The Believer's Confidence

Q: What does the Bible say about God's love for His people?

The Bible says that God's love for His people is unconditional and based on His grace, not on their merit. In Isaiah 43, God reassures His people not to fear because He has redeemed them and loves them. This love is not based on our actions but solely on His grace. In Romans 9:13, we see that God's love for Jacob was established before he had done anything good or bad, indicating that divine love is rooted in God's sovereign choice. Additionally, God's love is illustrated in the story of Hosea, where God commands Hosea to redeem and love his unfaithful wife, showing that His love persists despite our failures.

Q: How do we know our salvation is secure in Christ?

Our salvation is secure because it is based on God's promises and His unchanging character. Isaiah 43:1 assures us that we are redeemed by God, indicating that our salvation is not founded on our performance but on His sovereign grace. The text emphasizes that God holds us and that no one can pluck us out of His hand. Romans 8:38-39 affirms that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. This assurance is reinforced by the idea that salvation is an act of God’s will, and since He does not change, neither will His commitment to us. Therefore, our confidence rests not on our ability to maintain faith but on God’s promise to keep His people.

Q: Why is it important for Christians to have confidence in their faith?

Confidence in faith is crucial as it strengthens believers to face trials and proclaim the gospel effectively. Confidence in our faith allows Christians to stand firm in trials and tribulations, knowing that God is with us. Isaiah 43:2 reminds us that when we pass through fire or water, we are not alone; God promises His presence and protection. This assurance empowers us to share the gospel without fear of failure, knowing that success is determined not by our capabilities but by God's sovereign grace. Our confidence comes from believing that God is faithful to His word, ensuring that we can labor in love and hope without being deterred by discouragement or opposition.

Q: What does Isaiah 43 teach about God's sovereignty and His people?

Isaiah 43 teaches that God is sovereign over His people and has chosen them for His glory. In Isaiah 43, God addresses His people as 'Jacob' and 'Israel,' signifying that He is speaking to all believers, not just the nation of Israel. The chapter highlights God’s sovereignty in redemption, where He declares that He created and called His people for His glory. As stated in verses 10-13, God alone declares the end from the beginning, showcasing His control over history and the future. This underscores the Reformed understanding that God’s redemptive plan is not random but is meticulously orchestrated to fulfill His eternal purpose. Believers can find great comfort in knowing that they are part of this divine plan.

God glorified him. What a blessing. I remember what a preacher friend
of mine said one time. He said, now, a song like that
won't ring your bell. Your clapper's broke. Just for a moment before we go
to the text, I want you to open your Bibles to I Thessalonians
chapter one. What I have to say to you before
I bring the message is best said through inspired language. And Paul is writing to the church
of Thessalonica, and he says in 1 Thessalonians
chapter 1 verse 2, we give thanks to God always for you all. I give thanks to God for every
one of you as a congregation, as a church family, as a people
of God, and individually, making mention of you in our prayers.
And that's not just my mouth not saying what my heart doesn't
believe. We do pray for you at our church. We pray for you by
name. We pray for your pastor by name.
And we make mention of you in our men's prayer meetings on
a most regular basis. Now, verse three, remembering
without ceasing three things, faith, hope, and love. See it
there. Faith, love, hope. We remember
without ceasing your work of faith. Faith, if it is saving
faith, works. It works. It labors. It helps
others. It preaches the gospel. It bears
witness. It supports missionaries. Faith
does work, and faith that does not work is not saving faith.
James wrote a whole book about that. If faith is justified by
your works or proven or made evident, your work of faith,
your labor of love, and that's what it is. It's not a labor
of duty. labor alone. You do it because you love Christ.
You do it because you love his people. You do it because you
care that the gospel be sent to other places. And I remember
thirdly your patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. That's where your hope is. Christ
is my hope. If you were to ask me to write,
I'd appreciate Brother Henry's prayer, Christ is our hope. Christ
is our foundation. Christ is my life. If you want
me to write a thesis on hope, I'll just give you one word,
Christ. He's my hope. That covers the whole subject. And I want to express my appreciation
to God and for you and to you for your faithfulness, for your
labor, for your support of the missionaries. and others who
preach the gospel of your pastor, faithful support. You pray for
him. You help him, you support him,
you encourage him. Doris and I spent three and a
half weeks in Mexico in January and February. And I know that
Milton Howard is very special to you all. I know you care very
much for him and for his ministry and for Ken Wymer. And I want
to say just a word tonight before I preach about Brother Milton
and his ministry. We went down there and spent
more than a week in Shoplis, Tuchla, in Shoplis with Milton
and Claudia. And on Sunday morning, we went
to a little church. It's 15 years old now, the church
at Julian. And I preached that morning to
about 50 people who attend there regularly. Nice little brick
building. They built it themselves with
their own hands, with their own resources. And they're a faithful
group of people. Armando is their pastor when
Milton's out of town. And we just had good services
there on the Lord's Day. And they're so receptive to the
Word of God. And they take us pick up truck
and go out and pick up folks, pick up truck, that's right,
pick up folks and bring them to church in the back of a pickup
truck. And there's a dear old brother there named Jose, he's
90, is he 93? 93 years old. His mind is as
keen and sharp as a young man. And he's always got to say a
few words after we preach. See, I preach and Milton translates.
But he always has to say a few words. He got up after our service
one night, time before, and he said, he said, this is important. He said, these men are like in
the days of Noah, crying out unto people to turn to God. And
he said, they didn't come from Tuxla. They didn't come from
Mexico City. They came from a long, long ways
to tell us about God. I want you to hear him. He's
just so energetic about it. And then on Monday, we drove
two hours up in the mountains. There's a little village up there.
There's a man named Pedro. Anyway, this Jose was converted
on Milton's ministry when he was 75 years old, no, 78 years
old. He was the town terror, and he's
the town witness now, town evangelist. But went up to Pedro's up in
this village, and there's a family there. And when Milton's in Mexico,
he goes up there every Monday. He drives four hours round trip.
Takes a four-wheel drive to get up to this coffee village where
they raise coffee and picket and sap it. Very poor village.
And we meet in this man's home, man, his wife, and two teenage
sons. It's a very simple home. It's
got two rooms, a front room. And his sewing machine, he's
a tailor. in the town. There's sewing machines
over in the corner, and then there's a bench over here against
the wall, there's a door over here, two chairs, and a place
to hang a hamper, and that's it. The next room is where they
keep the corn and stuff, stover, to make the tortillas. And they
sit and they listen, and they love the word, and once in a
while some neighbors come in and listen. But then on Tuesday
night, we went to the chicken ranch. Now this is a place out
toward Julian. There's a family there, Armando
and his wife Marta, and his son, who has just finished dental
school, and his daughter, Armando's daughter. And they run a chicken
ranch. They've got several of these
buildings that all of the longer than this church, and not quite
as wide, but just one, two, three, four of them, where they bring
in chickens every night, and then the next morning, they ship
them out. They take them out in trucks and sell them. They
just bring them in and put them in their trucks and start going
out to different places. They eat a lot of chickens in
Mexico and sell them. But this family has been under
Milton's ministry for about 13 or 14 years. And all of them
been converted, but the daddy, he used to pack two pistols.
You talk about a wild man. It'd make an old Mexican movie,
this fella. He's something else. But he wouldn't
have anything to do with the gospel. He admired Milton. He
liked him as a man. And he didn't mind his family.
And Milton would come up there and preach in the home and visit
with them. And now he comes to the services. He hasn't made any profession
of faith. He's quit wearing pistols, I tell you that. And he's calmed
down a lot. And he bought him a new 1991
Dodge Ram. He was sitting out there, and
I was looking at it. And he came over there, and he doesn't speak
any English. But he punched Milton and said in Spanish, tell him
that it's his anytime he wants it to use. And that's a giant
leap for mankind. Who knows? God may be doing something
for him. But anyway, he has converted
one of those chicken houses into a preaching place. He's cleaned
it out. He doesn't use that one anymore
for one thing every Tuesday night when they're on the bridge up
there. And there's 120 to 150 people
come all around that neighborhood. They walk down the roads and
bring them to hear us. and it's full, it will astound
you. Out there in the open air, just
a roof and a cement floor, where they used to have chickens. Now
they're in the other three places, but that one, they've got lights
strung up, they've made benches, they've got a little carpenter
shop there, they've made benches, and he just takes great pride
in the fact his neighbors are hearing the preaching of the
gospel. I think he might be too, I don't know. He'd never let
you know. He's tough, I mean, but one of
those old frito banditos, you know. Anyway, but we had a great
service there. Milton's been down there 25 years.
We celebrated his 50th birthday while I was there. He went there
and he's 25. And he's admired by the people, even if they don't
believe the gospel. He has a good reputation. He's
won their confidence. He has many friends. It just
takes a long time to be accepted in a foreign country. If you're
a gringo, that's just the way it is. It's Yankee go home everywhere.
But Milton is at home. And the thing that impressed
those people was when all three of his sons grew up and left
Mexico and went back to Houston and he and Claudia stayed. They
couldn't believe that they loved them that much. that they let
all their family, grandchildren, all live in America while they
lived down there. Well, we took off Wednesday,
and then Thursday, we went up to the ranch and preached. And
I'm not exaggerating these figures now. That's another ranch. This is a coffee ranch. And this
is the sister of Marta. There's a chicken ranch. Well,
this is 92 miles, but it takes three hours to get there. You
forward three rivers. And you don't go at all in this
rainy season. But we went up to the ranch.
And this man, Roberto, and his wife, Carmelita, have built a
church on their ranch. They have built a church building.
And Bill's been preaching there for 50, 60 years. And so they
have the church sitting there, but it's a small building. It'll
seat 50 people probably. And they come from all around
those hills. This man has a coffee ranch and raises oranges and
raises jalapeno peppers and cattle. And he's quite a well-skilled
businessman. And a lot of people work for
him. A lot of these people around in the villages work for him.
And they all come there and hear Milton preach. And there have
been several of them brought to the knowledge of Christ. And
the little church usually is pretty full. But that night,
that Thursday night, There were so many people we couldn't meet
in the church. We met out on the coffee drying
place where they dry coffee. And she made tamales for everybody. And we served 200 people. 200 people. They came on horses.
They came in trucks. They came to hear the gospel.
And Milton and I, we had a little liberty that night to preach.
We preached under the stars. And I tell you, It was a great
time, wasn't it? It was just... And the next day,
there's a village. I'm going to take just a minute
to tell you about this. There's a village up in the mountains. This is 12 miles from the ranch.
And you know, preachers are prone to exaggerate. But I have my
precious wife here to verify what I'm telling you. It takes
two hours to drive that 12 miles down. It is a bad road. I mean, it
is up a mountain. It's about as wide as, hear that
wall? And on one side is mountain,
on the other side is all the way down in the Lonesome Valley.
It is a bad, bad road. And you just have to crawl going
up there, four-wheel drive. But there's a village on top
where I suppose there are 78 families or more where they raise
coffee. And Milton has made friends with
those people. There is no religious meeting
up there at all. Nobody goes up there. Nobody. Nobody's welcome up there. It's
a rough village. You wouldn't believe it. It's
just off in the middle of nowhere, up on top of a mountain. But
Milton took some dentists up there. See, this man that owns
a ranch down here, he buys coffee from them, so he knows them.
So that's the contact. He took Milton up there and introduced
him. And Milton took some dentists
up there to pull some of their teeth free. He made two or three
trips up there. And one time he went up and preached.
And some of them came to hear him. And they welcomed him up
there. So when we were there last year,
we went up there and took 50 boxes of groceries, the little
churches, Julian, the Chicken Ranch, the Ranch Coffee Ranch,
And Tewksford Church, these people starve when coffee's not in.
The men drink the money up and on and along when they don't
have coffee in season, the kids go hungry. And so we went up
there and Milton and these people got all these groceries, and
we took it up there, and we had that little village building
full. It was just plumb, full of people. And we had Walter preach, and
I preached, and Milton showed the female, and they heard him. And a few weeks later, they sent
a petition to Milton, signed by 35 people. Did he tell you
about this? Signed by 35 people. Come up and tell us about God. So while I was down there, we
went up, and they had reserved this house, and it was full. They were standing in the doors.
They were standing in the windows. And Milton preached, and I preached.
This is like apostolic times to me. I'm just so excited to
people that never heard the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ even
one time. Never even one time. All they've
known is Catholicism. And we preached, and they were
so warm and so friendly. And after the service, there's
a lady there. She has a lot of power in that
village. a lot of power. She came down
to the ranch, Corker Ranch to hear us, both years, and she's
the one that instigated all this. God's using her like one of those
New Testament ladies, you know. And she came up to Milton and
she said, now, come back. We need to, what was it? We need for you to tell us about
God, so come back. And I just, he's been back again
two or three times, going up every week now, having good services. He's so faithful, and I'll tell
you, it's just, we go down and visit, but they live down there. And the culture, well, Paul's
been a couple of times, he knows, and Mindy's been, and it's a
shock. It's a culture shock. It's all
the time. You just have to grit your teeth
and take the, whatever comes along with it. But I do appreciate. And same thing true in Africa.
I went over and visited Ken, and I just don't relish living
anywhere but in the good old United States of America, and
Virginia in particular, Kentucky. I tell you, it's just, we're
so blessed. But I thank God for these men.
I appreciate them and pray for them, and I appreciate your generosity
to them, your good gift for Brother Ken when he was here, and your
love for Milton, and your kindness to him, and prayers for him.
And there's some people down here in the gospel that believe
in him. And Milton's getting a hearing.
He's getting all he can do, all he can preach to. He spends so
much time on the road, he spends all day Saturday repairing his
truck. Henry, you know how that is. I mean, you They call those
roads radiator busters. You know how many times his radiator
was off that red truck, you know, red when he had up here last
time? Ten times. That's how many times the radiator
has been off that thing. To repack it. It just tires it
up on those roads. He put 250,000 miles on that
vehicle. But anyway, your work of faith
and labor of love and patience of hope, and I'm grateful Thank
God for you, our church at home. Without our help, these men cannot
be there. They've got to have our help
and our support, and I'm thankful. All right, Isaiah 43. I probably
shouldn't have taken all that time, but I do it at home. I tell our folks about the work.
They need to know because you're supporting it. Our folks need
to know what's going on. And the same thing's going on
up at Walter's. And we're blessed. Let me tell
you this, one more thing. We're so blessed to have these
veteran missionaries. Now, I know everybody has to
start, but God's blessed us to have Walter and Milton and Bill
Clark and Ken Wymer, who've all been on the field over 20 years.
I mean, they're veterans. And they're received, and God's
using them and blessing them, and that's our privilege, isn't
it? They have open doors. All right.
Chapter 43 of Isaiah. I call this message, The Believer's
Confidence. And I need some of that, don't
you? Assurance, hope, comfort, my people, the Lord says. Now
he says in verse one, but now thus saith the Lord that created
thee. The one who speaks here is our
God, our God who created all things for his glory. O Jacob,
and he that formed thee, O Israel. Now one of the first things to
determine is this, to whom is the Lord speaking? To whom is
the Lord speaking? He says, O Jacob. He says, O
Israel. Well, let me tell you this. He's
not speaking to national Israel. Now, I know there's a lot of
preachers today who are making much of the Jewish nation the
natural descendants of Abraham and Israel and talking about
all the promises to Israel and the promises to Jacob. Let me
tell you who Jacob is here and who Israel is. Jacob and Israel
here are the people of God. chosen by God, redeemed by God,
and called by the Spirit of God, who believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's who Israel is. That's who Jacob is. You see,
back in Old Testament days, there was a tabernacle. And that tabernacle
was where God met men. Our Lord Jesus Christ tabernacled
among us. This Old Testament tabernacle
is a type and picture of our Christ, our Lord. Back in Old
Testament days, there was a priesthood. This priesthood of Old Testament
days offered sacrifices. Now, there were many of them.
They lived and died. They offered blood sacrifices,
animal blood. They ministered in this earthly
sanctuary. Their ministry began and ended.
That priesthood is gone. It was a picture and type of
Christ, our great high priest. There was a mercy seat. picture
of Christ. The tabernacle, the priesthood,
the mercy seat are all gone. They served their day. They were
pictures in time. Israel, the nation, was a type,
a picture of spiritual Israel, of God's people out of every
tribe, kindred, nation, tongue unto heaven. Most of those Israelites
or Jews did not even know God. You see that? They didn't even
know God. And so when he speaks here, O
Jacob, O Israel, he's talking to me and to you, all believers
of all generations. You see that? Let me show you
that. Let me just read. Don't turn to these. Let me turn
quickly. Listen to this scripture in Romans 2. He's not a Jew,
which is one outwardly. Neither is that circumcision
which is outward in the flesh. He's a Jew which is one in which
they are." All right, listen to this. In Romans 9, our Lord
says this, in Romans 9, 6, "...not as though the word of God had
taken none effect, for they are not all Israel which are of Israel."
That's not Israel over there. I hear these preachers saying
that we've got to be good to those people over there because
that's Israel. We've got to send them bombs
and guns so they can kill each other and God's going to judge
us the way we treat that. That's not so. God's Israel is
every believer who knows Christ. They're not all Israel which
are of Israel, neither because they are the seed of Abraham
or their children. But in Isaac thy seed shall be
called. That is, they which are the children
of the flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children
of promise are counted for the same. Let me read you what Paul
says over here in Galatians. Now listen to this. Galatians
chapter 3 verse 7. Listen. Know ye therefore that
they which are of faith, they are the children of Abraham.
Those which are of faith in Christ are Israel, children of Abraham. Listen to this verse. And if
you be Christ, then are you Abraham's seed, and you heirs according
to promise. Listen to this one, Galatians
6. Paul said, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision
availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many
as walk according to this rule, listen, peace be on them and
mercy on the Israel of God. That's clear. So let that be
settled. When he says, when he says in
our text here, Isaiah 43, Thus saith the Lord that created thee,
O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel. He's talking to you
and me. and every believer. Why does
he call us sons of Jacob? You know that's used frequently
in the Bible, sons of Jacob, sons of Jacob. Let me show you
a few places in Isaiah 44. Turn over there. That's just
one page over. You'll find that quickly. Isaiah 44, verse 20,
23. Isaiah 44, 23, Sing, O ye heavens,
for the Lord hath done it. Shout, ye lower parts of the
earth. Break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every
tree. Therein for the Lord hath redeemed
Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel. He's redeemed Jacob.
They're talking about one man, sons of Jacob, in Israel. Let me show you another one.
Isaiah 45, just over one page, verse 19. Isaiah 45, verse 19. I have not spoken in secret in
a dark place of the earth. I said not to the seed of Jacob,
seek ye me in vain. I, the Lord, speak righteousness.
I declare things that are right. Seed of Jacob, sons of Jacob.
Remember that verse in Malachi 3, I am the Lord, I change not,
therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. So here in Isaiah
43, when he says, Thus saith the Lord that created thee, O
Jacob, he that formed thee, O Israel. He's talking to every believer.
Why does he call us sons of Jacob? Well, I think we identify with
old Jacob. We have his nature, aren't we? He's born a rebel. But you know he was loved of
God as we are. God said to Rebecca before the
children were born, Jacob have I loved. Before any good or evil
deed was done, Jacob have I loved. He said his love upon Jacob as
he said his love upon you. Secondly, he chose us just like
he did Jacob. He said, "...the children being
not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the
purpose of God according to election might stand, Jacob have I loved,
Esau have I hated." The pastor read that last night. He loved
Jacob. He chose Jacob. Thirdly, he met
Jacob and called him. Old Jacob had messed up at home,
hadn't he? He had turned his father against
him. all his friends against him, his brother against him,
he stole his brother's birthright. He was headed out of the country.
He was, Barnett said, skedaddling out of town, you know, trying
to get a stay ahead of the posse. And God met him out there. God
met, because he belonged to God. And the Lord crossed his path.
And as he lay there sleeping one night, God revealed himself
to him. That ladder that went to heaven,
you know, that's Redemption, that's Christ. It reached to
heaven and down to Jacob's head there. Called it the house of
God. And God said, Jacob, I'm your
God. I'll never leave you, never forsake
you. Walk before me. He met Jacob. And then I tell
you this, he changed his name, gave him a new name. Angel of
God wrestled with him one night. He said to the angel of the Lord,
he said, what's your name? He said, my name's Secret, Wonderful.
Who was that? That's Christ. He wouldn't tell. He said, My name's secret. It
ain't wonderful. He turned to Jacob and said,
What's your name? He said, Jacob. Cheat, supplanter, deceiver. But he said, Your name no more
will be Jacob. Your name will be what? Israel. Prince of God. Changed his name. Gave him a new name. And then
God, Why are we sons of Jacob? God loved us. God chose us. God
called us. God changed our names. natures
and art. And God kept Jacob till the end
of his days and took him home. And I tell you, God will keep
you, you sons of Jacob. Or what does He say to us? What
does He say to us? He says, Fear not. Fear not. Verse 1, Fear not. Says it again,
verse 5, Fear not. Fear not. Look back at Isaiah
41. Turn back a little bit. Isaiah
41, verse 8, look at this, But thou, Israel, art my servant,
Jacob, whom I have chosen, seed of Abraham my friend, thou whom
I have taken from the ends of the earth, called thee from the
chief men thereof, said unto thee, Thou art my servant, I
have chosen thee, and not cast thee away, fear thou not, I am
with thee, be not dismayed, I am thy God. I'll strengthen thee,
I'll help thee, I'll uphold thee with my right hand of my righteousness.
Don't be afraid. Look at verse fourteen, fear
not. Verse thirteen, Isaiah forty-one, thirteen, I, the Lord thy God,
will hold thy right hand, saying to thee, fear not, I'll help
you, fear not, you worm, Jacob. Wiggly maggot, somebody says
that means. And ye men of Israel, I'll help
you, saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
Don't be afraid. What do men generally fear? What do men and women generally
fear? Well, I know there are a lot
of little fears along the way, but I'm talking about basic.
We fear death. We fear judgment. We fear eternity. That's the major thing. Death,
judgment, eternity. Now, if a person does not fear
those things, One of three things is true. He's ignorant. He's been given a reason not
to fail. Now, I'm not ignorant of those
things. And you're not either. And I'm no fool, and you're not
either. But we have a reason not to fear death and judgment
and hell. Because our God here speaks confidence
and assurance to us in Him. Listen to it. Don't be afraid. Why shouldn't I be afraid? Because
I've redeemed you. And I want you to notice while
I give you these reasons why we don't fear death, judgment,
condemnation, sin, the curse of the law, the penalty of sin,
and death, and hell, and eternity without God. You know why? Nowhere
in these verses, as you'll note while we go along, does he talk
about what you did for him. He talks about what he did for
you. I've redeemed you. That is, I bought you back. I
paid the debt. I paid the sin debt. I put it
away. I've redeemed you from the curse of the law. Christ
has redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse
upon us. Read on. I called you by name. Do you believe that? Oh, I certainly
do. He said, I know my sheep. This
man that owns the ranch, the coffee ranch, Roberto, one day
he and Milton were riding in the truck. Milton was driving,
he was riding shotgun. And they used to ride that when
they go to some of these villages, usually he has a shotgun, because
they're dangerous places. But anyway, he was riding along
one day and he said to Milton, he said, you know, he said, you
said one time in a sermon that God sent you to Mexico to find
his sheep. You said God has a people of
sheep. that he has given to Christ,
and he calls by name. He said, Brother Milton, you
reckon I'm one of those you came down here to find? And Milton
said, that brought tears to my eyes. You reckon, you suppose
it might be possible that I'm one of those sheep? Well, he
calls them by name. Other sheep I have, which are
not of this folk, those disciples, he said, them I must and they'll
hear my voice. They will. They'll hear it. God'll
cross the path of his sheep. We're on the trail of his sheep.
We're not out here trying to turn goats into sheep. We're
out here looking for lost sons. That's right, there are sons.
There have always been sons. There are sons now. There'll
always be sons. There are sheep now. There have always been sheep.
There'll always be sheep. They're his sheep. They belong
to him. They may be lost. They may be wandering. They may
be ten thousand kinds of fools. But they're his sheep. And I
tell you, when they hear—you know how you can tell a sheep?
You know how you can tell a sheep? He'll hear the gospel. And he'll
believe it. And he'll receive it. Maybe not
overnight, but in God's own time, he'll hear that gospel now. He'll
hear it. And he'll believe it. Because
he calls—just like he walked by and said, Matthew, follow
me. James and John, follow me. He said to one of them, he said,
before Philip called you, I saw you over there on the fig tree.
Oh, I believe that. I'm just so convinced of that.
We're always successful. Like your dear pastor and I are
talking today. If a man loves God honestly in
his heart, loves his people, loves his Word, preaches on the
power of the Holy Spirit, he'll never fail. God uses his message. He'll use it either for salvation
or condemnation. He'll use it. It'll be a savor,
it'll be a sweet fragrance of life unto life or death unto
death. But when He preaches, something always happens. I believe
that. Something always happens. We
don't go in vain. It happens. This Word, He said,
My Word will not return unto Me, Boyd. It's going to accomplish
that whereunto I sent it. Well, if He doesn't send it,
we're in Void anyway, aren't we? Well, He sends it. I'll read
on. Verse 2, When you pass through
the waters, I'll be with you. When you pass through the rivers,
they'll not overflow you. Now, that may be the waters of
daily trials and troubles. That may be the waters of Jordan
that we're rapidly approaching. It won't overflow you like it
did Pharaoh's forces, because I'm going to be with you. You're
going to cross over on dry land, just like the Egyptians were
there and like old Elijah there on dry land. And when you walk
through the fire, And some of you have been through it, going
through it, and those that hadn't been through it will, because
we're going to have fiery trials. They try our faith. We've got
to have them. But he said, you'll not be burned. You'll not be
burned. You'll not be consumed. You'll
be like the Hebrew children in the fire furnace. There'll be
one in there with you, like the Son of God. And you'll come out
without even the smell of fire on you. Neither shall the flame
kindle you. Why? Because I made my profession.
No. Because I was baptized and joined
the church? No. Because I paid my tithe on
a regular basis? No. Because I'm the Lord your
God. That's why. I'm the Holy One
of Israel. I'm your Savior. That's why you
won't be burned. And that's why you won't be overflowed.
And that's why the fire won't kindle upon you. Because I'm
your God. I'm your Savior. I'm Jehovah
Redeemer. I gave Egypt for your ransom,
Ethiopia and Cebu for you." Who are those? Those are enemies
of the people of God. Egypt held them captive. Egypt
kept them in bondage. Egypt mistreated its people,
and God destroyed a nation for His people. And I'll tell you
this, I really believe this, that there's certain areas blessed
because God's people are there. And there's certain areas under
judgment because of the treatment of God's people. That's right. The whole—all things are yours,
he said. The world, life, and heaven,
Christ, the apostle, God, are yours. This world is going like
it is because God Almighty purposed it, and he's calling out his
people. And whatever's taking place in
a certain location or wherever it is, God is doing it for the
benefit of his people. He said, I'll sacrifice whole
nations for you. That's what it says there, isn't
it? I gave them for you, just for
you. Since thou was one, because he
was precious in my sight. Boy, I tell you, there's nothing
precious about us, is there? I can't find anything. We're
not valuable, we're not precious in ourselves, but we're precious
to God because we belong to Christ. And he says, Since thou hast
been honorable, and I've loved you. I've loved you." That's
the basis of the whole thing. It's not because you love God
because He loves you. We love Him because He loves
us. You know, I heard a preacher preach one time on hearing is
love, and he pointed at different examples of love—a mother's love,
a husband's love for his dear wife, a love of a of a father
for a son, of this love." He said, now that's all love, but
he said, here is love. You want to say love? Here is
love. Not that we love God, but He loved us and gave His Son
to be the propitiation for our sins. Now that's love. That's
love. And it's love for the unlovely.
You know, there's something about—usually if we love somebody, it's because
there's something about them or in them that draws our love.
But God loved us. The only reason He found was
in Himself, not in us. There's nothing about us lovable.
Did you ever read the book of Hosea? I know you have. But the
first three chapters of Hosea are an unusual picture. God came
to one of his prophets by the name of Hosea, and he said, Hosea,
I want you to go down to a pagan, heathen land of hoarding, a land
of hoarding, prostitution. That's the way of life down there.
And I want you to choose one of those girls and marry her.
I want you to love her. He didn't say just marry her.
He said go love a woman in that land. Love her and marry her.
Because I want to show the children of Israel how much I love them.
That's what he said, wasn't it? So he went down and married her.
She was probably 14 or 15, 16. That's when they married exactly.
Brought her home. She bore him a son, bore him
a daughter, bore him another one. And then she went right
to the practice of her, where she was raised, where she was
brought up, what she understood. She left it. and just went around
to all of her friends and lovers, you know, just lived. He said,
say to your mother, return home. No, she wouldn't. She stayed
gone. But he still loved her. He would take gifts to her, put
outside her door. He'd put barley, he'd put food,
he'd put all wine, all kind of things. She thought her lovers
were leaving those things. He was feeding her while she
was out there. And then she was brought down.
God brought her down. Oh, what a mess she was in. God brought her down, and she
was for sale on an auction block. And God came to Hosea and said,
go yet, oh, what a word, yet, and love a woman that is born
of Horeb, and show the children of Israel how much I love them.
So Hosea went down and bought her. He bought her. Don't you know that crowd laughed
at him? There she stood up there being auctioned off the shell
of what she was. But he bought her for 15 pieces
of silver and an omer of barley and took her home. Cause he loved
her. And God said, that's how I love
you. Now that's love. And that's the reason. He said,
you don't have to be afraid. You don't have to fear it, because
you're precious to me, and I love you. And look at verse 4, And
therefore I'll give men for thee. He gave thee man for us, I tell
you that. And people for thy life. Verse
5, Don't be afraid, I'm with you. I'll bring thy seed from
the east and gather them from the west, Mexico, Australia. I was preaching down in Australia,
and they put out some handbills. I got a letter from a fellow
a year later after I came home. He said, I'm twenty-five years
old, twenty-four years old. He said, the first twenty-three
years of my life, I had no thought of God, the Bible, church, or
anything. And he said, I got concerned
about my soul, and I bought a Bible. And he said, I started reading
it. And he said, I started going to churches, but I couldn't find
any answers. All I found was ritualism and
religion. And he said, I found a handbill
advertising a gospel meeting of a preacher from Kentucky named
Mayhem. And he said, I went to hear you,
and I got my answer. And he said, I want you to know
the Lord saved me. And since you were here preaching
at Smithfield Baptist Church, I haven't missed a service the
whole year. The Lord's done a work in my
life." He said, I could go on. You remember the letter? Go on
writing. And where are you at talking about the glory of my
Lord? From the east, the west. He says in verse six, I'll say
to the north, give them up. I'll say to the south, keep them
not back. Bring my sons from far and my daughters from the
end of the earth. everyone that is called by my
name. I've created him for my glory. I've created him and recreated
him. Created in Christ Jesus for my
glory. Why? For my glory. I have formed
him. Yea, I've made him. So bring
forth the blind people that have eyes. I heard you say that in
your prayer. Give sight to the blind eye and
ears to the deaf. Deaf people don't hear. Some
of them do. Blind people don't see. Some
of them do. If God opens their eyes, they'll see. God opens
ears. That's what he said to Peter.
He said, Whom do you say I am? He said, You're the Son of God.
He said, Blessed are your eyes, they see. Those folks have eyes
and they don't see. They have ears and they don't
hear. Blessed are your eyes, they see. Your ears, they hear.
That's what he's saying there. So let all the nations be gathered
together, if that were possible. Billions of people. All the nations. Let the people be assembled.
Now, here's a question. Who among them can declare this
and show us former things? And you know what that's saying?
That's saying that all the people be gathered, of all nations,
of all people, of all tongues everywhere, all the different
religions, all the different gods, all their different ritualism,
all these things. Now, answer me a question. Who
among you can declare the end from the beginning? Who among
you can declare the end from the beginning? Who among you
can say what's going to happen after a thousand years? Can you? Look at Isaiah 41, verse 16.
Turn to Isaiah 41, 16. Listen to this. Isaiah 41, 26. I beg
your pardon. Isaiah 41, 26. Isaiah 41, 26. Who hath declared from the beginning, that we may
know, and before time, that we may say, He is righteous. Yea,
there's none that showeth. Yea, there's none that declareth.
There's none that heareth your word. You can't declare the end
from the beginning, but our God can. Our God can. Now read on, Isaiah 43, 10, back
to our text, verse 9. Let all the nations be gathered
together and all the people be assembled. Who among them can
declare this and show us former things? Let him bring forth their
witnesses that they may be justified in their claims. They claim to
be God. Let them declare what's going to be, or let them hear
and say, This is the truth. This is our God. Do you know
that everything that happened to Calvary was prophesied here
in the Old Testament? piercing of his hands, plucking
of his beard, spitting upon his face, selling for thirty pieces
of silver, crucifying on the cross, all of those things. What
they said is they danced around the cross. You see, these people
did what they wanted to do, but doing what they wanted to do,
they fulfilled what God willed to be done. And everybody who's
saved and when he'll be saved and how he'll be saved is decreed
by God from before the foundation of the world. That's right. That's
right. Verse 10, "'You are my witnesses,'
said the Lord, "'my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know
and believe and understand that I am he.'" When you see those
three words, "'that you may know and believe and understand that
I am he,' what verse comes to your mind? Verse 520, "'The Son
of God hath come and given us an understanding.'" that we may
know Him that is true, and that we're in Him that is true. This
is the true God, and this is eternal life. And these things
are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, and
believing you might have life through His name. You're my witnesses. I've chosen you, and you know,
you believe, and you understand that I'm He before me, There
was nothing formed of God. That's what that's saying, Senator
Reckless. Neither shall there be after me. I even, I am the
Lord. Beside me there's no Savior.
I've declared it, I've saved, and I've showed when there was
no strange God among you, therefore you're my witnesses, saith the
Lord, that I'm God. You have the witness in yourself. And listen, yea, before the day,
before the day was, I am He. and there's none that can deliver
out of my hand. I'll work, and who shall turn
it back? That's what that says. I'll work,
and who shall turn it back? I tell you, he that hath begun
a good work in you, he's gonna perform it and perfect it and
finish it in the day of Jesus Christ. Salvations of the Lord. I heard that message in 1950.
I was religious, involved in religion, been to preacher school,
pastor of a church three years, didn't know anything about the
gospel. And I heard the gospel of God's particular, effectual,
sovereign, redeeming grace. I studied it, looked into it,
heard it, found out who God is, who Christ is, what Christ did,
his people. I believe that that's forty-one,
two years ago. And I'm more convinced of it
as I stand before you tonight than I was even back then. I
know some folks claim that they sort of get a little mellower,
get rotten, you know. That's what mellow is, is rotten. As they get older, I'm more,
I hope I'm mellowing in spirit and attitude. But I'll tell you,
I know whom I have to leave. And I'm persuaded He's able to
keep that which I've committed to Him. And that commitment was
by His grace. I was made willing in the day
of His power. It's God that saved me. I made no contribution to
it then, I make no contribution to it now, and I'll make no contribution
to it when He calls me on. It's a gift of His sovereign
grace. And that's not hard, that's just so. I'm the Lord, He said,
I'll work. And nobody's gonna turn it back.
Nobody's gonna change it. There's no need warning you,
but the warning needs to be sounded. Don't try to take the edge off
the gospel to satisfy an actual man. Don't do that. Don't compromise that which is
dearest to the heart of God ever. I don't care ever for any reason. Love people, be kind to people,
invite people, pray for people, but honor and glorify God. His Word is true. I wouldn't
compromise it. I'd lay down my life or I'd compromise
that gospel. I can compromise, Jones, some
areas, and, you know, I don't have to fuss and fight over everything,
but I will over the gospel, because I know this gospel. It's the
gospel of the grace, the grace of God. And nothing before I
say contribute in anything to that
salvation, and nothing I do after. That verse, that chapter 43 says
it. You're not consumed because sons
of Jacob, because I don't change. That's the reason. All right.
Thank you, Father. We're thankful. That's a blessing. Glad God sent
you. Let's stand and be dismissed
in prayer. We praise Thee, our great God,
the great I Am. Thank You for all that You have
done. It's not the works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to Your mercy, Your grace, You've
saved us. And we thank You. All praise,
honor, and glory belongs unto thee. We thank you for this message. We thank you for your word. And
we ask that you would apply it to our hearts for your glory,
for our good, our comfort. In Christ's blessed name we pray.
Amen. You're dismissed. I.

The Believer's Confidence

What does the Bible say about God's love for His people?

How do we know our salvation is secure in Christ?

Why is it important for Christians to have confidence in their faith?

What does Isaiah 43 teach about God's sovereignty and His people?

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The Believer's Confidence

What does the Bible say about God's love for His people?

How do we know our salvation is secure in Christ?

Why is it important for Christians to have confidence in their faith?

What does Isaiah 43 teach about God's sovereignty and His people?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

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