Okay, this evening we're taking
a look at Isaiah 43. Isaiah 43, basically verse 1
down through verse 7. I'm entitling the message from
what is said in verse 1, and again, what is said in verse
5, where he says, fear not. Fear not. Again, he says in verse
5, fear not, I am with thee. I am with thee. I am with thee. The Lord has promised to never
leave us, to never forsake us. Now, many times in the book of
Isaiah, the Lord uses this phrase to encourage us and to help us
in this life. And he says unto us, fear not. Let me show you just a few places
where this is given unto us, where the Lord says, fear not.
Isaiah 35, turn over there. Isaiah 35, we'll be looking at
several scriptures. I'm gonna lay this foundation
in the beginning. Isaiah 35, verse three. Strengthen you the weak hand
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. You who are of a fearful heart,
fear not. Behold, your God will come and
he will save you. Now, if you'll find Isaiah 41
verse 10, this is one of my favorite verses in the book of Isaiah,
Isaiah 41 10. I've got it highlighted, I've
got it underlined in red, and I've got it marked out so I can't
miss it. Isaiah 41 verse 10, fear thou
not, I'm with thee. Be not dismayed, I am thy God. I will strengthen thee. Yea,
I will help thee. Yea, I will uphold thee with
the right hand of my righteousness. Boy, that's encouraging. Encouraging,
is it not? Again, in Isaiah 41, look at
verse 13 and 14, Isaiah 41. Well, I am the Lord thy God. Thy God will hold thy right hand,
saying unto thee, fear not. We have a helper. I will help
thee. Fear not, verse 14, thou worm, Jacob. That's what we are,
in the flesh, worms. Jacob, sons of Jacob, ye men
of Israel, I will help thee, saith the Lord, thy Redeemer,
the Holy One of Israel. Fear not. Now turn over to Isaiah
44, verse one and two. And this is not all the places
where we read in the book of Isaiah where the Lord says, fear
not. Isaiah 44, yet now hear, O Jacob, my servant, and Israel
whom I've chosen. Thus saith the Lord that made
thee and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee. He keeps repeating this statement,
I'll help you. Don't despair, fear not. O Jacob,
my servant, thy Jeshurun, which is another name for Israel, whom
I have chosen. I've chosen you, I'll help you,
I will not forsake you. And then over here, one other
place here, turn to Isaiah 54. Isaiah 54, verse four, fear not. For thou shalt not be ashamed,
neither be thou confounded, for thou shalt not be put to shame,
for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shall not remember
the reproach of thy widowhood anymore. For thy maker is thine
husband, the Lord of hosts is his name, thy redeemer, the holy
one of Israel, the God of the whole earth, shall he be called. He's our maker. He's our husband. Fear thou not. What a word of encouragement.
I need a word of encouragement, don't you? Now, this does not
mean that we're not to fear the Lord. Just the opposite. For the beginning of godly wisdom
is to fear the Lord, to honor the Lord, to believe the Lord,
and to worship Him. Psalm 111 says, the beginning
of wisdom is to fear the Lord. But because we believe the Lord
and His word, and worship Him in reverence, and trust Him,
therefore we fear Him who is holy. But we have, because we
fear him, we have no need to fear anyone or anything else. He is our helper. He is the Lord
God, our savior. Now, that's easy to say, isn't
it? Fear not. Don't be fearful. When troubles come, when heartaches
come, it's easy to say, well, fear not. Don't be fearful. It's a matter A precious faith
that's a gift of God that we desire in our heart not to fret
and fear. Now the tendency of this flesh,
mine and yours, I'm just like you and you are just like me.
The tendency in the flesh is to fear, be fearful, fearful. Now, because we fear the Lord
and reverence the Lord, we have no need to fear anything else.
He's our helper. He's our Redeemer. He's our God.
He's looking out for us. We're His people. He's our husband.
The believer resting in Christ has no need to fear sin because
the Lord Jesus Christ has put our sin away. There is no condemnation
to those who are in the Lord Jesus Christ. The believer resting
in the Lord Jesus Christ has no need to fear death. The Lord
our God had changed the character of death. Paul said to live is
Christ, to die is not punishment, it's gain. So we don't fear our
sin because Christ put it away. God said their sin and their
iniquity will I remember no more. We don't fear death, the Lord
Jesus Christ has conquered the grave. We're gonna look at that
Sunday. There is a resurrection of the
Lord Jesus Christ, that's true. We don't fear judgment to the
Lord Jesus Christ, we've already been judged in Him, and our sin
dealt with. We don't have any need to fear
Satan, the devil, or demons. The Lord Jesus Christ has defeated
them. He's the seed of woman who has
crushed the serpent's head. Now, he gives us, in Isaiah 43,
some valid reasons that we are not to be fretful and fearful
needlessly. Now, we're to fear him, but nothing
else. But now, thus saith the Lord,
Isaiah 43, 1. Thus saith the Lord. Who says
this? Jehovah, capital L-O-R-D, Jehovah. the eternal, the everlasting
I am. Now, he says this, I created
thee, you're mine. I created thee, I formed thee,
I made thee, and we are by nature Jacob, and he has made us sons
of God. He turned Jacob, you remember
when Jacob met the Lord and God gave him the name Israel, a prince
of God? We have no need to fear because
the Lord has created us anew in Christ Jesus. He has formed
us into his spiritual Israel, sons of God. Now, he says, you
have no need to fear. Behold what manner of love the
Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called, what? Sons
of God. Sons of God, therefore, Fear
not. Fear not. I have made thee. I
have created thee. For my glory I have formed thee. I have made him, it says in verse
7. For I have created him for my
glory. I have formed him. I have made
him. Everything I am, know and have, we can say with Paul, I
am what I am by his grace. I created you, I formed you,
I made you, I'm your husband. Fear not. And then he gives us
some valid reasons, not only that he has created us and has
made us his Israel. We are kings and priests under
our God through his redeeming blood. But he says here, for
I have delivered thee. That word redeem has a meaning
of deliverance. Now, he says, I have redeemed
thee. Now, we are redeemed, not with
corruptible things, but we are redeemed with the precious blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice, and he says, he says,
I redeemed thee. Now, if you go back and look
at the Old Testament priesthood, No other nation, the Amalekites,
the Hittites, and all the other ites, they had no priesthood,
they had no day of atonement, they had no mercy seat, only
Israel. The priest of old went in to
that holy of holies and into the holy place and in the holy
of holies one day of year with the names of Israel on his breastplate. We see here that he has a particular
redemption for a particular people. And we know the Lord Jesus Christ
has redeemed us with his blood. We call the redemption we read
of in scripture as a particular redemption, as a definite atonement. The Lord says, I lay down my
life for the sheep. For he says, fear not. I have
redeemed thee. And then he not only says that
we have a kinsman redeemer who is near kin to us, who has the
will to redeem, but he also has the ability to redeem in whom
we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sin
according to the riches of his grace. I have redeemed thee,
I bought you, you're mine. Fear not, fear not. And then
the second thing he says, not only have I created you and formed
you and made you my own, I have also redeemed you. And then he
says, I called you, I called you. Now notice this, he said,
I have called thee by thy name. by thy name." God is intimately
acquainted with all of his people. He said, I've called you by your
name, and then he says, thou art mine. We're his property. You are no more your own, you're
bought with a price. God bought us with his own blood. You remember the scripture, 2
Timothy 2, The foundation of God standeth sure having this
seal. The Lord knoweth them that are
his. He knows us by name. And he calls
his sheep by name. The Lord knows his sheep. He
calls them out of darkness into his marvelous light. How long
has the Lord known his people? From eternity. From eternity. from everlasting to everlasting.
Listen to scripture, Jeremiah one. Before I formed thee in
the belly, I knew thee. And before thou camest forth
out of the womb, I sanctified thee and ordained thee to be
a prophet. God has known us from all eternity
for he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world.
And in due time, he calls us out of darkness into his marvelous
light with the gospel. Fear thou not. He calls us with the gospel.
It is a personal call. Matthew, follow me. Zacchaeus,
make haste and come down. Lazarus, come forth. It is a
powerful call. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of God's power. That's why we don't Browbeat
people, beat up on people, and try to get people down the aisle
to make a decision or do something religious. Because the Lord calls
his people with a powerful call, an inward call, a holy calling,
an irresistible call. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of his power. It's a penetrating, piercing
call to the heart of the sinner that is irresistible. We talk
about the irresistible call of God and the irresistible work
of the Holy Spirit. That is, it's invincible. It
cannot be successfully resisted. He said, you're mine. I'm going
to have you. I'm going to call you. By your
name, I know you. And I'm going to have you. Now,
he says, fear not. Fear not, I am with thee. When you pass, verse two, when
you pass through the waters, I'll be with you. Now, we could
go back and look at Israel's history. They passed through
the Red Sea. God said, stand still and see
the salvation of the Lord. You remember in our study from
the book of Joshua, you remember they crossed over Jordan in a
most unusual way. God parted the river as he parted
the sea. When you pass through the waters,
I'll be with you. Through the rivers, they shall
not overflow thee. When you walk through the fire,
thou shalt not be burned. Neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. Fear not, he says, I will be
with you. The Lord has promised us he'll
never leave us, that he'll never forsake us. You remember in our
study in the book of Joshua chapter one, the promise given and made
to Joshua, he said, I'll be with thee as I was with Moses. I will not fail thee, I will
not forsake thee. Now, fear not, he said, when
you go through these trials and troubles and heartaches, he said,
I'm with you. He sends these troubles, trials,
and heartaches our way. I'm with you. When the Lord, just before he ascended to glory,
in his resurrection glory, he said to his disciples, all power
is given unto me in heaven and earth. You go and preach the
gospel to every creature. And remember this, he said, lo,
I'm with you always, even to the end. of the earth. I'm with
you always, with you always. He will never leave us. He will
never forsake us. He promises grace for every trial. He said, I am with you. Now,
oftentimes we're tempted to think, well, I don't feel his presence.
He didn't ask you to feel his presence. He said, believe my
word. I am with you always. I remember a story Pastor Maurice
Montgomery told me years ago when he was shipped off to Korea
in the Korean War back in the early 1950, 51, 52, 53, long
in there. And his father was a believer
and he gave his son this advice. In Kentucky, the Lord is with
you. He'll never fail you nor forsake
you. And when you're in Korea, the
Lord is there too. He is with you. He'll never leave
you. He'll never forsake you. And
that's so, is it not? Now, look at verse five. I'll be with thee, for I am the
Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior." Verse 3,
rather. I am thy Savior, the Holy One
of Israel. He's God our Savior. He says this again in verse 11. He is our Savior, fear not. See
verse 11, I, even I, am the Lord. Beside me there is no other Savior. Neither is there salvation in
any other. Again, he says this in verse
15. I am the Lord your God, the Holy
One of Israel, the Creator of Israel. I am Your Savior. The scripture I want us to look
at now, turned Isaiah 45. This is very familiar here. Isaiah
45, there is no God else beside me, verse 21. The last part of
verse 21, there is no God else beside me, a just God and Savior. That's such a significant statement.
He's a just God and a Savior. He's just and the justifier.
There is none beside me. Now look unto me and be saved.
All the ends of the earth, I am God and there is none else. He is a just God and Savior,
the Holy One of Israel. is your Savior. The Holy One
of Israel is God our Savior. The Lord Jesus Christ is both
our Savior and our God. I like the way the Apostle Paul
calls Him God our Savior. Salvation is in Christ. He that
hath the Son hath life. The Lord will spare no expense
to save His people. He will destroy Egypt. And he did. And he'll destroy
Ethiopia. And he did. And he will destroy
Sheba. The Lord will spare no expense
to save his people out of harm's way. The reason why, he says
in verse four, since thou was precious in my sight. Now to the believer and you who
believe, he is precious. But you know what it says here? The Lord says of us that we are
precious in his sight. Precious in his sight. He calls
us his jewels in Malachi 3.17. He calls us repeatedly that we
are his bride. He loved the church and gave
himself for it. We're called his peculiar treasure. He said, sent thou was precious
in my sight. Think about that. Isn't that
humbling? While it's true, the sheep are lost and dirty and
have no value in themselves. We are sinners deserving of no
mercy, not worthy of the least of those mercies, but the sheep
of Christ are valuable to him. He chose us in that eternal covenant
of grace. He bought us with his own blood. We must be precious to him. He
calls us out of darkness into his marvelous light, makes us
new creatures in Christ Jesus, gives us faith and love in him,
grants us repentance, all this because we are, as believers,
precious in his sight. Not only that, but he says in
verse four, You were precious in my sight. Thou hast been not
only precious, but honorable, honorable. And then he said,
I've loved thee. Therefore, I give men for thee
and people for thy life. We're honorable in his sight. God says of the son, this is
my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. And that's true of everyone
in him. He's able to keep us from falling
and to present us faultless before the presence of God's glory with
exceeding joy. That's honorable. You see all
that He has done for us, we ought not fear. Now we fear Him. We
reverence Him. Holy and reverent is His name.
But we have no need to fear our sin or to fear death or to fear
trials. Trials are not against us. The
trials the Lord sends our way, they're for our good. He calls
them light afflictions, which worketh for us, not against us. Since thou wast precious in my
sight, look at verse four again. Thou hast been honorable, he's
made us honorable in his sight. In Christ, holy, unblameable,
unreprovable in his sight. I have loved thee, how long has
God loved his people? He loved them with an everlasting
love. Therefore with loving kindness
does He draw us to Himself. Therefore will I give men for
thee and people for thy life." He gave His life. He loved the
church and gave Himself for it. He loved us forever. Nothing
can separate us from the love of God which is in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Fear not, He says, verse 5, I
am with thee. I am with thee." And then he
says, I will bring thy seed. He's talking here about the elect
of God. He's going to bring them from
the north, from the south, from the east, from the west. my sons
and my daughters from a far country, everyone that is called by my
name, for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him,
yea, I have made him, fear thou not. I will bring thy seed, I
will gather thee, and bring my sons and my daughters from a
far country. If you be in Christ, then are
you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. And
that seed there is the elect of God. He said, I'll bring thee.
I'll bring thee by God's grace in Christ. I'll bring them. I'll
gather them. I am the Lord who will not lose
one sheep of Christ. He said, all that the Father
hath given to me, They will come to me, and I will in no wise
cast them out. For I came down from heaven,
not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. And
of all them which the Father hath given to me, I will not
lose one sheep. He's going to bring us all home
to glory. Listen to this scripture. For
Christ also once suffered for our sins, that just for the unjust
that he might bring us. Bring us to God. You see that?
I will bring thy seed wherever they are. God has a people out
of every kindred, tribe, nation, and tongue from the east or the
west, the north or the south. Bring my sons from far and my
daughters from the ends of the earth. Listen to this scripture,
Hebrews 2. For it became him, for whom are
all things, by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory,
to make the captain of their salvation perfect through suffering. Remember the Lord said, no man
can come to me except the Father which sent me. Draw him. All
those who have heard and learned of the Father, they come to the
Lord Jesus Christ. I'll bring them. I'll gather
them, I'll redeem them, I'll call them. You see, all these
things reinforces that biblical truth that salvation is of the
Lord. Now, the last thing, fear thou
not. I have created thee, I have redeemed
thee, I have called thee, I have created him for my glory. My glory. Everything God does,
he does for his glory. To the praise of the glory of
his grace. The bottom line in all that God
does in the grand design of redemption is what? His glory. His glory. Moses asked the Lord in Exodus
33, we read about it. Lord, show me your glory. You
remember he prayed that way? Show me your glory. Remember
what the Lord said? I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy. I will have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. So what does that teach us? God
get glory to his name by showing mercy to sinners. God's greatest glory in showing
mercy to sinners is my greatest need. I need mercy, don't you? That's why David prayed, Lord,
have mercy upon me. That's why the publican prayed,
Lord, have mercy upon me, thee, sinner. According to thy loving
kindness, according to thy tender mercy, Lord, blot out my iniquities. Fear not, for I have created
him for my glory. I have formed him, yea, I have
made him. to the praise of the glory of
His grace. Now, God forbid we should glory
save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Saving faith, you
know a good indicator whether faith is real or phony? Real saving faith desires all
the honor and glory to the Lord alone. Worthy is the Lamb that
was slain to receive all honor, glory, blessing, and power now
and forever. That's what saving faith desires,
to glory only in Christ. Abraham put it this way, or it
said of Abraham, he staggered not at the promise of God through
unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, being fully
persuaded that all that God has done, He is able to perform. I'm persuaded. God help us. God help us to glory in and only
in our blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Now, I know you're familiar with
this, but let me just remind it give it to you as a reminder,
Ephesians chapter 1, where it says that he chose us in Christ
before the foundation of the world. that we should be holy
without blame before Him in love, having predestinated us 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, wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved. You
see, election is all about His glory. He chose us in Him before
the foundation of the world. The Father chose us that He might
be glorified. And then when he talks about
the redeeming work of the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom we have
redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sin, according
to the riches of His grace, in whom also we have obtained an
inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him,
and worketh all things after the counsel of His own will,
See Ephesians chapter 1 verse 12, that we should be to the
praise of His glory who first trusted Christ. You see that's
the bottom line, everything that God does, He's jealous of His
glory. He deserves all the honor and
glory. So when we talk about God electing
a people unto salvation, it's to the praise of His glory. When
we talk about the Son redeeming a people in Christ by His blood,
it's to the praise of the glory of His grace. And then the last
part of Ephesians 1, or verse 12, 13, 14, He says, and he talks about the
work of the Holy Spirit, in whom you also trusted after you heard
the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also
after that you believed you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of
promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the
redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory. It's all about His glory. He
says, fear not, for I have created and formed you for my glory. Now, does that help? Fear thou
not. I know we are fearful creatures,
I am. And we do honor and reverence
the Lord. But because we fear him and believe
him, we have no need to fear anything else or anyone else.