Turn with me please to the book
of Isaiah that Don used to say the gospel of Isaiah. There is
so much good stuff in this book. I can see why he used to refer
to it as such. Isaiah 43. Isaiah 43. I want
to look at the first 13 verses of
this. There is so much good things
to be found in these verses. I read back in the study Isaiah
44, the following chapter, and much of what is said in Chapter
43 is repeated, maybe not verbatim, but in spirit. In Chapter 44. And I've titled this message
after the words that we find in verse one, Words that we can
rejoice over, spoken by our God, thou art mine. We'll read the first 13 verses.
Of Isaiah 43, but now, thus saith the Lord that created thee, O
Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, fear not. For I have redeemed thee, I have
called thee by thy name, thou art mine. When thou passest through
the waters, I will be with thee. and through the rivers, they
shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, thou shall not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. Why? For I am the Lord thy God,
the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. I gave Egypt for thy ransom,
Ethiopia and Sheba for thee. Since I was precious in my sight,
thou has been honorable and I have loved thee. Therefore, will I
give men for thee and people for thy life. Fear not, for I
am with thee. I will bring thy seed from the
east and gather thee from the west. I will say to the north,
give up, and to the south, keep not back. Bring my sons from
afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth. Even everyone
that is called by my name, for I have created him for my glory. I have formed him. Yea, I have
made him bring forth the blind people that have eyes and the
deaf that have ears. Let all the nations be gathered
together. Let the people be assembled.
Who among them can declare this and show us former things? Let
them bring forth their witnesses that they may be justified or
let them hear and say it is truth. Ye are my witnesses, saith the
Lord and my servant whom I have chosen. that you may know and
believe me and understand that I am he. Before me, there was
no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I am the Lord, and beside
me there is no savior. I have declared and have saved. I have showed when there was
no strange God among you. Therefore, you are my witnesses,
saith the Lord, that I am God. Yea, before the day was, I am
he, and there is none that can deliver out of my hand. I will
work, and who shall let it? Our God begins, verse one, by
telling us who it is that's speaking. He that formed thee. And we know,
from what we're told in the first chapter of the Gospel of John,
who it is that formed us. It was the Lord Jesus Christ
himself who made all things. That word tells us, and without
him was not anything made that was made. Then we find out who
this God is addressing, O Jacob and O Israel, two names that
were given to one man. We find in the scriptures that
this renaming of Jacob took place twice when his name was changed
from Jacob to Israel. The first time is in Genesis
32, when Jacob was returning from living with Laban, and he
encounters an angel on the way and wrestled with him. And Jacob
asked the angel for his blessing, after which the angel asked,
what is thy name? And when he replied, Jacob, the
angel said to him, thy name shall be no more called Jacob, but
Israel. For as a prince has that power
with God and with men, and has prevailed. And the second time
that we find Jacob being renamed is found in Genesis 35, where
we read in verse nine and God appeared under Jacob again when
he came out of Paternarum and blessed him. And God said unto
him, thy name is Jacob. Thy name shall not be called
anymore Jacob, but Israel shall thy name be called. But those
who are truly being addressed in these verses or in this first
verse is not particularly the man Jacob, but rather God's true
church, the true Israel, his elect bride. As he did to Jacob, so he does
to the elect. We have two names. Our first name was lost, but
now we are called found. Our first name was ungodly. But
now we read in Jeremiah, speaking of the chosen of God. And this
is the name whereby she shall be called the Lord, our righteousness,
speaking of God's church. Our first name was children of
wrath, even as others. With nothing to look forward
to, but eternal damnation, and now we're called children of
promise with the most blessed future imaginable. And then God
comforts His people by saying these words, fear not. Which
is all well and good for someone to say. We've seen movies before
where maybe somebody's trapped in a building cave-in and they'll
tell each other, don't be afraid, it's going to be alright. But
when you tell someone fear not, you need to give them a reason
that they don't need to fear. You can't just say to someone
that's in dire trouble, Now don't be afraid, it's going to be alright.
So our God follows these words, fear not, with the best reason
ever given, not to be afraid. He says, for I have redeemed
thee. No matter what else comes to
pass in our life, after we hear those words spoken by the very
mouth of the sovereign God of this universe, we have nothing
to fear. And we're told that He has already
redeemed us long, long ago before the foundation of this world
was ever set in place. It's said in the past tense,
I have redeemed thee. It's already done. Paul told
the Galatians, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law
being made a curse for us. Being made a curse in our place,
standing as our substitute. And this will be our eternal
theme song in heaven. When we read in Revelation, it
says, And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take
the book and to open the seals thereof, for thou was slain and
hast redeemed us unto our God by thy blood out of every kindred
and tongue and people and nation. And not only do we have the promise
of redemption, the next words we read in verse one of Isaiah
here are this. I have called thee, By thy name,
we're told not to fear. We're told he's redeemed us,
and we're told that he has called us by our name. In that great
exposition that our Lord gave on the Good Shepherd in John
10, he said this, He that entereth him by the door is the shepherd
of the sheep. To him the porter openeth, and
the sheep hear his voice, and he calleth his own sheep by name
and leadeth them out. And then he says in verse 27
of that chapter, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and
they follow me. And the last three words of this
first verse in our text here in Isaiah are this, Thou art
mine. We have always been His from
the untold ages of eternity. We sometimes say that God put
us in Christ And I understand why we say that. We have to put
it in terms we can understand. But there was never a time that
we were put in Christ, and this we can't, I can't grasp it, maybe
you can. From before eternity, as long
as God has been, as long as Christ has been, we have been in Him. I can't comprehend that, but
the Word says that it's so. For as long as this God-man existed,
we have been in Him. Paul made this plain when he
wrote to the Romans and said, for whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate, and whom he did predestinate, them he
also called. We have always been the sheep
of God's pasture. We have never been goats. Don
told us that many, many times. God's sheep were never goats.
Peter describes this in 1 Peter 2 25. He says, for ye were as
sheep going astray, but now are returned to the shepherd
and bishop of your souls. Lost sheep at that time, but
sheep nonetheless. Verse two, when thou passest
through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers,
they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, thou shall not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. These promises were typified
when the nation of Israel went through the Red Sea unharmed,
chased by the Egyptians. They passed through the waters.
And we read of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in Nebuchadnezzar's
fiery furnace, where it says that when you pass through the
fire, you shall not be burned. But they primarily made these
promises to the true children of Israel, the Church of God,
the elect. Now, this life is full of trials. Many of our friends right now
are going through trials, heavy trials, heartbreak. But our God
promises that he will not give us a trial, that he does not
give us grace to bear. And we have this encouragement,
there is not a trial, there is not a heartbreak, that any of
his people will suffer in this life that our Savior did not
suffer when he walked this earth. Every woe, every heartbreak that
we experience, he has already suffered. He assures us in Hebrews,
for we have not in high priest, which cannot be touched with
the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted
like we are yet without sin. I remember reading something
that John Bunyan wrote. He spent 12 years in Bedford
prison. And his only offense was preaching
the gospel of Christ crucified. There was no welfare in those
days. There were no food stamps. His family went hungry, and it
tore his heart out. But he could not forsake the
gospel. But Bunyan wrote this of God's comfort. He said, God,
as being very tender of me, hath not suffered me to be molested,
but would with one scripture or another strengthen me against
all in so much that I have often said, listen to this, were it
lawful, I could pray for greater trouble for the greater comfort
sake. Now I have to admit, I don't
have a clue what he was talking about. Not the first idea, but we do have this assurance
from God himself that when Heartbreak comes. That he will be with us,
he will not forsake us, that he will give us grace and that
grace will be sufficient. Verse three, for I am the Lord,
thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. I gave Egypt for
thy ransom and Ethiopia and Seba for thee. This verse tells us
why we can rest in the promises that we find in the previous
verse, for I am the Lord, Thy God. In this verse, the Lord
tells His people that He is their God and their Savior. The Scripture tells us that He
is a just God and a Savior. And they're not His people because
they made a better choice than their neighbor, that they decided
to give Jesus their heart. No, these people were chosen.
They were redeemed and called by name, He tells us, by this
holy one of Israel to be his eternally. Then he adds to their
assurance by claiming himself as thy savior. Verse four. Since
I was precious in my sight, thou hast been honorable and I have
loved thee. Past tense. Therefore, will I
give men for thee and people for thy life. This verse tells
us that the people being addressed here, the true church of God
are precious. in his sight. They are precious because of
the enormous cost of their redemption, the very life and the very blood
of his only son. And notice that it says we were
past tense, precious in his sight. That doesn't mean we're not precious
anymore. It means that, as I said, from eternity we have been in
Christ. His son is precious to the father.
and being in him, we are also called precious. And then it
says, now it's been honorable. Really? Honorable? I don't know about you, but I know that I am anything
but honorable. How is it then that this God
who cannot lie calls his people honorable. Certainly not by any
deed we have done that are honorable. It says not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, but we're honorable because of the imputed
righteousness of our blessed Savior. Again, this is in the
past tense. Being in Christ from before time
ever was, we are deemed honorable because if he is honorable, and
we are in him, then we are honorable. Also in the past tense, in this
expression of his love for his people, it says, and I have loved
thee. Not if you make the right decision,
not if you live a good enough life, not if your good deeds
outweigh your bad. It says, I have loved you. That's astounding to me. And
this is a clear declaration of the electing love of God toward
his people. As we read in Romans 9, where
those verses we're so familiar with that are hated by those
that despise election. Jacob, have I loved? Esau, have I hated? Then the last words here in this
verse in our text, therefore, because of those things that
he just said, Therefore will I give men for thee and people
for thy life. Our God uses both believing and
unbelieving men and women to bring about the good of his people.
One example of this we have in God turning Pharaoh's heart to
show favor toward Joseph, this man that was a slave and became
a king. Gave him the authority. Pharaoh gave Joseph the authority
over everything in Egypt. And I know this for sure, that
every cure for any disease, every advance in medicine, every invention
ever came up with, every war that has ever been fought and
won, were all done for the good and the enjoyment of God's people.
The rest of mankind simply enjoys the benefits of those things
being done. The scriptures tell us that he
causes the rain to fall both on the just and the unjust. He
sends a rain for the benefit of the just and the unjust profit
from it. And I'm pretty sure that anyone
who hears that, that doesn't believe it, would say, well,
you people think the whole world revolves around you. Yeah, that's
a correct statement. It does. God has made it clear
in his word that he does all things for his glory and the
good of his people. Everything is done by God first.
For his glory of his name. We've done nothing and can do
nothing to deserve any of God's blessing. The only reason we
enjoy these blessings is because of the sacrifice and finished
work of our great substitute. Verse five. He repeats these
words, fear not. And he gives us another reason
for I am with thee. I will bring thy seed from the
east and gather thee from the west. Here he repeats the first
words of verse one, fear not. Now, verse two told us not to
fear because he's redeemed us. This verse gives us a second
reason not to fear for I am with thee. Similar promises are found
in Isaiah 35, where we read, strengthen the weak hands and
confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful
heart, be strong, fear not. Behold, your God will come with
vengeance, even God with a recompense. He will come and save you. Then
he begins to explain how he will gather his elect from the four
corners of the earth, from the most remote places imaginable,
And this, of course, brought to mind the work of Cliff Heller
and his wife, who originally went to New Guinea. And I guess,
I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing that Papua New Guinea
and probably the jungles of Brazil are probably two of the most
remote places on earth. And yet God has people in those
places. He definitely has people in New
Guinea. So he puts it in Cliff's heart.
and his wife to leave all the worldly comforts behind and go
to the jungles where people are unimaginably savage. A place
where, if I remember right, Cliff told us that a different dialect
is spoken in every village. Most have no written language.
So how are you possibly going to make these people understand
the gospel of Christ crucified? It would seem to be an insurmountable
obstacle. But is there anything too hard
for our God? And thanks to the work of the
hellers, both Cliff and Lance and their wives, many of God's
chosen people that were in those jungles have heard the gospel
and have been brought out of darkness into Christ's marvelous
light. Verse six, and I will say to
the North, give up into the South, keep not back, bring my sons
from far and my daughters from the end of the earth. Now, no
matter how isolated the area in which one of God's elect is
found, none is so remote. That when the time of love comes
that our God cannot get the gospel to the ears of his elect. One example that we have in scripture
is the Ethiopian eunuch. Now he had gone, I looked at
a map, and it's a long way from Ethiopia to Jerusalem. And I
can't imagine what kind of roads and things they had back then,
but I certainly know they didn't have an air-conditioned automobile.
And this guy traveled between 2,500 and 3,000 mile round trip But sadly, everything he heard
in Jerusalem did him no good. And on his way back, he's sitting
in the chariot reading. We're all familiar with this
story. And the Spirit of God spoke to Philip and told him
to leave the place where he was, where we're told that he was
preaching, the scriptures say, the gospel in many villages of
the Samaritans. But you know what? Not one of
those Samaritans were chosen of God. So God tells Philip,
go down into a desert place to where, as far as Philip knew,
there was not a soul. But he didn't question God's
commandment. He took off. And God brought
him to this Ethiopian eunuch. And he preached the gospel to
him. Philip preached the gospel. And this man believed on Christ
and was baptized by Philip. And we read that he, as the publican
that prayed in the temple, beat on his breast, this eunuch went
down to his house justified. Verse seven, and everyone that
is called by my name, for I have created him for my glory, I have
formed him, yea, I have made him. Everyone who is a chosen
sheep of our savior, when he beckons, they will hear. My sheep
hear my voice. Because when God created us,
He created us as trophies of His grace. And when all the elect
family are finally gathered around the throne of God in heaven and
sing the praises of Him who loves us and gave Himself for us, it's
described in Isaiah 35. It says, and the ransomed of
the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting
joy upon their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness,
and sorrow and sighing shall pass away. Now, we know this
verse is speaking of the time when we get to glory because
it says that sorrow and sighing shall pass away. And we know
from experience that even after we come to know the Savior, there's
plenty of sighing, there's plenty of sorrow in this life. Then this verse tells us why
we were created and called. for the glory of God the Father
and the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul lays this out in
Ephesians, verses that we're so familiar with, how that we're
predestinated unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the
praise of the glory of his grace. And we're told in Exodus 34,
14, that God is jealous of that glory that is do his name for
thou shall not work or worship no other God for the Lord whose
name is jealous is a jealous God and he tells us in Isaiah. I am the Lord that is my name
and my glory. Will I not share with another
neither my praise will be given to graven images verse 8 bring
forth the blind people that have eyes and the deaf that have ears
this verse has both a physical and a spiritual meaning. But
clearly, our God is speaking to those people that are described
here in a spiritual sense. Not to say that there's not numerous
accounts in scriptures of the blind receiving their sight and
the deaf receiving their hearing. When the two disciples of John
the Baptist came to the Lord and asked, Are you the one or
should we look for another? The Lord told them this. The
blind received their sight in the lame walk. Lepers are cleansed
and the deaf hear. and the dead are raised up, and
the poor have the gospel preached to them. But this first aid here
in our text in Isaiah is speaking of our former spiritual state
when we were blind to all things spiritual until God gave us eyes
to see His blessed Son. I once was lost, but now am found,
was blind, but now I see how that the deaf were made to hear
the truth when God unstopped our ears. Isaiah 35 makes that
very promise. The eyes of the blind shall be
opened and in the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Verse nine, let all the nations
be gathered together and let the people be assembled. Who
among them can declare this and show us former things? Let them
bring forth their witnesses that they may be justified. or let
them hear and say, it is truth. Now gather all the great minds
of mankind with all their so-called wisdom and knowledge, and see
if they can do what our Lord God does. See if they can predict
what's going to happen thousands of years in the future. You can be sure that they can't.
God tells us in Isaiah 46, remember the former things of old, for
I am God, And there is none else. I am God and there is none like
me declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times
the things that are not yet done saying my counsel shall stand
and I will do all my pleasure calling a ravenous bird from
the east and a man that executed my counsel from a far country.
Yay. I have spoken it. I will also bring it to pass.
I have purposed it, I will also do it. Verse 10. Ye are my witnesses, saith the
Lord, and my servant, whom I have chosen. There's that word again. That ye may know and believe
me, and understand that I am he. Before me there was no God
formed, neither shall there be after me. Now those of us who
have been shown the truth of God are eyewitnesses to his grace,
his mercy, and his forgiveness. I'm gonna elaborate a little
bit more on this in a minute, but we don't rely on the testimony
of others as to the saving grace of God. We know from experience
the goodness of our God. We've experienced it firsthand,
and we indeed know that he is merciful and forgiving. We know when we understand that
there is no God after this sword, he is a sovereign potentate of
the universe, directing all things by the power of His will, setting
at ease, knowing there is nothing, nothing beyond His control. There is no other God of that
sort. The God of the heathen, the God of idols, the God of
modern-day religion is not anything like this God. And God gives
us the opportunity, as He does, we tell others of His grace and
His mercy. We tell others that there's forgiveness
to be found in the work of our great substitute. This verse
tells us that we are the servant whom God has chosen, not the
servant who made the right decisions, not the servant who gave his
heart to Jesus, but the servant whom I have chosen. Now, men
can despise the truth of election and predestination all they want. But as someone once said, the
truth is not harmed because no one believes it. It is not changed. It is still the truth. And there's simply too many places
in scripture that speak of God choosing a specific people for
a specific purpose for it to be denied. Yet deny it. They do and deny it. They will. And the reason they deny it is
simple. They are not given eyes to see or ears to hear. This gift of God is called faith.
It's a gift that is given to whom God will. Verse 11, I, even
I am the Lord and besides me, there is no savior. This is confirmed in that familiar
text in Acts chapter four, where we read neither is there salvation
in any other. For there is none other name
under heaven given among men whereby we must. Be saved. And Nebuchadnezzar learned this
after the experience of the deliverance of those three Hebrews that I
spoke of earlier from his fiery furnace. He said this. He was. Set back on his heels
at what he saw. He said there is no other God
that can deliver after this sort. I have never seen anything like
this, he said. Of all our gods in Babylon, none
of them can come close to this. It's just something that I've
never seen before. He, I'm sure, never got over
it. And in verse 12, it says, I have
declared and have saved. I have showed when there was
no strange God among you. Therefore, ye are my witnesses,
saith the Lord. And witnesses of what? That I
am God. Now when our God tells us in
this verse, I have declared, He is referring to all of the
promises that came before by the holy prophets, how He instructed
these holy prophets to declare to the people those things that
He had shown them. That's the reason we read over
and over again in God's Word this term, thus saith the Lord. That term is used over and over
again, particularly in Isaiah and Jeremiah. And one of the
reasons is that many of the proclamations that followed those words by
the prophets, thus saith the Lord, many of those proclamations
were not good news. Many spoke of the sure judgments
of God that were about to fall on the people being spoken to
because of their disobedience. But thank God that that was not
always the case. Thank God. Many times the words
that followed were highly encouraging to the people that heard them.
As it says in our verses here, thus saith the Lord, I have redeemed
thee. Then after this, the verse says,
I have declared, it then says, and have saved. Not I'm going
to save, indicating something that will transpire in the future,
but rather in the past tense, I have Saved. We know that our
salvation was settled before the foundation of the world.
We're told that many times in the scriptures. Because it says
we were chosen of God in Christ at that time in eternity past. Then after he says he is declared
and is saved, he tells us that he has showed this is another
word. This is our word shown something
that is revealed so that it is seen. First, He has shown His
people their sin. Then He shows them His Son, the
only remedy for their sin. Then He shows them how gracious
and merciful He has been and will be to them, which results
in us telling others what God has done for us. The verse says,
Therefore, ye are my witnesses. Now, a witness is someone who
can give a first-hand account of something that they have seen,
heard, or experienced. And does that not apply to the
children of God? We have seen the goodness of
God in our lives. We see it every day. We have
heard of the goodness of God through the preaching of the
gospel. Him sending his only begotten son to stand in our
stead. And we have experienced, we have
lived every day through many days of grace and mercy given
us in Christ. Therefore, we are ideal eyewitnesses
to God's goodness and mercy. And what is it that we're witnesses
to? The last four words of this verse tells us that I am God. Now, this statement is so all
encompassing, I could probably spend 100 messages on it and
still not scratch the surface. I am God. Those three words hold
an unknowable meaning that we will never ever be able to comprehend
till we leave this robe of flesh and see our mighty Savior in
all His splendor and grandeur and magnificence. Only then will
we be able to understand what this means that I am God. Verse 13, lastly, Yea, before
the day was, I am He, and there is none that can deliver out
of my hand I will work, and who shall let it? Now the eternality
of our God is here set forth. Before the day was, before there
ever was day and night, light or darkness, our God was. We have that account in Genesis.
Or should I say, our God is. He speaks of himself in the present.
I am. And he says, there is none that
can deliver out of my hand. This is both a solemn warning
to the lost and something to rejoice in for the redeemed. None can deliver out of my hand.
Christ promised us that if we're in the Father's hands, we were
there from eternity past and we will be there forever. Our
Lord gave us this assurance in John 10. He said, and I give
unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall
any man plucked him out of my hand. My father, which gave them
me, is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them
out of my father's hand. I and my father are one. Then lastly, our God makes a
statement and asks a question. I will work. And who shall let
it? The scriptures are filled with
the I wills and I shalls of our God. And all of those promises
have come or shall come true. None of God's promises shall
ever fall to the ground unfulfilled. But how can I make such a statement
with such assurance? Because our God possesses all
power. Christ said, all power is given
unto me in heaven and earth. And I think so many times of
what Don said, such a simple statement, but so profound. If
he has all power, that means nobody else has any. All power
is given unto me in heaven and earth. And when this first guy
asks who shall let it, it is simply asking who there is to
be found that can stop the will of God. Psalm two, I love Psalm
two, particularly. When we're in an election cycle
like we are now. It says this, Why do the heathen
rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the
earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together.
And who do they take counsel against? Against the Lord, and
against His anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder,
and cast away their cord from us. And I love God's reaction. He that sitteth in the heavens
shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision. Now there's very few places in
the scripture that speak of God laughing. This is one of my favorite. When it says that the Lord will
hold them in derision, that word means the act of holding one
in contempt, to laugh at, to ridicule scornly. scornfully. That's a good description of
how God reacts. It's like a gnat threatening
an elephant with harm. The elephant, I'm sure, would
have a good laugh. Our God, his will is unshakable. His purpose is unshakable. We have nothing to worry about,
folks. I know I'm concerned. as you are too, what's going
to happen in a week from now in America. But we do know this,
God sets up kings and He removes them. And all that comes to pass,
He brings to pass. He doesn't allow it, He actually
causes it to come to pass. And when our God does something,
it cannot be reversed by the will of the entire human race,
Daniel tells us that all of the inhabitants of the earth are
counted as nothing less than dust on a scale. So let us go
forward and fear not what man can do to us. The God Almighty
that we serve, the great shepherd of this universe, whose sheep
we are, promises that he has redeemed us and that He is with
us and ever will be. Even those things that happen
in this life, which we look at as bad things, are a blessing. We won't understand that until
we leave this world. But we simply have to believe
it when He gives us faith to do so. Simply believe that our
Heavenly Father is doing us good and getting glory to Himself.
May He enable us by His grace to rest in those promises. Let's
be dismissed in prayer.