Going back to Isaiah 43. Isaiah 43. I've been kind of picking and choosing as I go
through Isaiah here. I preached from Isaiah 42 several
weeks ago, so I thought I would pick up at chapter 43. But before
I forget, because I know I will, Tom Harding called me about,
you know, they're putting Henry's sermons up on sermonaudio.com. And he wanted to know if we could
help him some financially. He just wanted me to send him
$100 a month. I said, oh, we can do that. But he told me that
he sent me actually, I'm going to put it up on a bulletin board
here, he sent me a list of all the downloads and the stuff that's
going on with that ministry right now. It's just phenomenal what's
happening. And he told me that I think Jason
had featured a Sermon of Henry's back a little while ago. I don't
know exactly when it was, but it was back a little while ago.
And what you do, you pay $50 for 24 hours, $50, and it features
that speaker. So when that happened, Tom said,
it has just gone plum wild. It went from 200 a day to almost
500 a day now in downloads since that happened. So what he's wanting
to do is, us, Donnie Bell and Charlie and, of course, Tom,
has featured one or two of those. I think he was saying either
a month. I think it's a month. He's talking about featuring
a couple of them a month, two or three a month or something like that.
And some other things. He's supposed to send me some
more information on what they're doing, so I won't sound so scatterbrained. I'm giving you the part of our
conversation that we had the other day. But there have been
over 75,000 downloads now since they put that up. It's amazing. Actually, there's a church, a
small group now that started down in Kingsport, Tennessee
from that ministry on the internet. That's how that started. And
that's the young man that's really got into putting all those up
on the internet. And it's just, it's amazing. I said, yeah, let us in on it.
Let us in on it. Okay, Isaiah 43. I titled this,
I have created him for my glory. I thought the sooner I realized
that, the better. I have created you for my glory. I want you to look back up in
chapter 42. Look in verse 22. But this is a people robbed and
spoiled. They are all of them snared in
holes and they are hid in prison houses, they are for a prey,
and none delivereth for a spoil, and none saith restore. Who among
you will give ear to this? Who will hearken and hear for
the time to come? Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and
Israel to the robbers? Did not the Lord, he against
whom we have sinned? For they would not walk in his
ways, neither were they obedient unto his law. Therefore he hath
poured upon him the fury of his anger and the strength of battle,
and it hath set him on fire round about. Yet he knew not, and it
burned him. Yet he laid it not to heart."
Now you would think, after reading that, the end of that chapter,
that this is going to be really bad. You would think, after reading
that, that Israel, boy, you're just going to be totally annihilated.
But all of a sudden, In all of this gloom right here at the
end of this chapter, the sun shines again. The sun breaks
forth and is shining. He speaks of mercy. After speaking
of this, he speaks of mercy. I noticed this as Frank was reading. I didn't catch it until after
he was reading here. In verse 26, he said, Put me
in remembrance. Let us plead together. Declare
thou that thou mayest be justified. Thy first father has sinned,
and thy teachers have transgressed against me. Therefore I have
profaned the princes of the sanctuary, and have given Jacob to the curse,
and Israel to reproaches." But now look what the next chapter
says, "'Yet now hear, O Jacob, my servant, and Israel, whom
I have chosen, thus saith the Lord, that made thee and formed
thee from the womb which will help thee. Fear not.'" Again,
the sun shines again. The Son of Mercy shines again.
It's like over in Ephesians 2. Paul says that you were children
of wrath by nature, even as others. He says that you were dead in
trespasses and sins. And then he says, but God. But
God, who is rich in mercy for His great love wherewith He loved
us. Right when it looks the bleakest
and the worst, the Son of Mercy shines through. And then here
in verse one of this chapter, he says to them, fear not. Fear
not, Jacob. Fear not, Israel. No one can
set their foot against you and prosper. No one can do that.
Who do we have to fear if God is our keeper? Go over and read
Psalm 121. The Lord is thy keeper. He is thy shade upon thy right
hand. Who do we have to fear if He's
our keeper? If God be for us, Now you tell me this, who can
be against us? If God is for me, if He is for
me and saving me, put away my sins, if He's the one who put
them away, who can be against me? Who can be against me? Fear in these earthly things
shows a lack of faith in God. That's what it shows. It shows
a lack of faith in God Almighty. When those two blind men, they
ask for their sight, They said, Lord, we want to see. Give us
our sight. And the Lord asked them, He said,
Do you believe that I'm able to do this? Do you believe I'm
able to save you? Do you believe I'm able to put
away your sins? Do you believe that? I say this
to you and to me. Let's trust Him and fear not. Let's trust Him and fear not.
And then He says this, I created thee, I'm the one who created
you. Without me, you wouldn't even have an existence. I created
thee, I formed thee. God will not lose that which
He's made for Himself. If God has made me, if God has
made you, formed you, created you for Himself, I assure you
He won't lose you. He will not lose you. The Scripture
says in Ephesians 2, we are the believer. We are His workmanship
created in Christ Jesus. Look over in Psalm 100. This
is a precious psalm. Psalm 100. In verse 3 of Psalm 100. Know
ye that the Lord, He is God. It is He that hath made us and
not we ourselves. He made us believers. He made
us. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. And not
only has He created us, He says, I have redeemed thee. You sold
yourselves under sin. But I have redeemed thee. Not
only has He formed us, but He's paid a great price for us. A
great, a great price He's paid for us. God has redeemed us by
the blood of His own Son. What a price. What a price to
pay. We are bought by the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, I have redeemed you. I created you. I formed you. And I have bought you. My soul. What more assurance do we need
than that? That we are His. Thou art mine. I tell you, doesn't grace and
mercy and love just drip off these verses? Thou art mine. That ought to
enable you to go to bed tonight and rest. You're mine. I'm God's. I belong to Him. He made me. He bought me. I'm
His. Thou art mine by creation. He
made us. He made us a new creation in
the Lord Jesus Christ. And we are His by purchase. I
have redeemed you, He says. Thou art mine. So, fear not. Fear not. Oh, if we can get a hold of this,
it'll quiet our fears that He made us, He bought us where He
is. And He's promised His protection.
When thou passest, when you pass through the waters, I will be
with thee. And through the rivers, they
won't overflow thee. And the fires, they won't burn
you. And you know what these are? This water, these rivers, and
these fires, it's the trials of life. That's what he's saying. The trials of life, that's what
he's saying. The trials of life will not overcome
you. They will not destroy you. Not
at all. They won't hurt you. When these
trials come, as they did on Israel of old, God said, I'll be with
you. I won't stand and watch you go
through them. I'll be with you." Is not Christ in you? Does the
Scripture not say Christ is in you? He says, when you go through
these trials, I'll be with you. And we can take comfort in this,
that the one who sends our trials, these trials of life that we
are going to go through, is the Holy One of Israel. And what's that say? What does
that say to me and to you? It says this, the Holy One of
Israel can do no wrong. Everything He does is right.
He can do no wrong. He wouldn't be holy. This is
the Holy One of Israel. Everything He does is right.
And if He sends something my way, it's right. It's right,
even though I don't understand it. And I don't understand most
of what's going on. I can tell you, I don't understand
most of it. But I understand something about
the One who's given us the trials. And you know why He does it?
He does this to conform us to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. These trials that come our way
conform us to the image of Christ. Then He says to them, I am thy
Savior. There in verse 3, I am thy Savior.
What comfort, this ought to give us, what comfort to know that
our Savior is the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. He's real. This God, the God
of the Bible, the God of Israel, the God of Jacob, the God and
Father of the Lord Jesus Christ is real. And He's our God. He's our God and our Savior.
I am thy, I'm your Savior. I'm your Savior. He says here
to Israel, I gave Egypt a ransom for you. I gave Egypt for thy
ransom, Ethiopia and Sheba for thee. God destroyed those nations
for Israel and gave Israel their lands. But listen, He said, I gave Egypt
as a ransom for you. I gave Ethiopia and Seba, but
you know what He gave for you? The true Israel of God. You know
what He gave for the true Israel of God? His Son. All of Egypt,
all of Ethiopia, and all of Seba could not redeem my soul, but
He gave His Son. He gave His Son as a ransom. God, it says in the Scripture,
spared not His own Son, but freely gave Him up. He delivered Him
up for us all. Shall He not with Him also freely,
without charge, give us all things? He will. And you know why He's done this?
It says there in verse 4, Because you are precious in My sight.
This is why I've given my Son for you. This is why I've created
you. This is why I've redeemed you. This is why I've loved you.
You're precious in my sight." And the only thing that I could
think that even comes close to this is how precious your children
are in your sight. What would you give for them?
What would you give for your children that are precious in
your sight? You'd give everything you've
got. And God gave us the best. He gave us His Son. And that's why even our death
is precious in His sight. You know why death is precious
in His sight? Because we're going home. Don't
you like to see your children come over? Don't you like to
see your little girls leave home? You wait. When they come back,
precious in your sight. And the reason the death of a
believer is precious in his sight is because it's time to come
home. And they're going to be home, and they're going to enjoy
it. They're going to see what home is really like. And then
he says, Thou hast been, since it was precious in my sight,
he said, Thou hast been honorable, and I have loved Thee. Do you
know why we are honorable? Because He made us so. He's my
honor. He's our honor. He has made us
honorable. Our honor lies in the fact that
we are, listen, sons and daughters of the King. That's our honor. Son of God. Now are you the sons
of God. Now. Not going to be. I am now.
That's your honor. Sons and daughters of the King. Someday we'll rejoice in that
like we ought to. Therefore, he says, I will give
men for thee. And this is why he's saying,
I will kill if I have to, if it need be. Put it that way.
If it need be, I will kill people. I'll destroy a nation for my
people. I'll do that. You say, would God do that? Would
God really kill a nation or a people for His elect? Well, you know,
we took the Lord's table last Wednesday night. Whose firstborn
died and whose firstborn lived? The firstborn of Egypt died,
but the firstborn of Israel lived. And God killed the firstborn
of Egypt so that he might deliver his people out of Egypt. He said,
I'll give men, I'll give men for thee. Therefore, he says,
fear not. How many times does he say this?
Fear not. Why? For I am with thee. Verse 5.
Fear not, I am with thee. God is going to destroy this
world for us. If a mad dog came in this room,
wouldn't you kill it? Wouldn't you shoot that thing?
You would. You'd protect the kid. You'd
get the children out of the way and you'd shoot that dog. God's
going to destroy this world. He's going to shoot that dog.
He's going to protect His children. We're not going to have to deal
with this issue and presence of sin ever again. Ever again. Oh, He says, Fear not, I am with
thee. I will bring thy seed from the
east, west, north, and south. He knows where He's elected.
He knows where every one of them is at. He knows. He knows where
you live, and you live, and you live, and He knows where I live.
He knows where every one of us is at. I don't know. That's why
we send the gospel out. That's why we send the gospel
out. But we send the gospel out knowing this. Our God knows.
He knows where every one of us is at. And He says, I'll bring
them. I will bring them. I'll bring thy seed from the
east and the west and north and south. Not one of them shall
perish. Scripture says, he shall see
at the travail of his soul and be satisfied. Not one of them
shall perish. And the only reason that this
world is still standing is because he's still bringing his sheep
in. Just like that small congregation down there in Kingsport, Tennessee.
It didn't even exist a few months ago. Now, Tom has been going
down there every Sunday morning preaching, or every Sunday after
his service. He drives down to Kingsport,
Tennessee, and he said he preached about 25. First time, I was about
15 there last week. I'll bring, I'll bring, Dicey,
from the east, the west, the north, the south, even everyone
that's called by my name. Everyone that my name is upon.
When I married Vicki, she took my name. She's called by my name. She's not called by her maiden
name anymore. She's called by Chapman. We're now called Christians.
Christ followers. They were first called Christians
at Antioch. But he says, everyone that is called by my name. God
has given us His name. I have a son sitting over here
that bears my name. And every one of his sons and
daughters that bears his name He says, I'm bringing him home.
I'm not one that's going to be left. And here's what it's all
about here in verse 7. I have created him for my glory. Now, as worthless as I am, as
worthless as we are by nature, you know what we are by nature.
We've been well taught that. By the Scriptures, by the Spirit
of God, and through a faithful gospel the pastor of all those
years. Yet, he says, I've created Him. I've created John, Frank, and
I can go through here and just name names. I'm not going to
start naming everybody. I've created Him for my glory. This is why God has called you
by His grace. It's because He's created you
for His glory. And I tell you what, The vast
part, the biggest part of that glory is yet to be revealed.
This is not it. This is not it. I mean the greatest
part of it is yet to be revealed. I've created Him for my glory,
trophies of His grace. And then in challenges in verse
8 and 9, He gives a challenge. He said, let those who worship
these false gods who say that they have eyes but see and see
not ears but hear not. Let them declare the former thing.
Let them declare things that are coming and see if it happens.
That's what he's saying. That's what he's saying. Let
them demonstrate their powers as I have, as I have to my people. They can't. They're dumb idols.
They're just dumb pieces of wood. That's all they are. But you,
he says, You are my witnesses. Every child of God is a witness.
Not just me standing here. Every child of God is a witness. You are my witnesses and you
shall know and believe me. And you are going to understand,
listen, you are going to understand this, that I am God. I am God. And all that that word
means. I am God and beside me there
is none else. You hear what he's saying? I
have chosen you. You know the Lord has mercy on
whom he'll have mercy and whom he will, he passes by. That's
the Bible. That's the Word of God. That's the truth. But he
says, I have chosen you. Here's what he said, I have chosen
you to know me. I've chosen you to know me. And
understand this, that I'm God. Our Lord said this, this is life
eternal. Everybody wants to live forever.
He said this is life eternal. And He's talking about the quality
of it, not the length of it. This is life eternal. To know
God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. That's life. This ought to make us stand in
awe that I, a sinner, ungodly, should be reconciled to God and
know Him. That He had chosen me to know
Him. And to know Him as the only Savior
and the only God. He says in verse 12 through 14,
I am God, I have declared, I have showed, and you know it. You know this. Don't you know
the gospel? You know it's the truth. The
gospel is preached and you say, I see, I understand. God said,
I have declared and you have showed and I have showed and
you know. I have acted in mercy toward
you and you know it. You can't have mercy, I mean
saving mercy and not know it. He said, you know this. And there is none, he says, there
is none that can deliver out of my hand. I am the only sovereign
of the universe. Our Lord said no man can pluck
the sheep out of his hand, none. No man can take them out of my
hand. And for your sakes, he said, for your sakes, I have
destroyed Babylon. You realize, and this is not
stretching it, This is not stretching it. You realize that all the
events of this life are for the elect's sake. All the events that are going
on that we don't understand and we get all up in the air about. All the events of this life are
for our sakes. Bringing us to the point where
we are. And someday bringing this thing
to a close. He said in verse 15, I am the
Lord, your Creator. Listen to me. That's what he's
saying. Listen to me. I made a way of
escape for you when you were in trouble. I divided the sea. And you know that. It's quite
a miracle. Here they are standing. There's a Red Sea right in front
of them. God just parted. He just split that thing. And
they walked over on dry ground. I made a way of escape for you
when you were in trouble. I divided the sea and led you
safely across. I destroyed your enemies. I drowned
every one of them in the depths of the sea." They thought they
could cross over on that same path. What was safety for them
became death to the others. Listen, Christ, the Lord Jesus
Christ, has made us and not we ourselves, and He has conquered
He has conquered all our enemies, and He is seated at God's right
hand interceding for us. I made a way. Do you know who
that way is? Christ. He said, I am the way,
the truth, and the life. God said, I made a way for you.
Christ is that way. He's that way. And remember,
he says in verse 18, remember the former things of old. We're
so prone to forget the mercies of God. He says, remember those
things. While you're sitting there in
the house and you're wringing your hands and you're worried
to death, you're not going to make it, how about just remembering
what you've already been delivered from? Look back. He's telling
these Israelites, look back at the Red Sea. Look at Jordan. You went across Jordan. It parted. So whenever you get anxious and
worrisome, just remember the former things of old. Just look
back and look at the things He's already delivered you from. You
think He's going to change? God changes not. He said, I'm the
Lord. I change not. I change not. Remember the former things of
old. Now He says, I'll do a new thing.
I'll do something unheard of. I'm going to save some sinners.
I'm going to do a new thing. I'm going to save some Gentiles."
They hadn't heard of that. They hadn't heard of the Gentiles
being brought in. He said, I'm going to do a new
thing. I'm going to save some sinners. I'm going to have mercy on some
sinners. I'm going to have mercy on some guilty people. And you
will know it because I declare it to you. I'm telling you about
it now because when it happens, you'll know it. I'm going to make a way, he says,
in the wilderness. This is what I want to do. Here's
a new thing I'm going to do. I'm going to make a way in the
wilderness and rivers in the desert. Well, who is the way
in this wilderness of sin? Who is the way in this old wilderness
that we live and travel through? Christ. Christ. He said, I'm going to make a
way in the wilderness. Well, he did. And Christ is that way.
He's the way for both Jew and Gentile. He's the way of acceptance. And He's the water of life in
this desert land. Oh, would the God that He enabled
us to drink of Him a little bit tonight. If we could just drink
of Him tonight and grab a hold of what's being said right here,
our thirst would be quenched. He said, I'm going to make a
way in the wilderness and rivers and the desert. And he's speaking
there of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the water of life. He's
the way to God. And the beast of the field is
going to honor me. Yes, the beast of the field.
You know what that is? That's me. That's me. The vilest of men shall honor
a man. You say, well, I'm not being
like a beast. You have got to leave your love. It would just
absolutely shock you if God would draw His hand what you'd do. The Jews, they looked upon us
Gentiles like beasts of the field, dogs, what they called us. All
that He has made shall honor Him. Creation itself shall magnify
His name. And again, He repeats His purpose.
He says, have I farmed for myself, they shall show forth my praise.
Notice he says this, they shall. Now if you left it up to us,
we'd mess up. I mean, we'd just mess it all
up. We'd be throwing songbooks and everything else. We'd do
all the goofy stuff. But he says, they are going to
show forth my praise. These people, they're going to
show forth my praise. They're going to sing with an
understanding. They're going to pray with an
understanding. They're going to praise me with an understanding.
They're going to show forth my praise. He has made us for Himself. We shall praise Him with our
hearts and lips for His mercy to us in Christ. But listen,
we're not without sin, are we? We've never said that. We're
not without sin. He said, You've not called upon
Me This is one of the things that
I think about often. I think often, what an audience
I have with God and how little use of it I make. Really, how
little use of it we make. And we have 24-7 to come into
His presence. He doesn't say, well, you can
come in here at 3 o'clock, but after 3, I'm busy. I've got the
door shut. We can come into His presence
at any given time. through the blood, through the
righteousness of Christ, and yet how little I make of it.
I don't know about you. You know yourself. I know myself.
And then it says here, Thou hast not bought me the small cattle
or the lambs of Thy burnt offerings. In other words, you're still
looking after yourself first. Still doing that. Well, if I
give this, I might be broke all week. Still looking after myself
first. I do. But listen, but he says, I, even I, am he that blotteth out
thy transgressions, even the ones I have now. I, even I, he says that, he just
restates that, I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions
for my own sake. and will not remember thy sins."
The Scripture says, it's of the Lord's mercies that we are not
consumed. The Scripture says, He has not
dealt with us after our sins nor rewarded us according to
our iniquities. Now let me close. He says, put me in remembrance.
Declare and believe what I've done for you in Christ, in my
Son. that you may be justified. In
verse 26, put me in remembrance. Declare and believe what I've
done for you. This is what He's saying, in
my Son that you may be justified. There's a scripture that says
this, by thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words
thou shalt be condemned. Put me in remembrance and declare.
I tell you, this people, Have I formed for myself, they shall
show forth my praise." And you know what? That will never end.
He said, I have formed, I have created this people for myself,
for my praise, my glory, my honor, and we've just begun. There will
be no end to this praise and honor of God. We'll just go from
here. trying to do it, do it best we
can, with the help of His Spirit, to someday doing it perfectly.
Absolutely perfectly. Okay, Mike.