Open your Bibles with me, please,
to Isaiah chapter 42. Isaiah chapter 42. As I said this morning, I had
been reading Pilgrim's Progress again and read it when I was
just a young believer. 17 or 18 years old, and it was
instructive and blessed then, but even more blessed and instructive
now. After the pilgrim describes two
pilgrims who had been together for a while, Christian and hopeful,
walking in their way to the Celestial City, they came to a place called
Enchanted Ground, and they were warned not to sleep in enchanted
ground, but they slept. And they stepped out of the way
into a place called Bypath Meadow, and there they met with one by
the name of Giant Despair. He was the lord of Doubting Castle,
and he took them into his castle and imprisoned them. laid them
in his dungeon and locked them up with nothing to eat day and
night and day and night for many days. And pilgrim, these two
pilgrims, Christian and hopeful, began to despair of ever seeing
light again. And at last, Christian remembered
he had in his bosom a key with which we might pick the lock
to this prison. and make our way out of this
dungeon and this dark castle. And they picked the lock, they
escaped from their dungeon, escaped from Doubting Castle, escaped
the giant despair and found their way again to their path and learned
from the experience. The key Christian plucked from
his bosom was called promise. Oh, how often I have found that
key useful in darkness, in heaviness, and in trial. My subject tonight
is cheering promises for Zion's pilgrims. You will remember the
story I've often told of a young preacher visiting an old believing
woman And as he started to leave, he picked up her Bible, was about
to read a passage to her and have prayer. And as he thumbed
through the Bible, he noticed just every few verses he'd see
T and P, T and P, T and P. And curiosity got the best of
me, said, Sister, what what does this mean? I see you've got all
these verses marked T and P. She said, Oh, Those are God's
promises. That stands for tried and proved. I want to talk to you tonight
as God will enable me about God's promises. This passage here in
Isaiah 42 is describing our Lord Jesus Christ. The prophet is
telling us who Christ is and what he came to do as he speaks
as Jehovah's voice. Verse one. Behold my servant,
whom I uphold, Christ Jesus, the Lord's voluntary servant.
He gave himself to be Jehovah's servant because of his love for
his master and his love for his wife and his children, and he
would not go out free. Mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth,
I have put my spirit upon him. He, my servant, shall bring forth
judgment, righteousness, and justice to the Gentiles. He shall not cry nor lift up
his voice, nor lift up nor cause his voice to be heard in the
street. That is, he's not going to be
frustrated. He's not going to be confused.
He's not going to be turned aside. He's not going to, in any way,
be altered from his purpose. A bruised reed shall he not break. A bruised reed. That's just about
the most useless thing you can imagine. What can you do with
a bruised reed? You can't blow through it. You
can't make music on it. You can't lean on it. It's just
useless. That's a pretty good description
of you and me. But he says a bruised reed shall
he not break. Oh, I've got to make that of
you something utterly useless. That'd be a good thing for you.
He won't break a bruised reed. And the smoking flax, again,
useless and obnoxious. Smoking flax gives no light,
just smell and smoke, useless and obnoxious. Oh, now, now I've
got hope for you. When you're made to see yourself
as you really are useless, not just useless, but obnoxious.
The smoking flax, shall he not quench? He, Jehovah's servant,
the Lord Jesus, shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He will bring righteousness.
He will bring justice. He'll do it with truth. By mercy
and truth, iniquity is purged. Only by the honoring of his law
Only by the satisfying of his justice, only in a manner that
gives honor to God, will he bring grace to sinners. He shall not
fail. What a word. He shall not fail. You can take
those words just as far as your imagination will take them, and
you haven't even gotten started yet. Whatever it is he's come
to do, Whatever it is, He puts His hand to. Whatever it is,
He's purposed. He shall not fail. Any suggestion
that Jesus Christ is a failure is a denial of His very deity. He shall not fail nor be discouraged
till He has set judgment, righteousness, justice in the earth. Till He's
established God's salvation in the earth. And the isles, that
is the nations of the world, the gendiles shall wait for his
law. I wonder if there's anybody here
waiting for his law, waiting for his word. Oh, for a word
from God. If you are, you'll not be disappointed. Look at verse 16. This is what got my attention. This is God's promise to you
who wait for his word. God's promise to you for whom
Jehovah's Servant came into this world. One of those many promises
of God in Christ Jesus that's yay and amen and in Christ, God's
promise to us. Verse 16, and I will bring the
blind by a way that they knew not. I would lead them in paths
that they have not known. I will make darkness light before
them and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them and not forsake them. Now, without
question, this passage is talking about the revelation of God's
grace in Christ, our substitute, that one who's described down
here in verse 21 as having magnified his law and making it honorable
by his obedience and death. And this promise extends beyond
just the accomplishment of our redemption by Christ. This is
God's promise to his people in this dark, dark world. As we make our way as pilgrims
through this world, this is God's promise. We were blind. But now we see, blind by nature,
blind and unwilling to see. But now God's given us eyes to
behold his grace, to behold his son, to behold his kingdom. He's
led us in paths of grace and righteousness and faith that
we knew not before. And then the promise reaches
us in our present circumstances. The Lord declares, I will make
darkness light before them and crooked things straight. These
things will I do unto them and not forsake them. Well, I read
that and I just couldn't help reading the next chapter, mulling
that over. And I mulled it over some more
and read the next chapter and mulled that over and read the
next chapter and mulled that over. and seeing certain things
here. The Lord God gave me some light
out of darkness and made some crooked things straight. I hope
he'll do that for you. I want you to hold your Bibles
open on your laps and we're going to look at these next chapters.
And rather than preaching, I'd like to, I wish I could just
pull up a chair beside each one of you And I said, look at this. Look at this. You know, like
he's sitting at home. Did you see that? Just look at
these promises. I want to pull them out as we
go along. And you can mark them and then
ask God to apply them to you as he will. This 43rd chapter
begins by God calling us by two names. He calls us both Jacob
and Israel. Now thus saith the Lord that
created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel. Jacob describes what we were
before God saved us and what we are now by nature. Jacob,
shifting, unstable, deceitful, cunning, sinful, vile, Jacob. That's what you were a year ago.
That's what you were when you were born. That's what you are
now. That's what we are by nature. Nothing has changed. Nothing's
changed. God saved us by his grace, but
still Jacob. Flesh is still flesh. Adam's
still Adam. The old man's still the old man.
He never gets any better. God says, Thus saith the Lord
that created thee, O Jacob. and he that formed thee, O Israel."
That's another word. Israel. That's what God's made
us by his grace, Frank. Prince with God. Men and women who as princes
prevail with God. Princes with God because he's
made us to be princes with him. He would have us never forget
it. And we're Israel and he'd have us never to forget it. He
wants us to remember all he has done for us is doing for us and
shall do for us by his grace and remember what we are by nature
and remember that he knows our frame. He remembers that we're
dust. The Lord's word to us in this
chapter is fear not. Three times in these chapters
we're going to look at this evening, God says fear not. Fear not. How come? Because he would quieten
our fears. Because we are by nature so fearful. Fearful of things that shouldn't
cause us any fear at all. Do you know, I'm not in the least
measure ever fearful about anything past. Are you? I was afraid of it before it
happened. I've run into lots of things I was afraid of before
they came to pass, but I've never been fearful about anything that's
gone. Never, never. The Lord would
have us not be fearful as we apprehend that which is before
us. Because that which is before
us is only that which he has ordained for us, which he has
purposed for us, the path through which he deliberately directs
our steps day after day, moment by moment, hour by hour, all
the days of our lives. He who thus directs our steps
is our God, our Heavenly Father. acting out of nothing but infinite
wisdom, infinite love, infinite grace for our everlasting good. Now, what was it you're afraid
of? What is it that causes your heart trouble? All right, here's
the first promise. The Lord God declares, I have
redeemed thee. What a word. Christ has redeemed
you, my brother. He has redeemed you, my sister,
by the price of his blood and by the power of his grace. The
word redeem means to deliver. It doesn't just mean to ransom,
it means to deliver. Our Lord redeemed us with his
blood by the ransom price of his precious blood. And he redeemed
us by his grace. He has delivered us from the
curse of the law. He's delivered us from the bondage
and tyranny of Satan. He's delivered us from death
and hell. He's delivered us from sin and
all the consequences of it. And he shall ultimately fully
deliver us from everything relating to sin. He's delivered me. I
have redeemed you. And he who bought us at such
a great price cannot afford to lose us. Standing here many years
ago, Brother Scott Richardson was preaching one night in one
of our conferences, and he made this statement. He said, there's
been no bad news since I got the good news. God step that on my heart No
bad news Since I heard I've redeemed you No bad news since the Lord
God declares to me Jacob Your name is Israel. I've redeemed
you. I've redeemed you. I'll not forsake
you. Look at the next one. I have
called thee by thy name All whom he has redeemed are
at the appointed time of his mercy called. Called with an
effectual, irresistible, personal call. Called with what we call
efficacious grace. Irresistible grace. Now that
word may be confusing to some people. So let me see if I can
clear it up. That's talking about grace you
can't resist. That's talking about a call that gets the job
done. It's an effectual call. It's
not an offer. It's not just an invitation.
If all you ever get from God is an offer of grace or an invitation
to salvation, all you ever get from God is a sort of a tug at
your heart. You will never know God saving
grace. Oh no, there is a people in this
world from whom God will never take no for an answer. They're
called his elect, those people whom he's redeemed, the chosen
of God. He says, I've called you by name. Look at the next line. Since
I've called you by name, called you in your desperate hour, called
you, brought you, sought you out for myself. Thou art mine. What a blessed word. Don Fortner, you belong to God
Almighty. His peculiar treasure, a peculiar
people our Lord's ransomed to himself. That is a distinct people. Well, Brother Don, everybody
belongs to God, yeah. Yeah, they do. But they're not
His treasure. The whole world belongs to Him.
The devil's His devil, but it's not His treasure. You are God's
distinct, peculiar property. His possession, His creation,
the apple of His eye. Well, what's special about that?
That means you're under His protection. and his provision all the time. The Lord himself is my shepherd.
Little Sunday school girl, teacher asked her to quote the 23rd Psalm. She stood up and she said, the
Lord's my shepherd. He's all I want. And she got
it just right. She got it just right. The Lord
is my shepherd. That means I can't want anything.
I can't lack anything. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall
not want. And because the Lord is my shepherd,
surely goodness and mercy shall pursue me all the days of my
life. And when he's done, I shall dwell
in the house of the Lord forever. 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 shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. Yes, if you are gods, if I am
gods, we must pass through deep waters of trouble. We must wade
through great swelling rivers of woe. And we must be tried
as silver is tried in the fiery furnace of affliction as the
Lord sets by as the refiner. But you will pass through them.
You'll pass through the waters. You'll pass through the rivers.
You'll pass through the fire. And they will do you no harm. But only good. Because God, your Redeemer, who
calls you by name to go through them, has promised, I will be
with thee. That's the fourth one. Wherever
God, by his providence, puts you, he will be with you in sympathy,
in power, in grace, in care. Wherever God puts you, God is
with you. Whether you see it or don't. Whether you feel his presence
or don't. Whether he shows his face or
hides his face. Whether he speaks to you or is
silent. Whether he allows you to speak
to him or doesn't allow you to speak to him. I will be with
you. What's that mean? That means
the rivers No matter how high they get, shall not overflow
you. That means the fire shall not
burn you. You'll not be harmed by it. Neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. You remember Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego? They were bound hand and foot
and cast into the fiery furnace. The furnace heated seven times
hotter because of the rage of that pagan king. And the king
looked into the furnace and saw one like the son of God walking
in the midst of the furnace with those three men. And they pulled
them out of the furnace and they didn't even smell like they've
been in a smoke room. The flame didn't harm them. Do you know what the flame did?
The only thing that flame did, it consumed their bonds. That's
all. Nothing else. God's grace so
orders and arranges the affairs of our lives that those things
that we most naturally fear, those things that we most naturally
withdraw from, are the very things he has ordered for our benefit
and for our good, performing all things for us according to
his will. I don't know much about trial.
I don't pretend to know what others know. Some of you have
had heavy burdens I hope I never experience. I know little about
those things, but this I can tell you. I have never yet experienced
any difficulty, any darkness, any heaviness, any trouble, any
adversity, any affliction, opposition from any foe, any care, any burden. Things that I would never choose
deliberately. Things that if you give me a
choice, you want this? No, no, give me this. You want
this way? No, I'll go this way. I'd never
choose them for myself. And in the midst of them, often
things were just darkness. But once I get this side, looking
back, Merle, there's not one thing I've ever experienced,
not one thing I've ever tasted that I wish I hadn't experienced
and hadn't tasted. Not one. All right. Verse three.
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. Here's number five. I am the
Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, the Lord Jehovah, the
Almighty God Elohim. The omnipotent triune Jehovah,
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, the Holy One of Israel, who is
always faithful and true, declares himself to be your God. He said, you're mine. And then
he says, I'm yours. That means, Bob, God is as much
your property as you're his property. The Lord's my shepherd. Well,
how can you say that? He made himself my property.
He made himself my possession. He made himself mine. He says,
I am the Lord, thy God, as distinct from these heathen idolaters
that I'll overcome in my wrath. Throughout these chapters, the
Lord constantly shows us the evil of two people. The evil
of his chosen Israel and the evil of the ungodly whom he has
cast off. And he says, you're my people
and I am your God. And that's never going to change.
That's never going to change, no matter what you experience.
That's never going to change. Number six. I am thy savior. When it says, I gave Egypt for
thy ransom, Ethiopia and Saba for thee, our Lord is saying,
I'm your savior, distinctly yours, the savior of my chosen. There's
nothing I won't do for you. No sacrifice I won't make for
you. There's nothing I won't do for
you. No sacrifice I won't make for
you. I have assured my daughter for
39 years of those very things. There's nothing I won't do for
you. I've assured my wife for better
than 41 years now. Nothing I won't do for you. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Sacrifice anything
for your benefit. Nothing I won't do for you. And I sort of halfway expect
them to believe me. Don't you? I sort of halfway
expect them to believe me. But if the circumstances were
pushed, I don't know how true I'd be to my word, do you? I don't know what might make
a coward of me in a second. But no circumstance stands in
God's way. He says there's nothing I won't
do for you. No sacrifice I won't make for
you. Here's the logic of heaven. He spared not his own son, but
delivered him up for us all. How shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Verse four. Since thou 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. Number seven. God says you're
precious in my sight. The word means highly valued,
costly, cherished, highly esteemed. Something's precious. That's
not just an ordinary possession. That's not just something you
just happen to get. Something's precious. There's
something that makes it precious. And you value it above other
things. You highly esteem this. You place
great, great, great value on this object. God says, you're
my treasure, my jewels. Though despised by men, If you're
gods, if you're a believer, though in yourself, nothing but
shifting, sinful, and corrupt. God says
of Joe Blakely, you're my jewel, a royal diadem in my crown, precious. Number eight, thou hast been
honorable because you're precious and dear to him. Precious and
dear to him because he loved you and he loved you because
he would. Because you're precious and dear
to him, he's made you honorable, not the other way around. We
were not honorable by nature and we couldn't make ourselves
honorable. But the Lord God, through the blood and righteousness
of his son, by the mighty operations of his grace, has made us honorable. He made us to be accepted in
the beloved before the world was. He declared us honorable
from eternity because we're one with him, his servant, of whom
he says, this is he in whom my soul delighteth. Honorable, so
honorable. that the name God most often
uses to describe his people is the word holy. Saints. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that
amazing? God Almighty uses this word throughout
the New Testament to speak of his people, saints. Now, let's
talk about some real special believers. Not hardly. I can I can't think of any place
I would less like to be pastor of than Grace Baptist Church
at Corinth. Those fellas were constantly
bickering. They were divided. They had a
fella among them that they honored in their midst who was living
in incest with his father's wife. lorded over one another. They
weren't inclined to behave charitably. They weren't. Paul said, I can't
talk to you as spiritual folks. I've got to talk to you like
carnal folks. I can't talk to you like I would other believers.
I talk to you just as I would somebody who's not even a believer.
And do you know how he addresses them? Saints at Corinth. He says, you were, but now you
are justified and sanctified. Matter of fact, he puts it the
other way around, you're sanctified and justified. You saints, holy,
honorable. You see, the Lord God really
has put away our sins. He doesn't behold iniquity. in Israel or sin in Jacob. He sees no transgression in his
people, no perversity in his chosen. He's put away our sins
by the sacrifice of his son and declares, I won't remember them
anymore. Not only that, but he's made us righteous. He's made
us righteous by imputing the righteousness of Christ to us
in free justification and by imparting the righteousness Christ
to us in regeneration, giving us a new nature, making us partakers
of the divine nature so that Christ now lives in us. And Paul
speaks of us and says, the life that I now live in the flesh,
I live not at the life that I live now live. I live not in the flesh,
but by the faith of the son of God who loved me and gave himself
for me. He says, I'm not talking about
Paul anymore. I'm not talking about Don Fortner
anymore. I'm talking about Christ. I'm talking about Christ. And
God Almighty looks at his people and John said, who are these
folks? Oh, these are all virgins. Chaste
virgins. Who are these people? Well, these
are the righteous of the Lord. Job. Who's that man, Job? God says he's perfect and upright. Honorable, honorable. Number
nine, I have loved thee. I have loved thee. Let men who have no idea who
God is talk and rant all they please about universal love. To declare that God loves everybody
is to declare that God's love is meaningless and useless. Mark
Henson, if God Almighty loves Judas, what's he doing in hell?
Answer me. If God Almighty loves Korah,
Dathan, and Abiram, why did he swallow them up with the earth?
If God loved those antediluvians, why did he keep them out of the
ark and shut them out of the ark and cover them with the flood
of his wrath? Answer me that, anybody who dares
to declare the uselessness of God's love. Oh, no. For God to say, I've loved you,
that's something. I've loved you. I've loved you. Tell somebody I love them. That's
not a casual term. That means I love you. I'm devoted
to your good, devoted to your benefit, devoted to you. The
Lord God loves his own elect and so loves them that he will
sacrifice men and people and nations for them. You want to know if I love you? I'll sacrifice the whole world
for you, God says. I'll trade creation for you.
I love you. Look at verse five. Fear not.
Oh, isn't it amazing he has to put those words in there now?
Fear not. For I am with thee, I will bring
thy seed from the east and gather thee from the west. What's he
talking about? I'll save all my chosen. I'll save every chosen
son of Jacob. I'll 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. God demands of all creation. of all providence, of all history,
of all angels, of all devils, of all nations, bring my elect
to me. And by the marvelous wonder of
his providence, he sweetly forces his elect to him by the power
of his irresistible grace. Even everyone that is called
by my name, for I've created him for my glory, I formed him,
yea, I have made him. All right? Here's the 10th promise.
I am with thee. I am with thee. In verse 2, he
said, I will be with thee. Here he says, I am with thee.
And if you read the chapter and the one preceding it, you'll
see that they had no reason on this earth in themselves to expect God to
be with them. Not a reason. They'd been praying
to tree stumps. They were as vile and as ungodly
as the nations around them. But the Lord God says, I am with
thee. Child of God, God Almighty, the
triune God is with you in the fullness of his goodness and
power and grace. Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice, let
your moderation, the word is gentleness, ease. Your unruffled ease. Oh Rex, how I love to live like
that. unruffled by anything. Just at
ease all the time. Let your moderation be known
to all men. How come? The Lord's at hand. God's with you. God's by your
side. The Lord's with you. Number 11. I have created him. I've created
you for my glory. That means the very glory of
the triune God is wrapped up in the salvation of my soul. I started to say in the salvation
of his people, and that's correct. And either this is. A matter
of absolute truth. Our matter of highest presumption.
The glory of the triune God is wrapped up in the salvation of
my soul. God's called me by name. He's
redeemed me by his blood and by his power. I'm his. I'm his
property and he's mine. He's created me for his glory.
All who are thus saved by him from all evil shall be saved
everlastingly or God will lose his glory and that can't be. Verse 13. 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? Here's the 12th promise. There's
none that can deliver out of my hand. I will work. And who can let it? When God
created the heavens and the earth, nothing resisted him. Nothing
opposed him. So it is with God's providence.
He's made a covenant with us, with the beast of the field,
so that nothing in providence resist him. Oh, much tries. Satan
roars and Satan would resist him. Satan would topple God from
his throne. Man brags and boasts and would
resist his will. Nothing resist God's will. Everything moves by the push
of God's omnipotence, controlled by God's hand, according to God's
will, pushing everything to move his elect to him in everlasting
glory. He gave us eternal life and he
declared they shall never perish because none can deliver out
of none can tear us from His omnipotent hand. We're in the
grip of His grace. Verse 19, Behold, I'll do a new
thing. Now it shall spring forth. Shall
ye not know it? I will even make a way in the
wilderness and rivers in the desert. That's number 13. God promises to make a way in
the wilderness and rivers in the desert. How often it seems
that we wonder. Our lives appear to be like the
children of Israel, just wondering. Pointlessly, here and there,
up and down, just wondering. And sometimes you feel utterly
frustrated, utterly frustrated because nothing turns out like
you planned. Nothing turns out like you planned.
I've observed that a lot of people, a lot of people start off early
and make plans and Boy, they get their apples and everything
worked out just fine, get all their ducks lined up in a row
and they've got their plans and they get this one done, that
one done, that one done. Everything goes according to
schedule and that's how they live and nothing seems to bother
them. That's not how it's been with me. And that's not how it
is with God's people as I observe them. Just isn't. David said,
although my house be not so with God. Oh, I sure didn't want Absalom and
Adam turned out like they did. I wouldn't have things go like
they did with Michael for anything. Yet the Lord made with me an
everlasting covenant, ordering all things and sure. The children
of Israel, while they wandered in the wilderness, David, for
40 years. Do you know what God says about
that? He said, I led you in a direct
path. I led you in a straight way,
in a straight way. The path by which God directs
his pilgrims through this world is the most direct way for you
to Canaan's fair and happy land. And along the way, he makes rivers,
not just streams, rivers in the desert. Rivers of grace flowing
from the very throne of God to refresh our souls. And that river
of the water of life is Christ Jesus, the Lord. Now watch verse
21 and learn why God made us, what he's sworn that he will
do with us by his grace. Number 14, this people Have I
formed for myself? They shall. They shall. Every one of them. Each of them. They shall. Not might. Shall. Not, this is what I planned for
them, shall. Not, this is how they ought to
turn out, shall. They shall show forth my praise. Certainly, we give praise to
Him who is our Redeemer. But this is not talking about
us giving praise to Him because sometimes we do and sometimes
we don't. This is talking about us showing
forth His praise. When God's done with us, He'll
stand us before the universe as trophies of His grace. And
He'll say to Satan and death and hell and the grave, and He'll
say to all creation, Look yonder at Don Fortner. See him? See that tricky, conniving, useless,
bruised wreath, that smoking flax. See him? See what grace
has done for him. And God shall be forever praised
because of his grace to me and to you. Number 15. Look at verse 25. Our God declares,
I, even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine
own sake, and will not remember thy sins. I know people love to talk about
when this was done, when that was done, and they like to have
things in good order because we like to get God in a little
box, you know, like we put a picture of family in a picture frame
so we can look at him. But he said he blotteth out our
transgressions. That's linear tense. He constantly
blotts out our transgressions. Well, but he did that at Calvary.
He sure did. He sure did once and for all. He did that before
the world was. Yes, he did. Christ is lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. He did that for us consciously
when he gave us faith in Christ. Bless God, he did. Oh, but thank
God. How I thank God that he still
constantly with the blood of Christ, by the power of his grace,
speaks his word to my heart and to my conscience and blots out
my transgression. not from my memory, from my conscience,
declaring me that God himself remembers no transgression against
me. For he says, this is my meaning.
I will not remember your sins. Let's move on, there's more candy
to be had, not on the stick. Look at chapter 44, verse 21. Remember these, O Jacob and Israel,
for thou art my servant. I have formed thee. Thou art
my servant, O Israel. Thou shalt not be forgotten of
me. thy transgressions. I blotted
out as a thick cloud thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins. Return
to me, for I have redeemed thee. This is what the Lord says. Thou
shalt not be forgotten of me, for I have redeemed thee. When
my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will take me up
Whom have I in heaven but thee? There is none upon earth that
I desire beside thee. When my heart and my flesh faileth,
the Lord is with me. Thou shalt not be forgotten of
me. Oh my God, how often I forget
you. But never has he forgotten me. There are four more things here.
Look at chapter 45. I'll be very quick. Number 17, verse 2, Isaiah 45,
2. God says, I will go before thee. I'll go ahead of you. Our Savior
speaks. I like to watch the History Channel
now and then, briefly watching some of the history of the Saxon
kings in England. and they made a point of describing
the kings in those days. They didn't send their troops
to battle like we do now. Those who are commanders and
leaders, they send troops out to battle. These fellows fought
hand-to-hand combat, and the Lord, the king, always went in
front. He always led the way. That's
how he retained the respect of those who followed him. The Lord
God, our Savior, says, I will go before you. I'll go ahead
of you, clearing the road, paving it with grace, breaking down
the gates of hell before you, smashing the locks, and kicking
down the bars of your prison. Look at verse 3, number 18. I will give thee the treasures
of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest
know that I, the Lord, which call thee by thy name, am the
God of Israel. You may be in darkness now. If
so, God promises you'll fetch treasures from the darkness that
surrounds you. I don't know about the illustration
because I've never been in a deep well. I'm not inclined to get
in places I might not get out of. But I'm told that if a person's
in a deep well, He looks up into the sky and he can see from the
depth of that dark, deep well, stars that no natural eye can
see from any other standpoint. I don't know whether that's true
or not. I presume that it is. I know this is true. When God
puts you in darkness, look up and see the treasures of the
darkness God made just for you. Number 19, look at verse 17,
Isaiah 45. Israel shall be saved in the
Lord with everlasting salvation. That explains all that's past. That explains all that's present. That explains all that's future.
Israel shall be saved. All God's elect shall be saved.
Israel shall be saved in the Lord. Saved in Christ. Saved by blood and saved by grace. Saved with an everlasting salvation. Now, here's one more sweet morsel. In verse 17, ye shall not be
ashamed nor confounded World without end. There are lots of loose ends
here. Lots of things confusing. Lots of things I don't make any
pretense of understanding. Lots of things I have no hope
of understanding. But this I know. God's elect
shall never be ashamed of their hope in Christ. They shall never
be confused, confounded or put to confusion or even shaken by
anyone or anything. World without end. I love this old hymn. Farther
along, we'll know all about it. Farther along, We'll understand
why. Cheer up, my brother, live in
the sunshine. We'll understand it all by and
by. Faithful to death, said our blessed
master, a few more days to labor and wait. These troubles and
sorrows will then seem as nothing as we sweep through the beautiful
game. When we see Jesus coming in glory,
When he comes from his home in the sky, then we shall meet him
in that bright mansion. We'll understand it all by and
by. Soon we'll see our dear loving
Savior. Hear the last trumpet sound through
the sky. Then we'll meet those going on
before us. Then we shall know and understand
why. Farther along, we'll know all
about it. Farther along, we'll understand
why. Cheer up, my brother. Walk in
the sunshine. We'll understand it all by and
by. Amen.