Alright, if you will open your
Bibles to Isaiah chapter 43, that's where our text will be
found tonight. What we're going to be looking
at tonight, I believe, as I was mentioning to some men who asked
me earlier about what I intended to try to preach on tonight,
is I don't know of a passage of Scripture that comforts my
soul the way this does through the means of what God's promises
are to His people. And that's who these are given
to. They're given to the Lord's people. But before we read this,
I'd like us to turn to one, two verses of Scripture out of Hebrews
11. So just kind of hold your finger there. Hebrews 11, we're going to read
verse 6 and 7. But without faith, it is impossible
to please Him. For He that cometh to God must
believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek Him. By faith, Noah, being warned
of God, of things not seen as of yet, moved with fear and prepared
an ark for the saving of his house. By the witch, he condemned
the world and became an heir of the righteousness, which is
by faith." So, by faith, it said he moved with fear, for things
hadn't even been seen yet. But Noah had faith and it caused
him to move with fear. and thereby he condemned the
world and became an heir of righteousness, which is by faith." My question
here right now is, are you and I any less accountable to have
this same faith 4,400 years later than Noah had then, the same
faith that caused him to move with fear, or are these just
stories that we read about? Will God punish sin? All sin? You know, He gives us a token
of that here in this life that we can't see. It's called death. The wages of sin are death. There are no sins that will go
unpunished. And the token of that that we
will see is death. Death, it's the one sure thing
in this life that we can count on as men. It is never late,
and it's never missed an appointment. There's no one that's escaped
it. So as men, we will encounter death in our life because of
sin, which causes me to draw from the Word. Is there any hope
for me then in God's promises? Because my body will die. But what happens to those who
face that second death? And that's the death I'm referring
to. These bodies are going to die, but what happens then? That's
the death that I won't hope to be saved from. So if you will,
look here, we'll back up to Isaiah 42, and in verse 22, we're reading
right now about Israel and God's account of them. But this is
a people that are robbed and spoiled. They are all of them
snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses. Therefore
pray, and none delivereth for a spoil, and none saith restore. Who among you will give ear unto
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've sinned, for they would not walk in his ways. Neither
were they obedient under his law. Therefore he has poured
upon him the fury of his anger and the strength of battle. It
has set him on fire roundabout. Yet he knew it not. And it burned
him, yet he laid it not to heart." The Lord's saying here, who is
actually going to listen? Because ruin awaits you. Ruin
will come unto you, but nobody's here to listen. He describes
Israel as a man who is set on fire around about him. Now, we
can perceive that and understand the danger in that, but it said
he knew it not. He'd been burned by the fire,
but he didn't even perceive it. This is evidence of a hard heart,
one that will not hear and that cannot hear. Where sin and hardness
and heart are found, we find the fury of God's wrath poured
out. If you will turn with me over
to Jeremiah 32, this is another account of the Lord describing
us as men. And in verse 30 He says, For the
children of Israel and the children of Judah have only done evil
before Me from their youth. for the children of Israel have
only provoked me to anger with the work of their hands, saith
the Lord. For this city hath been to me as a provocation of
mine anger, it provoked me. and of my fury from the day that
they built it, even unto this day, that I should remove it
from before my face, because of all the evil of the children
of Israel, and of the children of Judah, which they have done
to provoke me to anger. They, and their kings, and their
princes, and their priests, the prophets, and the men of Judah,
and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, they have turned unto me the
back, and not their face, though I taught them, rising up early
and teaching them, Yet they've not hearkened to receive instruction,
but they've set their abominations in the house which is called
by my name to defile it. This is a description of you
and I by nature. But he said in verse 30, they've
only done evil from their youth. That's all they've ever done.
That's all they have ever known. And they've only provoked me
to anger with the work of their hands. There's nothing that you
or I can do by our work, by our means, that God can look on and
accept. All He can see from it is anger.
The Scriptures testify this of us. Can this be said concerning
us? What it says here, that all I've
ever done is sin, and all the things that I would say that
I did something here, even with a good intention in my own heart,
He said, it's only provoked me to anger. That's the best you
can do. Now, this is His description of us as men. And frankly, it
really doesn't matter what you or I think, whether you like
it or not, because he's the judge. I was considering this. You've
been watching the news lately about this boy in South Carolina
who went into that church and shot up all those people. When
they let him get up and he defended himself, he was allowed to speak
for himself. And at the end, he basically
justified his actions. He said, you know, I was driven
to this. I didn't want to have to do this, but I was driven
to this. So, in his own mind, he's not guilty. He doesn't feel
like the charges against him are just. But it doesn't matter
what He thinks, because He's not the judge. We have to go
by the standards of Him who is our judge. And if the Lord says
we're evil, and only works of our hands that we've ever done
provoke Him to anger, that's what we are, and that's what
we've done. So the disciples, in response
to this, at one point said to the Lord, who then can be saved?
Because you said if our righteousness don't exceed the righteousness
of the scribes and Pharisees, who can be saved then? Because
nobody can achieve unto that. Will the Lord respond to them
with men? It is impossible. But not with God, for all things
are possible. Isaiah 43 is where the impossible
is made possible. If we can do nothing but provoke
the Lord, why should He do anything for us? That's where Isaiah 43
comes in. This gives us a peek into the
Lord's mind and why He did what He did, and it speaks to the
heart of His people. So if we'll start reading here
in verse 1. But now, thus saith the Lord that created thee, O
Jacob, and that he that formed thee. You know, none of this
means anything to me at all apart from, thus saith the Lord. You
can tell me something is true, but if it says here, thus saith
the Lord, we know this is his word unto us. And who is he to
me? Well, it says right here, it
says, he that created thee, your creator, he that formed thee.
Now, whether you're good-looking or only have a face that a mother
can love, He's the one that created you. He's the one that formed
you. We are in His hands, and if I
have something or can do something, it's only by His sovereign will.
It's not because of anything I did or that I merited that
I was different than anybody. The Lord made the difference.
Thus saith the Lord, without this we have no confidence at
all." What's the first thing that he says to his people? He's
saying, this is who's speaking to you, I'm letting you know
who it is. The first thing that he says, two words, fear not. Fear not, this is strong words
of consolation, because He knows that you do. What is it that
you fear? The Lord answers that question
for us in Luke 12, and I'll just read it to you, 12-5, He says,
Fear Him, which after He hath killed, killed the body, He hath
power to cast it into hell. Yea, I say unto you, fear him. I fear God. I fear being lost. I fear being deceived. I fear
being seen in my sins, because I have no shelter. If he sees
me that way, he can obliterate me off the earth. So why does
he say, fear not? He tells us in this verse, he
says, fear not, for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy
name, and thou art mine. I've redeemed thee means I've
bought you back. So where were we that he had
to buy us back from? From sin and death. When our
first father fell, when he ate of fruit, he committed sin, we
were sold from that moment on forever to sin and death. They
owned us. That's all we could. That's why
when we're born, we're born sinners. That's all we can do. We have
been sold to sin and death. But he says here, don't you be
afraid. I've bought you back from sin and death. The second
thing he says, I've called you by thy name. You think about
this for a minute. You know who you are and only
you do in terms of your earthly experience before the Lord. He
knows your name. The fact that He being so far
and high above me would know my name, that's far above me
to even consider that, but He knows my name because He wrote
it in a book. He wrote it in a book and He
sealed it, the Lamb's Book of Life. Over in Isaiah 49, he says,
Behold, I have engraven thee upon the palms of my hands. Now,
how could this be, these words be 550 years before the Christ
came? Because that's what that's pointing
to. I have engraven thee upon the palms of my hands. I know
your name. This can only be true because
he was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. And
then before time began, Christ stood to the Father, and the
Father said, who's going to go? He said, I'm going to go. He
said, I'm going to take these people, and I'm going to be responsible
for them. And from the foundation of the world, He's been the Lamb
slain. And so election is how God chose
His people in Christ. So we were elected in Christ.
He was the Lamb slain. So He says, I've called you by
your name. I wrote your name in a book. And in case I've redeemed
thee is not enough, and in case I've called you by your name
is not enough. He says, thou art mine, to be
very clear. He owns you because he bought
you with a price. He bought you back from sin and
death with the price of his blood. with the price of the death of
his son, you don't own yourself any longer. He does. And you
know what the beauty of this is? If I don't own myself, then
I can't sell myself back to sin and death. I have no right to
do it any more than I have a right to stand out in this parking
lot and start auctioning off cars for $200 a piece. I don't
own them. So when somebody goes to title
that car, they're going to say, I'm sorry, you can't do this.
You didn't own the car. So I didn't have the right to
sell it in the first place. So if God owns me. Despite what
I do, my consolation is I can't sell myself back to sin and death.
So if he's done something for me, it's out of my hands to mess
any of it up. So that gives me some comfort
that he's done that. So these passages are given to
calm our soul and the things of eternity, but also to quell
our fears regarding the things in this life, fears and the storms
that we encounter. And that's where verse two kind
of picks up here. He says, when thou passest through the waters,
I will be with thee. And through the rivers, they
shall not overflow thee. And when thou walkest through
the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. So he says, when you pass through the waters, what
is that referring to? That's referring to crossing
the Jordan. Whenever we read of crossing
the Jordan in scriptures, that's referring to crossing over to
the promised land. moving from death unto life.
So he says, when you're crossing the Jordan, and you will, we
know every man in here will face death, he says, I'm gonna be
with you. Doesn't mean you're not gonna
get in the river, but he says, I'm gonna be with you. And when
you cross the river, the trials that are in this life, things
that we experience, we're going through every day, go maybe going
through right now. He says, I'm going to be with
you, and they're not going to overflow you. That might be up
to your neck, and you may have to stretch your head up to get
some air. But it said it's not going to take you under. It's
not going to be so much that you can't get by. It's not going
to overflow you, no matter how tough, no matter how long, no
matter how difficult. You will not go under because
He says, I will be with you. It doesn't mean that we won't
be in the flood though. It's hard to see that sometimes
when we're in the flood, but we're to call to mind scriptures
like this, realizing if I'm in the flood, He's still with me
and everything's okay because he's the one who brought the
flood He's the one who's taken me into it. He's the one that'll
get me through it though. I can't see the end right now
I've got this promise in his word just like Noah That's the
reason I read that scripture in the beginning said he moved
with fear because he believed the promise of God He didn't
see the ending yet. He didn't see the rain, but he
believed God and that's what we're called on to do here. I
And he also says, when you walk through the fire, he says, you're
not going to be burned. Neither will the flame even kindle
upon thee. Why is that so? Fire is only
going to burn where there's some fuel for that fire to be. When
there's no fuel there, there's no fire. So fire can only burn
things like wood, hay, and stubble. But all those things are gone.
All that's left, once those are removed, are the gold, the silver,
and the precious stones. This reveals unto us salvation
is Christ's work. Our righteousness, it can pass
through that fire. It's not going to be burned up
at all because this is the righteousness of Christ. Now, if I bring my
own in there, what I do, what I've done, things that I trust
in, that I say are good, those things are going to be burned
up. But it tells us here, He says, when you walk through the
fire, you're not going to be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee, because this is acceptable to God. Christ gave us His righteousness
before the foundation of the world. We were righteous in Him. He came to this world, He took
on our sin, and He died, and we were given the righteousness
of Christ. So this is the beauty of this, is that I don't have
to worry about losing it. The gold and silver and precious
stones, they'll pass through the fire. And in verse 43, he
lets us know the authority on which these things are done.
He said, I am the Lord thy God, not a Lord the God. I am the
holy one of Israel, not a holy one. And he said, I am thy savior,
not a savior. If you're saved, you know this,
he's the only one that saved you. He goes on to tell us here,
after he says, by what authority he did it, he says, I gave Egypt
for thy ransom. Ethiopia and Seba for thee. Egypt
is looked upon as the greatest things of men. In its day, it
was the maxim of power, opulence, and intelligence in the region,
if you will. There was nothing greater than
Egypt. But he's saying, I gave that for you. The greatest that
men were and had were brought to their knees, all for what? For the deliverance of his people,
who weren't strong, who weren't anybody, who were just slaves
in the region. But yet the Lord saw fit to bring
Egypt to its knees to deliver them out. He's saying, I gave
Ethiopia in secret for thee. Nations are meaningless in terms
of trying to get to his people and make sure they're safe. So
read on in verse 4, Since thou is precious in my sight, and
thou hast been honorable, and I have loved thee, therefore
I will give men for thee, and people for thy life. How can
these things be, being the way that you are, precious in his
sight? Honorable? He's loved me? How can these things be? These
things can only be as if I'm seen in Christ. It's His work,
His faith, His acceptance. All those things the Father loves
and He can accept. So the only way that can be true
is if I'm united to Christ and in Him and He sees me that way.
He says, therefore I'll give men for thee and people for thy
life. Don't all people have worth before God? Well, do you love
your kids as much as anybody else's? Do you love the person
pouring water in your glass at dinner as much as you do your
spouse sitting there with you? The Lord puts a difference and
he tells us that in scripture. He says, but against the children
of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue. Against man or beast
that you may know how the Lord doth put a difference between
the Egyptians and Israel. The Lord will not allow anything
to come between His people and what He intends to do for them
in saving them. If you were one of the Lord's
chosen, you know that there is nothing in you special. You know
that you were chosen only by His mercy and by His grace, and
the only thing that's separating you from these nations to be
trodden underfoot are His mercy and His grace in putting you
in Christ before time began. These are the only things that
give me any comfort, is that His hand was upon it, not because
I did something. And we must, so don't ever forget
where the Lord found you. Because we know we didn't do
anything to deserve it or merit, don't forget where the Lord found
you. When we graduate beyond this, pride creeps in, and we
start thinking that somehow we're a little bit better than somebody
else. If I believe the gospel and have been called, it's only
by His grace, and that's something we should always remember. In
verse 5, He says again to His people, Fear not, for I'm with
thee. I will bring thy seed from the
east and gather thee from the west. So we hear fear not again. This message, in case you haven't
seen yet, is for those who fear. That's why you keep saying, fear
not, fear not, fear not, I'm with thee. I fear being forgotten. I fear that, you know, when the
Lord comes back, maybe He'll forget me. Foolish things that
you think. I fear not coming when the call
is issued. What if I don't come? I fear
that I might miss it, because I know me, if the opportunity
exists for me to mess something up, there's a good chance that
I might. I don't want to miss it. And so I fear that. But yet
He says, fear not. Why? He says, I'm going to bring
thy seed from the east, and I'll gather thee from the west. And
in verse 6 he said, I'll say to the north, give them up. And
to the south, keep not back. Bring my sons from far and my
daughters from the end of the earth. He's going to say, give
them up. Let them loose and don't you
keep one back. He knows their names Every one
of them and when he comes calling for them to collect them He's
telling he's saying give them up. Don't keep them back. I'm
coming to get them and they're coming with me So who does God
bring does God gather and not keep back? Well, he tells us
in verse 7 Even everyone that is called by my name For I have
created him for my glory, and I have formed him, yea, I have
made him. Everyone who is called by my
name, what is his name? Jeremiah 23, 6 says, and this
is his name, whereby he shall be called the Lord of righteousness. Well, if I have His name, Jeremiah
33, 16, this is the name whereby she, the bride, shall be called
the Lord our righteousness. I've been given His name. He
gave me His name because I'm united to Him. Everything that
goes along with that name, I get. I have. If He's accepted, so
am I. If He's holy, so am I. If He's
righteous, so am I. Everything that goes along with
that name, a name means something. You think about this new family
coming into power in our nation, Trump. There's something that
goes along with that name. There's some doors that are going
to get opened because of that name, because of the association with
that name. This is a much greater name, the Lord our righteousness. Not only is it a greater name,
it's our name, the Lord our righteousness. And he said, for I've created
him, who's that? That's the Lord Jesus Christ,
for my glory, What is His glory? His glory is His goodness to
save an ungodly wretch like you and I. His capacity to save when
we don't deserve it at all. An ungodly wretch is hard to
find. Most people don't like that term and think of themselves
as a sinner or an ungodly wretch, but that's what we are. And the
Lord says that's who He came to save. To what end? So he says he's done all these
things. He says, fear not, I've redeemed you, I've called you.
When you go through the trials of death, I'll be there. When
you're in the trials of this life, I'm gonna be there too.
I'm gonna call you out, I'm gonna get you, and I'm gonna give you
my name. To what end has he done all these things? Well, look
down in verse 10. He says, you are my witnesses,
saith the Lord, and my servant, that's the Lord Jesus Christ,
whom I've chosen. To what end? 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." He said,
that you may know and believe me and understand that I am.
God desires that we, his people, might know him. That's far above
my ability to understand or even understand why, but I'm thankful
that it's so, because he's letting us know the purpose behind why
he's doing all these things. He desires for us to know him. He desires for us to believe
him and to understand his gospel. That's why he's given us this
revelation of himself. And in verse 11, he says, I,
even I am the Lord, and besides me, there is no Savior. There
is one way to God. The one way to God is through
the man, Christ Jesus. He says, besides me, there is
no Savior. So if you're saved, this is the
only reason you were saved. He tells us that in verse 3.
He said, I'm your Savior. Not your works, not your faith,
not how you feel, not your experience, not your choosing to believe.
If you're saved, I'm your Savior. That's the only way where He
does it all. And in verse 12, He says, I've declared and I've
saved. I've showed it. That means I've
proclaimed it to the world. And when there was no strange
God among you, therefore, you are my witnesses, said 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? He says, I've declared, I've saved, I've showed you these
things, and there's none that can deliver out of my hand. That's
something I'm thankful for. You realize if you're in his
hand, Not yourself, not the devil, not the wicked of this world
can deliver you out of his hand. He's greater than all. He said,
my father's greater than all. There's none that's going to
pluck them out of his hand. That's what he's saying right here in
our text. I've done all these things and who's going to let
it? Who's going to undo these things that I've done? Who has
the ability to force me to undo the things I've done? This gives
us confidence we have a strong Savior, because not only has
He purposed it, He has the power to execute these things and to
keep them to pass. So, if we look over in verse
21, He tells us why. This people have I formed for myself. They
shall show forth my praise. He's formed for himself his people. We're not an afterthought. This
is not just something he decided to do because Adam messed up. He's formed us for himself that
this people might show forth his praise. He said my praise.
That we might praise him. Why we praise him is found in
verse 25. I, even I, am he that blotteth
out thy transgressions for my own sake, and will not remember
thy sins. He blots out our transgressions.
Everything that I've ever done is wrong. Every sin that rails
against me, that the accuser of the president can point at
me and say, look what he's doing right now. All of those things
are blotted out. There's no record of them. The
blood of Christ purges it so that it is no more. I've been
changed. And he says, not only that, when
we're, and I've said this this morning, when we're in heaven,
there's always a part of me that kind of draws back to, yeah,
but I know I did those things. Even though I'm not held guilty
for them, I know what I did, because I know what I just did.
I see it. He says, I'm not even going to remember it. We'll not
even have the memory of sin. That's even more than forgiveness.
So not only are we forgiven, He's not even going to have memory
of it. So, when He can look at us, there's nothing for Him to
remember what we had to be purged from, because all that has been
gone. So, will God really punish sin? Yes, He will. Is there any
hope for me? Well, who is this message to? Isaiah 43 is to His people. So,
only if I'm one of His people can I take any comfort in this
message. And you don't choose to be one of His people. You
always were, because you were chosen in election. Well, how
can I know if I'm one of his people? What evidence can I know
in me that I'm one of his people? Well, he told us already in verses
10 and 11. What are the attributes of the
chosen? They know the Lord. That delights in showing mercy. They believe the Lord. When He
said it is finished, is that enough to save you? Do you believe
the Word that He's given us? Or does that mean it's finished
and now there's something left for me to do? Because if there
is, I'll be lost. I won't be able to do it. So
they know the Lord, they believe the Lord, and they understand
that there only is and there only ever will be a true and
living God, who is their Savior, which is the only way we can
be saved. This is seeing Him and understanding
Him for who He is, not who I decide I'm comfortable with and want
to be able to change to fit my life. This is who He is. So those
who know, those who believe and understand who He is. And maybe
you're not in that position right now. Maybe this is the first
time you've heard the gospel or are hearing. I'll say this,
there's no one who has ever been turned away who has sought to
know Him for who He is. So if I come to Him and ask,
Lord, I want to know you for who you are, not who I'm comfortable
with, not who I think you should be, not anything. It's just saying,
Lord, here I am. Help me, Lord. Like the woman
who came in His feet, help me. Our problem is that there's not
many, as we saw in Isaiah 42, there's not many who wish to
know Him. It says that they won't hearken, they won't hear, they
have a hard heart. May the Lord work by his almighty
hand from which there is no deliverance to take hold upon us and to make
us hearken and to make us hear his word because he can make
the impossible possible. So what we're left with here
is what I believe he began with to his people when he says, fear
not, I will be with thee.