I invite your attention back
to Isaiah chapter 43. The title of my message this
morning is, And Can It Be? And Can It Be? These are the words of the Lord
Jesus Christ, God Almighty, as He looks upon a nation that is
a picture and a type, a kind, of the elect unto salvation. There were many in Israel who
were the elect unto salvation, but the nation as a whole was
representative of the kind of people that God saves. And you'll
find that Israel, from beginning to end, from when they were first
called out, when they were first called Jews, when they were given
their religion on Mount Sinai, were murmurers, complainers,
liars and cheats, vile and unclean. never satisfied, always rebelling
against God. And God says of them, speaking
of His elect unto salvation, since thou was precious in my
sight, thou hast been honorable, and I have loved thee. Since thou was precious in my
sight, thou has been honorable, and
I have loved thee. I don't know about you, but when
I read words like this, I often think, can he be talking about
me? Can these words be applied to
someone like me? And yet he is. Now the religious
world looks at believers, and that's the elect of God, with
hatred and contempt, generally. And the truth of election being
no small part of that contempt. And while embracing religion
as a respectable and commendable thing, an honorable thing, they
despise the truth of the Word of God. Our Lord said the world
loves its own. He said that to His children,
to His disciples. But the world disallows the Church
of God and assesses His beloved as contemptible, according to
the Word of God. The Lord said, don't marvel that
they hate you. They hate Me. They can't get
to Me. I'm at the right hand of the
Father. But they can sure get to you. They can sure get to
you. Don't ever expect that to change. Let's look at what our
Lord actually said to His disciples about that in John chapter 15. He says this in John chapter
15 and verse 18. Let's look at verse 17. These things I command you that
you love one another. If the world hates you, you know
that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world,
the world would love his own. The world would love you if you
were of the world. But because you're not of the
world, and the reason you're not of the world, He gives, because
you're not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the
world. Therefore, the world hates you.
They not only hate you because you're a believer, they hate
you because you believe the truth. And you understand that your
salvation is wholly and completely wrapped up in the purpose and
will of Almighty God, and you had nothing whatsoever to do
with it. The world hates that. But what
the world does not know is that the view that the redeemed of
the Lord have of themselves does not greatly differ from the view
that the world has of them. We understand about ourselves
that we are contemptible, we are sinful, we are unworthy of
the least of God's favor. God is not in all our thoughts.
And these thoughts are not foreign to those who believe the gospel.
They're normal. God has forgotten our sin, but
we never will. Throughout eternity, our soul
will be worthy as the lamb that was slain that has redeemed us.
Sinners, out of every kindred nation, tongue, and people. Whatever the world can say about
us or think about us, we can always say they don't know half
the story. They don't know how bad we really are, because we
don't know how bad we really are. God restrains us from being
what we are, and I'm thankful that He does, because if He didn't,
I'd be in trouble and so would you. But the songwriter wrote
it this way, and can it be that I should gain an interest in
the Savior's love? Died He for me? Who caused His
pain? For me? who Him to death pursued? Now others think they know us,
but we know ourselves to a great degree. We with Paul can say we know
that in us, that is in our flesh, dwelleth no good thing, nothing. We know that we are by birth
and from birth and by nature and by practice and by choice
sinners who deserve eternal damnation. We know that because God has
taught it to us. Paul, when he spoke, was not
trying to sound humble when he called himself the chief of sinners.
That was a designation of the Holy Spirit who inspired the
writing of the Word of God. Job wasn't trying to be humble
when he said, Behold, I am vile, I abhor myself. David was not
feigning religiosity when he said, My sin is ever before me.
The world despises the church and God's people. And they don't
know half the story. We're much worse than they could
ever imagine. We're much worse. The believer
knows that he has nothing ever from the time he draws his first
breath to the time he draws his last breath, there is nothing
about him or her that would ever recommend him or her to God. That's from the cradle to the
grave. You say, well, I'm a believer.
That does not recommend you to God. God gives you that faith
that you wouldn't believe. Faith doesn't recommend you to
God. What? Can anything recommend us to God? One thing, Jesus Christ
the Lord. Nothing else. Nothing else. This is an amazing fact when
we think of what we are by nature, our depravity, our ruin, what
we are carnally now in our mind, in our heart, the thoughts that
go through our heads. The amazing thing is this, the
Lord God, the holy God, the thrice holy God, whose eyes are too pure to behold
evil, before whom the sun, moon, and stars are not pure in His
sight, sees His people as the most precious and honorable
and beloved things in His universe. Just roll that over in your head
just for a moment. Think about that. I know religion
like to paint God as some kind of mafioso standing around the
corner waiting to thump you on the head for something you do.
Listen to me very carefully. If you are a believer this morning,
listen to me. If you are a believer, you cannot
disappoint God. You cannot. You'll disappoint
yourself. Hardly a minute goes by without
that taking place, but you cannot disappoint God. He says of you,
since you were precious, since thou wast precious in my sight,
you have been honorable, and I have loved you. I have loved
you. This statement is God's view
of His entire church. His entire church. And He always
speaks in righteousness and says what's right. So this is right.
You say, well, I don't see it that way. It doesn't matter how
you see it. Your sight is of no value. I want to know about
what He sees. What's in His sight. He said, in my sight you're precious
and you're honorable and well-loved and you always have been. Whether
we talk about the church universal, the whole body of Christ, or
the local church, which is the outward invisible manifestation
of the great mystical body of Jesus Christ, when God describes
His church, He only describes it one day, one way. Since thou
wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honorable, and I have
loved thee. There is a church universal.
I have some dear friends who are Baptists who would throw
me out of the pulpit if I said that in their pulpit, so I won't
say it in their pulpit, I'll say it in this one now. There is
a church universal, sometimes referred to as the church aggregate.
That's made up of all of God's elect, those who are redeemed
by Jesus Christ, those who have been given faith to believe the
gospel. This body of believers is the
family of God, the kingdom of God, the body of Christ, the
bride of Christ. And this is the church Christ
loved and gave himself for and redeemed and saved by his death. And that church encompasses all
the redeemed from Adam to the last sheep that's going to be
bought into the fold. They are redeemed, bought and
purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ, by the blood of God.
Paul said to those in Acts chapter 20, when he was getting ready
to leave the Ephesian brethren and going up to Jerusalem to
be bound, he said, I give you oversight
of this church whom God has purchased with His own blood. Acts 20,
28. God has purchased with His own
blood. Husbands, love your wives as
Christ loved the church. and gave himself for her. That's who he died for, the church. That universal church is the
general assembly of the saints and the church of the firstborn
whose names are written in heaven. There is also the local church.
It is the outward visible manifestation of the universal church. We do
not and cannot ever diminish the importance of the local church.
Everything happens right out of the local church. Everything. It is in their midst that Christ
meets with His people. He said, where two or three are
gathered in my name, I will be with them. It is called the temple
of God, the habitation of God in 1 Corinthians and Ephesians.
And the church alone has the gospel. The church alone has
the gospel. It alone possesses the singular
right and warrant to preach the gospel. Only the church that
God has purchased with His own blood. The church consists of
a great multitude of such magnitude that no man can number, while
in the world it's considered diminutive and of little consequence
to the world. How many times have folks said
to you, how many people are you, do you have in your church? Why
do they ask that question? Because it means something to
them, don't you think? It must mean something to them
or they wouldn't ask that question. Next time say, we had 8,000 last
week. And watch the conversation stop.
Why? Because they're pretty sure that
you ain't got as many as they got. And they're going to tell
you. But God's churches throughout history have been little spots
here and there, 20, 30, 40, 100 people here and there. It's rare to find a great big
church that believes the truth. You find great big churches that
don't believe anything. They believe this book is a self-help
book. But you don't find any of them that believe the truth.
Sovereign grace. Churches. How many times have
you heard somebody say disparagingly, what's your little group all
about? That little bunch. Despise not thou the day of small
things, God said. Don't despise that. It's considered
of no consequence in the world today. Now everything that calls
itself a church is not a church, not necessarily, nor is there
any indication that every group that calls itself a local church
is part of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. Babylon, the great
whore, is made up of many false churches. There's even some of
God's people in them, because He says, come out of them. I
came out of Babylon, where did you come from? However, all of God's elect,
in heaven and on earth, are one church, one body, purchased by
one blood, having one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. There
are only two religions in the world, really. has a thousand
names, and one of them is the church. It's light and darkness,
my friend. The words of our text are what
God says concerning His church. Since thou wast precious in my
sight, thou hast been honorable, and I have loved thee. Now note
that all of these are spoken in the past tense. Thou wast
precious in my sight. Thou hast been honorable. I have loved thee. All in the past tense. Why? Because
that's the way it always is. That's all we can see about God.
It's the past tense. Do you understand that? When
Moses said, show me your glory. He says, alright, I'll do it,
but I'll put you in the cleft of the rock. Put my hand over your eyes. You can
see my hinder parts, but you can't see my face. That's metaphorical
language. He said, you can see what I've
done, but you can't see what I'm doing. I'm God. What is the Gospel? It is the
declaration of what God has done by Jesus Christ for His people. What He has done. And you will
rarely find love spoken of in the Scripture when it's referenced
to God as in the present tense. Now does He love His people?
Of course He does. Why? Because He's always loved His
people. God doesn't change. God didn't hate your guts and
have His wrath hanging on you until you believed and then you
become His best buddy. All that time when we were in
rebellion and hatred against God, spitting in His eye, wishing
He wasn't on the throne and wishing we were there, rebelling against
Him in every thought, word and deed. All that time. If you could
have asked Him, what about Malcolm? Look what he's doing over there
in those mountains, driving them cars fast, shooting them guns.
Drinking that liquor, having a good time. Look at that boy.
What about him? Since he was precious in my sight, he's been honorable. And I have loved him. I'll tell you, if that don't
get you off, there's something wrong with you. This girl used to work with
me. She said, boy, that'll trip your
trigger right there. That'll do it. I have loved him. to all in the
past tense. Whatever God does in the present
is what He's always done because He does not change. I am the
Lord, I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. What takes place in time is but the fulfillment
of eternal purpose. That's all it is. What's God
doing? Read the newspaper. That's what's
going on, isn't it? You think something's happened
here that God ain't doing? Shall there be trouble in the city
and God not be in it? Well, I hate the president. Well, go ahead
and hate him if you want to. God put him there. God will take him down. Maybe I ought to pray for him.
Maybe. But I'm like you and me, Doug.
When they do things up in Washington, I want to kill them. I want to
shoot them. Deader than a hammer. I feel that way most of the time.
That's my problem. I guess I don't believe in God's
sovereignty as much as I think I do. Well, I wouldn't be such
a complainer and a murmurer, would I? God says this in Ecclesiastes, chapter 3, that which hath been,
in verse 15, is now. That's what He said. That which hath been, that's
what is now. And that which is to be, has
already been. What's that talking about? That's
talking about God. How He looks at stuff. Not how we look at
stuff. How God looks at stuff. God's church is and was precious
in His sight before they were even called a church. Before
there was even a member in the local visible body. There is
however nothing in or about the church by nature that is different
from the world. There's nothing about this except
maybe we've gathered here on Sunday. But I'll tell you what.
Millions of people are gathering today. Millions. I heard last week that on his
Wednesday homily, that's a nice word for sermon, the Pope got
300,000 people out there on a Wednesday afternoon out at the bat, got
300,000 people. He's doing a lot better than
I am, I'll tell you that. Nothing about us differs from
anybody else. The church is not a building,
it's a people. And it's the worst kind of people.
It's the off-scouring of the universe. Not one of us can claim
any one thing that is of value. God looks at this rag-tag scrap
of humanity and says, since thou was precious in my sight. Thou
has been honorable, and I have loved thee." It's always been
that way. The Church of God is precious
in His sight. Precious, the word both in the
Hebrew and the Greek means honorable and of great value. Now we count
ourselves as lighter than vanity, so we don't have any value at
all except in His sight. So I guess in His sight we have
value. He made it that way. God's church is precious in His
sight because He loved them. And we know He loved them with
an everlasting love, and that's why He called them to Him. We
know that according to Scripture, in love He chose them in Christ
before the world began. made them heirs of God and joined
heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ, heirs of the promise of salvation.
Those, according to Scripture, whom He foreknew or foreloved,
He did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that
He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
He did predestinate, Him He also called. And whom He called, Him
He also justified. And whom He justified, Him He
also glorified. And we can only say, what shall
we say to these things? Well, if God is for us, who can be
against us? Nothing will stand. Spurgeon said this, the bounds
of the nations hath God set according to the number of His chosen. The arrangements of providence
have all been disposed with an eye to them. All things work
together for their good and for the achievement of their ultimate
perfection. God is pleased to reckon them
as his crown jewels, his particular treasure, his peculiar treasure,
because he sees them in the purchase of his son's agonies. They have
been bought with a price that is far above rubies, far above
silver, far above gold. She is precious. Y'all are just
precious. Think about that. God says, y'all
are just precious. Precious. Precious because in
the church, the salvation of these sinners, the glory of His
salvation is fully and completely revealed. All is grace, all is
mercy. And we see His glory in creation
and providence. But we find no peace there. He
displays all His glory and all His attributes singularly in
the redemption and salvation of His church by the propitiatory
death of Jesus Christ, His beloved Son. Because she, the church,
is precious in His sight. He says of her, of you, of me. Think of that. You're honorable. God Almighty, who cannot lie,
who speaks in righteousness and always says things that are right, says to you, you're honorable. That's a thing, isn't it? That's
an amazing thing. The church would never put this
name on her resume. But notice the secrets of the
Lord's Word. Since thou wast precious in my sight. That's
the reason for it. Because you're precious in my
sight. Thou hast been honorable. Why and in what way was she honorable? Or is she honorable? She was
or is honorable by marital relationship with Jesus Christ. was renowned throughout all the
world, he said in Ezekiel 16, because of my comeliness which
I put upon thee. Which I put upon thee. She is
honorable. She's the bride of Christ. She's
the sheep of his foe. She's that purchased people. Purchased by his blood. She is
honorable because of the work she's been trusted. She's been
entrusted with the one thing that is the power of God revealed
on this earth. The one thing. That is the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the power of God unto salvation
to everyone who believes. To the Jew first and to the Greek.
For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith. For the spoken, the just shall live by faith. That's that
blessed word. Paul says we're always triumphant
when we preach the gospel. It's always a sweet-smelling
savor to God. It's a sweet savor to God in
them that are saved and in them that perish. For the gospel is
a savor of life unto some and a savor of death unto others.
But we preach because that's what we do. We can't do anything
about the preaching. We can't make it effectual. We
can't convince you. We can't draw you. Men have invented
ways to do that. They've invented ways to get
men down an aisle. They've invented simple plans.
They've been in 1, 2, 3 salvation. All silly stuff like that. These
are inventions of men. But men can't do anything about
your condition. Don't look at me. Don't come
to me. I can't help you. We'll call the preacher. He might
do you worse than he does you good. He's just a preacher. A mouth,
a word, a voice in the wilderness. That's all He is. That's all
He'll ever be. One day this preacher is going to disappear from this
earth. Going to be planted six feet
down up on Yellow Hill. Somebody else will be saying
what I'm saying. And though you, if I pass before
you do, you may remember me for a while. My children will remember
me. Maybe my grandson will. But then I'll be forgotten. And
one day, us five that are buried up there, the grass will grow
over. And if the earth stays here another 150, 200 years,
they'll walk up on Yellow Hill one day and they'll find an archaeology
site. Ain't nothing to us. Ain't nothing
to us. And God has entrusted us with
the gospel. the most precious thing on the
face of this earth. Nothing is like it. Nothing can do what
it does. And it's in God's hands. He put
it in your hands, in your mouth, and in your heart. She is called,
the church, the pillar of ground and truth. I don't want anything
being sustained on my shoulders, do you? I don't feel like a pillar. I don't feel like a foundation.
But God says the church, His people, are a pillar and a foundation
or ground of truth. The word is blessed, or rather
the world is blessed because the church is in it. Understand
that. The world continues Because the
church is in it. She speaks for God in this world. She's the only one that does. Next time it rains, thank God. And your old neighbor who hates
God ought to thank you for being there because that's why the
rain came. It came for you. Now the world may receive benefits
from it, but the sun shines for you. Do you realize that? The
sun shines for His church. The rain falls for His church. Everything that transpires on
this earth transpires for His church. Everything, everybody,
everything that rises and wriggles upon the face of the earth that
flies through the air, every dust that flies across the sunbeam,
no matter what it is, happens for the good of His church and
the glory of His namesake. Everything and you find me something
that's not a thing and we'll talk about it, but I know this
everything is a thing so everything Works for the good of his people
The next words that drip as grace from the lips of God. He said
I have loved thee I Have loved thou art honorable, and I have
loved thee Now the measure of that love is boundless. The hymn
writer wrote, Could we with ink the ocean fill, And were the
skies of parchment made? Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade? To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry, Nor could the scroll contain the
whole, Though stretched from sky to sky. The love of God. We're not equipped to talk about
it, because we don't know a whole lot about it. Don't use your
love as a comparison. That's just a sad comparison. God's love does not fit the sad
and sickly scheme of our love, of this anemic, unrequited affection
or infatuation that men talk about God having. That's our
love, not God's love. How does God love His people?
He says in verse 3 of our text, Well, I love you so much I wiped
out Egypt for you. I gave Ethiopia for you. What does that mean? He slaughtered people for your
good. He says that even in our text.
He says this, And I have loved thee, therefore will I give men
for thee. and people for thy life. I told you he didn't want
to get involved in providence. Because you don't know who he's
going to do that for. But he's doing it for you. I have loved
thee. It's a boundless love. This flies
in the face of what men deem as love, but God declares that
he slaughtered multitudes because he loved his church. The cause
of God, the cause that His church embraces, His truth. It's not
in any danger. Nothing can stand against it.
And no one. This is how God views every believer
individually. If you're a believer, hear what
the Lord says to you and says about you. Since thou was precious in my
sight, thou has been honorable, and I have loved thee. There's
three things here. To God you are said to have always
been precious in His sight before you even existed. Though we may not feel so and
even may feel somewhat embarrassed that such kind of words are directed
toward us knowing what we are, He says you're precious. You're
precious. In the South we'd say you're
precious. You're precious. He cannot lie. Can he? What does that mean? I'm precious. That's what it
means in his society. You are precious. You know, you
mothers and fathers and grandmothers and grandfathers know what that
means. You know what that feeling is. You can look at a thing and
it's just of such value to you and so wonderful to you. My little grandson, running back
and forth across last week about me just, you know, just doing
a thousand things, almost two years old, talking good and just
running and just... And I was, I mean, almost dumb,
almost stupid with love for that kid, really. And he's precious to me. My children
are precious. My wife is precious to me. This
congregation is precious. I get some sense of it. But I'm
incapable of loving like God does. My love is often conditional. If you tick me off, I won't love
you so much. I guarantee you that. But God never gets ticked
off at me or you. Find me a place in the New Testament
where God says, I'm mad at my people. Under the old covenant,
he'd get mad. He'd get full of wrath because
it was a conditional covenant. Conditioned upon their obedience,
which they didn't offer any. And when he didn't, he got wrathful
with them. Swallowed their... But there was always some mediator
standing between him and God. And people would say, look, you
said you loved them. You said you had a covenant with
them. And then he'd back off. But not in the New Testament.
Not under the cover of grace will you find God ever angry
with His people. He will say, like He said in
Ephesians 2, you deserve His wrath. You deserve that by nature. By nature you're no different
than the children of wrath. But that's by nature. That's
not God's purpose. You're precious in His sight.
You're precious because of what He has done, not because of what
you've done. We are precious in His sight
because of the price He paid for our redemption. It was the
precious blood of the Lamb that bought our redemption. We are
His workmanship. That word is poema. We are His
poem. We are His poem. And He writes
the stanzas and all the lines and all the commas and all the
pauses are in there. And all the riffs and all that
stuff. We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto
good works. Well, there you go. We've got
to have good works. Wait a minute! Shut up! Listen! We are His workmanship
created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before
ordained. Then we should walk in them.
You reckon you're going to walk in good works? I'll tell you
you're going to walk in good works. Every one of God's children
does. Well, I don't know what they
are. Good. You're paying attention to the right thing. Pay attention
to Christ and not your works. Your works will come. He said
they would. You're precious. His work for you, the work that
makes you precious, started long before the world began in His
wondrous eternal love and election. Substitution for the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. In redemption He bought us with
a price. In regeneration through the gospel by the Spirit He awakened
us to what He had done for us. Through revelation of Jesus Christ.
He sanctified us, made us holy. Not set us on a road that we
might progress to holiness. He made us holy. May Jesus Christ
be unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption.
You are God's holy people. A holy generation. A holy priesthood. You ain't trying to be holy,
you're holy. Why? Because God says you are. Justification. propitiation preservation
adoption all these are by the blood of Christ so much and it's
such a wonderful thing and amazing thing that John the Apostle when
it was revealed to him in 1st John chapter 3 said behold what
what manner of love is this that we Should be called the sons
of God. What kind of love is that? We should be called the
sons of God We are precious in His sight means that He's satisfied
with us. Because He's satisfied with the
work of His Son. And to the Holy God, He says,
you are honorable. And since you're precious in
His sight, thou hast been honorable. Always been honorable. Honor. People don't even talk about
that much today, do they? In this Machiavellian world, it's
of little or no value or consequence that men talk about honor. Those
who wear the title of honorable this day do not measure up. Many
of our nation's politicians and judges and preachers are thieves
and adulterers and perverts in their own names, are yet preceded
with the term honorable. The name reverend is attached
to every foul bird that fills a pool pit and doesn't belong
to them. Honor is lost in the malaise of corruption of this
age that proudly calls good evil an evil good. But in God's sight,
there are those who walk on the top side of this earth, sinners
all. Who looks at me and says, oh,
you've been honorable. You've always been honorable. How are you honorable? You're
born to it. You're born to it. You're a child
of the King, always have been. Born to a royal house and are
joint heirs with Christ and heirs of God. You're honorable in rank
among the creatures of the world. You've been called to honorable
services, witnesses to His grace and glory. You have the privilege
that attends such honor. You have free access into the
house of the King. You ain't got to knock for entrance.
You don't have to wait and stand outside until He holds out His
scepter and lets you in. You have access into the grace
wherein you stand. Come boldly to the throne of
grace to seek help in time of need. Why? Because you can. God says you're honorable. Eternal
Grace has made you so. To the Sovereign God who loves
you, who says you're precious and you're honorable, the ruler
of all the world, you are beloved. I've loved you. I have loved you. Now this is a thing really too
wonderful to express with the limited ability of human language.
I think this lends itself better to the realm of meditation, to
think about it. God says, I have loved you. I have always loved you. And when you meditate upon this,
and I hope you will, Here are some words to consider
as you meditate. Upon I have loved thee eternally. That's a good word. Particularly, effectually, preeminently,
unchangeably, immeasurably, freely, I have loved Thee. Since Thou
wast precious in my sight, Thou hast been honorable, and I have
loved Thee. Father, would You make this in our hearts
something that we can ponder every day of our lives? Call
it to our attention. Call it to our minds and hearts. that you have loved us, that
we're precious in your sight, and you declare us to have been
honorable. Thank you for Jesus Christ for
that perfect work performed on Calvary that made it so that
you could say such things about people like us. We bless you
and thank you in Christ's name. Amen. All right.