if you will, to open your Bibles
tonight to Isaiah chapter 43. Isaiah chapter 43, verses one
through four. But now, Thus saith the Lord
that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel. Fear not, for I have redeemed
thee. I have called thee by thy name,
thou art mine. When thou passest through the
waters, I will be with thee. Through the rivers, they shall
not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, thou shall not be burned. Neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the
Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. I gave Egypt for thy ransom,
Ethiopia and Sheba for thee. 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. The prophet
Isaiah lived during an Old Testament time when the nation to which
he prophesied, which was Judah, had fallen into idolatry. They were guilty of the sin of
idolatry. And Isaiah prophesied of their
future captivity. And Jeremiah, who lived after
Isaiah, he actually lived and prophesied up until the time
that the nation was carried away into Babylon. Remember, he said
this, they forsook God, the fountain of living waters, and made themselves
broken cisterns. In other words, they forsook
the living and true God, and they made themselves idols, broken
cisterns, idols which could, cisterns rather, which could
hold no water. Now several times between chapter
40 and chapter 48, we see these three things. I want to point
them out to us. From chapter 40 to 48, we see
these three things several times. First of all, we see that God
shows the foolishness of idolatry. The foolishness of idolatry. If you will, look back to chapter
41 and verse 7. Chapter 41 in verse 7. So the carpenter encouraged the
goldsmith, or the founder, the one who works with metal. And
he that smootheth with the hammer, him that smote the anvil, saying,
It, that is the idol, the god which they had made, it is ready
for the soldering. And he fastened it with nails,
that it should not be moved. Can you imagine that? Making
yourself a god and fastening your god, your idol, into a place
from which he could not move. God shows the foolishness, the
absolute foolishness of idolatry. And yet this is his people, the
nation of Israel, the nation of Judah, in particular now,
who had forsaken the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves
out broken cisterns. Look also, if you will, in chapter
44, where we have a longer description of the foolishness. Chapter 44,
beginning with verse 9, they that make a graven image
are all of them vanity. and their delectable things shall
not profit, and they are their own witnesses. They see not,
nor know, that they may be ashamed. Who hath formed a god, or molten
a graven image, that is profitable for nothing? Behold, all his
fellows shall be ashamed. And the workmen, they are of
men, let them all be gathered together, let them stand up,
yet they shall fear, and they shall be ashamed together. The
blacksmith with the tongs both worketh in the coals, and fashioneth
it with hammers, and worketh it with the strength of his arms.
Yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth. He drinketh no water,
and is faint. The carpenter stretcheth out
his rule, he marketh it out with a line, he fitteth it with planes,
and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after
the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man, that
it may remain in the house. He heweth him down cedars, and
taketh the cypress and the oak, which he strengtheneth for himself
among the trees of the forest, He planteth an ash, and the rain
doth nourish it. Then shall it be for a man to
burn, for he will take thereof, and warm himself. The tree that
he cuts down, he uses part of it to heat himself, to warm himself. He uses part, and baketh bread.
He cooks his food from the fire. Yea, he maketh a God, and worshipeth
it. He maketh it a graven image,
and falleth down thereto. He burneth part thereof in the
fire, with part thereof he eateth flesh, he roasteth roast, and
is satisfied. Yea, he warmeth himself, and
saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire. And the residue
that which is left, the residue thereof he maketh a god, even
his graven image. He falleth down unto it, and
worshipeth it. and prayeth unto it, and saith,
Deliver me, for thou art my God. They have not known nor understood,
for he hath shut their eyes that they cannot see, and their hearts
that they cannot understand, and none considereth in his heart,
neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say. I've burned
part of it in the fire, yea, also I've baked bread upon the
coals thereof. I've roasted flesh and eaten
it, and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? Shall
I fall down to the stalk of a tree? What a description of the idol
makers. And this was God's people. the
nation of Judah. And God here shows the absolute
idiocy of making an idol, of worshiping an idol, the foolishness
of this particular sin. And number two, that's the first
thing we notice through these chapters, God several times,
he shows the foolishness, the foolishness of idolatry, of bowing
down, of praying to a stock that cannot hear, that cannot see,
that cannot move, and yet calling that your God. What an awful
sin, right? What an awful sin for any man
to be guilty of, but it's even worse to think that they forsook
the true and living God, the fountain of living waters, and
turned to worship something like this. And it was because they
wanted to be like their neighbors. They wanted to be like the other
people. That's the same reason they wanted
a king. They wanted to be like the people
around them. They forgot that they were a
peculiar people, a particular people, a people that God had
chosen and made them His own. And they turned to idolatry. And so God is showing, first
of all, the foolishness of idolatry. And second, in these chapters,
several times, we see that God challenges these false gods. He challenges them, bring them,
and let them speak, and let them tell things that are yet to come. If they be gods, let them prove
themselves to be a god. He challenges them. Notice that
in chapter 41, verse where he challenges them in chapter
41 and verse 21. Produce your cause, speaking
concerning these items. Produce them, bring them. Produce
your cause, saith the Lord. Bring forth your strong reasons,
saith the King of Jacob. Let them bring them forth and
show us what shall happen. In other words, let your idols,
these gods that you've chosen, let them show themselves gods. Let them prove themselves to
be God by showing what is going to take place, what is going
to happen. Let them bring forth and show
us what shall happen. Let them show the former things,
what they be, that we may consider them and know the latter end
of them, or declare us things for to come. Show the things
that are to come hereafter, that we may know that you are gods.
You tell us, you foretell us of something that's going to
happen so we will know that you are gods, that you're worthy
of worship. God challenges them to bring
these false gods that they had turned to and they were worshiping,
and let's see, prove them to be gods. And also, I want to
read on. Behold, you are of nothing, verse
24, and your work of naught, an abomination is he that chooseth
you. In other words, this idol is
nothing. It's vanity. It's of naught. It's an abomination. Man, we
saw how he made one idol of the creature. He served and loved
the creature more than the creator. You read that in Romans chapter
one, how that all the world is guilty before God because men
began to worship everything except the true and living God. Notice in another place in chapter
43, In verse 9, God challenges these
false deities, these idols. In Isaiah 43, in verse 9, let
all the nations be gathered together and let the people be assembled.
Who among them can declare this and show us former things? Let
them bring forth their witnesses that they may be justified, or
let them hear and say, it is the truth. God alone is God,
eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. There's not
room but for one God. There's not room for a second
God, because God Almighty is everywhere present. He's showing
the foolishness of these idols. He's challenging them. And Isaiah,
being a prophet of God, we see that he even names a man who
would be born almost 200 years from the time that Isaiah is
prophesying. who would be the man that God
raised up to deliver the nation of Israel from Babylon. You see
that in chapter 44 and verse 28, the last verse of chapter
44. This is God that saith of Cyrus,
he is my shepherd. Now, God's calling this man by
name. You know, his parents, they had
a baby, and they just decided, I think we will name our baby
Cyrus. God had named him way before
that. His name is Cyrus. He's my shepherd,
and shall perform all my pleasure, even saying to Jerusalem, thou
shalt be built, and to the temple thy foundation shall be laid.
So I'm pointing out in these chapters from 40 to 43 that these
three things we see several times. God shows the foolishness of
idolatry and God challenges the idols to prove themselves to
be God. And number three, God calls the
nation of Israel to be His witnesses. We see this in chapter 43 in
verse 10 and 12. You are my witnesses, you're
my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant, whom I have chosen,
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's eternal God. There was no God formed before
God, God made, created everything, and then men farmed themselves
gods, yes, as they were doing here, but there was no God farmed
before God, if He's from eternity. And notice also in that same
chapter, verse 12, I have declared and have saved
and I have showed when there was no strange God among you.
Therefore, you are my witnesses." God is calling them, the nation
of Israel, to be His witnesses. And one other place in chapter
44 and verse 8. Fear you not, neither be afraid. Have not I told thee from that
time, and have declared it? You are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? Yea,
there is no God. I know not any. Now, tonight,
chapter 43, verses 1 through 4, We are looking at these words
of comfort. You know this section, chapter
40, it begins with these words, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith the Lord. Now in this nation, keep this
in mind, in this nation, of Judah, there were some who were God's
covenant people. And it is to them especially
that these words of comfort are directed. Most of the nation,
they were idolaters. They had gone off into that sin.
But even in these, there was a remnant according to the election
of grace in the nation. And it is to them that these
words of comfort are directed. And so these words that we're
looking at tonight, they are for us as well, because we, those
of us who know Christ tonight as our Lord and Savior, We too,
as we will see, are God's covenant people. And these words, we live
in a different age, and we're not in captivity like they were
going into, but these words are of comfort to all of us tonight,
all of God's children, as we go through this life. First of
all, God's covenant people, verse one. But now thus saith the Lord
that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel,
fear not, for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy
name, thou art mine. Now it is true that God is the
creator of all men, but not all men are called Jacob. Not all men are called Jacob,
there are those who God made His by covenant, by His everlasting
covenant. And there are five truths here
about God's covenant people in that verse. First of all, God
loves His people like He loved Jacob. The scripture says, Jacob
have I loved, Esau have I hated. Jacob have I loved. And we know
that each and every one of God's children You say, well, how do
you know you're one of God's children? There's only one way
to know. And that is if you believe and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ
as your Lord and Savior, you do so because He has loved you
just like He loved Jacob. He loved you with an everlasting
love. That's the first thing we see
here. He loved His covenant people as He did Jacob. Jacob have I
loved. And you know people will say,
well, that word hate, Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated, that
just means to love less. That may be true, but you must
recognize there's a difference. There's a difference between
God's feeling, if I can use that word, towards Jacob and his feelings
toward Esau. Jacob have I loved and Esau have
I hated. God's covenant people are those
that he has loved. The second thing about God's
covenant people, he chose them as he did Jacob. Just as he loved
Jacob, so he chose Jacob. In Romans chapter nine, the apostle
Paul said that the purpose of God according to election might
stand not of works. The elder shall serve the young. Just as God chose Jacob, so He
chose. And His election flows out of
His love. His love is first in our order
of thinking. His love is first, and then His
choice, His election. He chose them as He did Jacob. And third, notice in the verse,
all these five truths are here in this verse. The third thing,
He redeemed them as He did Jacob. I have redeemed thee. I have
redeemed thee. God redeemed His covenant people. And I want you, before we go
on to the fourth thing, I want us to look at Jacob's Redeemer. Who is this that redeemed Jacob? Let's look at what we're told
in these verses. Verse 14. Thus saith the Lord,
your Redeemer. the Holy One of Israel. That's
who redeemed Jacob, the Holy One of Israel. Look with me in
chapter 44, verse 6. Thus saith the Lord, the King
of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of Hosts. That's who
redeemed Jacob, the Lord of Hosts. Look in chapter 47. Chapter 47 and verse 4. As for our Redeemer, the Lord
of hosts is His name. The Lord of armies is His name.
The Holy One of Israel. And then the last place in chapter
48 and verse 17. Thus saith the Lord thy Redeemer,
the Holy One of Israel. I am the Lord thy God, which
teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that
thou shouldest go. So we see that as this verse
speaks to certain people, and they are God's covenant people,
those that He loved, those that He chose, and those that he redeemed,
and number four, he calls them by name, by the name of Jacob. Notice he said, but now thus
saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob. You remember in the
book of Genesis, when Jacob was wrestling with that angel, was,
of course, a pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
Jacob was wrestling with him. The angel could have overcome
him in a second. But he wrestled with him, and
when the day was just breaking, the angel said, what's your name? What's your name? And he said,
my name is Jacob. Now, you know what Jacob means.
I'm that supplater. I'm that deceiver. God calls
his people by name. What's your name? My name is sinner. That's my name. That's who I
am, a sinner. He always calls his sheep by
name, but he doesn't leave us with that name, does he? He calls
us by name, but he gives us a new name, a new name. And that name is Israel. The
angel told him that you shall not be called Jacob anymore.
Thy name shall be Israel, which means what? A prince, a prince. And the Lord God has made us
kings and priests unto God. He confessed who and what he
was, that is, a sinner, Paul wrote, of himself. In the letter
of Galatians, he said, but when it pleased God, who separated
me from my mother's womb, he was chosen from eternity, separated
me from my mother's womb, but called me by his grace. chosen in eternity, yes, but
called by His grace in time. And then notice the fifth thing
that we see here. He owns them. God owns His covenant
people as His. Thou art mine. But now, thus
saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee,
O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed thee, I have called
thee by thy name, thou art mine. Paul, writing to the believers
at Corinth, remember he said, you are bought with a price.
You're not your own. You've been bought with a price.
The Lord here says, concerning His covenant people, Thou art
Mine, the Lord Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. He owns us as His
portion, as His sheep, and as His bride. In Ephesians chapter
5, Paul in speaking of marriage said, For this cause shall a
man leave his father and mother and shall be joined unto his
wife, and they too shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery,
but listen. Also, this is a great mystery,
but I speak concerning Christ and His church. The two become
one. Thou art mine. And I want to be His, don't you?
And we can say He is ours. My beloved is mine. And I am
my beloved's. This is true of all of God's
covenant people. So first of all, God's covenant
people there in verse 1. Now second, I want us to see
God's continued protection of His covenant people in verse
2. 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. You notice that God The Lord,
he does not promise his covenant people exemption from troubles. He doesn't promise his people
exemption from trouble. The night before our Lord was
crucified, meeting with his disciples, he told them, he said, in the
world, you shall have tribulation. He never has promised his people
exemption from trouble. And the troubles here are represented
by water and fire. Water and fire. Think about how
many people have been destroyed by water. How many people have
drowned? How many people have gone down
at sea? How many people have been burned and destroyed? How many of Pharaoh's, for instance,
how many of Pharaoh's soldiers were destroyed in the waters
of the Red Sea? How many? How many of Nebuchadnezzar's
soldiers were destroyed by fire when they cast in the three Hebrew
children, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? In both instances,
God's people, they were protected. The nation of Israel, they walked
through the Red Sea on dry land. And those two walls on either
side of them, walls of water, they went through the water.
And the waters did not overcome them, did not destroy them. When
the armies of Pharaoh, I said, how many have been destroyed?
How many were destroyed? I don't know how many soldiers
We're in his army, but I do know this, every last one was destroyed
when God let the waters come back. And I don't know how many
soldiers cast the three Hebrew children into the fiery furnace
either, but I know that some of them were burned. But God's
people, just as this scripture said, 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. He doesn't promise exemption
from troubles, but notice he does promise his presence. His
presence. I will be with thee. I will be
with thee. Yes, you may go through the water. Yes, you may go through the fire.
But remember this, I will be with you. And we love that word
through. When thou passest through the
waters, you're not gonna be overcome in the waters, you're going to
pass through the waters. In Psalm 23, the psalmist said,
yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil. Why? For thou art with me. Just like in this verse, when
thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee. And when
thou walkest through the fire, thou shall not be burned. God's
protection of his covenant people. You know the scripture says the
very hairs of our head are numbered. That there cannot a sparrow fall
to the ground without your heavenly father. And then our Lord said,
you're much more value than a sparrow. God, you know, as God's children,
I know we're all guilty sometimes of doubt, fear and anxieties,
but we shouldn't. We shouldn't. We've got his promise.
Reminds me of a story I've read in many of Spurgeon's sermons
about the believer, the woman who Someone asked her, was kind
of mocking her and said, what if, what if after you've served
the Lord and been a follower of Christ all these years, what
if he doesn't receive you into heaven? She said this, she said,
well, he'll lose more than I will. What do you mean? She said, oh,
I'll lose my soul. I understand that. And there's
no way you can put a value on a person's soul. But he'll lose
more. He'll lose his honor. Because
he said, whosoever cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out. He'll lose more than me. And
he's promised us that he will protect us as we go through the
waters. They're not going to overflow
us. and through the fire. Those Hebrew
children, they came out of the fire. The scripture says it wasn't
even the smell of smoke on them. And you know, in that furnace,
Nebuchadnezzar looked in there, he said, didn't we cast three
men in there? Oh yeah. Well, I see a fourth man in there.
And it's one likened to the son of man. Many times God's children
have told me Someone told me this just recently. In the midst
of trouble and difficulty, it seems like the Lord has been
even nearer and closer to me. I know that's so. That's the
word of God. Here's the third thing. God's
blessed assurance given to His covenant people in 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. To the nation of Israel, God
assured them of his care by what he had already done for them.
Now we're all familiar with how the Lord destroyed Egypt. God
gave Egypt for His people. That nation was destroyed in
God delivering His people, bringing them out. We're not so familiar
with Ethiopia and Ceba, but this may refer to this. If you look
back to 2 Chronicles chapter 14, this may refer to this deliverance. 2 Chronicles chapter 14, and beginning
in verse 8. And Asa, he was the king of Judah.
Asa had an army of men that bared targets and spears out of Judah,
300,000, and out of Benjamin, that bare shields and drew bows,
204,000. He's got 580,000 soldiers. All these were mighty men of
valor. And there came out against him
Zerah, the Ethiopian, with a host of a thousand, thousand, that's
a million people, a million people. And they set the battle in Array,
and then Asa went out against him and they set the battle in
Array in the valley of Zephathah at Marisha, and Asa cried unto
the Lord his God. Now he's got a big army. That's
a lot of people, 580,000. But this other man has a million
people plus 300 chariots. Asa knew he was outnumbered and
most likely was going to be defeated. But he cried unto the Lord. Asa
cried unto the Lord his God and said, Lord, it's nothing with
thee to help whether with many or with them that have no power.
Help us, O Lord our God. You know, that's one of the best
prayers we can ever pray. I've prayed it so many times.
Help, Lord. Help us. Help me. That's what
Asa prayed. Help us. Help us. That's a short
prayer, but it's a good prayer. Anytime you're in trouble in
a strait like this man and his armies were, O Lord our God, help us, O Lord
our God, for we rest on Thee. And in Thy name we go against
this multitude. O Lord our God, let not man prevail
against Thee. So the Lord smote the Ethiopians
before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled. And
Asa and the people that were with him pursued them unto Jared,
and the Ethiopians were overthrown, that they could not recover themselves,
for they were destroyed before the Lord." God now is telling
His covenant people, I gave Egypt for you. I gave the Ethiopians
and Sheba for thee. But you know where I'm going
with this. God has proved His protection for us in a much greater
way. He gave His Son. He gave His
only begotten Son. That's what Paul said in Romans
8, isn't it? He that spared not His own Son,
but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him freely
give us all things? Oh, God always gives freely,
doesn't He? You see that over and over. He never charges for
His gifts. You can't merit His gifts. We
don't deserve His gifts. That's not the kind of God He
is. God gives freely, justifies freely, saves freely, just like
that debtor in our Lord's parable. One man owed 50 pence. One owed
500 pence, neither one had a penny to pay. And the man frankly,
freely forgave them all. Now the last thing, verse 4. God's valuation of His covenant
people. Verse 4. Since thou wast precious
in my sight, once again the Lord proclaims His love for His people,
and it is from this love that they are precious in his sight.
And because they are precious in his sight, they are honorable. They're not precious because
of any value that is in them above others. They are, as Paul
says in Romans 9, of the same lump as those who were not chosen. They're not precious in their
own sight. For we are made to see our own unworthiness and
need of His grace. They're not precious in the eyes
of the world. Even the Apostle Paul said the
apostles were like the off-scouring of the world. But they are precious in the
sight of God the Father who chose them and blessed them with all
spiritual blessings in Christ. And they are precious in the
sight of Christ who stood for them in eternity as their surety
and died for them in time. And he compares them to a rich
treasure, a pearl of great price. And since they are precious in
God's sight, they're honorable. We became dishonorable, all of
us, in our father Adam. when he sinned and disobeyed
God. But now they appear to be honorable
by their new birth and by their marriage to the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that the Lord would bless
these words to all of us here tonight. What a passage of comfort
to God's children we have here. Let's appropriate it to ourselves.