abraham. They said to our Lord, we are
the children of Abraham. Abraham is our father. The Lord
said, no, the devil is your father. He straightened them out real
quick, the devil is your father. But here it says, neither because
they are the seed of Abraham are they all children. but in
Isaac shall thy seed be called that is they which are the children
of the flesh these are not the children of God they are not
the children of God but the children of the promise those who are
promised to the Lord Jesus Christ in that covenant of grace are
counted for the seed now look over in Romans chapter 2 Go over here in Romans chapter
2. Look in verse 28. In Romans 2
verse 28. 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. He is a true
Israelite. which is one inwardly, and circumcision
is that of the heart and the spirit, and not in the letter,
whose praise is not of men, but of God." You who believe God, you are
the true Israel of God. You are the true Jew. You are
the true circumcision. Now look over in Philippians
chapter 3. In Philippians chapter 3, look
in verse 3, Paul says, for we are the circumcision which worship
God in the Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence
in the flesh. Their confidence was in their
connection, their fleshly connection to Abraham. Our confidence before
God is Jesus Christ. It has nothing to do with this
flesh. It has nothing to do with my heritage at all. It has nothing to do with my
family tree. It has to do with my connection,
my union to Jesus Christ. We are the circumcision. We are
the true Israel of God which worship God in the Spirit. God
is Spirit And they who worship Him must worship Him in spirit
and in truth, is what the Scripture says. And then look over in Galatians
chapter 4, and then we'll move on. In Galatians chapter 4, I
just want to establish this, and this way you will understand
who these promises are to. They are to you and to me. and
to everyone who believes the gospel, and to everyone whom
God has given faith to. He's speaking to them. That's
who He's speaking to. He's speaking to us. In Galatians
chapter 4, in verse 28. Well, let's go look in 3.7. Chapter 3 first. Chapter 3. Verse 7. Know ye therefore that
they which are of faith, the same are the children I'm looking
at the children of Abraham. I'm looking at them. You are the children of Abraham.
And then in Galatians 4 and verse 28. Now we brethren, as Isaac was,
are the children of promise. Now, let's go back to Isaiah
43. Now we can enjoy this. Now we
can enjoy it. Now we know who He's talking
to. I can read this now, and this is to me. This is my Lord's
Word and His letter to me. This is why He's saying to me.
And He says, one of the first things He says to Israel and
Jacob, You know, one time he called
him, thou worm Jacob. Put him in his place. God has
to put us in our place first. But Jacob, God said, Jacob have
I loved. Jacob have I loved. And here's
what he says. The first thing he says here
is this. Fear not. Fear not. Fear is a product of sin. Now
there is a right fear of God which is born of God. It is a
reverent respect and awe of who God is. It is a reverent respect
of God as being our Father. He deserves the respect of a
father. God is our... Don't let that
go over your head. God is our Father. That's real. That's very real. And there's
a right respect. The fear of the Lord's beginning
of wisdom. But that's not what he's saying
here because he's saying fear not. He's saying fear not. Because they were fearful. As
you and I get fearful way too many times. How many times did
our Lord say to His disciples, why are you so fearful? Why are
you afraid? When he was in the ship, and
that ship was about to sink, they thought, and the water,
the waves, and the water was coming in and bailing it out,
and he was in the back of the boat asleep. And they woke him
up and said, carousel night that we perish? Well, that's why he
came. Carousel night that we perish?
And he said, oh, you little, why are you so fearful? And he
commands. He commands the wind and the
waves to be still, and immediately they were still. And they said,
what manner of man is this? I tell you what manner of man,
He's God. He is the God-man. He is God manifest in flesh.
He's the ordinary man. He's God in the flesh. But the
fear he's speaking of here is a fear that's born of sin, it's
born of unbelief, it's not believing God. You know when Adam was in
the garden and he heard the voice of God walking in the cool of
the day and God's cried out, Adam where art thou? And Adam
said, I heard thy voice and for the first time he says, I was
afraid. That kind of fear is sin. That
comes from sin. I was afraid. I heard your voice
and I was afraid. Fear will shut you down. I'll
tell you what fear will do. Fear will cause you to compromise.
Fear will cause you to compromise. And the Lord is saying here to
quiet our fears. This belongs to us now. This
message belongs to us. He's quiet in our fears. And He says, fear not, then He
gives us reasons not to fear. And one of them is this, I created
thee, I formed you. The only reason for our existence,
the only reason for my existence and your existence is for God.
He said, I formed you, I created you, I'm your creator. God will not lose that which
He created for Himself. He said, not a hair on your head
will perish, didn't He? And I'm not saying it's just...
I'm not trying to be humorous here, but I expect to have a
full head of hair when it's over. He said, not a hair on your head
will perish, didn't He? It will not perish. Not a hair...
He said, not a hair. In fact, in one place he says,
the hairs of your head are numbered. How minutely does God know His
children? It's written over in Psalm 139
that His thoughts of us, of His children, which is primarily
speaking of Christ, but I tell you what, what applies to the
head, applies to the body. What applies to Christ, applies
to us. He said, my thoughts, thy thoughts to usward are like
the sand of the sea, seaside, the seashore. I can't grasp that
kind of, I can't grasp that kind of attention. I mean, I have
two boys, but I don't think of them like that. You know, I don't,
they come to my mind from time to time. But not like the sand of the
seashore, his thoughts are never off of us. God's thought, there's
never a second that God Almighty's thoughts is off of you. Not a
second. We can't comprehend that. But
He said, I created thee and formed thee. Listen to Ephesians 2.10. I'll read these to you because
it'll take too long if I don't. For we are His workmanship. Created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, with God hath before ordained
that we should walk in it, but we are His workmanship. Listen
to Psalm 100 and verse 3. Know ye that the Lord, He is
God. That's the first thing you know,
that He's God. And you're going to see in this chapter, He keeps
saying, you're going to know I'm God. You're going to know
I'm the Lord. And beside me there's what? There
is no other God. No other God exists besides Me.
In Psalm 100, verse 3, Know ye that the Lord, He is God? It
is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves. I didn't make
myself a believer. You didn't make yourself a believer.
You know why you believe the Gospel? Well, you can't help
it. You can't help it no more than
you can help breathing. Try not to breathe. See how long that
lasts. That's the way faith is. That's
the way faith that's born of God is. You can't help but believe. God has worked that in you. He's
convinced you. He's made Himself known to you.
You see Him. You see Him. And you can't help
but believe. That's why He said, "...it is
He that hath made us, not we ourselves. We are His people
and the sheep of His pasture." Believers are the work of God.
You're the handy work of God. And not only this, he said, I
created thee and formed thee, but here's another reason not
to fear, and here is this, I have redeemed thee. Not only has God
created us, but He has paid a great price for us. We were sold under sin, the law
owned us as prisoners, and God, to honor His own law, came into
this world and paid a great price for us. Listen to Scriptures.
In 1 Peter 1 verse 18 and 19, For as much as you know, you
were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold. Don't
think like that. That's not the currency God deals
in. Silver and gold. He made them.
He made silver and gold. He made all that's on this earth.
You're not redeemed with what He made there on this earth.
from your vain, your empty, useless life, conversation received by
the tradition of fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ
as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He said, I have redeemed you. I've redeemed you. You're mine. You're not your own. You're not
your own. I'm not my own. Now, I have learned
over the years that I'm glad I'm not my own. The last person
I want to have me is me. That's a bad combination. I've learned that I pray, Lord,
don't turn me loose on myself. I'd be in trouble. I'd be in
trouble. That's why it says in 1 Corinthians
6.20, you're not your own. You've been bought with a price.
And then He says this, Thou art Mine. You're Mine. Now first of all,
we know that all things belong to God. In Psalm 24, the earth
is the Lord's, the fullness thereof, and they who dwell therein. It's
all His. It's all His. He's the Sovereign. He made it. He created it. He
made it like He wanted to. And He's going to run it like
He wants to. He's going to run it as He will. That's right. When you create a world, you
go ahead and run it like you want to. But since He created this
one, He's going to run it like He wants to. It's His. The earth is the Lord. But listen,
thou art mine. I've redeemed you. You're mine
by creation. You're mine, listen, by a new
creation. You're mine by creation. You're
mine by a new creation. You're mine by purchase. You're
mine. And therefore fear not." Well,
you had the fear. God says, I've made you, I've created you, I've
redeemed you. You're mine. You're the apple of my eye. And then we have the promise
of His protection. He says in verse 2, When thou passest through the
waters, I'll be with thee. Here's a promise. You can just
hang this on you. Put this one on your refrigerator. I'll 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. The church's path through this life is rough. It's going to be a difficult
time. And every believer's path is
not going to be smooth, it's going to be rough. He says here,
when you pass through the waters, He does not say if you pass through
the waters, if you pass through the rivers, if you happen to
come upon some fire. He says when. when it's coming
to every one of his children. He chastens everyone whom he
receives. He tries the faith of everyone
whom he receives. Every one of his sons and daughters
are tried. He tries their faith. He tries
it. Waters, rivers, and fire represent
the trials of life. Peter speaks of them as fiery
trials. when you go through the fire.
Peter says they're fiery trials. Think it not strange when fiery
trials come upon you because God's going to send them. It's
going to be for your good and His glory. I tell you what, I like the way
Peter says, if need be. If need be. Every trial that
God sends my way, every trial God sends your way is a need
be. If he sends it to you, you needed
it. You needed it. It didn't just happen. It didn't
just happen. It wasn't just unlucky. Don't
ever use the word unlucky. I was in a barbershop one time
and on the wall he had a picture of a dog. It said he's lost,
he's got one eye, he's deaf, he's got three legs, and he goes
by the name Lucky. There you go, there's Lucky. Every minute thing is directed
by God. We'll see this as we go on here. But Peter calls them fiery trials.
And he says when, not if, all trials are ordained of God. He's
ordained, listen, every tear, every tear that I'll ever cry,
that'll ever drop from my eye, God ordained it. God ordained
it. He ordained the trouble that
brought it. He ordained the heartache that brought it. When Job lost all that he did,
lost his children, lost his health, lost it all, Job never blamed
the devil. He never said, the devil. He
said, the Lord give, giveth and the Lord taketh away. The Lord taketh away. He uses,
He'll use Satan. God uses men. God's a God of
means. He'll use whatever He purposes to use to conform me
and you to Christ and bring us home to glory. I promise you,
He'll do that. And when these trials come, God
said He'd go with us. He didn't say He'd stand on the
other side and watch. He said, I'll be with you. Listen to Hebrews 4.15, "...For
we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling
of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted as we are
yet without sin." When Mary and Martha stood at the grave of
their brother Lazarus and they wept and they were crying and
they talked to the Lord, it says, Jesus wept. And I like what one
commentator said, I've never forgot this. He said, he felt
everything He took away. He felt everything He took away.
He felt their pain. Does not the head feel the pain
of the body? Is He not the head and we are
His body? And here's another reason to
fear not. For I am the Lord, thy God, the Holy One of Israel,
thy Savior. He's real. God is real. He's not an idol. We didn't whittle
this one out. He's the Creator of heaven and
earth. I'm your Creator. I'm the Lord. And that is capital
L-O-R-D. I am the self-existing One. The
Holy One of Israel. What did the devil say at times
when the Lord was going to cast him out? We know who you are. You are the Holy One of Israel.
This is the Lord Jesus Christ speaking here. That's who it
is. The Lord, the Holy One of Israel is our Savior, God who
is holy, God who can do no wrong, God who can make no mistakes.
God is our Savior. My faith is not my Savior, although
God saves us through faith, by grace through faith. God is my
Savior. Listen to what Isaiah says in
Isaiah 12. Behold, God is my salvation I
will trust, and not be afraid. For the Lord Jehovah is my strength
and my song. He also is become my salvation. God became a man, took my place,
suffered His own justice, suffered at the hands of His own justice.
God suffered at the hands of God. Can you comprehend that? Absolutely not. But He did. And He became a man. And you know why He gave His
Son for us? You know why He did this? He says in verse 4, "...since
thou wast precious in my sight." There's two things He mentions
in this verse. You were precious, and He said, I loved you. In
another place in Jeremiah He said, I loved you with an everlasting
love. You can't comprehend there was never a time God did not
love me. There was never a time He did not love you. He's loved you, He said, with
an everlasting love. You're precious, He said, in
His sight. You are just as precious in His
sight as Jesus Christ is. Just as precious. I can't comprehend that, can
you? I can't comprehend that. You know, I have two sons. I
have grandchildren now. Boy, you're talking about precious. Precious. I tell you what, multiply
that by infinity and give you a little idea of how precious
you are in God's sight. So much so that He came into
this world and died. took your hail. If you believe,
He took your hail. You and I will never experience
that. We'll never be able to comprehend the suffering and
the wrath that He took, and we don't have to. Can't comprehend
it. And because of this, He says,
thou hast been honorable, and I have loved thee, therefore
I'll give men for thee, and people for thy life. We are honorable
because He made us so. We're honorable. I tell you, apart from Christ,
we have no honor. You can't put us on the honor roll. Honorary
roll, but not the honor roll. You can't put us on the honor
roll, no. You know, I've learned this. In myself, I'm worthless. But in Jesus Christ, I can't even begin to say what
the worth is. But I know this, listen, Jesus
Christ is my worth. He's all my worth before God.
And whatever Christ is worth to God Almighty, that's what
we are to Him. It is, that's what we are to
Him. And because of this, listen,
He said, I've made you honorable. You know where our honor lies,
where it's at? Now are you the sons of God. I'm looking at sons and daughters
of the King. Royalty. I'm preaching to royalty
tonight. I'm preaching to royalty. I am.
Therefore, because of this, I'll give men for thee and people
for thy life." Do you know and realize that God governs this
whole world for the sake of His elect? I know you turn the news
on and you get all bent out of shape. Someone said that one
of the most evil things and craftiest things that Satan ever concocted
was 24-7 news channel. It keeps you tore up. You turn
it on and it's just constant. You know, you think, oh, this
thing is falling apart. It's going exactly like God purposed
it. Is it? You either believe it
or you don't believe it. It is. It's going exactly as
He purposed it. I'm able to go to bed at night
and sleep no matter what all the chaos things be going. It's
orchestrated chaos. It's under His hand, His authority. There's a man on the throne,
King Jesus, who literally, right now, is ruling and reigning over
absolutely every minute thing that goes on in the universe,
among the angels, among the fallen angels, among the human race.
Nothing moves. Jesus Christ does not say, move. You either come or you either
go. You either do this or you do that. Now brethren, that'll
give you some peace. That'll give you some peace.
If God gives you the faith to believe Him, that'll give you
some peace. God governs this whole world
right now for your sake. Everything. What's going on right
now is for you. It's for you. And then He says in verse 5,
Fear not, I'm with thee, I'm with you. Even when you feel alone, when
you feel like you cannot detect or perceive His presence in any
way, shape or form, He says, I'm with you. I'll never leave
you nor forsake you. I'm with you. Is not Christ in
you? Well, He doesn't come and go.
If Christ is in you, who is the hope of glory, He's in you forever. He's in you forever. And here's a promise to His church,
and I'm going to have to wind this up. Here's a promise to
the church. I'll bring thy seed from the
east and gather thee from the west. Well, I just came from
the east, to the west. And I'm preaching to God's people.
God knows where every one of His sheep are. This is why we
preach the gospel. This is why we send the gospel
out. It's the voice of the shepherd. And His sheep, He said, My sheep
hear My voice. When they hear His voice, they're
going to come. They're going to come. And He knows exactly
where they are. He knows where they are. I'll
say to the North, give up! None! None can keep back! That's why he said to the South,
keep not back! Bring my sons from afar and my
daughters from the end of the earth. Give them up! Satan, give
them up! In the Gospels, he said, come
out of him! When you read the Gospels, have you ever read where
a demon said, no! No, I ain't coming out! Every
time! There wasn't an argument going
on between them. There wasn't a fussing, this is mine, no it's
not, yes it is, no it's not. There was never an argument.
He just said, come out. And they came out. Every time.
Every time. They came out. He said, when
I say give up, I can tell you right now, whatever has you,
whatever had you, is giving you up. He said sin shall not have dominion
over you. Sin had me. Satan had every one
of us. Sin had every one of us. But
He said sin will not have dominion over you. What good would it
be for God to save me and yet sin reign over me? He said it's
not going to reign over you. He's not saying you don't sin.
He's not saying we're going to fall and stumble, but it's not
going to be your life. It's not going to reign over
you. It's not reigning over you. Christ said it's not going to.
Greater is He that's in you than he that's in the world. It's
not reigning over you. Satan's not going to reign over
you. When the stronger man comes in and takes over the house,
the weak man has to go. Christ is the strong man. He
takes over the house and He never gives it up afterwards. Never
gives it up. It's His. He never vacates. Never vacates. Cleanses. Cleanses. That's what trials
are for. You know, to help take off some
of that dross. Not one sheep of His will be
lost. And everyone's called by My name. Even everyone's called
by My name. Everyone that's a son of God
or a daughter, He said, they're coming. They're mine. I'm not going to lose them. I'm
not going to lose them. You know it says over in Isaiah
53 that He shall see the travail of His soul be satisfied. The
Lord has no stillborn children. Every one of them will live.
Every one of them will live. God has given us His name, Sons
of God. And here's what it's all about.
For I have created Him for my glory. God's created you for His glory.
And the sooner we get a hold of this, the better. I'm not
my own. God made me for His glory. Lord,
what would You have me to do? Put me where You'd put me. If
we could really find and get a hold of it. If we could really
get a hold of this, that we are made for Him, it'll help you
be content with wherever God's put you and whatever you're doing. You'll find real contentment.
You'll find real contentment in the Lord Jesus Christ. The
reason we're not content, the reason we're not content is because
we're not content with Him. But when we find our real contentment
with what the Lord has done for us, in us, and what He's done
with us, then you're going to know what contentment is. You're
going to know something about what peace really is. Peace of
heart. You're going to know something
about it. I'm going to close here. I'm
going to close here. I think I've said enough. I think
I've said enough. I've said several other pages
here, but I think it would be wise to know when to stop. You
and I were created for His glory. And He said, I've redeemed you.
I've formed you. You are a new creation in Christ
Jesus. God's not in the renovation business.
God doesn't renovate anything. That's what you and I do. We
like to fix up old things. He says, Behold, I make all things
new, even you. Even you. Give me a new name,
He said. Go have a new name. You got a new nature. You got
a new heart. You got a right spirit. It's going to be a new
heaven, new earth. God's not fixing any of this
up. He's going to annihilate it. And everything's going to
be new. And as every bit of it, every
bit of it, when this life's over, when this is all over, and we
stand on that new earth, and there's a multitude which no
man can number, it's all for His glory. All of it. And you know what? Every last
one of us will say, Amen. It's only right that such a person
should receive such glory. I don't, and if I, I don't deserve
any glory. You don't deserve any glory.
It's only right, it is only right for God to glorify himself. Such
attributes, such perfection is to be glorified. And it's only
right for God to do it.