Now, turn in your Bible again.
You've got it there in front of you, Isaiah. Isaiah 43. Let's read verse 1. But now,
thus saith the Lord. I like that kind of language,
don't you? Thus saith the Lord. We can begin that way in Genesis
chapter 1. And all the way through the Revelation
22 and say, Thus saith the Lord. This is His testimony concerning
Himself and His salvation. and the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. But now thus saith the Lord that
created thee." We are a creation of Christ. Creation of Christ. We are His workmanship created
in Christ Jesus. He's made us new creatures in
Christ. By nature, O Jacob, he that formed
thee, I have created thee, I have made thee, I have redeemed thee,
I have formed thee, O Israel. favor of God, Prince with God.
Fear not. Fear not. Fear not. We have no
reason to fear, no reason to be anxious about salvation, about
being justified in Christ. Fear not. I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name. You are mine. You are mine. I bought you. Now, being frail
creatures that we are, We have a great tendency to fret and
worry and get weary and fear various things. Oftentimes, David,
through the Psalms, talks about fretting. Fretting. Fret not. Fret not. Fret not. Fear not. The Lord knows our frame. He
knows that we are but dust. Our afflictions and trials in
this world may be many, and heavy, but you know the scriptures call
them our light affliction that worketh just for a moment? A
moment. They may be long, they may seem
to be heavy, but they will never, never destroy His work, His creation,
or even eternally harm His people. All the trials that He brings
our way are for our good. and for His glory. Therefore
the Lord God says to us, and this is what He says, fear not.
Fear not. Now He says this repeatedly.
Turn back to Isaiah 41, verse 10. This is one of my favorite
verses. You need to put a circle around
this. Isaiah 41, 10. Fear thou not, I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy
God. I will strengthen thee. I will
help thee. Yea, I will uphold thee with
the right hand of my righteousness. Fear not." Again, he says in
Isaiah 44, turn over there, Isaiah 44, 2. Thus saith the Lord that
made thee and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee. Fear not. Fear not, O Jacob,
my servant, and Yeshua, whom I have chosen. Fear not. Fear
not again. In the book of Isaiah, he says
this repeatedly. Turn to Isaiah 51. Isaiah 51,
verse 7, "...hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness,"
Isaiah 51, 7, "...the people in whose heart is my law, fear
ye not the reproach of men, neither be afraid of their revelings. For the moth shall eat them up
like a garment, and a worm shall eat them like wool. But my righteousness
shall be forever, and my salvation from generation to generation."
Fear not. You got the idea? Turn to one
more. Isaiah 54. Isaiah 54.4. 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 shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood
any more. Now look at verse 5. For thy
maker is thy husband. The Lord of hosts is His name.
He's our Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole
earth. He shall be called. Fear not. Fear not. Now, that's
a profound message that I wish we could get a hold of. Our God,
in this glorious chapter, Isaiah 43, gives us ten valid reasons
why those who believe God and rest in Christ as all their salvation
should not fear sin, Should not fear the law? Should not fear
the wrath of God? Should not fear condemnation?
In Christ there is no more condemnation. Fear not. Now, here's the first
one found in Isaiah 43. He says here, I've redeemed thee. Redeemed. Redeemed. What a blessed
word that is. Redeemed. I've redeemed thee. Redeemed with the blood of the
Lamb. We're redeemed not with corruptible things as silver
and gold, not redeemed with our work, our tradition. We're redeemed
with the precious blood of Christ, the Lamb without blemish and
without spot. Jesus Christ, our great God and
Savior, bought us with a tremendous price. Salvation's free, but
it cost Him a great price. It cost Him His life, His blood,
His blood. He bought us with His blood.
He paid the ultimate cost to purchase us and to purge away
our sin. And He did that with His own
blood. Bought us and purged our sin. Since He has effectually redeemed
us from all sin, all judgment, there is no reason to fear judgment. Resting in Christ. Redemption
by Christ is the great antidote against Fear of any enemy. Now listen to this. Turn over
here to Romans chapter 8. When he talks about everything
that he's blessed us with and everything he's given us, given
to us. Romans 8.32. He that spared not
his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not
with him also freely give us all things? Who can lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? His chosen. It's God that justifies. Who is he that condemneth as
Christ that died? Yea, rather than as risen again,
who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession
for us? Fear not, I have redeemed thee. I have redeemed thee. Redeemed. He obtained eternal
redemption for us with his own blood. He redeemed us. The Lord
Jesus Christ stood as a surety of the covenant, the Lamb slain
before the foundation of the world, but in time he came and
he laid down his life for his people. purchase their salvation
with His blood, put away their sins, satisfy God's law and justice
for us. So that's the first reason. Fear
not, I have redeemed thee. Number two, he said, not only
that, he said, I've called you. I've called you. I've called
you by thy name. The Lord is personally acquainted
with His covenant people. I have called thee by thy name.
God is intimately acquainted with His people. He has known
them from all eternity. All those He redeemed by His
blood, He will effectually call by His grace with the gospel. God who saved us and called us
with a holy calling. It is a holy calling. Call of
the God. Call of the gospel. This is not
a general call to all men. But this here is the effectual,
irresistible, personal call of God to His elect. He said, My
sheep, they hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow
Me. How does God call His sheep? He calls them with the gospel.
With the gospel, it pleased God through the preaching of the
gospel to save His people. The gospel, and that's the word
preached, Christ, God's gospel. concerning the Lord Jesus Christ,
of which Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It's
the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth in
that gospel is a very righteousness of God revealed. God, the Holy
Spirit, makes the word of God effectual, which reaches the
inward part of our heart, our soul, to quicken us and make
us alive in Christ Jesus. That's the irresistible, effectual
call of God. He calls us And my friend, when
he calls, we'll answer. We'll answer. He said, no man
can come to me except the Father which sent me. Draw him. And we hear the gospel, not just
with this here. We hear it that way, but we hear
it in power. The power of God, the Spirit
of God quickens us and calls us and makes us new creatures
in Christ. And then that's the second reason. Thirdly, he says
this. Thirdly, he says in verse 1 of Isaiah 43, he said, You're
mine. You're mine. I've called you
by your name. You're mine. You are mine. You are mine. Those redeemed
by his blood and called by his grace were given to the Lord
Jesus Christ in that covenant of grace and that eternal covenant
of grace. How did they become His? God
chose them and gave them to the Lord Jesus Christ. When did this
election happen? Way in eternity. Turn to Ephesians
chapter 1. Isn't that the clear record of
Scripture? Our Lord said, You didn't choose
Me, I chose you. But Ephesians chapter 1 says
that this election took place in eternity. Ephesians chapter
1 verse 3, Bless God who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in the heavenlies and in Christ. according as he hath
chosen us in him." Who did the choosing? He chose us in him,
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. He
said, You are mine. you are mine." The believer is
God's peculiar treasure, chosen, given to Christ, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Look at Isaiah 42.1. Did you
ever notice this? Isaiah 42.1, Behold my servant,
whom I uphold, my elect. You see that? Isaiah 42.1. Do you know it's the first time
that word is used in Scripture, elect? And it has to do with
reference to the Lord Jesus, my servant, my elect. He is the
elect. We're chosen in Him. Given to
Him. He said, You're mine. All that
the Father hath given to me, they'll come to me. And those
that come to me I will in no wise cast out, our Lord said
in John chapter 6. We are called throughout the
Scripture, we are called His sheep, people of His pasture
and the sheep of His hand. in Psalm 95. We're called his
jewels in Malachi 3.17. He said, when I make up my jewels,
his church, they're his jewels, precious jewels. We're called,
believers are called his bride. He loved the church and gave
himself for it. That means we're under his protection
at all times. We're under his care. We're under
his management. He said, you're mine. Your children
you have, or grandchildren you have, you look over them and
you claim them, that one's mine. That one's mine. And what do
you do? You have an eye for that child. You have an eye for that
child. I used to run, when I first moved
to Pike County, my kids were little. Both my boys played little
league baseball. And I got involved helping the
baseball. And the baseball field was on
a creek. John's Creek. And oftentimes
it was the children would go over on the creek bank and they'd
be playing over there in the creek and sometimes the water
would get up and I'd get a little bit concerned about mama watching
the other child, the older child, play on the ball field and then
them little ones around on that creek bank. I'd always go over
there watching and watching. You can be assured of this, even
though Mama's in the bleachers and watching that older son,
she has an eye out for that one on the creek bank. Why? He's
mine. He's mine. She has an eye. You
see, God's people, His elect, redeemed, they're called, and
He says, they're mine. And He has an eye over them.
He watches over them. He that keepeth Israel will never
slumber nor sleep. Psalm 121. He has an eye over
them. They're His. They're His sheep.
They're His possession. They're His jewel. They're His
bride. I'm glad of that. I'm glad He's
my Lord. I'm glad He's my Savior. You're
mine. And then He says this in verse
2. Number 4 is this. He said, I'll
be with you. You see that? When you pass through
the waters, when you pass through trouble and trial, I'll be with
you. I'll be with you. When you go through the rivers,
they won't overflow you. When you walk through the fire,
thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. And then it says in verse 5,
fear not, Isaiah 43, 5, fear not, I am with thee, I'll bring,
I'm with thee. I'll bring thy seed from the
east and gather thee from the west. I'll be with thee. We can
be assured, wherever God puts us, Whatever He is pleased to
bring our way, He'll never leave us. He'll never, never, no, not,
ever forsake us. I want you to find Matthew 28. You know, the disciples were
quite upset and couldn't understand when the Lord said, I'm going
away. Lord, where are you going? Where can I go with you? Oh,
where I go, you can't go now. You'll come later. But he gave
them this commission in Matthew 28, the last chapter of Matthew.
He said, I'll be with you. I'll be with you. Matthew 28.
This is a risen Lord giving the departing words to his disciples.
Verse 18, Matthew 28, Jesus came and spoke to them saying, All
power, all authority is given unto me in heaven and earth.
as a mediator, that office as our mediator, our high priest,
our advocate, all powers given unto me in heaven and earth.
Go ye therefore and teach all nations. Go and preach the gospel
knowing that I am on the throne, that I have all power, that ye
don't go alone, baptizing them in the name of the Father and
the Son of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever
I have commanded you. Now watch this. And lo, I am
with you always. even to the end of the world.
I'm with you always. I've had people express to me
from time to time over the years, well, I don't feel His presence. He didn't ask you if you feel
My presence. Believe His Word. Believe His
promise. He said, I will never leave you.
I'll never forsake you whether you feel His presence or not.
He said, I'm with you always. I am with you always, even to
the end of the earth. Fear not. Fear not. I am with
you." That's a sweet comfort, is it not? That's a sweet, glorious
comfort. Well, here's the fifth one. Talking
about reasons not to fear. And then he says in verse 3,
For I am the Lord, I am the Lord, I am the Lord of heaven and earth,
and I am your God. I am thy God. I'm the Holy One. The Holy One. The Holy One of
Israel. Here is a great promise and a
reason not to fear. The Holy One of Israel is the
Lord our God. He's Jehovah Jireh. The Lord
will provide. He is Jehovah Sidcanu. The Lord
our Righteousness. He is our great Provider. Who
is always faithful. Who is always true to His Word. His people, His promise, His
covenant, His grace. God is faithful. I am the Lord
thy God, the Holy One of Israel. This brings great comfort to
the believer. Our God is God. He says this repeatedly all through
the Scriptures. I am God. Beside Me there is
no other. Turn over here to Isaiah 45.
I am the Lord. There is none else. There is
no God beside Me. I have girded thee, though thou
hast not known Me. Isaiah 45, verse 21, Tell ye,
bring them near, yea, let them take counsel together. Who hath
declared this from ancient times? Who hath told it from that time?
Have not I the Lord? There is no God else beside Me. I am a just God. I am a just God. I am a holy
God. I'm a just God and a Savior.
There is none beside Me. Now look unto Me and be ye saved.
All the ends of the earth. I am God. He says it again. I
am God and there is none else. I am God. Turn to Isaiah 44, verse 6. Look at this. Isaiah 44, 6. Thus saith the Lord, the King
of Israel, His Redeemer, the Lord of hosts. He's the Lord
of the people. I am the first. I am the last. I am Alpha. I am Omega. The beginning. The end. And beside me there is no God.
There is none else. He is the Holy One of Israel.
His people quilt quickly, joyfully, and always own Him as our God. He is my God. Who is God? But not only that, here is number
six. The sixth one is this. He says,
not only that, I'm your God, the Holy One. And that's a good
description of our God. He is holy. Isaiah 6 says, Holy,
holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. What one word describes a God
whom you worship? He's holy. And everything else
about him comes from his holy character. You talk about his
love, it's his holy love. You talk about his mercy, it's
his holy mercy. You talk about his salvation,
it's his holy salvation. Anything connected with God has
to be holy. But then he says, fear not, and
then he says this, I'm your Savior. I'm your Savior. Now, we need
a Savior. We need a Savior, because I'm
a sinner. Because I'm a sinner, I need
a Savior who is a holy God. You ever notice how through the
epistles when Paul talks about the Lord Jesus, he calls Him
God, our Savior? I like that. That's a good way
to refer to the Lord Jesus as God, our Savior. He's our Savior. When He says in verse 3, Well,
I gave Egypt for your ransom, and Ethiopia and Sheba, He's
saying here, I bought you with such a price
that I cannot lose you. He's saying when I gave Egypt
for your ransom and Ethiopia and Seba, the Lord is saying
I bought you with such a great price that I can never lose you. I will go to the extreme expense
to save you. I'll give no expense. I'll sacrifice
nations. And he did for his people. You
see, we're bought with a price. We're bought with a price, His
blood. The Lord Jesus Christ is the only God, our Savior.
We can rest and be assured in our soul that those who trust
Him cannot perish. He's our Savior. How can I perish
if He's my Savior? He died to save me by His grace. And there is salvation in no
other. The Lord is exactly what He's called. Call His name Jesus. He shall save His people from
their sin. And He cannot fail. He is the Savior of His people.
Our Lord has accomplished what He has sent out to do. He said
in John 17, I have glorified thee on earth. I have finished
the work that you gave me to do. Our Lord has all and absolute
power to apply this salvation to His people. He's able to save
to the uttermost all that come to God by him, seeing he ever
lives to make intercession for. He has all power, all ability
to save. Not only able to save, but able
to keep, able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless
before the presence of God's glory. Now, here's the seventh
one. You see how this is just build
and build, doesn't it? Fear not, fear not. I've redeemed
you. I've called you. You're mine.
I'm God. I'm your Savior. What else could
we ask for? All this in glory to Him in Christ. And then he says in verse 4,
here's the seventh one, Thou art precious. You're precious
in my sight. Precious in my sight. Now, I
might not be precious in your sight, and I don't care much. What this world, I know I'm not
precious in their sight. They hate the grace of God, but
He says I'm precious. Believers are precious in His
sight. In His sight. You're precious in my sight.
The sheep have no value in themselves. We're born sinners, born guilty,
totally depraved and ungodly. The sheep don't even consider
themselves to be precious. We say with Paul, wretched man
that I am. But they are precious in God's
sight, being accepted in the Beloved. in the Lord Jesus, and
that we're accepted. He has made us precious by choosing
us, by redeeming us, by justifying us. He presents us to the Father
right now, holy, unblameable, unreprovable in God's sight.
He's able to keep us from falling and to present us faultless before
the presence of His glory right now. That's how I appear before
Him, holy, without blame, without fault, justified, completely
justified. by the righteousness of Christ.
Precious in His sight. And although you may be despised
by men, if you're a believer, you're precious to God. Precious
in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. In Psalm
17, he calls the believer the apple of his eye. You look up
that word apple, it's pupil. You ever think about the pupil
of your eye? How protected it is? It's protected
by the bone, by the eye lid. by the water that washes it.
And that's everything. You could bring a whole message.
He calls us the apple of His eye, the pupil of His eye. The
pupil of your eye is precious, isn't it? You protect it. Anything
comes toward it, you blink. You protect your eye. We wear
safety glasses. Why? Well, we've got to protect
that from harm. Well, we're precious in His sight.
Number 8 is this, found in verse 4 also. He said, you're honorable. You're honorable. Now, get a
hold of this. Honorable. Honorable in His sight. Thou
hast been honorable. Now, we're not honorable by nature.
We're sinners. Nor are we honorable by our deeds.
But by God's sovereign grace, He has made us honorable. He's
washed us and clothed us in His perfect righteousness. This is
one of my favorite verses here. Get a hold of this. Isaiah 42,
21. Look at this here. Isaiah 42,
21. He's made us honorable in God's
sight. How? The Lord Jesus honored the
law of God for us. Isaiah 42, 21. The Lord is well
pleased. The Lord is well pleased for
His righteousness sake. Now who's He talking about in
Isaiah 42? My servant, my elect. Cannot
fail. The Lord is well pleased for
His righteousness sake. He will magnify the law. Did
He do that? Yes, He did. He magnified the
law in every jot and tittle of that law. All those precepts
of that law in His life, He honored and magnified that law. And in precepts and the penalty of
that law is death. The Lord Jesus redeemed us from
the curse of the law being made a curse for us. I will magnify
the law and make it honorable. Blessed is that man to whom God
would impute that honor. Righteousness without works.
Without any expected contribution on your part. A free gift. A
free gift. Honorable in your sight. Well,
number nine is this. Isaiah 43. You're precious, honorable. And then number nine, he's saying
he's giving us reasons to fear not now. Fear not. He said, I've
loved thee. I've loved thee. I've loved thee. Here is love, not that we love
God, but that he loved us. And he sent his son to be the
propitiation, satisfaction to God's law and justice for us. I've loved thee. Let men talk,
if they will, about the useless, universal love. The Scriptures
know nothing about that. This is talking about that special,
sovereign, electing love God has toward His own. He said,
I love you. Be my elect, my chosen. You see that? I've loved thee.
I've loved thee. Jacob have I loved. Esau have
I hated. His love is sovereign. Sovereign love. Hail, sovereign
love that first began the scheme to rescue fallen man. Hail, matchless,
free, eternal grace that gave my soul a hiding place. That's
the kind of love I'm interested in. That's that saving, electing
love, fetching love, redeeming love. His love is eternal love
toward his people. I've loved thee with an everlasting
love. Therefore, with loving kindness
will I draw you to myself. Sovereign love, saving love,
eternal love. He said, I've loved thee. Where
is the love of God manifested? In Christ. In the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's right. Nothing can separate
us from the love of God. Romans 8, 39. Nothing can separate
us from the love of God, which is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, I want to be found in Him. No wonder Paul said, I count
everything else garbage but Christ. Oh, that I may win Christ and
be found in Him. Be found in Him. Be found in
Him. Fear not! God will not spare
any expense to protect those for whom He loves. He loved the
church and gave Himself for it. I believe it's so. I believe
those for whom He chose, for whom He died, for whom He loved,
they cannot perish. Read John chapter 6. All that
He has given to me, they'll come to me, and I'll raise them up
again at the last day. I'll not lose a one. Oh, that's
good news. Fear not! Fear not! Well, the tenth one is this.
Found in verse 1, verse 7, and verse 15. It says over and over
again, He said, I've created you. I've created you. Look at verse 7. everyone that is called by My
name, for I have created him for My glory." My glory. I have created him for My glory. The very glory of the triune
God is wrapped up in the salvation of His people. Again, it says
in Isaiah 43, verse 15, Isaiah 43, 15, I am the Lord
your God, the Creator, your King, your King, King of kings and
Lord of lords. The very glory of God is wrapped
up in the salvation of His people. As a matter of fact, He saves
us in such a way that He gets all the honor and glory. And
the bottom line of salvation is this, and the grand design
of God's redemption is this, the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.
God forbid I should glory save in the death of Christ. He will
either save every one of His chosen, His redeemed, and His
called people from all condemnation, or He will lose His glory, and
that can't happen. That cannot happen. Turn over
here to John 6. I quoted a portion of it just
a minute ago. John chapter 6. The church is His creation. The
church is His creation. He said, I will build My church.
We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus. And it's all
for His glory. His glory. John chapter 6, verse 37, giveth to me shall come to me,
and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came
down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him
that sent me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent
me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing,
but raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will
of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son, and believeth
on him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up
at the last day." Fear not. God who has begun a good work
in you, He'll finish it. He'll perfect it. He'll perform
it. And that's what predestination is all about. Being predestinated
to be conformed to the image of His Son. Fear not, child of
God. You have every reason to cast away every fear and to rest
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Fear not. Fear not. Let's look at one more scripture.
Psalm 27. I've got this jotted down. Psalm
27. The Lord is my light. And this
says the same thing. Psalm 27 1. The Lord is my light,
my salvation. Well, whom shall I fear? Psalm
27 1. The Lord is the strength of my
life. Well, of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even
my enemies, my foes, they came upon me to eat up my flesh, They
stumbled and they fell. Though a hoe should encamp against
me, my heart shall not fear, though war should rise against
me. In this I'll be confident. One thing have I desired of the
Lord, and that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house
of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty, the
beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. For in the time
of trouble he'll hide me. Hide me in the secret of his
pavilion, in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me.
and shall set me upon a rock. Fear not. Fear not. I am with
thee. I have redeemed thee. I have
called thee. You are mine. You are mine. God
bless you. God bless his word.