If you would turn with me this
morning in your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 43. Isaiah chapter 43. Verse 1, 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." Oh, what wonderful words of eternal life
we read in this blessed verse of Scripture. Notice first who
it is that is speaking, but now thus saith the Lord, the Scripture
says. Now it's my prayer this morning
that we will hear a word from him. As I told you last week,
to hear from anyone else will profit us nothing. He not only
identifies himself as the one who speaks, but he identifies
himself as the only true and living God. He says, but now
thus saith the Lord that created thee. Who but God can create? He created us. He's the one that
formed us, redeemed us, called us by our name, claiming that
we are His. That's what He says. I 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." We belong to Him. Now that's God. That's God. That's the God of
the Bible. The God of the Bible is our Creator. He's our Maker. He's our Redeemer
who called us by our name in sovereign grace. He is our Consoler. For He says, fear not. Regardless
of your circumstances, regardless of your trial, regardless of
how bleak and dark things may seem, God Almighty says, fear
not. I'm with you. I'm with you. If He's with me, why should I
fear? The psalmist said, my flesh and
my heart faileth, but God is the strength of my heart. and
my portion forever." Next time that you're feeling overwhelmed
and you feel as though the world has stacked itself against you,
you think of that verse, My flesh and my heart faileth, but God,
but God, is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Now what did we ever do to deserve this great, good, and gracious
God who loves us with an everlasting love? Well, I know you know the
answer. And that answer is simply nothing.
We didn't do anything. But if you'll scan down to verse
22 here in chapter 43, we read, But thou hast not called upon
me, O Jacob, but thou hast been weary of me, O Israel. The nation of Israel was God's
chosen people. But we must always, always keep
in mind that they represent the elect of God out of all nations.
When the Word of God speaks of Israel and Jacob, especially
in these verses, He's referring to His elect, His people. So
with that said, there is no believing sinner who can claim that their
redemption was the cause of their calling upon God. Thou hast not
called upon Me. You see, for by nature, we would
not have this God to rule over us, for we're weary of Him. Now
that word weary means simply tired of, fed up, bored by and
with. And that pretty well explains
our feelings towards God, naturally speaking, until He made us to
differ. Our redemption is caused by His
creating and forming Christ in us, calling us by our name. That's personal. Calling us by
our name that we might know His grace was intended for us by
His effectual call to us. Just as he called Lazarus from
the grave, Lazarus come forth. He didn't say, hey, you in that
tomb, you come on out. He said, Lazarus, he called him
by name. And he called you and I by our
name from the grave. Dead in trespasses and sin, the
scripture said. David, come forth. Tyler, come
forth. Matt, come forth. God's call
is always effectual. It's always effectual. God declares
from His sovereign throne that it is He that has redeemed us. How plain and direct are His
words in this verse, I have redeemed thee. Is there any question about
who our redemption comes from? Again, the simplicity of Scripture. I have redeemed thee. Who has? I have. The God of heaven and
earth. Now He doesn't say, I'm going to redeem you based on
this or that. He doesn't say, I might redeem
you if you act right. No, no, no. We would never be
redeemed if our redemption was conditional. God's love for us
is unconditional. I have redeemed thee. No wonder the Apostle Paul wrote
in Romans 5 verse 8, "...but God commendeth His love toward
us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
Oh, it's not conditional. It's not based upon any good
thing that you've done. You know why? You haven't done
anything good. There's none that doeth good, God says. There's
none that seeketh after God. You've all gone astray. So, thank
God His love and salvation is unconditional. To think that
we did anything, now, honestly, to merit, earn, and deserve His
eternal affection is absolutely to rebel against his own claims. When God redeems His chosen people,
they are made to know who it was that redeemed. That word
means purchased. They're made to know who purchased
them. And we know by His sovereign
mercy and grace that we were bought with a great price. That
great price was the precious blood of His beloved Son, who
upon Calvary gave Himself a ransom for His people. Mr. Spurgeon
said concerning this great truth, I really like this. He said that
he'd rather give up his eyes than to give up that thought.
He said he'd rather give up his hands and his arms and all of
his senses, seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, and tasting,
than give up that inward confidence of pure delight. that God has
redeemed us, unconditionally redeemed us. And I thought about
that for a while and I added these words. What good would
my eyes be if I could not see him? What good would they be?
What good would my hearing be if I could not hear the precious
and glorious gospel? What would my sense of smell
be if I could not smell the sweet smelling, savored, the fragrance
of the lily of the valley and the rose of Sharon? What advantage
would be my sense of touch if I could not touch the scars in
his hand, in his feet, in his side, or be eternally healed
from my great issue of blood called sin by touching the hem
of his garment? What good would it do me? No
eternal good, no spiritual good. None of my God-given senses would
mean a thing if they were not used concerning Him, spiritually
speaking. And yet there is nothing more
assuring and comforting to saved sinners than the blessed truth
that the Lord says to us, Have. Not I'm going to, I have redeemed
thee. Christ was a lamb slain before
the foundation of the world. There are still some sheep, as
I said a moment ago, that have not yet come into the fold. But
they're going to come. Because they're sheep. God don't
take goats and make them sheep. They're already sheep. They've
just got to be brought into the fold. Now look at verse 2. When thou passest through the
waters, I'll be with thee. And through the rivers thou shalt
not overflow thee. And when thou walkest through
the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. 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." But again our Lord reminds us
in verse 22 that we've been weary of Him. We've been weary of Him. God is with His people wherever
they are. May we never forget that. Wherever
we go, our God is with us. Wherever we are, He will not
leave us or forsake us. He'll go right through the waters
with us. I think about the people of Israel
who had been delivered out of Egyptian bondage. Here come the
Egyptian chariots. Pharaoh was mad. Man, I'm telling
you, he had a change of heart again, and he said, I'm going
to destroy every last one of them. He chased them to kill
them. This was a serious matter. God
was with them. And they passed on dry ground
through the Red Sea. We now pass it through the waters.
I'll be with thee. When God's chosen nation crossed
Jordan to go into Canaan, we studied this on Wednesday nights
for several weeks, it was flood season. It was the time of year
that all the snow melted in the mountains and came down and flooded
the River Jordan. And yet, they crossed into God's
land of promise. You know why? Because He said,
when thou passest through the waters, I'll be with thee. Oh,
what comfort there is in knowing the God of our salvation. And God also keeps close, He
keeps very close to His people in dangerous places, fatal places. When thou walkest through the
fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. Two or three weeks ago, we looked
at that passage in Daniel 3 of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
about the fiery furnace. The furnace was turned up seven
times hotter. So hot that the men that went
to throw them in the fiery furnace were killed because of the heat.
And when Nebuchadnezzar looked in the furnace to look at the
three Hebrew children, he saw four. He saw four. And he said,
Didn't we throw three men in there? Weren't they chained?
He said, I see them walking around in the fire, and there's four
of them. And the form of one is like the Son of God. When
thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither
shall the flame come upon thee. You know why? Because he's with
us. He was with them, wasn't he?
They came out of that fire and that's the amazing thing. Not
a hair on their head was singed. And there was not even a smell
of smoke or fire that had passed on them. I am with thee. I am with thee. Oh, may I get
it in my heart that God is always with me. Always. Our faithful
God always keeps close to His people. And isn't it not just
wonderful how close Christ has been to His church? why he calls
his church his bride, his beloved. But why should it surprise us?
That's what I don't understand. Why should it surprise us? Did
he not promise his elect that he would not ever leave them
or forsake them? So again, I ask, was his promise
conditional? Was it based upon something that
we did or must do? Any goodness in us? Absolutely
not. Did he say, I will never leave
you if you're faithful? That's not what He said. He said,
I'll never leave you or forsake you. Your faithfulness doesn't
have a thing to do with it. I'm going to tell you, if that
was the case, as some men say it is, He would have left us
a long time ago. Did He say, I will never forsake
you as long as you always do what's right? That's not what
He said. He said, I'll never leave you or forsake you. His
promise, if it contained any of these conditions, He would
have left us a long time ago. He didn't say, I'll never leave
you as long as you do what's right. I'll never forsake you
as long as you're faithful. He just said, I'll never leave
you or forsake you. That's unconditional love. He is faithful that promised.
That's what the scripture says. He is faithful that promised.
And He promised that He would never leave us nor forsake us.
Now, I don't mean to be redundant, but I do. Because I want us to
get in our hearts that God is on our side, if Christ is our
beloved. You see dear friends, it's not
your faithfulness. Oh, I wish people could get a
hold of that. Now listen, if you're a child
of God, you want to be faithful. You're going to want to be faithful.
You're going to hate your sin. You're going to despise your
sin. You're going to wish it wasn't there. You're going to
pray that God deliver you from your sin. You're going to pray
that God make you faithful. But your faithfulness is not
what keeps you. It's His faithfulness. It's His. Verse 3 tells us, For He is the
Lord our God, the Holy One of Israel, our Savior. What does
a Savior do? He saves. Now look at the last
part of verse 3. He said, I gave Egypt for thy
ransom, Ethiopia and Sheba for thee. The beauty of the Gospel
is that God gave for us. God gave for us. Here we see
God giving up many for the sake of His people. Egypt, Ethiopia,
and Sheba, if you study history, they were great nations. But
God did not choose the greatest city. What an extraordinary and
amazing thing that the Lord should ever have loved us. We're nothing. We are nothing. And that is one
of the first things that God reveals to his people. You're
nothing. But God did not save many mighty
men, learned men, men of rain, but he passed them by. Paul wrote in his first letter
to the church of Corinth, he said, well you see your calling,
brother? He's talking to God's people. He said, how that not
many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many no
more are called, but God hath chosen the foolish things of
the world. That's me. That's what God's
chosen, the foolish things. Like me. To confound the wise,
God hath chosen the weak things of the world. That's me. To confound
the things which are mighty and the base things of the world.
That's me. And things which are despised. Again, that's me. And that's you. God hath chosen
ye and things which are not. That's me. I'm nothing. Nothing. To bring to naught things that
are. Why? That no flesh, no flesh, nobody
anywhere should glory in His presence. And then he says, but
of Him, of Christ. But of God are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom. There's not many wise called. God made you wise unto salvation. He's made unto us wisdom and
righteousness. I am nothing but unrighteousness,
but He's made me righteous. And sanctification and redemption
is made unto us. God made it unto us. What a wonderful
declaration. And who's that declaration from?
It's from God Almighty. I gave Egypt for thy ransom,
Ethiopia and Sheba for thee. That's to say I passed others
by and chose you. God had but one Son. Only one. Yet He gave Him up
that He might die for us. Through His death you and I might
live. There's no gift, now listen to
me, there's no gift equal or that can compare to that. For
the Son of God was God. And in the death of Christ, it
was God Himself who came to earth to accomplish our redemption. You want to know something of
how horrific your sin is? It took God Himself, the death
of God Himself, to redeem you. Salvation is most definitely
of the Lord. And again, I remind you that
we did absolutely nothing. However, there are many who believe
that salvation is dependent on something in us or done by us.
Men just refuse to bow to the fact that salvation is of the
Lord. Well, you know, I made Jesus Lord. No, you didn't. He
was Lord long before you come along. Well I have decided to
follow Jesus and oh you haven't. If you follow Jesus it's because
He came to you just like He did Matthew at that gate of customs
and said follow me. And Matthew got up and left all
his money and everything he had right there and followed Him.
I was thinking here the other day about old Peter. We know
that Peter had a wife because his mother-in-law was sick with
the fever. Can you imagine Peter going home to his wife and telling
her, she said, you're going to do what? You're going to give
up your fishing business and follow someone you just met? Best thing he ever did. But we
see that it's not of us. Look down at verses 23 and 24. It's still the Lord talking now.
He says, "...thou hast not brought me the small cattle of thy burnt
offerings, neither hast thou honored me with thy sacrifices."
I have not caused thee to serve with an offering, nor wearied
thee with incense. Thou hast bought me no sweet
cane with money, neither hast thou filled me with the fat of
thy sacrifices. You know what you've done? You
know what you've contributed to this relationship? Thou hast
made me to serve with thy sins. Thou hast wearied me with thine
iniquities. Not even the smallest offering
has been given to the Most High by those who have been redeemed
by the precious blood of Christ. In our redemption, God has not
demanded anything from us. He's not. He didn't cause us
to serve with an offering or wearied us with an expensive
gift such as incense. He hasn't demanded anything from
us. Do you know why? We don't have
anything to give. If God demanded something from
you and I, and we have nothing to give, none would be saved.
That's why salvation is free. Free. Free to us, but it costs
God, His only beloved. Oh, we're just poor beggars. Just poor beggars. Has God shown
you that that's what you are? Just a poor beggar, nothing at
all, and Jesus Christ is my all and an all. Okay, look back at
verse 4. Look back at verse 4. He says,
Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honorable. Me? And I have loved thee, therefore
will I give men for thee, and people for thy life." Now this
marvelous declaration from the God who chooses, calls, redeems,
and justifies, and who will one day glorify wretched sinners
as ourselves, the thought of this should overwhelm us. I know
it overwhelms some of you. It overwhelms me. We are precious
in His sight? Surely that must be a misprint.
How can it be that I, the rich, that I am one whose faith is
weak at best? In my best state, I'm altogether
vanity. How could I be precious in his
sight? We don't have any worth or value
in ourselves. We're no wise better than others.
We're of the same mass and lump with all the other fallen race
of Adam. You know what? We need to go
to the potter's house to find the answer as to how we're precious
in His sight. Turn over to Jeremiah chapter
18, beginning in verse 2. Now stay with me, I'm almost
done. Our Lord speaks here to Jeremiah
the prophet, and in verse 2 He says, in chapter 18 of Jeremiah,
He says, and go down to the potter's house and there I will cause
thee to hear my words. If God's gonna cause us to hear
his words, we better go where he tells us to go. So friends,
let's follow Jeremiah down to the potter's house and just maybe
if God is pleased, he'll cause us to hear his words. Look at
verse 3. Then I went down to the potter's
house. His obedience to God's command. And behold, he wrought
a work on the wheels. Now, you know, you've seen in
movies these potters, they got this play sitting on a wheel
and they pedal their feet and that wheel turns and they shape
and they form that play into whatever it is they're making.
He said, I went down to the potter's house and behold, he wrought
a work on the wheels. He was working that and he was
shaping that clay. And verse 4, "...and the vessel
that he made of clay," notice this, "...was marred in the hand
of the potter. As the potter worked with a lump
of clay that he designed to form into a particular shape, it either
proved too stiff, or it maybe had a stone in it, or some way
or another it came to be marred in his hand." This is the potter.
This is a man who has done this more than once. He knows what
he's doing. In other words, he was not pleased with it, so he
made it into another shape. What he originally and intentionally
meant to make, something about it caused him to mar it, and
he made it into another shape. It just would not serve the potter
as a vessel. of honor, something that he was
proud of, that he would be glad to call the work of his hands.
It would have to serve as a vessel of dishonor, just as it seemed
good to the potter. And Jeremiah now, God said, you
go down there and I want you to observe this. And Jeremiah
looks carefully upon the potter's work. And God burns into his
mind this great truth which he must preach to the house of Israel.
And God's servants still preach the same thing today. God has
an incontestable, incontestable authority and right with irresistible
ability to form and fashion men, women, kingdoms and nations as
He pleases, so as to serve His own purpose. Look at verse 6,
O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter? Sayeth the Lord, Behold, as the
clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house
of Israel. God has a clearer title and dominion
over us than the potter has over the clay. As the clay is in the
potter's hand to be molded and shaped as he pleases, so are
we in God's hands. God has an incontestable, as
I said, sovereignty over us, and He is in no way a debtor
to us. Never has been. Why men try to
make God a debtor to us? They cannot be reading the Scriptures.
They cannot be reading God's Word. It's everywhere. It's everywhere. From beginning to end, Old Testament
to the New Testament, God does as He pleases after the counsel
of His own will. He works all things after the
counsel of His own will and purpose. God is not accountable to us
and it would be just as absurd for us to dispute His sovereign
right as it would be for that clay to quarrel with the potter.
Can you imagine a clay looking up and saying, why did you make
me this way? Well, that's absurd. What's even
more absurd is when man does the same thing. It's an easy
thing for God to make use of us as He pleases and make changes
with us as He pleases because we can't resist Him. We can't
resist Him. One turn of the hand, one turn
of the wheel, and the Almighty alters the shape of the clay
and chooses to make it either a vessel of honor or a vessel
of dishonor. If the potter's vessel be marred
for one use, it shall serve another. You see, those that will not
be monuments of mercy shall be monuments of wrath and justice. The Lord has made all things
for himself, yea, even the wicked, for the day of evil. Proverbs
16, 4. Paul said in Romans 9, he said,
hath not the potter power over the clay? Of the same lump to
make one vessel into honor and another into dishonor? We've
been to the potter's house, we've seen what's going on. Now quickly,
back to our text in Isaiah 43, and I'll wrap this up. Verse
4, we read, Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honorable. Me? Again? I've been honorable? Well, I think of what Paul wrote
in Ephesians 1, verse 4. He said, According as he hath
chosen us and him. That's where my honor comes from.
That's where my honor is in Him. Now I pray that we see why we
are precious in His sight. The Scriptures tell us that we're
His workmanship. Isn't that what He says? created in Christ Jesus. Christ
is precious in God's sight and we are predestinated, predetermined
by God alone to be conformed to the image of His Son. No wonder
I'm precious in His sight. No wonder I'm honorable. I'm
being conformed to the image of His beloved Son. Again, we're
shut up to the grace and mercy of God found in the Lord Jesus
Christ and Him alone. We're nothing but dishonorable.
And we're made honorable in Christ by God's workmanship as a sovereign
potter. He's a sovereign Father. Again,
Ephesians 1-4, "...according as He hath chosen us and Him
before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy
and without blame before Him." How? in love. Those of you who love Christ,
you trust the full payment, paid in full, the full payment of
your sin debt to Him and Him alone are loved of God just the
same as God loves Him. Isn't that amazing? God doesn't
love His Son anymore now than He loves you that are in His
Son. God says in verse 4, I have loved thee. Are there any degrees
to God's love? God loves you. He loves you infinitely. He loves you eternally. He loves
you perfectly, just as He loves His Son. God loves me. Man, I
never get over that. In Christ he intimately and eternally
loves all who love his darling son. Yea, I have loved thee with
an everlasting love. Therefore with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. Now the redeemed of the Lord
cannot help to ask why. We just can't help to. Why would
he love me? Why would he call me? Why would
he choose me? Well look at verse 7. And I'll
finish. Even everyone that is called
by my name, for I have created him for my glory. My glory. I have formed him. Yea, I have
made him for my glory. God receives all the glory. To God be the glory, great things
he hath done. No wonder David wrote in Psalm
126, verse 3, the Lord hath done great things for us whereof we
are glad. Aren't you glad this morning
that you're precious in His sight? That He's loved you with an everlasting
love? That through the waters, through
the fire, through all the dangers in life, I am with thee. I will not leave thee nor forsake
thee." And every promise of His is unconditional. It's not based
upon anything that you do or don't do. It's just free. Free,
sovereign grace. Is that not what we believe?
Free, sovereign grace. Oh, may the Lord add His blessings
to His Word.